Car salesmen lottery pool wins $16 million jackpot

Comment #56

RJOh — Sat, 13 Aug 2005 21:19:29 GMT

That's my point, a nice and good hearted friend would have covered the additional $30 he needed to get into the pool in the first place, after all $30 wasn't much for a $250 pool. Does winning $1.6M before taxes ever turn a person into a more good hearted and giving person? It would take a lot more than that for me to start handing out $10K to my co-workers or anyone else who wanted it.

Comment #55

harry nuts — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 22:20:23 GMT

That clerk was full of it. $100 is nothing. Enough for you to buy a bag of groceries. 1.6 million is a different story.

Comment #54

RJOh — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 20:48:37 GMT

That is nice and good hearted and it nice to see some players think that way, sorry to say that I'm not one of them. The other day after chasing the Ohio lottery for five drawings at $20 a draw I matched 4of6 for $100 and when I cashed my ticket, the clerk told me it was not unusual for winners of a $100 to give $20 to the clerk for cashing their ticket. I laughed and told her that I didn't do that, I hope she was joking.

Comment #53

harry nuts — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 18:22:35 GMT

Thanks ToddI look forward to posting in here every here and there. I personally know 3 of those guys who won this drawing, They are family friends of ours. Two of them are brothers and another one of them is thier uncle beleive it or not. What a lucky family they are :)We have spoke with them and they are very excited

Comment #52

Todd — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 11:50:00 GMT

harry nuts,After getting past your interesting username, I found that you had some good commentary. Welcome to LP.

Comment #51

harry nuts — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 11:40:15 GMT

Yes. They could all throw in $2500 a piece which is pretty much chump change for them now.

Comment #50

LOTTOMIKE — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 10:00:59 GMT

i would too.just to be nice and be good hearted i'd give the guy who asked his girlfriend to chip in maybe 10,000 after all he was gonna join in.it wasn't like he turned them down....

Comment #49

harry nuts — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 09:20:28 GMT

Look at it this way. If they didnt ask those two salesman who turned it down to play they may have not generated those numbers that hit the jackpot. They might of bought them 5 minutes earlier and not have the same outcome. Who knows?They should thank those two guys for turning it down. I personally would give each of them $10,000 but thats just me.

Comment #48

LOTTOMIKE — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 09:07:08 GMT

WTG on the win pontiacsales.....

Comment #47

ms billionaire — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 08:41:49 GMT

It's all about the right time and place. Those four salesmen where destined to become winners.I believe IT'S JUST NOT THERE TIME whatever the circumstances of the other salesmen not being able to be in on the pool for that drawing.... .....my time and your time will come.....

Comment #46

golotto — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 07:55:29 GMT

It happens once in a lifetime, Shalabi said. It's not going to help to start buying tickets now. I beg to differ. Multiple lottery wins can and do happen. It certainly could happen again in their lifetime; even for someone who still works at that dealership. The only way is to buy a ticket.

Comment #45

RJOh — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 16:40:09 GMT

What really hurts is when you make out a list of 10 combinations or so to play and then decide to add a bunch more just because the jackpot is so big and the only ticket that wins anything is on the original list of 10. I have played 50-100 lines at times, but I have never won anything beyond the thirteenth lines, so I have decided to limit my picks to 20 lines until I figure out why my first picks are my best picks. That might not happen if I bought QP's.

Comment #44

LOTTOMIKE — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 12:25:56 GMT

i bought 300 dollars worth of powerball tickets at one point BUT i learned a very valuable lesson.it only takes one dollar to win....

Comment #43

harry nuts — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 11:51:03 GMT

You pretty much hit the nail right on the head. There are over 20 million possible combinations in a 6/52 drawing and the IRS tries to screw you as if winning the lotto is some easy task.I heard a story of a group of millionares who put their money together and tried to corner a lottery drawing which had went way over ($$$) the amount of possible combinations. They played all the possible combinations and they did have it cornered but there was only one problem. Some poor shmuck who lived in the... [ More ]

Comment #42

RJOh — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 11:06:26 GMT

I know among all the lottery players in our town of 30 thousand, over 400 combinations are bought twice every week for our local State lottery and nobody from our town has ever won it. I matched 5of6 a few years back at a store that sold a lot of lottery tickets and I was surprised to learn that I was their biggest winner in 3 years. Buying a lot of lottery tickets only guarantee your chances of losing a lot of money.

Comment #41

harry nuts — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 10:14:27 GMT

Stop kidding yourself by thinking its only a matter time. Many have been doing larger combinations for years and have not hit the jackpot. It was purely luck. Even with 400 combinations they still had a 99.99% chance of losing. Saying its only a matter of time is nothing more then chasing a pipe dream. Im glad to her that some hard working middle class fellows struck it rich though.Congratulations PontiacSales to you and you and your friends. If you all play it smart with a stake like that you w... [ More ]

Comment #40

JimmySand9 — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 06:08:00 GMT

With 400 combinations being played by this pool 3 times a week, it was only a matter of time. But you have got to feel sorry for that other guy.

Comment #39

jporter — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 01:10:09 GMT

PontiacSales, I had a '58 Bonneville Convertible. It was the best car of mylife, even greater than the '66 Corvette Stingray. There was noway to get any in the corvette, but the Bonne had big benchseats, front and back. What a car. When I will MegaMillions I will search the globe high and low for a frame up restoration.

Comment #38

Todd — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 01:05:51 GMT

I think it's great that you put your money where your mouth is and bought a GM car. I'm a fellow GM owner myself you can check out my Vette on my home page.

Comment #37

CASH Only — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 23:57:07 GMT

Congratulations PontiacSales!I'm sure glad you took the cash! Now you have to hit Mega Millions! Going to Disney World

Comment #36

pontiacsales — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 23:41:26 GMT

i bought a buick lacrosse cxs. however, the pontiacs are great cars. i owned a pontiac g6 and loved it. as for the numbers, we played qp. we also had a fifty dollor winner as well. and i played 38.00 of it on scratch off tickets after we came back from the lotto office. I won 100.00 so i gave dan those tickets. he went and played it on mega-millions. i hope he wins something.

Comment #35

Todd — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 21:36:45 GMT

Good point psykomo! It will be interesting to see if they buy Pontiacs

Comment #34

psykomo — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 21:32:46 GMT

FIRST of ALL CONGRATUATIONSSSSSSSSSSSSS^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ to your WINNERS CLUB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have a What kind of car would you buy on LP ...............try to post on that one if you EVER have .... time for post'g.........(BUT)????? DID you buy Quick PICKs or did you work on individual numbers????????? I am a car crazy..............person and ..... a Quick PICK .............theory promoter...............used a lot of lottery<<< software programs....(quit-that) about a year... [ More ]

Comment #33

thousandair — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 21:20:41 GMT

Poor guy just wasn't his time to win, Maybe he will win a bigger prize than the one he didn't go with but i on the other hand would have handed them a c- note for a piece of that prize. Sometimes s happens.

Comment #32

jporter — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 19:11:21 GMT

To all on the forum: If one wins a jackpot in a lottery pool, what form of ownership should one chose for the group? Are theretax issues that need to be addressed in selecting this form ofownership? It seems to me there was at one time tax shelteringused by authors of books that got large advances before the book was published. Is it not possible to claim lottery winningsas a one time shot and pay a lower amount in taxes? Can othersdiscuss ownership of group lottery wins

Comment #31

Todd — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 16:16:46 GMT

The $16 Million becomes $8 Million when you take the Cash Option, then Uncle Sam takes 25% Federal of the $8 Million, plus Illinois takes an additional 3%.Don't forget you'll probably owe a little more at the end of the year, depending on how many charitable contributions and such that you make.

Comment #30

Litebets27 — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 16:11:13 GMT

Welcome to the site and congratulations Pontiacsales and to your pool mates Wtg. When I ran a pool at work for a Mega million draw, one of my co-workers thought I was being mean to her, when she would not participate by putting up $1.00, but asked everyone if we won would we share with her, and I said no . We did not win, but if we had it would have been her loss. I feel sorry for Dan, but it was his choice to not put up. LOL to him the next time he has that decision to make.litebets

Comment #29

konane — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 15:53:49 GMT

Locate a good reputable tax attorney and let them explain it all. Could be your smartest investment. Good luck to you and yours

Comment #28

pontiacsales — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 15:39:03 GMT

thanks everyone, im still sitting here trying to figure out how 16 mil. came out to 1.68 each. and how much more the irs is going to take? however, its still going to buy me a house. at 30 and no house payment is going to be nice. I promised a pizza party for everyone at chucky cheese if i won so i am going to play lots of skiball. thanks again.

Comment #27

fja — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 15:16:26 GMT

Same thing happened to me once. Lady had a dream of a 3 digit number.....told her dream to about 10 people....they each played 2 bucks straight and called the bookie....I didnt have $2 on me so I said no (figured 3 digit straight bet is a long shot) it hit as I watched TV.....talk about feeling like an idiot......who would have thunk it.......never again..... I have to say at $50 to get into the pool...Chances are I would still be working!! (If i was single i would probably be in it

Comment #26

four4me — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 14:55:14 GMT

Congratulations Pontiacsales. you are our first jackpot winner of 05 to report in. Yes it was sad that your partner didn't have the out of pocket cash. I know how that feels. Where i worked at when we had a pool there was a saying no pay no play a lot of people wanted in the pool on a promissory note and that's not the way it works. Even though we knew people had the cash available (at home in the bank whatever) if they didn't have their money in the pot by the time we were going to get the tick... [ More ]

Comment #25

wizeguy — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 14:43:48 GMT

Welcome to Lottery Post and again congrats on the win! At my age I'd quit for good with a win like that. At your ages I'd take more than a few weeks off and pick up some classes on investing. I'd still leave the investing to the professionals but the more I'd know about the process the better off in the long run. Enjoy your newfound wealth and don't forget your favorite charities

Comment #24

Todd — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 14:19:57 GMT

Hey, congrats! If you get an interview on TV/in the papers, see if you can get them to mention Lottery Post! (That's my standard request to winners, because it really helps spread the word about this site, and it's great to have previous winners join our club here.

Comment #23

Rick G — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 13:51:23 GMT

Pontiacsales...yes, congratulations...and yes I saw Dan interviewed on WGN (or Fox) and felt really sorry for him. He didn't look like a happy camper....I don't think he needs any more 'grief' right now.

Comment #22

konane — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 12:54:09 GMT

If you are indeed one of the lucky winners, Congratulations!!! And if you are who you imply, sounds like a one time pool of a high amount to take a chance on the mother lode you all reeled in.Again Congratulations to the winners

Comment #21

pontiacsales — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 05:02:04 GMT

I really wish that the media would stop turning this story into a bad thing about dan he is a great guy that does not deserve this. he is sad enough without everyone asking him how it feels. the only reason he dident play is because he did not have the 50.00 on him. that was the first time we ever played together and we were lucky enough to win. we played with 50.00 because we figured that we had more chances of winning. It was the same thinking as if we went to a high class restaurant: you do i... [ More ]

Comment #20

dvdiva — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 02:43:37 GMT

50 bucks sounds steep for a pool that runs for every drawing. It's the reason I don't play though unless the jackpot is big. If I spend a lot on a drawing where the jackpot is big it makes up for all those times when the jackpot is small and I never played. Sure the numbers might come up when I'm not playing but odds are they will never come up at all. I just view the lottery as my small shot at having a permanent paid vacation.

Comment #19

wizeguy — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 02:31:36 GMT

The $1.6 mill is after taxes but I think they only take out 25% so they *will* owe more. It will hit them sooner than Apr 15th. They'll have to estimate taxes quarterly and pay as they go.

Comment #18

Chewie — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 01:52:43 GMT

You forgot about the tax-man - he has yet to spoil all the fun. Unearned income tax, with an income of over a million dollars, puts you at the top of the tax bracket. April 16th is NOT going to be a happy day at their house.

Comment #17

RJOh — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 01:26:22 GMT

The story didn't say anything about a lending. Sounds like the kind of story I see on Judge Judy all the time, some guy ask a girl friend for money and when she ask to be repaid, he considered it a gift. Had he got it, she probably would have had to go to court to split his share 50/50 even if she paid 60% of the cost and they would have broke up any way. If some one has to ask their friends for money to gamble, they shouldn't gamble.

Comment #16

tony2222 — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 01:19:18 GMT

1.6 million is some serious cash when u consider these people are quite modest. if i had hit 1.6 I would be allset propably for like 30 years

Comment #15

konane — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 22:19:23 GMT

Dan Fontana was set to buy tickets for Saturday's $16 million Illinois Lotto drawing with some friends from work but pulled out at the last minute. Sounds like he second guessed his original decision and lost so has to live with it. That's life

Comment #14

BabyJC — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 22:19:16 GMT

I bet the salesman whose girlfriend refused to lend him the $30 he needed to join the pool is going to break up with her now. LOL It is surprising that they kicked in $50 each for only a $16 million (annuity) jackpot, but someone must have felt lucky

Comment #13

lottolady24 — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 20:31:23 GMT

I was a part of a winning lottery pool about 5 years ago. We hit 5 of six numbers with the sixth number 1 digit off. Just so happened there was more than 4000 people that hit 5 that same week. Split between 17 employees, we ended up with a meager $82 each! Still moe than the $5 bet but a bit of a heartbreak to be so close

Comment #12

lottomoney — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 19:20:58 GMT

i had a lottery pool going for that draw only collected $ 2. each person had 50 people in and are group only won $ 9 dollars total.

Comment #11

Elizabeth03 — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 19:19:16 GMT

I think there are alot of smart lottery players here . I've noticed that reading people's posts and the predictions they make.

Comment #10

wizeguy — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 19:09:52 GMT

At their ages $1.6 mill is not serious retirement money unless the live fairly modest lives and make good investments. It's possible but I expect all will eventually have to return to the work pool. Congrats to the winners

Comment #9

qutgnt — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 19:01:00 GMT

The more you play the more your chances of winning, bottom line. Those that couldnt afford to pony up the money or were too cheap dont deserve anything. I hope there are no iscriminatory lawsuits that pop up at this joint. I myself had 40 bucks on this draw, I would have joined that pool in a heartbeat.

Comment #8

RJOh — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 18:55:01 GMT

It's a good way to find out who can afford to play and who should keep their money for better things. Those folks that didn't play aren't as sorry as they would have been had they spent $50 and lost. Playing the lottery is gambling and people shouldn't gamble more than they can afford to lose.RJOh

Comment #7

nomoneybabe — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 18:28:34 GMT

Sad news !!! So sorry to hear that ....But ... $50/person for one pool is too much !!!let's it be

Comment #6

Todd — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 17:27:33 GMT

You think

Comment #5

Todd — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 17:26:49 GMT

It seemed to work pretty well for these four newly-made millionaires.What's the most amount of money you ever spent at one time on lottery tickets

Comment #4

Jake649 — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 17:26:37 GMT

I find it hard to believe that is a serious question. It is so simple, I do not want to waste time explaining.On a more positive note and as a strong believer in lottery pools, it is good to see pools winning. It appears to me that is the most common characteristics amoung all winners is the use of pools to win.As lotteries move to bigger odds and bigger jackpots, lottery pools become more of a viable option.Anybody interested in the $500 million Mega Millions pool I posted about before?Good luc... [ More ]

Comment #3

Just6ntlc — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 17:25:54 GMT

I'm disappointed that a man decided not to buy lotto tickets and let other people win. I guess Dan has to keep working while some of his co-workers possibly not work anymore.

Comment #2

JAG331 — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 17:16:36 GMT

Comment #1

CASH Only — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 17:14:12 GMT

How can you run a lottery pool if everybody has to buy $50 in tickets

Car salesmen lottery pool wins $16 million jackpot

Lottery Post — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 17:11:59 GMT

Dan Fontana was set to buy tickets for Saturday's $16 million Illinois Lotto drawing with some friends from work but pulled out at the last minute.Bad move. Really bad move.Four of his fellow salesmen at an Oak Lawn auto dealership won the Lotto jackpot. They soon may no longer be his co-workers. I came to work and heard about it. After that, I just kind of wanted to go home, Fontana said.The winners are Jeton Asani, 42, of Orland Park; Arben Gashi, 29, of Worth; his brother Nick Gashi, 28, of... [ More ]