DrJays.com Debate: Are lottery jackpots too big?
Last week, 23 year-old Neal Wanless won $232 million – one of the biggest undivided jackpot amounts in U.S. history.
The young man is single and lives with his parents on a ranch in of the poorest areas in the country.
The government ended up with $145.3 million of the jackpot in taxes anyway, but $88.5 million is still a huge amount of money for one person. Although Wanless insists that he will not “squander” his winnings, are U.S. lottery jackpot amounts out of control?
One person is being handed all that money, and it is up to them how to spend it. I’m sure we’ve all heard horror stories about people who have won big and had their lives fall apart as a result.
Take Jack Whittaker, who won $315 million on Christmas Day in 2002. He ended up blaming the money for causing his granddaughter’s fatal drug overdose, his divorce and hundreds of lawsuits filed against him.
Then there’s those who blow the money through gambling, buying drugs etc. These people could have used their winnings to help charitable organizations or set up trust funds for their children instead.
Evelyn Marie Adams won the New Jersey lottery twice in the 80s – she lost her entire $5.4 million in winnings through frivolous spending.
Perhaps there should be some positive changes made to the system, so that lotteries can help better multiple lives?
Do you think that instead of one person winning a ridiculously large jackpot, it might make more sense to divide it between multiple people each time?
The amounts would still be life changing for the winners, and it wouldn’t be such an overwhelming amount that they wouldn’t know what to do with.
Please share your thoughts on this, and let us know how you would spend your money if you won big like Mr. Wanless!
Source: Sify
Umm if you win are you complaining and if you dont like it then dont participate, The real question should be are the Billions we are giving to companies whose CEOS and board members made dumb decisions and we are BAILING THEM OUT with billions of dollars but another debate at another time naw this aint a problem tho lotto is so ok plus it supports schools and other community projects
If I won I link up with my man Rick and he and I would take KIKI and BOSS LADY to an island and enjoy the weather =)_ and then I would buy a couple cars couple homes make sure the family is good and then disapper you couldnt get to me without going thru my lawyer
I don’t think money should not be divided or whatever. That person chose to qamble in tha lottery. He/she knu that risks would ensue with that amount of money. If they say they are qoin to do qood with their money && then the bad thinqs happen then that’s their fault, they knu what they were qetinq into. They chose to participate in tha lottery. && they can do what they want with their money. If they wanna be stinqey with it all then let em’!!! WTB!!!?
@Kev
Forget about the people winning – how about all of the good they could do for poor people with that money that they are just pissing away? Do you really think it’s fair for one douche bag to potentially end up with all of that money, and just continue making the world a disgusting place, when a bunch of people could win and just make the quality of their lives a bit better? With a bunch of people splitting a jackpot like that, there may actually be some GOOD people in that group who would give away to charities. And I’m not saying all of the winners are bad and lazy, but I don’t even like the IDEA of someone like that having all that money in their hands!
Well one of my dads ex wives won the lotto, she decided to take the lump son. Didn’t give jack to my dad despite him supporting everyone in the past etc. But gave a butt load to my brother. And she squadered a lot of it off. I think the lottos are higher now because of the economy. Everytime I roll to this one sandwich shop there’s at least 5 people who walk in and get tickets during a 5 min period. More at 7/11 too. So the lotto is going to get ridiculous.
Luxury your on your own with the island thing. Oh I’ve taken quite a liking to kiki hahaha. The min I win I ain’t saying shit. I will be out like a ninja. I will invest most my money in certain things, if you need me I will be in panama. Damn a lawyer I have gmail lol. I’d figure out a way to give kiki and bosslady a package so they can go to First Class to England, Paris etc to be pampered. I’d give certain amounts of money to certain people. What they do with it is up to them. I’d stay away from cars and houses because of upkeep for the people.
I don’t think the lottery jackpots are ever too big for the people who win. Other people might complain, but if they were to win they would most likely have nothing to say. I would personally like to see someone who thinks lottery payouts are too high win the lottery and give a large portion of it away because they feel that it is too much. In the words of Katt Williams, “Don’t worry, I’ll wait.” Yo, luxurylife and Rick – no room on that island for The Genius? Come on, don’t be like that. On second thought, the 5th wheel isn’t really a good look. But if there’s a girl for me to pair off with – and keep in mind that Boss Lady and Kiki set the bar rather high – I’m down.
Damn Ive was gone over a month and rick take my girl lol I see ya player, is megan goode available nicki minaj perhaps =)
@Chris J
Good point lol. I wouldn’t roll to the island I’d just hook kiki and boss lady up with the trip to london & paris. I’d be in panama, me and lux would roll there. There’s room for you too bruh Because if you saw the women there you’d be like DAAAAAMN!
@lux
Sorry man it’s kiki… ki ki. You left kiki lol. That’s like an asthmatic forgetting his inhaler. That’s right kiki your a breath of fresh air girl. And I’m pretty sure I set a record for saying the name kiki in the same paragraph.
Well it sounds like the point of the lottery is following thru. The government does it for their own well being. they take most of it for taxes… not withstanding they run the lottery. which is legalized gambling run by the government. And any money these people do win is pumped back into the economy. Perfect thinking. If rich people won the lottery they’d just buy up assets and do things to avoid getting taxed, now what would the point of that be for the government? The best thing we all could do is just to stop buying into the lottery, chances are your name is not Neo and you are not the one. The dollar amt of winnings will naturally go down.