If you found a million dollars sitting in a convenience store trash can, would you take it? In that case, it’s probably better to call the police. But when an Arkansas woman scanned her lottery ticket and learned it was a loser, she tossed it in the garbage. Another customer who likes to check discarded tickets for small winnings found the ticket and learned that it was worth one million dollars. [More]
lottery
Lucky Woman Defies Odds, Wins $1 Million Powerball Lottery Twice In One Day
By 4.25.12
Try as you might, you can’t seem to win one dang lottery, much less win two in one day. Sure, life isn’t fair — unless you’re the woman who happened to have two Powerball tickets with winning numbers on the same day. Share the wealth, lady! [More]
Michigan Lottery Winner Charged With Welfare Fraud
By 4.17.12
There’s been another development in the saga of the Michigan woman who won $1 million in the lottery but continued to collect food stamps. The state’s attorney general announced today that the woman had been charged with welfare fraud. [More]
Even Knowing The Winningest Lottery Numbers Won't Help You Score The Mega Millions
By 3.30.12
Sure, there are numbers that have been drawn a few times in the Mega Millions lottery, and it’s fun to know what they are and dream about the dollar sign-shaped pool you’d put in your yard, but odds are, you’re probably not going to win. But hey, dare to dream, and trying out some common numbers can’t hurt. [More]
So You Won A Bajillion Dollars In The Lottery — Now What?
By 3.29.12
Sure, only like, one in a zillion of you might need this information — but what exactly do you do when you win the mega jackpot lottery? Before you run off with your millions of dollars to fill a pool with gold coins so as to swim through it, Scrooge McDuck style, there are some very important things to consider. Why not prepare yourself for your future filthy rich state? [More]
No More Food Stamps For $1 Million Michigan Lottery Winner
By 3.8.12
Remember that story about the woman in Michigan who won $1 million in the lottery but also managed to keep receiving $200/month in food assistance? Apparently people at the Michigan Dept. of Human Services also read the news, because they’ve now cut off her benefits. [More]
Michigan Woman Who Won $1 Million In Lottery Stays On Food Stamps
By 3.7.12
It’s not unheard of for recent Michigan lottery winners to consider themselves so hard up that they subsist on food stamps. Following last year’s revelation that a Michigan man who won $2 million in the state lottery remained on welfare, now there are reports that a woman who snagged $1 million in winnings is doing the same. [More]
If You Really Need To Win The Lottery, You Probably Shouldn't Play
By 2.20.12
You don’t need to be a financial genius to realize that lottery tickets are a poor investment. Players plunk down a little bit of money in exchange for short-lived, long shot dreams of wealth. While indulging the urge to buy a ticket won’t kill most budgets, the regular, compulsive act of gambling needed funds on all-but-unwinnable bets is something different. [More]
Man Accidentally Plays Wrong Lottery Game And Wins $14.3 Million
By 1.23.12
Winning the lottery is all about luck — or is it about accidentally buying a ticket thinking it’s one game instead of another? Either way, one Wisconsin man won the $14.3 million Megabucks pot, but was oblivious to his windfall for three days. [More]
Michigan Lottery Won't Let Anyone Else Play 1111 Today
By 11.11.11
There has been a lot of talk about today being 11-11-11 (or if you’re European, 11-11-11) and how a number of people somehow think that this might be a good number to play in any number of lottery drawings. But the folks at the Michigan Lottery Commission have stopped any more people from selecting these digits because the state wouldn’t be able to pay everyone who picked them. [More]
Georgia Woman Wins $25 Million Lottery Due To Clerk's Mistake
By 10.6.11
It takes an incredible amount of lock to win a lottery jackpot, and still greater fortune to win on a ticket you didn’t even intend to purchase. A Georgia woman who was looking for a job won out on both fronts when she won on a ticket a clerk gave her by accident. [More]
Elderly Couple Games Lottery To Win Big Money
By 8.3.11
Lotteries are said to be sucker bets for those who lack mathematical understanding, but some who understand systemic quirks can exploit them for huge gains. [More]
Lottery Winner Continues To Use Food Stamps
By 5.18.11
A Michigan man isn’t letting something a lottery windfall stop him from using government assistance to buy food. [More]
Avoid The Lottery: Play This Deeply Depressing Lottery Simulator Instead
By 9.29.10
There are lots of things that you would probably do if you won the lottery. Pay off your family members’ mortgages, fill a Jacuzzi with hot chocolate, buy a water park, or donate to your favorite blog. However, a basic understanding of math will force you to admit that there are much better places for your dollar than the lottery’s coffers. You can, however, simulate the experience of playing the lottery for decades at a time without ever spending money on a ticket. This handy web app simulates the experience of playing the same numbers in the multi-state MegaMillions game for as long as ten years. [More]
NY Lottery Goes After Chase MasterCard Over 'Illegal' Fees
By 9.17.10
A couple weeks back, we brought you the story of a reader who found out that Chase now considers playing the lottery as internet gambling — but only after they nailed him with exorbitant fees and sky-high interest. Now, the New York Lottery has turned the tables on Chase MasterCard, alleging that these extra charges are illegal. [More]
VIDEO: Store Clerk Learns He's $258.5 Million Powerball Winner
By 4.26.10
If you’ve ever played the lottery, here’s your chance to vicariously live through the moment of realizing you’re the winner. Store clerk Chris Shaw recently became a $258.5 million Powerball winner of the Missouri lottery, and here’s the footage of him arriving at the gas station where he bought it and learning he gets all the marbles. If anything he seems pretty aw shucks and humble about it. [More]
Fake Lottery Winner Enrages Burlington Coat Factory Shoppers
By 10.17.09
Earlier this week, a lottery winner pulled up her stretch Hummer in front of a Burlington Coat Factory store near Columbus, Ohio. In an Oprah-esque share of largesse, she promised to buy every shopper in the store $500 worth of merchandise. But she turned out to be no fairy godmother. She wasn’t even a real lottery winner. When customers discovered the lie, they took their frustration out on the store, trashing it.
