Lottery ticket in get-well card wins man $7 million

Mar 27, 2015, 8:14 am (63 comments)

New York Lottery

A Pennsylvania man is feeling very well, thank you, after he won a $7 million lottery prize from a ticket that was enclosed in a get-well card from his father.

"I don't play the lottery at all, but my father is a retired hospital administrator-turned-avid Lottery player," Joseph Amorese of Easton, Pennsylvania, said, according to the New York Lottery.

Amorese's father sent the $7 Million Golden Ticket scratch card inside a greeting card, while Amorese recovered at home from surgery.

"I scratched the ticket and it was a good thing I was already sitting down because I was shocked. I was and still am in complete disbelief," Amorese, 46, said.

The Verizon employee said he immediately called his dad, who lives in Congers, New York, to double-check the winnings.

"I sent him a picture of the ticket and he said, 'Yup, you won $7,000,000!'"

He also called his wife, Jodi, a social worker.

"I said, Honey, I think we won $7,000,000. And there was silence on the other end for a long time. She was too stunned to talk."

The ticket was purchased at Just a Dollar in New City, New York.

Amorese's father declined to say if his son will reward him.

"I just wish him the very, very best, and I'm happy for him," he said.

When asked if he typically sends his son greeting cards, he said, "Well sure, you know, for Easter, Christmas and birthdays."

"Do I usually include a ticket? Yeah," Amorese's father said with a laugh. "I'm retired and I have time on my hands. You know, you want them to get something but if they get $100, they'll be happy. Most of us don't usually think you're going to hit the jackpot."

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ABC, Lottery Post Staff

Comments

mjoyg1123's avatarmjoyg1123

That will get anyone well. Congrats to him!

hearsetrax's avatarhearsetrax

DELotteryPlyr's avatarDELotteryPlyr

Ok, he lives in PA, and won in NY --- what's the tax hit?

I am thinking BOTH states get a cut?

zinniagirl's avatarzinniagirl

He will pay taxes in ny out of the check. He will then give in one taxes with New York and get most of it back. He will then file income taxes with pa and write them a check for what he got back from ny and possible a little more..... All this will happen in January.

DELotteryPlyr's avatarDELotteryPlyr

what ??? ----"He will then give in one taxes with New York and get most of it back"

cbr$'s avatarcbr$

Congratulation to Joseph Amorese, on his win.  Since it give to him by his father, since his father doesn't is not asking for anything, I believe they will do something nice for him.

ThatScaryChick's avatarThatScaryChick

Quote: Originally posted by cbr$ on Mar 27, 2015

Congratulation to Joseph Amorese, on his win.  Since it give to him by his father, since his father doesn't is not asking for anything, I believe they will do something nice for him.

Congrats to Joseph Amorese on his winning ticket! I also think that he will probably give something to his father. Big Smile

Gleno's avatarGleno

What a great story to read.

Lesson here is that small acts of kindness are very important parts of life.

White Bounce

Todd's avatarTodd

Quote: Originally posted by DELotteryPlyr on Mar 27, 2015

what ??? ----"He will then give in one taxes with New York and get most of it back"

I think what he means is that when you live in one state and earn income from another state, you first pay your home state's income tax on the amount that was earned (in this case "won"), and then if the other state the income was earned in (where the ticket was purchased) has a higher tax rate than your home state, you pay the difference between the two states to the other state.

In this case PA does not claim to tax lottery winnings, but NY has a state tax of 8.82%, so the winner will probably end up paying the 8.82% NY state tax only, with no state tax paid to PA.  (In addition to Federal taxes, of course.)

plumsage's avatarplumsage

Wow!  Good for him.   I am sure he will share with his father.

maringoman's avatarmaringoman

"I don't play the lottery at all, but my father is a retired hospital administrator-turned-avid Lottery player," Joseph Amorese of Easton, Pennsylvania, said, according to the New York Lottery.

It goes to show you how this thing is ruthlessly random. A non player winning all that money while a serious player walks home with empty pockets and fresh ideas of how he could win the next time.

shadowlady's avatarshadowlady

  The funny thing, I heard about this this morning on the way to work, from the radio morning show I listen to. They played a clip from a talk show, who said that when he finished paying his hospital bill, he would go home with $900.  LOL

 

I was thinking of how lucky this guy is, and hope that he does something nice for his father.

VenomV12

And that is why I sign the back of any ticket that I give as a gift so that even if you win big, so do I. I'll be <snip>ed if I have to go through life thinking I finally bought the winning big one and gave it away. 

This post has been automatically changed by the Lottery Post computer system to remove inappropriate content and/or spam.

Original Bey's avatarOriginal Bey

Quote: Originally posted by VenomV12 on Mar 27, 2015

And that is why I sign the back of any ticket that I give as a gift so that even if you win big, so do I. I'll be <snip>ed if I have to go through life thinking I finally bought the winning big one and gave it away. 

This post has been automatically changed by the Lottery Post computer system to remove inappropriate content and/or spam.

Lurking 5...4...3....2....

ThatScaryChick's avatarThatScaryChick

Quote: Originally posted by VenomV12 on Mar 27, 2015

And that is why I sign the back of any ticket that I give as a gift so that even if you win big, so do I. I'll be <snip>ed if I have to go through life thinking I finally bought the winning big one and gave it away. 

This post has been automatically changed by the Lottery Post computer system to remove inappropriate content and/or spam.

What's the point of giving someone a gift if you are expecting something out of it? Just give them a gift certificate or something instead of a lottery ticket and keep the scratch off for yourself.

RJOh's avatarRJOh

Quote: Originally posted by VenomV12 on Mar 27, 2015

And that is why I sign the back of any ticket that I give as a gift so that even if you win big, so do I. I'll be <snip>ed if I have to go through life thinking I finally bought the winning big one and gave it away. 

This post has been automatically changed by the Lottery Post computer system to remove inappropriate content and/or spam.

Unless you are the type that would send a get well card with a lottery ticket to a love one, it'll never happen.

KY Floyd's avatarKY Floyd

Quote: Originally posted by DELotteryPlyr on Mar 27, 2015

Ok, he lives in PA, and won in NY --- what's the tax hit?

I am thinking BOTH states get a cut?

The income was earned in NY, so it's subject to NY income tax. He'll pay income tax to NY based on the percentage of his total taxable income that was earned in NY. If his other income was $150k and he's got 50 k in deductions his taxable income will be $7.1 million. 98.6% of that would be from his NY income, so he'd pay 98.6% of the normal NY tax on $7.1 million.

PA will credit him for the taxes paid to NY, so he doesn't also pay PA tax on it. If PA had a higher tax rate than NY he'd owe the balance to PA.

KY Floyd's avatarKY Floyd

Quote: Originally posted by VenomV12 on Mar 27, 2015

And that is why I sign the back of any ticket that I give as a gift so that even if you win big, so do I. I'll be <snip>ed if I have to go through life thinking I finally bought the winning big one and gave it away. 

This post has been automatically changed by the Lottery Post computer system to remove inappropriate content and/or spam.

That's only one of the ways that people know you're a huge aszhole, right?

VenomV12

Quote: Originally posted by RJOh on Mar 27, 2015

Unless you are the type that would send a get well card with a lottery ticket to a love one, it'll never happen.

Yep, because that's the only possible time that you might ever give a lottery ticket to someone, the only time...

VenomV12

Quote: Originally posted by KY Floyd on Mar 27, 2015

That's only one of the ways that people know you're a huge aszhole, right?

I'd rather be a huge a-hole with millions than one sitting in a corner crying because I gave away millions. I tell anyone that gives me tickets to do the same. My aunt if she buys draw tickets for anyone, plays the same numbers for herself. If you are upset that someone bought you a free ticket that made you millions of dollars and you had to give them some of it, maybe you are the one that is an a-hole?

RJOh's avatarRJOh

Quote: Originally posted by VenomV12 on Mar 27, 2015

Yep, because that's the only possible time that you might ever give a lottery ticket to someone, the only time...

Not necessarily, I've sent them to family members just for the fun of it but stopped when they said they would rather have the money.  Started sending the cost of the tickets instead and stopped that too when they answered "what do you expect me to do with a lousy $5".

dallascowboyfan's avatardallascowboyfan

Aww.... what a sweet and caring dad. Congratulations Jospeh that fact that he called his dad to ask if he won tells me he will bless his father with something nice.

savagegoose's avatarsavagegoose

i give lotto tickets, i just make sure i really really like the person enough to give em a ticket. xmas or something maybe birthdays. so i dont give many

Saylorgirl's avatarSaylorgirl

Get Well and Congratulations!

I never give lottery tickets away and I don't like anyone to give them to me.  If I am sending a card and feel I need a small token in it I always send Starbucks cards!  Same price and who doesn't love a Starbucks.

sully16's avatarsully16

PartyAwesome story, Congrats to the lucky guy.

Think's avatarThink

Quote: Originally posted by RJOh on Mar 27, 2015

Not necessarily, I've sent them to family members just for the fun of it but stopped when they said they would rather have the money.  Started sending the cost of the tickets instead and stopped that too when they answered "what do you expect me to do with a lousy $5".

I used to give away tickets also but I stopped because I always wondered if I gave away a big winner and the recipient didn't recognize that it was a winner.

RJ, I hope you told them what they could do with the 5 bucks Wink

maringoman's avatarmaringoman

Quote: Originally posted by VenomV12 on Mar 27, 2015

And that is why I sign the back of any ticket that I give as a gift so that even if you win big, so do I. I'll be <snip>ed if I have to go through life thinking I finally bought the winning big one and gave it away. 

This post has been automatically changed by the Lottery Post computer system to remove inappropriate content and/or spam.

A few years ago Rgdrnr told you if someone were to  give him a lottery ticket signed at the back, he would pull out a cigarette lighter and burn the ticket right there. Personally I'd just give it back to the giver. I don't accept gifts from people with small hearts.

Bleudog101

Glad you stopped sending anything to them ungrateful family members. 

They don't even deserve one thin dime, sure wish you'd win the lottery and shun them.

savagegoose's avatarsavagegoose

i did register some tickets i gave away to my player card, but wrote their names on the bach with " happy birthday, xxxx or xmas xxxx , " just so if they where  recovered and someone tried to claim them, it would be registered,.  if lost i guess i would never know it was theirs. or mine. but hey. i also tried scratching scratchersm, just to reveal the bar code that lets you scan them to see if they're winners. and only handing out winning scratchers.

here the scanner doesnt say what the prize is. so it would be a mystery what prizes anyone wins. but found that after $15 spent i had only 2 winning tickets. anfd to get the 6 winners i wanted would prob cost close to $50. so i gave up on that as a bad a idea.

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