How to Win the Lottery

How to Win the Lottery and Live Out Your Dreams

Many, many stories of the “curse of the lottery” are out there. We’ve all heard of people squandering the millions they won in the lotto until there is simply nothing left to show for their luckiest winning moment. But all is not lost, there are plenty who win big and spend wisely. Winning the lottery can change a person’s reality, and though it presents obstacles like being forced to deal with a sudden influx of money, it can be a wonderfully joyous event for you and your family, if you manage the cash well, and don’t let yourself be cheated by scammers, old acquaintances, and two-faced relatives. Thankfully, there are some examples of how to win the lottery and live out your dreams.

How to Win the Lottery… the Stories

When Minnesota’s Les Robins won $111 million in a 1993 Powerball drawing, he started a day camp called Camp Winnegator, still operating today. Media reports from the area say that Robins can still be seen padding around the 226-acre property that hosts the camp in an old Jeep. Robins also said to volunteer his time as a basketball coach. Talk about giving back!

Brad Duke of Idaho put his money to good use when he banked $85 million cash in a 2005 Powerball jackpot drawing. Duke invested carefully. He put the majority of the money into low risk investments, and $35 million into higher yielding, riskier investments. Duke paid of a modest Idaho estate, and set up a plan to pay each of his family members $12,000 a month – the maximum non-taxable amount in accordance with Idaho state law…

Why So Many People Love Lottery Scratch-Off Tickets

You may see them every day that you shop at a local convenience store, grocery store or department store. You may hear about them in the newspaper or see stories about them on the news. There is a strong possibility that you may have even purchased several of them yourself in the past or had several of them given to you as a gift. What are they? Lottery scratch-off tickets!

The Undeniable Element of Addiction

There are so many people around the world that enjoy the mere thrill of having a chance to win a million dollars almost instantly, even if they only have a one out of a billion chance of winning. This burning desire is what has allowed the lottery to become so successful and widely popular throughout the world over the years.

The idea that your entire life and financial status can change simply by scratching off specific areas of a specific ticket is exciting, captivating and highly addictive for hundreds of millions of people worldwide. People that are seriously addicted to this improbable hope will invest hundreds and even thousands of dollars each month in lottery scratch-off tickets and only receive a fraction of that money back in winnings (if they receive any winnings at all).

Lottery Winners: Who Blew It & Who Grew It

The key reason why millions of people worldwide participate in lottery competitions on a daily basis is because they believe lottery can change their lives for the better. Whereas it is true that people’s lives have been changed as a result of winning millions of dollars in lottery, there are also people’s lives that were ruined because of winning huge sums of cash in lottery.

In this article, we look at the lives of people that were changed for the good and bad thanks to winning $1 million dollar plus in lottery.

Lottery Winners Who Did Not Relish Their Winnings

The popular saying, “Winning is not everything” is best demonstrated by the people listed below. By reading some of their stories, you will be encouraged to think about what to do with your winnings the instant you are the lucky winner of a million dollar jackpot.

#1: Suzanne Mullins

Rather than clear her debts, Suzanne Mullins managed to dig herself deep into a pile of debts. According to MSN, after winning $1 million the 1993 US Lotto, Suzanne saw that it was in her best interest to receive annual payouts rather than a single lump sum of cash. Before she realized it, she was in a pile of debt. She opted to utilize her future annual payouts as security for a $200,000 credit. Later on, Suzanne decided to receive the remaining sum in lump sum. Unfortunately, she did not use the cash received to pay off her debts. The financing company decided to file a lawsuit and was awarded a $154,000,000. Regrettably, the loaning company did not collect a single cent given that Suzanne did not have any tangible asset to her name.

#2: Michael Carroll

According to The Week Reports, Michael Carroll was at the peak of his career when he was announced as the lucky winner of Britain’s £9.7 million jackpot in the year 2002 which is equivalent to $15 million. However, Michael had a desire for life in the fast lane. Some of the luxuries that Michael Carroll had a weakness for included, but not limited to expensive cars, prostitutes, party life and cocaine. In less than 5 years, Michael had blown away the £9.7 million he had won…

How to Win the Lottery without Losing Everything

Winning at the lottery seems like one of the best things that could ever happen to anyone. Taking home the huge prize can inject millions of dollars into your bank account and change your life in the process. While plenty of people have won the lottery happily, there have been many who won a big jackpot, only to lose everything in a few short years. Gambling, prostitutes, excess donations, over-zealous lending habits, and mesmerizingly poor investments have led lottery winners to lose all. If you find yourself lucky enough to win the lotto, you’ll want to avoid following the lead of some of the biggest-losing lottery winners in history.

When Alabama Waffle House Tonda Lynn Dickerson was given a lotto ticket given to her by a regular customer, her co-workers claim that she agreed to split the earnings, should she hold the winning ticket. Sure enough, the ticket won and Dickerson failed to pay her colleagues a dime. Instead, she put all of the money into a corporation, which she in turn gave 51% ownership of to her family. So, what is the problem? In doing so, she was found liable for the gift taxes – totaling around a million dollars, coming from her 49% of the rapidly-dwindling earnings.

Another example of how not to win the lottery is that of England’s Michael Carroll. Carroll won 9.7-million pounds in the U.K. lottery, which blew, over the course of eight years, on partying, drugs, and prostitutes. He lost over 100,000-pounds on prostitutes alone. Now, with a purported 42-pound per month in income, it seems that Carroll has gone from partying with prostitutes to destitute. Yet, this one lottery-loser who seems happy with his lot in life, having lost his wife and all the money, Carroll insists that this life is the one he prefers…

How to Stay Rich After Winning the Lottery

Many people want to win the lottery to fulfill all of their dreams. They think the mission is accomplished after hitting the jackpot. However, winning is only half of the battle even though it was very difficult to choose all of the right numbers. The last hurdle is to figure out how to stay rich after winning the lottery.There have been too many cases where big lottery jackpot winners have gone from having everything to nothing. It isn’t that hard to spend all of the money. Celebrities do it all of the time as well. That is why it is important for new lottery jackpot winners to make sure that they stay rich.

A big mistake that many people make after they become rich is to upgrade to a very lavish lifestyle. It is perfectly acceptable to upgrade lifestyle significantly after winning the lottery. However, it is important to not partake in the lavish lifestyle excessively. If a quarter of the net proceeds of the jackpot is gone in one year, the lottery winner may be spending way too much money. Spending a quarter of the winnings means the lottery winner will be broke within four years. That is why it is still a good idea to keep a relatively modest lifestyle. There is no law that says lottery winners have to buy a mansion and a yacht…

10 Things to do After You Win the Lottery

Both jackpot lottery winners and people who don’t succeed with the lottery often dream about what they could do with the money. A lot of inspiration and ideas can come from the real lottery winning stories. Even those who don’t win the lottery are entertained about what they could do if they get really lucky and win the big jackpot. One thing that can be entertaining for millions of lottery losers and the few lottery jackpot winners is to look at the ten things you could do if you won the lottery.

1. The first thing that can be done is to pay off every debt. Everything from credit cards to mortgages with 29 years left can be paid down completely with the proceeds from the lottery, especially if it is in the form of a lump sum payment. In many cases, the debt of family members can be paid off as well. The lottery ticket is an instant ticket to becoming debt free…

How to Pay Taxes After You Win the Lottery

A lot of people think that jackpot winners of the lottery are exempt from taxes since a government entity is running the lottery. For the most part, that is not true. Those who win a big jackpot from the lottery are going to have to give some of the winnings back to the government in the form of taxes. Depending on the state of residence for the winner, he or she may be liable for tax liability that reaches 50%. All lottery jackpot winners should expect that a significant part of their winnings will disappear due to taxes. It is important to understand the tax ramifications so that the lottery winner doesn’t get into trouble with the governmental taxing authorities.

A big chunk of the jackpot will be going to the federal government. By law, the lottery will need to withhold 28% of the winnings in order to make sure that the taxes are paid. However, the withholding is often not high enough to meet the total federal tax liability. That is why it is ey important ito make sure that the withholding is sufficient to cover all tax liability. If necessary, the tax liability for the lottery jackpot winnings should be made via estimated tax payments in order to ensure that the lottery winner does not incur any penalties for underpayment of estimated taxes. It is also important to do the same thing for state and local taxes as well. However, those who win the lottery should check to see if lottery winnings are exempt from state taxes. There are some cases it is exempt such as in