$200 Million lottery jackpot has Mega Millions players' attention

Comment #29

Chewie — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 14:39:34 GMT

Whoever wins $123M (cash) and works it into banruptcy, will also take the $200M (annuity) and work it into a loosing scenario. The opposite is true if they make money - or stay even.They are going to do what they are going to do. As the members of the LP have proven, those with strong wills are going to think and do what they want, no matter what other opinions are provided. Those who are not strong willed, will still be thinking about options years from now.

Comment #28

mken32 — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 05:08:20 GMT

123,000,000.00 is alot of zero's...... 19 hours to go.

Comment #27

bigdaddy — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 02:36:29 GMT

lump sum by gold and nice housespend $100000 right away just to get rid of the urges.

Comment #26

acronym007 — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 02:26:09 GMT

I think someone mentioned that in here before, there are too many what if's if you take annutity. What you die, who gets it? What if your state starts an income tax or hikes a tax? What if your state makes some other changes? What if your family story changes? What if you need more money ahead of schedule then you borrow from someone to get your money from some early lotto loan agent that charges you an arm and a leg? These are just some of my intial thoughts and what if's. I'm sure you coule... [ More ]

Comment #25

mken32 — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 02:22:42 GMT

I am Glad to be back ..... I bought my tickets and hope can be the winner with all these problems you guys are talking about, of course I'll have tax attornery, some financial advisors and my wife to be help me... I am exciting about this....200 million let's go hoo-ray

Comment #24

weshar75 — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 01:01:26 GMT

I would like this run to go to at least the 23th so I could have a chance at this jackpot run. It should be over 300 million by then I hope.

Comment #23

rabbitfoot — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 23:28:51 GMT

Why not take the lump sum. One could always buy as many annuities (conservation of principle) as they desire with some of it. Really, with $200-million ($63,240,000 after taxes in IL) one could have their cake and eat it too

Comment #22

destinedtowin — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 22:27:01 GMT

I have to get my ticket for the BIG one on tuesday. Here to wishing everyone good luck! as the name says Destinedtowin

Comment #21

lchoro — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 22:13:53 GMT

Those people found themselves broke because they took the lump sum and started giving money away to family and friends like it would never run out. Some started businesses that failed. They forget that in starting a business that they can lose more money than their initial investment through operating losses or through lawsuits. There's probably also a tendency to just use the money to buy their way out problems (lawsuits again) because it's so much easier.

Comment #20

CASH Only — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 22:08:54 GMT

Lump sum is still better than annuity. No doubt about it.

Comment #19

lchoro — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 22:00:23 GMT

You designate a beneficiary to receive the annuity payments after you die, and the survivor pays the tax on the annuity as they collect. It works the same way as a retirement annuity. I set up two for my parents, and they pay tax on just the investment income paid out in the annuity. You don't pay the tax on the entire present cash value.

Comment #18

RJOh — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 20:39:59 GMT

Ohio have had a couple of big MM winners who got national coverage when they claimed their prize, but have since went unnoticed. Only the Cleveland woman who lied about losing a winning ticket still makes the news once in a while.

Comment #17

Chewie — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 20:20:12 GMT

Unless you make a target of yourself, like Andrew Jack Whittaker did, the media will grow tired of you in a hurry. Once the media grows tired of you, then you can live a decent life. Until then, hire the appropriate team to isolate you from the Charity leeches. Hide behind a LLC, so your address, phone, etc are not public inoformation. With $100M you could afford to hire a couple of Personal Assistance types, let them stand in the lime light for you. Remember, you only hear about Robert De Ni... [ More ]

Comment #16

Bradly_60 — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 20:17:53 GMT

You guys got to remember the stories of people that went broke didn't win as much as the prizes are today. They won maybe 1 to 5 million dollars. You can go through that kind of money quickly if you don't know how to manage money. If you took the lump sum from Tuesday jackpot you would be left with over 80 million. The interest you could make off of that money is equal to the annuity payments each year. Even if you were bad at managing money it would really be hard to go through that kind o... [ More ]

Comment #15

thousandair — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 17:12:07 GMT

I would take the lump sum , say good bye to the wife after i give her half of the money, take the dog with me and never be seen or heard of again. change my name and just go far away, were there is no media , Just like the wittiness protection program. there would be enough money to live comfortably for the next ten lifetimes. I have my tickets for the next few draws if need be. If the jackpot doesn't go my way, then there is no need to split the money with my wife, i will settle for the second... [ More ]

Comment #14

jsk2001 — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 17:01:50 GMT

Unless you are really bad at managing money, take the lump sum. The odds of winning are still to high for even $200 million.

Comment #13

Rip Snorter — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 16:44:17 GMT

I'm betting those folks weren't thinking of themselves as idiots while they were bankrupting themselves, same as you and I wouldn't think of ourselves as idiots, no matter what we happened to be doing at the time. That idiocy thing is amazingly easy to recognize in the behavior of others, and in ourselves in retrospect. But it shows up wearing cammies most of the time when we're experiencing it real-time.But no one who'd wish to own Eddie Murphy's house could ever be described that way, most l... [ More ]

Comment #12

ginasands — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 16:17:07 GMT

I agree unless you are an idiot and don't know anything about money and in two years you are broke again... it happens all the time. When I win the mega millions I want to buy Eddie Murphy's house here in Granite Bay California....listed at 10 Million but he will be good if he gets 1/2 that amount because houses don't sell in Sacramento or Granite bay for 10 million not even for Eddie Murphy's house.

Comment #11

Rip Snorter — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 16:04:07 GMT

Depends entirely on individual priorities, expectations, and ambitions, seems to me.What you say is certainly true of a lot of players, probably all players when the annuity payments are, say, a million a year or less.But when it gets so the annuity payments are five, six million a year or more, the picture changes. It's not difficult for me to imagine a body of players out there who would feel they don't need more money than 5 m a year to play around with, will never need more than that. Most... [ More ]

Comment #10

Chewie — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 15:37:09 GMT

Didn't some one recently post information about the IRS and Annuity payments; where, if you die, the IRS wants all the tax money in one big lump? That part would make me leary about Annuity, especially on jackpots of the current size. That would be setting up a situation of paying the IRS and state a lump sum, and then the family still paying annually. With lump sum, of say $100M, I am sure I could find adequate help to manage the finances, with minimum imput from me. There are a few people I ha... [ More ]

Comment #9

Bradly_60 — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 15:29:36 GMT

I understand the annuity concept for the lotteries, but for the players it just doens't make sense. It all had to do with the Time Value of money. Money now is worth then more money in the future. No matter how big the annuity payments are you should take the lump sum.Brad

Comment #8

Rip Snorter — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 12:59:14 GMT

Hi iwonabigone. Welcome to LP. Here's hoping you get the opportunity to wallow in some bucks until you tire of it.I was just looking over the annuities vs lump on the USA Mega site. Although I think it's a bad thing for them to advertise the annuity as the jackpot amount, I think when things get to this level a person who believes he stands a middling chance of living another 20-30 years couldn't really go wrong by accepting that means of payment. Works out 5.5 M per year plus change after ta... [ More ]

Comment #7

iwonabigone — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 06:59:31 GMT

Imagine this. There is someone out there who probably is broke or going through a rough time with money. Probably someone who has been poor there entire life. Then with just the purchase of a ticket they become richer then they ever dreamed of being and having everything they could imagine, private jets, million dollar mansions and vacation homes, exotic 100k trips a staff of servants, bentleys by the dozen, unlimited $ shopping trips to the finest stores in the world . cool cool cool. What I wo... [ More ]

Comment #6

JimmySand9 — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 03:25:47 GMT

There's a remote chance of winner on Tuesday, only remote because it's Tuesday. Friday will definately see a winner if it rolls on Tuesday. With California seeing their biggest jackpot right now, expect A LOT of tickets to be sold there.

Comment #5

wizeguy — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 03:04:11 GMT

I feel lucky! Have tickets for me and Mom. $2 per ticket good for the next 4 draws.

Comment #4

Chewie — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 22:28:37 GMT

I bought two draws worth last week, figuring it would go atleast until Tuesday. Bought last week, just to cover myself. I usually like to see it hit around $20M Cash, but this time around, I would like to see it set a record. (What is the record

Comment #3

RJOh — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 21:06:35 GMT

I remember when that jackpot was that high, I drove 2 hours up RT 23 to a Michigan truck stop/restaurant just north of the state line to buy tickets for myself and some former co-workers. The place hired extra help that week just to sell lottery tickets.There were two lines over 200 people long that ran though out the front part of the restaurant and into the parking lot and I had to wait about an hour to get my cards run. The other line was a little faster but it was only selling QPs. One of... [ More ]

Comment #2

CASH Only — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 20:33:27 GMT

I played this morning ($4 worth). At the same store I bought $10 of gas at $3.429.

Comment #1

DoctorEw220 — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 20:31:35 GMT

i already have my tickets.

$200 Million lottery jackpot has Mega Millions players' attention

Lottery Post — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 19:05:09 GMT

The hottest ticket in town these days is Mega Millions, now that the jackpot in the United States' biggest multi-state lottery game has reached $200 million.There was no jackpot winner in Friday's Mega Millions drawing, so Americans woke up to a jackpot that's bursting at an estimated $200 million for the Tuesday, September 13, 2005 drawing.The cash option for the Tuesday jackpot is estimated at $123 million. Players can see how much they would win after taxes at USA Mega (http://www.usamega.co... [ More ]