Lotto Winner Promises

Lottery Winners are all smiles at Press COnferences and generally tell what they plan to do with their winnings.  Are the truthful?  What has been your experience?

Simply changing your mind and not following through on a promise are 2 separate things. If a lottery winner says at a press conference they are going to start their own business and then they never do, they haven't done anything morally wrong.

promisies at press conference? only a moron would make one, and only a moron would beleive it.

Lottery winners aren't like politicians or celebrities who are beholding to people who supported them and what ever is said in the excitement of a press conference is not a legal contract that anyone can hold them to.

Not sure why this is in the Mathemetics section...

I went with "don't know, don't care"; I don't follow the exploits of lottery winners at all, so I wouldn't know.  I'm aware that a lot of people here are into that "Lottery Changed My Life" show, but personally I couldn't care less about what people do after their big win.

Also went with "don't know, don't care". I think if I ever had a friend that won the lottery and promised to give me a cut of the money, I would not hold my breath or lose sleep waiting for it to happen... and I am going to treat it exactly as an idle promise. Why? Because, money was never the reason for our friendship in the first place, so why with them all of a sudden having tons of money change that?

Sharing wealth with others is not always a good idea.  When Jack Whittaker, the PB winner from W.Va bought a house for his favorite waitress, she complained he didn't include money to pay the higher real estate taxes she didn't have to pay when she lived in a trailer.  When Oprah gave all the folks in her audience a new car, some complained they had to go into debt to pay the taxes on them.  Sharing wealth with some people just make them poorer which isn't doing them a favor.

I think a lot of people are giddy and out of their mind when they discover they've won a huge amount of money. They make a lot of promises and say they'll

do this for this one and that for that one. When the shock wears off, some might reconsider that promise of a million dollars to each family member or forget

they said they would do something insane, like buy everyone a house. If it's a million, there's not enough to go around. If it's multimillions, there's so many

hands out it seems like a million by the time they really think about how much they'll have left after they give everyone a cut.

It's a good thing to keep you mouth shut, your phone off and your money to yourself because any way you handle it, it won't be enough for someone and

something is going to change - and not for the better. Money does strange things to some people...it's just usually the ones without the big win.

Maybe the question should be "Do lottery winners do what they initially think they'll do?"

Assuming they tell the truth at the press conferences I'd have to say they usually don't. I seriously doubt that many of them keep their jobs for more than a brief period, though keeping their job is a popular announcement. I'm also reasonably sure that  very few of them initially intend to lose it all in a few short years by making bad decisions, but that's certainly a popular choice that many of them make soon after winning.

Sharing wealth with some people just make them poorer which isn't doing them a favor.

This is because when someone chooses to share their money with others, the filthy tax man has his undeserving hands out, too. 

Seems money never goes as far in fact as it does in theory.  While the heart is bursting with hope and excitement from a win, the reality of just how far that money doesnt go is a set of bracingly cold hard facts.

A family member who sold their business and netted (after taxes) over 5M, was complaining to some that 5M just isn't that much... it seems that there almost becomes a compulsion to hold on tight to what they get so they dont lose it - or exactly the opposite - a wild messy spending spree. 

But a promise in the 'heat of the moment' - seems like I'm echo'ing what has already been said quite well.  Wouldn't hold my breath.

Too many times people hear words never spoken and think of them as promises broken when not fulfilled. 

How many times has some one written "we all are here to help each other win" as if it was a promise someone made.  Then they are disappointed when they PM someone asking for copies of their software, data files, help with an Excel program or something else which would take up their time and receive nothing. 

People come here to help themselves win big and those who think other wise are going to be disappointed.

I totally agree. In fact I was pondering this very issue should I win the jackpot in the near future. We have to learn to think things through thoroughly before we perform random acts of kindness.

I ticked dont care. i promise nothing, as thats what im giving. and I expect nothing, and i thats what im getting. sure in a pool, ill give every person who paid their share.  but apart form that i will just want to be left alone. if people even know ive won, i will have failed.

This can be considered my first pre-emptive lotto win press conference.   All my money will go back to the lotto.  After all honesty is the best policy.  Side note the guy I buy lotto tickets from sold a 5 million dollar winning ticket to someone a few months back.  That same person still plays the lotto only now on a much larger scale lol.  Which brings us to one more question.  How much is enough?  Thank You all for your support before during and especially after my win :p