Powerball

[spaminator]

Across Canada about $1 million in lottery prize money goes unclaimed every month
By Dave Dormer, Calgary Sun
First posted: Thursday, January 14, 2016 06:42 PM EST | Updated: Thursday, January 14, 2016 07:55 PM EST

Check those lottery tickets closely before you throw them away.


They could be worth some of the estimated $1 million a month in prize money that goes unclaimed across Canada.


“Generally it’s about 1% of prizes that are not redeemed,” said Western Canada Lottery Corporation spokeswoman Andrea Marantz,


“When you consider the vast number of wins that happen, that 1% does add up for sure.


“With Lotto 6/49 and LottoMax, each month there are about $130 million in prizes awarded so that would be about $1 million that’s going unclaimed.”


Most unclaimed prizes are for smaller amounts — $10, $5, $2 or even a free play, said Marantz.


“Things get washed in jeans or get stuck in the glove compartment,” she said.


“It’s more lost tickets or the fact people haven’t bothered to keep track because it’s such a small amount.


“It’s really rare that it’s a large prize.”


Here in Alberta, only two large prizes are still outstanding from 2015 — $250,000 from the May 29 MaxMillions draw and $10,000 from the March 21 Lotto 6/49 draw.


Each year, Marantz said about $2 million in cash prizes goes unclaimed in Alberta.


“Most lottery players are semi-regular players,” said Marantz.


“They’re familiar enough they do realize there are a lot of other prizes on there, so people generally check their tickets.”


And Canadian lottery players seems to be better at checking tickets than their American counterparts, where officials there estimate roughly $2 billion goes unclaimed every year.


Lotto prizes in Canada must be claimed within one year from the draw date and any unclaimed money from national draws is used to guarantee jackpots and bonus draws while money from regional games is either used to beef up prizes or is returned to provinces and territories as general revenue.


For more information visit http://wclc.ca.


dave.dormer@sunmedia.ca


On Twitter: @SUNDaveDormer
Across Canada about $1 million in lottery prize money goes unclaimed every month

Fortune or faker? Powerball 'winner' not convincing on social media
Postmedia Network
First posted: Thursday, January 14, 2016 03:42 PM EST | Updated: Thursday, January 14, 2016 03:57 PM EST
Is this America's newest billionaire, or just a shaggy guy who's good at Photoshop?
The Internet appeared to be split on whether a bearded professional skateboarder from California, who claimed on Instagram that he won the Powerball, is the real deal.
"OMG I WON $1.5 BILLION!!!!! I'm posting this in case anyone tries to jack me this is proof! Look it up, I bought in chino hills where I grew up!" Erik Bragg posted on his account, with a photo of him holding up what appears to be a winning $1.6-billion ticket.
It would be one of three sold in the United States -- in Florida, Tennessee and, yes, California.
Tens of thousands liked and commented on Bragg's post.
But while many people jumped in to plead for cash, just as many dismissed his win as a hoax, finding evidence to suggest the photo was manipulated.
Is Erik Bragg America’s newest billionaire, or just a shaggy guy who’s good at Photoshop? The Internet appeared split on whether a bearded professional skateboarder from California, who claimed on Instagram that he won the Powerball. is the real deal. (Instagram / Postmedia Network )

Fortune or faker? Powerball 'winner' not convincing on social media | World | Ne

 

[spaminator]

Should lottery winners' names be secret? States debate issue
David Pitt, The Associated Press
First posted: Friday, January 15, 2016 10:38 AM EST | Updated: Friday, January 15, 2016 10:53 AM EST
DES MOINES, Iowa -- It's becoming increasingly possible for winners of big lottery jackpots to hide their identity, and lottery executives in the U.S. are trying to strike a balance between ensuring privacy and safety while proving to the public that real people can win.
The debate comes after a record $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot this week. The three states with Powerball winners from Wednesday's drawing -- California, Florida and Tennessee -- require winners to disclose their names, which is the policy of most states that play the game.
Jackpot winners "get a big old target painted on their backs," said Andrew Stoltmann, an Illinois attorney who has represented winners. When their names are released, "they get harassed and harangued into some horrifically bad investments."
On the other hand, allowing winners to collect jackpots in secret invites public suspicion and makes it easier for cheating to go undetected, according to gambling experts and others.
Delaware, Kansas, Maryland, North Dakota, Ohio and South Carolina allow winners to remain anonymous. A growing number of other states, including Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont, will award prizes to a trust and allow a trustee -- usually an attorney -- to collect without disclosing the name of the ticket holder.
Bills to keep lottery winners names confidential failed in North Carolina and New York in the last few years. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in 2013 vetoed a bill that called for a one-year delay in releasing names, saying it could reduce lottery sales by muting public excitement when winners are announced. Similar measures have also been introduced in Arizona, Pennsylvania and Texas.
Advocates of privacy cite cases in which winners saw their lives upended after their wealth became widely known.
One example cited by Don McNay, a Kentucky financial adviser who has represented lottery winners, is Abraham Shakespeare, a Florida janitor who won a cash payout of $17 million in the Florida lottery in 2006.
Shakespeare had spent or given away most of his prize by the time he met Dorice Dee Dee Moore in late 2008. She befriended him and became his financial adviser, with control over his remaining money and his home.
Shakespeare disappeared in April 2009. His body was found nine months later, encased in concrete and buried behind the home of Moore's ex-boyfriend. Shakespeare had been shot twice in the chest. Moore, convicted of his murder, is serving a life prison sentence.
Oregon typically requires public release of winners' names, but the state lottery allowed a man from Iraq to remain anonymous after he won an Aug. 24 Megabucks drawing worth $6.4 million. The man, who purchased the ticket on an international website, said the jackpot would place his family in danger if his identity were known.
Critics say that allowing winners to hide their identity is a convenient way to conceal criminal activity.
Iowa prosecutors say a computer expert working for the Multi-State Lottery Association, or MUSL, which runs games for 37 member states and U.S. territories, figured out how to rig number-generating computers to pick his set of numbers.
Authorities believe Eddie Tipton and his associates successfully cashed in tickets in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Wisconsin, netting more than $2.6 million in payouts. Tipton was convicted of fraud in July for attempting to claim a $16.5 million Hot Lotto jackpot in Iowa.
Gary Grief, chairman of the Powerball committee for MUSL, insists he has complete confidence in the integrity of the time-tested ball-drawing system, and he still supports revealing winners' names.
Should lottery winners' names be secret? States debate issue | World | News | To

 

[Curious Cdn]

$1.5 billion will ruin your life.. what planet you from dude.

10 Islands You Can Buy If You Win The $500 Million Powerball Jackpot (Photos)

Guarantee with that kind of money, you can distance yourself quickly from all the numbers in the world..

... a practical one where real human beings live who aren't stoned out of their minds, all of the time.

 

[tay]

A woman from Cordova, TN has raised a little more than $800 in seven hours via her Powerball Reimbursement Go Fund Me page.

Nicole alleges to have spent all of her money on purchasing tickets with the assumption she would win the $1.6 billion jackpot.

Despite the chances of anyone winning the jackpot being 1 in 292.2 million, Nicole still decided to go big, and unfortunately now can’t go home because she allegedly doesn’t have any money.

Please help me and my family as we have exausted all of our funds. We spent all of our money on lottery tickets (expecting to win the 1.5 billion) and are now in dire need of cash. With your small donation of at least $1.00, a like and one share, I’m certain that we will be able to pick ourselves up from the trenches of this lost and spend another fortune trying to hit it big again! PLEASE, won’t you help a family in need. DONATE NOW.

https://www.yahoo.com/music/powerball-reimbursement-fund-page-created-235504618.html

 

[Curious Cdn]

What gets me is that the winner from Tennessee is going to keep working at his fairly menial job, or so he says.

Step aside, *******! Let someone else who needs your job to feed their family have it!

Really.

 

[tay]

What gets me is that the winner from Tennessee is going to keep working at his fairly menial job, or so he says.

Step aside, *******! Let someone else who needs your job to feed their family have it!

Really.

They seem like a fairly simple couple and could be without that money in 6 months.

I'm always puzzled by winners who feel they need to hire a lawyer in the first place but that said the lawyer they hired is pretty special as well.

Most logical winners of such large sums wish to remain anonymous for the obvious reasons, particularly in the USA but if I was them I would have fired this lawyer as soon as he made this suggestion.


Watch the first minute of the video below.......


$533 million Powerball winner already made his worst mistake

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN5wk7KO_cI

 

[B00Mer]

A woman from Cordova, TN has raised a little more than $800 in seven hours via her Powerball Reimbursement Go Fund Me page.

Nicole alleges to have spent all of her money on purchasing tickets with the assumption she would win the $1.6 billion jackpot.

Despite the chances of anyone winning the jackpot being 1 in 292.2 million, Nicole still decided to go big, and unfortunately now can’t go home because she allegedly doesn’t have any money.

Please help me and my family as we have exausted all of our funds. We spent all of our money on lottery tickets (expecting to win the 1.5 billion) and are now in dire need of cash. With your small donation of at least $1.00, a like and one share, I’m certain that we will be able to pick ourselves up from the trenches of this lost and spend another fortune trying to hit it big again! PLEASE, won’t you help a family in need. DONATE NOW.

https://www.yahoo.com/music/powerball-reimbursement-fund-page-created-235504618.html

That scammer's GoFundMe Page is gone..

That bitch needs to get a job and a life.

 

[Curious Cdn]

They seem like a fairly simple couple and could be without that money in 6 months.

I'm always puzzled by winners who feel they need to hire a lawyer in the first place but that said the lawyer they hired is pretty special as well.

Most logical winners of such large sums wish to remain anonymous for the obvious reasons, particularly in the USA but if I was them I would have fired this lawyer as soon as he made this suggestion.


Watch the first minute of the video below.......




$533 million Powerball winner already made his worst mistake

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN5wk7KO_cI

Would you buy a used car from that smarmy ambulance chaser? He looks like an also-ran from the GOP race.

 

[B00Mer]

Would you buy a used car from that smarmy ambulance chaser? He looks like an also-ran from the GOP race.

Why the GOP, why not the DNC?

 

[Curious Cdn]

Same mold, same mold ...

 

[tay]

GoFundMe Shuts Down Campaign Of Woman Who Blew Life Savings On Powerball Tickets




GoFundMe Shuts Down Campaign Of Woman Who Blew Life Savings On Powerball Tickets | The Source

 

[spaminator]

How Canadian lottery odds stack up against U.S. Powerball
Aleksandra Sagan, The Canadian Press
First posted: Tuesday, January 19, 2016 02:57 PM EST | Updated: Tuesday, January 19, 2016 03:05 PM EST
TORONTO -- Canadians disappointed at losing out on last week's US$1.6 billion Powerball jackpot may want to play closer to home, where a number of lotteries not only have better odds but also better value.
Anyone with a ticket for the record-high prize last week had merely a one in more than 292 million chance to win.
To put that in perspective, someone who purchases 50 tickets weekly would win the jackpot, on average, once every 112,000 years, said Mike Orkin, a former statistics professor and author of "What Are The Odds?"
But odds are only one way to determine whether to play. The size of the jackpot and the cost of the ticket help determine what's known as the expected percentage return of a lottery.
"That's the best way to look at how good a lottery is," said Shannon Ezzat, a mathematics professor at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S.
For the Powerball, like many other U.S.-government run lotteries, people who play over long periods of time can generally expect to make 50 cents on every dollar spent, said Orkin.
"In other words, you'll lose 50% of your investment."
Similar Canadian lotteries can offer a slightly better return, partially because winnings aren't taxed. In the U.S., winnings can be taxed up to 50%.
"That really reduces your expected values," Ezzat said, which are likely lower than 50% for the Powerball after factoring in taxes.
Lotto Max and Lotto 6/49, on the other hand, generally hover between 40% and 60%, Ezzat said.
But the risk of multiple winners, which increases as more tickets are sold, can lower those numbers.
For example, a single Lotto 6/49 ticket stands a one in nearly 14 million chance of winning. But if 28 million tickets are sold, said Ezzat, it's more likely there will be two winners splitting the jackpot, which lowers the expected percentage value of each ticket.
Charity fundraisers, meantime, sell more expensive tickets but boast better odds. Among the dozens of charity lotteries, the Heart & Stroke Foundation's lottery claims that roughly one in two tickets wins a prize.
But these lotteries generally don't provide better expected values than provincial games of chance, Ezzat said, because tickets for these types of lotteries are generally expensive -- $100 or more -- and the prize values vary. The Heart & Stroke Foundation's prizes include $1 million, luxury cars or simply $25, $50 or $100 cash.
Rather than buying one ticket, Ezzat said some bulk ticket packages -- like the Sick Kids lottery's 20 tickets for $900 -- can turn into a good deal if purchased with 19 other people. The expected percentage return per ticket, in that case, is 87, he said.
There are also fundraising lotteries, including Chase the Ace. The odds for Chase the Ace, a popular lottery made famous by a recent $1.7-million jackpot in Inverness, N.S., seem to increase the longer the game lasts.
It has two parts: a lottery, which then gives the winner the chance to draw the ace of spades from a deck of cards for a bigger chunk of the jackpot. The expected percentage return increases as fewer cards remain, Ezzat said.
"In some sense, the people who play early are subsidizing the people who get in later," he said.
The only time Ezzat has ever calculated a positive expected percentage return in any lottery was for Inverness's final draw last year, when organizers pledged to continue selecting tickets until someone pulled the ace from a remaining five cards to end the game.
For anyone with a ticket that day, the expected percentage return totalled 121%, he said. This means, if someone played the game billions of times, they would earn on average $1.21 for every dollar spent.
"Most times, you won't win," he said. "But the couple times you do? You'll win really big."
So-called 50/50 draws, meantime -- where the winner pockets half the ticket sales -- are a popular fixture at Canadian sporting events.
But unless the organizers offer discounted bulk tickets, the expected percentage return is always 50%, said Ezzat.
"There's no benefit in getting in early," he said. "It doesn't matter."
But while the odds fluctuate based on the game, Orkin said, there's really few good reasons to play any lottery.
There's the profoundly slim chance of changing one's life with a massive payoff from a small investment, he said, but -- so long as there's no gambling problem -- "it's worth it to go out and buy a couple of lottery tickets, especially when the jackpot gets high, if you find it entertaining."
How Canadian lottery odds stack up against U.S. Powerball | Canada | News | Toro

 

[tay]

A forklift operator who recently won a nearly half-million dollar Georgia lottery jackpot was killed overnight Thursday during a home invasion robbery, investigators confirmed.

Officials said 20-year-old Craigory Burch, Jr. died from gunshot wounds at a home on Stubbs Avenue.

Burch had won a $434,272 Fantasy 5 jackpot in November 2015.

Once on scene, GBI agents spent the overnight hours collecting evidence from the home.

A shotgun blast blew open the door and three masked, armed men ran in, she said.

"When they came in, he said, 'don't do it bro. Don't do it in front of my kids. Please don't do it in front of my kids and old lady. Please don't do that bro. Please don't. He said I'll give you my bank card," Hendricks recalled.

That's when Burch threw his pants to the robbers, who looked for but couldn't find his wallet.

Then they shot and killed him before running away.

Friends of Burch said that he had recently used some of his winnings to buy Christmas presents for people in need.

Recent lottery winner killed in home invasion - WALB.com, South Georgia News, Weather, Sports


Georgia considers anonymity option for lottery winners

Georgia considers anonymity option for lottery winners - WALB.com, South Georgia News, Weather, Sports

 

[Curious Cdn]

... another heart warming story from the Land off the Free ...

The locks on our car doors lock automatically after you've gone a short distance. My children were asking "why" because it doesn't make any sense from a safety point of view to make it harder to get out of your car in an emergency. We explained to them that they are "American locks" that lock so that you don't get your throat cut when you stop at a light which is necessary down there. I'll bet that people all over the planet are wondering why their cars have to lock, automatically as well since those ultraviolent conditions are not widespread.

 

[B00Mer]

It's official now He's got Powerball cash in pocket. He said he will share $10,000 to everyone who Likes, comments and Shares this post .. So happy for you bro.

Like

Keep dreaming folks

 

[spaminator]

California couple claims $528.8 million prize in record Powerball jackpot
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Tuesday, July 19, 2016 03:11 PM EDT | Updated: Tuesday, July 19, 2016 08:08 PM EDT
CHINO HILLS, Calif. -- While Californians have mused for months about the mystery buyer of a Powerball ticket worth $528.8 million, the couple holding the lucky numbers was busy lining up lawyers and financial advisers to help them handle their enormous winnings.
Flanked by security, Marvin and Mae Acosta went to a state lottery office in Van Nuys on Friday to claim their share of a record $1.6 billion Powerball drawing in January, Alex Traverso, a California lottery spokesman, disclosed on Tuesday.
In a statement, the Acostas said they are dedicating nearly all of the prize money to a trust and charities. "We are thankful and blessed for the rare gift that has been placed in our care," they said.
Their names are public record under state law, but Traverso requested that other personal information remain private.
Property records show a couple with the same names purchased a 5-bedroom home for $475,000 last fall in Eastvale, a Southern California community about 10 miles from the 7-Eleven where the winning ticket was purchased. A neighbour said the couple who lived there had two children and moved out last Thursday, a day before the prize was claimed.
Public records showed that Marvin Acosta is 39 years old and Mae Acosta is 40.
Many Californians might have difficulty understanding why the couple would sit on such a mega-prize for so long. But that kind of studied preparation is exactly what state lottery officials recommend for winners to avoid falling prey to scams or mismanagement.
"We couldn't be happier for them and are thrilled they took the time to assemble the right team before coming in to claim," California Lottery Director Hugo Lopez said in a statement.
The Acostas will take their winnings in a cash option totalling $327.8 million before federal taxes, lottery officials said.
The Acostas bought their ticket six months ago at the convenience store in Chino Hills, California, a quiet community about 35 miles east of Los Angeles. It was one of three winning tickets sold for the Jan. 13 drawing. Winners in Florida and Tennessee came forward within days to claim their prize money.
Word that one of the winning tickets was sold in California brought excited crowds in January to the 7-Eleven. Gawkers crowded the store and parking lot, mugging for TV cameras and chanting the city's name in celebration of its sudden celebrity.
Store owner Balbir Atwal said Tuesday he doesn't know the Acostas by name. However, their good fortune has been a boon for him as well. He collected $1 million from the state lottery for selling the winning ticket and his lottery sales are up 80 per cent at the 7-Eleven.
"Everybody is like, this is a lucky place so everybody comes here to play," he said.
Renie Alano, a 65-year-old retiree, is one of them. He made a special stop Tuesday to pick up lottery tickets.
"The lucky store is always favourable, you know?" he said. "Everybody goes to where it's hitting. I think that's the best way to do it."
The Tennessee winners were a small-town couple, John and Lisa Robinson of Munford, who also took the lump sum payment. They said they didn't intend to stop working -- John as a warehouse supervisor and Lisa at a dermatologist's office -- and would stay in their one-story house. They planned to pay off their mortgage and their daughter's student loans.
The Florida winners, David Kaltschmidt and Maureen Smith of Melbourne Beach, took the lump sum as well. Kaltschmidt said he would retire from his job as a manufacturing engineer but wouldn't otherwise change his day-to-day life.
Smith, who identified herself as a homemaker, said she was concerned that winning might make her less friendly because of all the worrying.
California couple claims $528.8 million prize in record Powerball jackpot | Worl

 

[spaminator]

1 winning ticket in $487 million Powerball jackpot
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Sunday, July 31, 2016 01:30 AM EDT | Updated: Sunday, July 31, 2016 01:34 AM EDT
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Powerball officials say one ticket sold in New Hampshire matches all six numbers in the Powerball drawing worth $487 million.
The winning numbers for the Powerball are 11-17-21-23-32 and the Powerball number is 5.
The numbers were drawn Saturday night for the nation's eighth-largest lottery jackpot.
There had not been a winner since May 7, when a family from New Jersey won a $429.6 million jackpot.
Tickets are sold in 44 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
1 winning ticket in $487 million Powerball jackpot | World | News | Toronto Sun

 

[spaminator]

20 co-workers split nearly $421M Powerball jackpot
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Tuesday, November 29, 2016 02:02 PM EST | Updated: Tuesday, November 29, 2016 07:21 PM EST
NASHVILLE — Tennessee Lottery officials say 20 co-workers at a metal manufacturing plant will split a Powerball jackpot of nearly $421 million.
The Tennessean reports lottery officials announced Tuesday that the workers from North American Stamping Group in Portland claimed the $420.9 million jackpot. The cash value of the jackpot is worth $254 million, which would give each person $12.7 million before taxes.
The ticket matched all six Powerball numbers drawn Saturday. It was sold at Smoke Shop in Lafayette in Macon County, which is about 60 miles northeast of Nashville.
It’s the second largest overall prize for the state, bested only by the $528 million Powerball prize won by a Munford family in January.
Lottery officials say it is the sixth Powerball jackpot won in Tennessee.
20 co-workers split nearly $421M Powerball jackpot | World | News | Toronto Sun

 

[spaminator]

Winning US$447.8M Powerball ticket bought in California

 

[spaminator]

Powerball jackpot climbs to $700 million, 2nd largest in U.S. history
Scott McFetridge, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Tuesday, August 22, 2017 01:00 PM EDT | Updated: Tuesday, August 22, 2017 01:09 PM EDT
DES MOINES, Iowa — The Powerball jackpot has increased to $700 million, making it the second largest in U.S. history.
Lottery officials raised the expected jackpot Tuesday, pushing it past a $656 million Mega Millions jackpot won in 2012 by three people.
The prize for Wednesday’s drawing has grown so massive because it’s been more than two months since a jackpot winner, on June 10. The prize remains far less than the record $1.6 billion prize won by three people in January 2016.
The latest $700 million prize refers to the annuity option, paid over 29 years. The cash option would be $443.3 million.
The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot is one in 292.2 million.
Powerball is played in 44 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Here are some details about the game and how the prize has grown so large:
WHEN IS THE DRAWING AND HOW DOES THE GAME WORK?
The drawing will be Wednesday at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time in Tallahassee, Florida. Five white balls will be drawn from a drum containing 69 balls and one red ball will be selected from a drum with 26 balls. To win, players need to have paid $2 for a ticket and either have chosen numbers or opted to let a computer make a random choice.
THE PRIZE
The jackpot is listed as $700 million, but that refers to the annuity option, doled out in 30 payments over 29 years. Nearly all winners favour the cash option, which pays significantly less. For the current jackpot, the cash prize would be $443.3 million.
THE ODDS
The odds of winning are one in 292.2 million. Tom Rietz, a professor at the University of Iowa who researches probabilities, says one way to think about it is to envision the 324 million U.S. residents. Your chance of winning is roughly comparable to being that one lucky person out of the entire population, with everyone else losing.
TAXES
Federal income taxes will take a 25 per cent bite from winnings. State taxes vary, so the amount winners will pay in taxes depend on where they play. Some of the nation’s biggest states, including California and Texas, don’t assess state taxes on lottery prizes, so winners in those spots would be just a bit richer.
WHAT IF I MATCH SOME BUT NOT ALL THE NUMBERS?
Face it, you’re almost certainly not going to win the jackpot, but players have much better odds of one in 25 of winning a lesser prize. Those odds range from one in 11.7 million of winning $1 million for matching the five regular balls to one in 38 for matching the Powerball and winning $4.
WHAT’S THE POINT OF POWERBALL?
Amid all the talk about sudden wealth, it’s easy to forget that the purpose of Powerball is to raise money for government programs in the 44 states where the game is played, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Each jurisdiction decides how to spend the money raised by Powerball and other lottery games, with some funding college scholarships, others spending the money on transportation and many using it for general state programs.
Follow Scott McFetridge on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/smcfetridge
Powerball jackpot climbs to $700 million, 2nd largest in U.S. history | World |