Lottery tickets are a pretty commonplace gift for the holidays. It's an easy way to give someone something completely noncommittal and kind of fun gift, where even if they don't win, they play a little.
But what if you did win?
It's a fun, though unlikely, thought. Still, not impossible.
Do you ever just let your mind wander a little bit into the realm of what it would be like if you won fabulous riches?
Redditor clooless46 asked:
"A relative gives you a $10 scratcher for the holidays and you win a $1,000,000 prize right in front of them. What do you do?"
Here were some of those fantasies.
What COULD Happen
"OMG, I remember a People’s Court episode over a scratch off. My mom loved that show."
"Apparently two friends went grocery shopping together. First one pays then asks second one if she can borrow $1. Second one gives her a buck. Well, first one bought a scratcher and won something like $500 or $1000."
"Second one demanded the money, as it was her dollar. Ended up in front of Judge Wapner, who ruled that second one only deserves $1."
"His point to her when she protested was 'if your friend bought a Coke with that dollar, would you sue her for it?' So there’s at least a similar TV court precedent, lol!"-LaLionneEcossaise
Hi-Ho The Glamorous Life
"It actually happened to a friend of mine. Gave his dad a scratch ticket for his birthday, and he scratched it like you do, and honest-to-f**k, he won $1,000,000."
"The son had posted a video, it was with a pre-iPhone camera phone (kids, they were terrible). He went to check it at the store just to confirm and it was like watching someone have an out of body experience."
"Generally, he’s relatively reserved. But watching him go and check it was completely different. He was screaming, having panic attacks, including hard time breathing. He couldn’t contain himself. It was pretty cool to watch."
"They came from lower/middle class, they bought a nice sized house, and gave the son a sizeable amount. I don’t know exact numbers, but he got a nice vehicle, and a few other nice things. It was quite the story."-four4youglencoco
-Shrug-
"Laugh. There isn't much to do."
"Like they give you a scratcher in hope for you to win, and if you win, then both parties should be happy, otherwise you shouldn't buy a scratcher for people if you don't want them to win."-MorrowFane
It's true that too much money can really turn some people a little crazy.
Pre-Empting Part One
"Split it. Straight down the middle, no hesitation. Actually surprised the top 5 comments have 100's of upvotes all effectively saying 'f**k you, that's my money.' 1 mil is no joke, half a mil is enough to change a life."
"Better to change both of your lives and have a shared life-changing event. I'd feel guilty as fuck, and depending on the relative maybe even slightly afraid, if I gave them just 10% or even nothing."
"That sounds like some deep rooted resentment waiting to manifest. Anyway, reverse the roles, you'd feel pretty jipped if somebody you cared enough about to buy a gift for decided to keep the lot for themselves."-ediblehunt
Pre Empting Part Two
"Seems like it wouldn't be a bad idea to just ask them straight up if they expect anything. They get one shot to be generous or greedy with their answer, and you can still say no to whatever they propose if you choose to."
"My guess is no matter what you offer, your idea of fair and their idea of fair is highly likely to be different and I think it would be a rare relative that wouldn't manage to have hard feelings if they feel shorted somehow."
"You'll never convince them it's fair unless it was their idea."-MDF247
Expectations Vs. Reality
"Just to point something out immediately, they bought YOU the Scratchcard. You don't owe them anything, but common decency would dictate you should show your gratitude."
"I'd likely pay to take their family on a holiday, and pay off any debts or a mortgage they have. And maybe a car. If I bought someone a scratchcard and they won big, I wouldn't expect them to give me half their money, but I must admit that if they won a million, I'd at least would want them to pay off my 15k debt, I wouldn't want anything else."
"I bought them the Scratchcard as a gift, which I've done many times, and that gift has no strings attached."-Dangerous-Jaguar-654
Sharing Is Caring
"Of course I share with my entire family, no hesitation at all."
"Not just the person who gifted it to me. It was a gift. It became mine, win or lose. Imo, it is legally and morally my money to do with as I choose."
"I would choose to share with my family. Not out of obligation or with the gifter because of 'owing them.' I would choose to share because it is my money and that would be how I'd 'spend' it. ❤️"-4letters1name
There is a lot of pressure to immediately figure out what you are going to do with this money once you get it.
To The Vault!
"Keep my damn mouth shut and not make any promises. Get the ticket in to a safe deposit box as soon as possible. Give it a few days and decide what I want to give them."
"Some relatives would get half the after-tax amount, some would get far less and I'd enjoy watching them explode over such a slight."
"Once I've come to a decision I'd have my lawyer draw up paperwork. No handshake agreements, no verbal agreements, ink and paper!"
"Once the paperwork was drawn up, signed, and notarized I'd retrieve the ticket. Cash it, divide as agreed, and go about my day."-NS8VN
Just In Case.....
"I'm sure this will get lost in the comments... but years ago (like 2002) my boss asked me to go get him a quick pick for the lottery while I was at lunch. The lottery in my area was north of 300 mil at the time. He gave me the money to snag it for him while I was out."
"When I was going in to buy it, I had the sudden realization that the ticket I buy might win him millions and I would have literally handed that over to him. I spent about 10 minutes trying to figure out a solution to this realization and did the only thing I could think of to do."
"I purchased his ticket with quick pick as he requested (computer assisted.) I then took his ticket and went and manually played the numbers the computer picked for his ticket and purchased that for myself."
"That way if somehow he won, he'd at least be splitting it with me."
"I never told him this story and I still have lunch with him to this day every so often despite not working for him since 2004. In fact, ironically enough he called me today to wish me a late happy thanksgiving."-jackfirefish
Touching
"I work for a very large lottery operator. On my first day they gave us a tour of the facilities and there was an elderly couple there who’d won a price of approximately $10k per month for 10 years and they were there to collect."
"It was like watching two people have an out of body experience and they were waiting for someone to wake them up or something."
"Increasingly heart warming stuff when they started talking about all the really mundane stuff they were going to do with the money that they couldn’t do before. Like, fix the air con, visit their daughter interstate et."-Linkan1234
Some people have a clearer idea of what they need wealth and riches for. Some people have no idea--they just know that having it would elevate their status.
But some people could really see their lives change for the better with an influx of money. And that's why so many of us dream of things like winning the lottery.
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