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Man visits 40 stores to find sole remaining $5 million scratch-off prize.
Fox 8 ^ | August 1, 2020 | CNN Wire

Posted on 08/03/2020 1:43:39 AM PDT by L.A.Justice

CHANDLER, N.C. (CNN) — After around 40 stores and four hours of searching, one North Carolina man finally struck gold.

Kevin Clark, of Candler, North Carolina, played a hunch and went on a journey to find the last top prize of the $5,000,000 Mega Cash scratch-off game.

“I had a real good feeling it was going to be in the western part of the state,” Clark said, according to the NC Education Lottery.

Clark spent four hours going store to store, buying every single $20 Mega Cash ticket, until he finally found the winner at a Stop N Go on U.S. 70 in Swannanoa, North Carolina.

(Excerpt) Read more at fox8.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: lottery; megacash; northcarolina
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To: L.A.Justice

Insider info. Yeah, the lottery is legit. /sarc


21 posted on 08/03/2020 4:42:43 AM PDT by LouAvul (Put them in fear, O Lord: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Psalms 9:20)
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To: L.A.Justice
So the $5m prize is really only $2.1m after taxes.

Something wrong with that picture. Also, isn't the state double-dipping? The price of the ticket is essentially in itself a tax, albeit a voluntary one.

BTW, $2.1m is not as life-changing as you might think. Many people already have that amount in their 401(ks). Using the 4% rule, that's $84,000 a year in retirement. Not too shabby, especially if you have some other incomes to combine with it, but this is not exactly "country club rich." This guy is still going to need to watch his expenses and budget accordingly to make it last.

He would be wise to bank the money for now and find a very good financial advisor to help him invest it properly. He should set up a will and carefully spell out who the beneficiaries of his windfall will be should be. Also, he should change his cell number and address if possible to avoid all the people who are going to come out of the woodwork with their hands out.

22 posted on 08/03/2020 4:55:16 AM PDT by SamAdams76
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To: L.A.Justice

Lottery commissions publish game statistics for scratch off games. This is not a new strategy. When a game has more dollars in prizes remaining than tickets to sell, it becomes an opportunity.


23 posted on 08/03/2020 5:02:37 AM PDT by IamConservative (I was nervous like the third chimp in line for the Ark after the rain started.)
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To: EEGator

Lottery: Tax on stupidity


24 posted on 08/03/2020 5:10:09 AM PDT by TheZMan (I am a secessionist.)
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To: Jonty30
Scratch tickets are similar to casino slot machines in that the game is "rigged" ahead of time to determine the "RTP" (Return to Player) percentage. On a typical slot machine, around 90% of the money bet is returned to the player. That might seem high but consider the amount of times a typical slot player spins the wheels in a given session and you can see how over time, a lot of money can be lost that way. Also, the high amount of "smaller jackpots" gives the slot player the perception they are doing much better than they actually are.

Scratch tickets have at best a 80% RTP, and more likely a 60-70% RTP, but typically the scratch ticket player is buying only a few tickets at a time, so when the player finally does get a sizeable win, it is easy for them to think they are ahead of the game, while quickly forgetting about all those times before when they didn't win. In other words, that $250 win is likely offset by $500 or more of losses from previous sessions.

As with slots, the higher jackpots go with the higher bets. People who buy $1 tickets tend to funnel any winnings right back into buying additional cards. Just like the penny slot machine player will typically keep on spinning until they are out of money, despite having been ahead a time or two during the session.

The people I know who have won sizeable jackpots on scratch tickets ($1,000 or more) have done so on $5, $10 or more cards. I know one $500k winner who won on a $20 card. The dollar ones are pretty much crap. Don't know of any big winners on a dollar card.

25 posted on 08/03/2020 5:16:32 AM PDT by SamAdams76
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To: EEGator
Lottery: Poor people taxes

If only that was true. Do you really think the person who spends their welfare check on lottery tickets goes hungry? No, they just ask for more welfare so we end up paying for their welfare and their lottery tickets unless they hit. Then it's all for them and none for us.

26 posted on 08/03/2020 5:23:28 AM PDT by Oshkalaboomboom
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To: albie
He’ll be broke in a year

That story comes from press bias. If one winner does things like lose a briefcase full of money at a strip club and ten winners in invest in tax free municipal bonds and live on the interest only the idiot will be reported on. The responsible ones will never be heard from again.

27 posted on 08/03/2020 5:40:18 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (In 2016 Obama ended America's 220 year tradition of peaceful transfer of power after an election.)
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

It is poor people taxes. People that don’t pay them and sponge off the rest of us had to pay somehow. So here’s how it’s done. “You can’t win if you don’t play” is very effective.


28 posted on 08/03/2020 5:51:32 AM PDT by albie
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To: Hillarys Gate Cult

Absolutely right. In Georgia, our lottery site lists how many of each top prizes there are and how many remain. They also announce sun setting of games. Combine that with the fact that you barely see a game anymore and the odds shift substantially.

He turned a sucker bet into a decent odds bet based on publicly available information.

The “hunch” part about location is silly though.


29 posted on 08/03/2020 6:04:41 AM PDT by laxcoach (Wear a hijab or you are selfish!)
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To: Dixie Yooper
The crooked insertion of The NC Education Lottery years ago, was custom made for just this type of story... Is the winner by any chance, related to a man by the name of Jim Black?


The new American dream, is winning the lottery. It used to be working hard and saving.
30 posted on 08/03/2020 6:08:26 AM PDT by The_Media_never_lie
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To: L.A.Justice

I want to know how he made it to 40 stores in four hours. Must drive fast.


31 posted on 08/03/2020 6:38:34 AM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: Gay State Conservative

“I’ll bet everything I own that he’ll be in bankruptcy court within 18 months!”

Sounds like a good way to get there yourself. :)


32 posted on 08/03/2020 6:57:50 AM PDT by PLMerite ("They say that we were Cold Warriors. Yes, and a bloody good show, too." - Robert Conquest)
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To: SamAdams76

We have used them on the trading floor for 35 years to motivate people to sell something. Sell a inventory truck/carload of lumber get a NH scratch ticket.
In all that time, with thousands of tickets bought by individual traders and management, we have only had one big winner($5000) off a $1 scratch ticket in 35 years.

This guy knows statistics. Simple math for some. Harder for most others. He knew that there was ONE remaining ticket for $5 million. His only issue was IF someone else bought that one ticket before he did.

This is similar to card counting in Black Jack. However, most people can not count the amount of Jacks, Queens, Kings and 10’s left in 6 decks of cards. The people who can are not allowed to visit casinos. The book “Bringing down the House” was based on MIT & Harvard math majors and the professor that figured out a system how to do this.

Other people have figured out how to beat state lottery games in the past. Most of them are math majors. Some are even college professors.


33 posted on 08/03/2020 7:29:28 AM PDT by woodbutcher1963
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To: woodbutcher1963
The continuous shuffling machines being increasingly used in casinos are making things more difficult for the card counters. Though any decent casino will spot them quick and run them out of there quickly anyhow.

Years ago I bought a how-to book on card counting. I just didn't have the patience and concentration to stick with it. Though I got pretty good practicing at home when one deck was being used. There's a couple of places in North Vegas that still offer single-deck blackjack but I think they offset that with 6:5 blackjack payouts, which is an awful deal for any blackjack player.

34 posted on 08/03/2020 7:44:37 AM PDT by SamAdams76
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To: PLMerite

Study the history of big lottery winners.Bankruptcy is the norm.


35 posted on 08/03/2020 8:16:03 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (The Rats Just Can't Get Over The Fact That They Lost A Rigged Election!)
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To: Prince of Space

Would you please tell what the app name is?

Thanks


36 posted on 08/03/2020 8:46:48 AM PDT by Man from Oz
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To: KarlInOhio

Thank you

Freepers think everyone else is stupid


37 posted on 08/03/2020 8:52:55 AM PDT by wardaddy (I applaud Jim Robinson for his comments on the Southern Monuments decision ...thank you run the tra)
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To: Hillarys Gate Cult

You’re just using common sense and logic to support your theory but we have conspiracies, jealousy and suspicions on our side.


38 posted on 08/03/2020 9:46:52 AM PDT by BipolarBob (The cost of abortion is a human sacrifice.)
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To: EEGator

The lottery, a tax on people that don’t know math.


39 posted on 08/03/2020 4:09:12 PM PDT by Keyhopper (Indians had bad immigration laws)
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To: L.A.Justice

He decided to take the lump sum of $3 million...$2.1 million after taxes...
I don’t know if I could drive around for 4 hours...Buying lottery tickets...

1 posted on 8/3/2020, 3:43:39 AM by L.A.Justice

For 40 minutes, and a $2,100,000 payoff? I’d do that once a day for month, and never drive anywhere again.


40 posted on 08/03/2020 8:38:05 PM PDT by ro_dreaming (Chesterton, 'Christianity has not been tried and found wanting. It's been found hard and not tried')
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