Includes video report
By Todd Northrop
For fans of the lottery, there may be nothing better than witnessing the announcement of a big lottery win as it unfolds.
And that's exactly what happened when a Danish man captured the moment he revealed his big win to his sons on video.
After Poul Hjortbøl won 15 million kroner (about $2.7 million) playing the lottery in Denmark, he decided to unveil his winnings to his sons in the most suspenseful way possible.
The single father of two sat his boys at the table, handing them some "shopping money" and tablet computers, after telling them he quit his job. He told them he won a good amount of money, but nothing outrageous.
Then Hjortbøl told his sons that "It isn't easy for me to say this," but that he lied to them — his winnings were actually much more than that.
More shopping money, then a stack of cash, followed by a reveal of the actual winning amount was timed perfectly to his ecstatic children.
The video of the grand reveal was recorded in 2011, but was not uploaded until Monday.
Hjortbøl has reportedly invested some of the money in a Danish dating website, but he declined to comment further.
VIDEO: Watch Poul Hjortbøl reveal his lottery win to his sons
I watched this yesterday, really funny.
That's great. They don't seem like they were spoiled kids before.
Good story but if it was me and I had two teenager there is no way I would divulge the entire amount. I would have left it at "dad won a good bit of money and I have quit my job in order to spend a little bit more time with my kids".
They may not be spoiled yet but you just don't hand teenagers a wad of cash and tell them to go shopping.
Video just shows how much of a non greedy person the father is. Great job!
Did anyone notice that this model father video recorded himself giving his adolescent children alcohol?
Yeah but foreign countries usually dont have problems with it like we do over here. Shoot I have dozens of italian American friends who grew up having wine with dinner with their families and now they raise their kids the same way.
I remember having lunch in Rome near St. Peter's when a tour group of european high-school kids came in accompanied by several teachers. I was interested to see that they ordered several bottles of wine and shared with the kids (15-16 yrs). They were beautifully behaved too, no noise or rough-housing, just eating and conversing.
Can you imagine the hullaballoo here if it came out that teacher chaperones had given their students wine!!!
Sounds like a lovely memory. Did their driver also drink the wine?
Most Excellent ! The boys will always remember that !
Congratulation Poul.......
Mr. Hjortbol, did a great job when he decided to reveal his winning to his sons. This video is priceless.
I read your post, then the next few and was going to chime in, telling about my own experiences growing up. My dad drank and my sisters and I always got a glass of champagne on New Year's from the time we were 13 or so. My sisters and dad didn't like the taste of it, so I usually got more than a single glass. My dad also always told me to please not get drunk with my friends when I was out with them, that there was beer in the fridge and he'd rather me drink at home if I was going to drink. I never have been much of a drinker and definitely never had a problem with it. I was going to agree with Shelby (a sign of the Apocalypse, I'm sure) that it was the tolerant and open attitudes of Europeans that lead to less alcohol abuse amongst their youth, just as with me and my upbringing.
Anecdotes don't equate to evidence, though. I went and bought a six pack of Rolling Rock (ironic, huh?), came back home and started doing some research on alcohol abuse by minors in other countries, along with drinking ages, etc. I was surprised to find that Denmark ranks up near the top in problems caused by alcohol, particularly in the youth population. Most of the countries in the top ten are other Nordic ones, along with ex-Soviet bloc nations. Most of Europe was ahead of the U.S. on the (larger) list, too.
Something else that was interesting, namely discovering that pot use by U.S. minors is becoming more prevalent than drinking and that it's easier to obtain, thanks to alcohol laws that strictly regulate how its sold and to whom. Maybe it's time to re-think our "War on Drugs" - it seems to me every time we declare "war" on something, the problem often gets worse, i.e. the "War on Terror", the "War on Crime", "War on Poverty", etc. We already had a war on alcohol - Prohibition - and it was an abject failure. You'd think we would learn, huh?
BTW, I only had one beer. It made me remember why I don't drink much.