Posts Tagged ‘lottery’

An Unclaimed Iowa Lottery Jackpot Will Expire On December 29

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December 8th, 2011

Even if claimed, winner gets $2M less due to fallen interest rates

It sounds a little like that joke we’ve all heard: "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" If a number wins the lottery and no one claims it, is it mine? Well, here’s a number that won and no one has claimed it. And time appears to be running out on somebody’s multimillion-dollar lottery win.

One month countdown

Terry Rich, chief operating officer of the Iowa Lottery, said Tuesday the one-month countdown has begun for a Hot Lotto ticket that matched the jackpot numbers in last year’s Dec. 29 drawing. The winning ticket was purchased at a Des Moines convenience store and will expire this Dec. 29 if the prize isn’t claimed by then, he said. "It is sad to see this huge prize continue to sit there without being claimed. Someone legitimately won this money and we want them to take it home," Rich said in a statement. "It could make a huge difference in someone’s life, or several peoples lives, just in time for the holidays."

Annualized payments

Rich noted that the down economy has impacted the unclaimed lottery jackpot as well. Although the majority of recent winners have chosen a lump-sum payment, he said, recipients also can choose to receive their winnings as annualized payments over time. At the time the big prize was won last December, the estimated annualized jackpot amount was $16.5 million, Rich said. However, that estimate was based upon the cash on hand from the sale of tickets along with the amount in interest that would be generated over time after the lottery invested the money. While the cash value of the jackpot remains unchanged at $10.75 million, current low interest rates mean the annualized jackpot amount has fallen to an estimated $14.4 million, he noted.

A topsy-turvy story

"This has been a topsy-turvy story all the way around," Rich said. "But we’re hoping that our reminders will cause someone to double-check their ticket and realize they’re the big winner before the expiration date." He said that the lottery does not release a ticket’s date or time of sale for security reasons. "Some information is kept as our way to double-check that the winner is legitimate," he said.

Des Moines

According to the lottery, the winning Hot Lotto jackpot ticket was purchased at the Quik Trip on Des Moines’ northeast side. The prize will expire at 4 p.m. Dec. 29 if it isn’t claimed by then. Iowa lottery officials say only a handful of U.S. lottery prizes that were larger have gone unclaimed. The largest recent U.S. lottery prize that expired without being claimed was a $68 million Mega Millions ticket purchased in Brooklyn, N.Y., for a December 2002 drawing.

If it is unclaimed

If the prize expires without being claimed, the money from the jackpot will go back to the 15 lotteries that offer Hot Lotto in proportion to the percentage of sales that came from each state.

Tags: Des Moines, lottery, Unclaimed lottery ticket, Winning number
Posted in Business, Economy, Employment, Lottery, Money, Personal / Internet | No Comments »

Boom in Lottery Ticket Sales / Slump in Stock Trades

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September 2nd, 2011

How the human mind works

Records for 41 state lotteries that end their fiscal year in June show that 28 had higher sales than the year before. Seventeen of those states set all-time sales records. Kate Sweeny, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of California-Riverside, said an uptick in lottery sales largely occurs when people feel a lack of control over events larger than themselves, such as the economy.

Cornell University agrees

That’s what a 2004 Cornell University study found. "We see that lottery sales go up as the economy gets bad, but we don’t see people spending more on relatively inexpensive other forms of entertainment," said Garrick Blalock, associate professor of economics at Cornell and a co-author of the study.

California leads

California had the highest percentage gain over 2010, 13.2% to $3.44 billion, just shy of a record $3.6 billion set in 2006, spokesman Alex Traverso said. Arkansas’s growth was higher at 21%, but its lottery didn’t start until September 2009, so the comparison with fiscal year 2010 was not over a full previous year. Arizona posted a record $583.5 million in ticket sales and Missouri, topped $1 billion for the first time.

Desperate

"I think it has a lot to do with the economy," said Abel Reynoso, who works at a gas station that sells lottery tickets in Desert Hot Springs, California. "People are getting desperate."

Low income players

Multiple studies of state lotteries have found that those with low incomes spend a higher percentage of their income on lottery tickets than wealthier individuals. That, combined with the correlation between a bad economy and increased lottery sales, raises questions, Blalock says. "If what looks like is going on is actually going on, states are solving budget shortfalls with what effectively amounts to a regressive tax on the poor," he said.

Voluntary

But buying lottery tickets is a "voluntary transaction," Anderson countered. "If responsible adults want to decide how they want to spend their entertainment dollars, it’s a little trite to say, ‘You shouldn’t spend that much,’" he said. "Maybe somebody can’t afford two tickets to the movies, but they can afford $2 in scratch-offs. We still have freedom in the United States," he said.

What money are they spending?

Anderson questioned the significance of studies indicating the poor spend a higher percentage of their income on the lottery. "Are they spending the bread money?" he said. "Are the children starving? Are they forced out of their home because they are playing CashWord? I don’t see that."

Why?

People pull out of the stock exchange and buy Lottery tickets instead? Someone loses his or her job so they dash off to the nearest Lottery kiosk and spend unearned money on tickets? Or are they just hoping for a big win to solve all their problems? By my reckoning, the lottery offers the worst odds on solving any problem. It would be better to just sit still and do nothing. Or go look for a job…

Tags: lottery, Lottery Ticket Sales, Money problems, Stock Trades
Posted in Business, Economy, Finance, Lottery, Personal / Internet | No Comments »

Would You Know How To Spend $260 Million?

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July 18th, 2011

What shall we do with the money, dear?
A retired Scottish couple, who bagged the biggest-ever lottery jackpot in Europe with a $260 million scoop, are planning a dream getaway. EuroMillions winners Colin and Chris Weir celebrated with a single glass of white wine after they realized their numbers had come in on Tuesday night. Mrs. Weir, 55, a psychiatric nurse, and her husband Colin, 64, who is a retired TV cameraman and studio manager, won the jackpot after matching all five numbers plus the two Lucky Stars.

We all dream
Everyone who buys a Lotto or lottery tickets dreams of winning. Most dreams end with the purchase of a new home or a new car. No one actually sits down and draws up a strategic investment plan in case they win. “I’ll cross that bridge…” is the end of the dream. Of course one could just leave the stuff lying in the bank.

The Weirs
The couple, who have been married for 30 years and have two children, Carly, 24, and 22-year-old Jamie, have said they plan to travel the world. Mrs. Weir, who does not usually drink, said the win was so immense that she even opened a bottle of wine.
She said, “We couldn’t really do anything except sit. We talked to each other about how absolutely amazing this was. We were tickled pink with the whole notion of winning so much money.

They are rich
Mrs. Weir said, “We are not flashy people. We are not celebrities and we hope that once we have shared our good news we will get some time to go back to being us.” Their win ranks them 430th in the Sunday Times UK Rich List, just behind the Beckhams, who have an estimated combined wealth of £165 million, and ahead of Ringo Starr and the Marquess of Bath. They have also become the 22nd richest people in Scotland, ahead of the merchant banker Sir Angus Grossart, and not far behind the Duke of Buccleuch, the biggest private landowner in Britain.

The odds
At odds of 116 million to one they matched the winning numbers – 17, 19, 38, 42 and 45, and the Lucky Stars 9 and 10 -. Two other UK-based lottery players also won £1.7 million after matching five numbers and one Lucky Star in Tuesday’s draw.

Interest
Leading Northern Ireland economist John Simpson said the top prize would earn about $20,000 per day in interest, almost $8 million per year. Mr. Simpson added that the tax bill will amount to about 40 percent of the interest and suggested the winners find a good tax adviser.

Ireland
Meanwhile, Ireland’s largest lottery winner was Limerick mother-of-six Dolores McNamara, who was the sole winner of a $125 million jackpot in July 2005. She became the largest individual prizewinner in European lottery history when her quick-pick won a nine-week rollover jackpot. The former factory worker had fallen on hard times before her windfall after leaving her job. She now lives in a plush $2.8 million mansion in a very sought-after location near Lough Derg in County Clare, which she bought with her winnings.

Tags: Euromillions, Jackpots, lottery, Lotto, Winning numbers
Posted in Business, Economy, Employment, Finance, Lottery, Money, Personal / Internet | No Comments »

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