Posted on 01/10/2016 7:47:03 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Yes, I am sure. . .but I can easily see the illegal alien wiring money south, giving more to his illegal alien relatives here in the US and they wire bucks south, and then he totes the rest in a backpack as he heads south to cross the border illegally like he did to get here. . .
I completely agree. The fewer people who know about it the better.
An accountant who won back in the 80s wrote a book about things he should have done, like start a corporation in Nevada.
It's not nearly that good. Half of the $2 ticket value is added to the jackpot pool, as you say. The jackpot is paid out as an annuity over 30 years, the "cash value", about 60% of the annuity value is what you get immediately. The "power play" premium is not assigned to the jackpot, it goes to the house, even though all lesser prizes, including "power plays" are paid out of the jackpot. These lesser prizes amounted to almost $160 million dollars, or about 20% of the jackpot on this latest drawing.
Out of curiosity I have this question. OK, all taxes are taken out before the final sum is given to the winner. The question then is: if the winner gives any substantial amount to another individual does that person have to pay taxes again on that money? Not that it matter but I was wunderin’.
Yeah, I count cards ;)
This game is a rip-off. Play the lower-odds games in your state.
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Thats what I do. I use the lottery as a mental escape from whats going on in.................... oh well.
Yeah, both. My neighbor close to me gave me the screener for the Walhberg one as he works for the studio.
Also the scratch cards are a ripoff because they post the odds of a “winner” on the back of the ticket, but they count getting a free ticket as a winner. In actuality if you are just getting back the exact same amount as you put down you did not “win”. So when they say 1 out of every 4 cards is a winner it is probably more like 1 in every 12 since a couple of those winners are just free ticket.
Total ripoff.
its not about the odds, it is buying a wonderful fantasy
Anything over a 14,000 gift is taxable, but the donor must pay the tax not the recipient.
Yeah me and my buddies just spent about 10 bucks each on the Powerball and had fun all night talking about it and drinking Wild Turkey 101 and watching football. So as you say a few bucks to indulge a fantasy is cool.
First off the jackpot is only half of the lottery take. Then who ever wins it gives another half to the government again in taxes! Talk about a scam.
“People figure that you did nothing to earn it and so you should be obligated to shell a good portion of it out to others,”
Not me. I would go down to the local credit union I use and have always been impressed with. I would deposit it all there and insist that a couple of solid businessmen I know be put on the board.
Then I would enjoy life. No army of accountants and brokers looking to leech on. My 1% or whatever would be fine!
Then I would annoyingly act like I earned it and deserved it, and that my opinion was extremely important on each and every topic. I would frequently discuss how proud I was after I got my first million.
I would tease politicians and act like I was thinking about donating it all, then right at the handshake,,,,id change my mind.
I would learn and enjoy the word no. Played right, a billion dollar ticket could be comedy gold.
It would cost you $584,402,676 (292,201,338 x 2) to cover all possible outcomes, with an estimated $1,300,000,000 jackpot, worth about $800,000,000 in real money ("cash value"), something like a 7:5 favorable odds, if you are the sole winner. (Your contribution might bump the jackpot up enough to make it 2:1 favorable.) As a professional gambler, you could deduct the $584,402,676 from your winnings for tax purposes.
There are spoilers. There is no way to make "wild card" plays, i.e., play more than one combination on one play. The game is deliberately designed to be played retail instead of wholesale to keep out vultures who might swoop in on an unclaimed pot. Paying agents to purchase the tickets for you runs all kinds of risks and expenses and might not even be legal.
If it were possible to play "wholesale" to scoop up entire tranches of plays, including "all", as soon as a second player made that play, the bet has a negative expectation value.
If you are going to play -- and for small players the current situation seems to offer favorable odds -- avoid numbers lower than 31. If you win, you want to be the sole winner. You do not want to compete with people's birthdays and anniversaries. Something like 32 33 34 35 36 + power ball = your birthday might seem plausible, but too many other lazy people are going to make the same calculations. Pick five random numbers, all greater than 31. Avoid repeated digits (33, 44, 55,...), prime numbers (37, 41, 43, 47), much as I love them, or anything else that might attract competing bets. Doing so enhances you odds of being the sole winner.
And have fun, but don't quit your day job or bet the house.
Don’t know if I’d call it unprecedented. Maybe “manipulated” would be the right word.
I wondered about that, too, and have decided the way I would do it to share with my kids, etc. I think the money handed on to someone else, they would have to then pay taxes on it, too. If you win, Allen, when you cash it, say it was a “joint” ticket between you and whomever you want to give the cash. That way you know for sure each of you will only have to pay the taxes on it once.
It make perfect sense. People are greedy. Winning 1.3 billion is better than 500-800 million
I bet there are 4 winners next Wednesday.
when they changed the odds of matching all the Powerball numbers, from about one in 175 million to one in 292.2 million
The reason I call it "the stupid tax" is obvious, but the proof is how they advertised the change in odds. By nearly cutting the odds in half by adding additional numbered balls, they proclaimed that "Now you have more ways to win!"
The leftists, who happily collect the money from lotteries, claim this is a "tax on the poor." But it's really not. It's a tax on the ignorant. Sure, "someone has to win," but you never hear about the fact that when organized crime ran these sorts of things, at least they were honest when someone wins. For instance, if you win the big prizes with PowerBall, you only receive the full amount promised if you agree to collect the prize over 3 decades. If you want the money now, the government takes a percentage right off the top. Then you're subject to taxes as well.
Mark
Any money given away (after having paid federal taxes) is then taxed at 55% by the "gift tax," after a $1 million exemption.
Yes, the money you just paid nearly 40% in taxes on to receive, is now taxed at 55% to give away. But there's no "income tax" on the part of the receiver. The "giver" is liable for the gift tax.
Mark
I almost won the jackpot last night! I was only off by six numbers.
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