So...you're sitting in a big jackpot lottery tix line...

[roamer65]

Last edited Thu Jun 6, 2013, 07:00 PM - Edit history (1)

...and thru whatever circumstances, someone lets you go in front of them through politeness. You then win the big jackpot. Moral dilemma time.

What would you do?

I'm interested in hearing the answers to this one...LOL.

[boston bean]

1. If I was getting a quick pick, I would say

Thank the good lawd for that person letting me go first!

[Nye Bevan]

2. It's RANDOM. There is not a predetermined list of selections that the machine is working through.

Letting someone in the line does not change anything.

[RudynJack]

12. ^this

It makes no difference. The numbers dispensed aren't pre-ordered.

[backscatter712]

20. +1000!

When you play lotto, you take your chances. Sometimes you win, but far more often, you lose.

[htuttle]

3. If I won $500 million dollars...

I would ride around in a zeppelin dropping dollar bills on people. The person that had been behind me in line could surely gather some up...

[Poll_Blind]

7. LOL! Steampunk Ending for the WIN!

PB

[roamer65]

16. I like you already!!

Helicopter Ben Bernanke, but with a twist.

[jberryhill]

4. You might be the person in front of a loser

As noted, it wouldn't have made a "difference", since it would have been an entirely different universe. The person in front would not have gotten the winning ticket if they hadn't switched.

This is not, btw, the "Monty Hall" problem.

[thelordofhell]

5. It doesn't matter

If the person didn't let her cut, then you have to judge the time difference of what happened and that would probably mean (if these are quick picks we're talking about) they both would have gotten different numbers...........

(but I'd pay off all that person's debt +20 grand....if I knew who they were)

[Dreamer Tatum]

6. Tell them you want the same number the last guy got

They can do that. I do it all the time just to be a dick.

[KamaAina]

21. But you're screwing yourself

if you win, the last guy splits it with you.

[Dreamer Tatum]

37. Treu, but suppose you wanted to an a-hole

and you know someone plays a certain number.

How funny is it to buy not just one, but two tickets of the same number and tell them?

Heh.

[ScreamingMeemie]

33. It's not really the dickish. Sorry to burst your bubble.

I worked at a convenience store and you just hit a repeat button. At least, here in TX, that's what we do.

[erpowers]

8. The Gift Tax

I was thinking about starting a post stating that the woman who won the jackpot should give the lady who let her go ahead of her in the line $20 million. Then I remembered she would have to pay the gift tax if she gave her that much money.

So I guess the woman should try to do something for that lady and her family. Maybe she could set up a scholarship fund for the lady's children. Maybe she could give the lady and her family an amount of money that would not spark a gift tax until the lady died or until the money ran out.

[roamer65]

10. No gift tax when you partition money at ticket redemption.

Looked at the forms for my state, since I have on occasion ran a lottery pool. It gets divided up as you or a group sees fit and is taxed for each person given a chunk at the normal rate.

Good info to know in case you ever do win, especially in a pool.

[BlueJazz]

9. I'd find the person and give them one million bucks

Yes, Yes, Yes..I know the quick pick is random and all that and even studied some Statistical analysis in college but
I would still think that maybe, just maybe, I would not have hit the big one if the person had not let me go ahead.

It's the right thing to do.

[roamer65]

14. IMO...I agree with you.

My personal nature is I would definitely reward that person for their random act of kindness.

[BlueJazz]

15. I'm an Atheist but I have to say "Bless You". After reading the posts on this thread, my thoughts...

..were: I didn't know that so many DUer's were such selfish (add your own word here)

Unbelievable. DU HAS changed in the past few years.

[W_HAMILTON]

38. I was a little surprised by the selfishness shown in the other posts as well.

I, too, would give the person that allowed me to go ahead of them a substantial amount as a gesture of kindness. $1m sounds like an appropriate thank you gift.

[Jenoch]

11. The old lady that won does not

owe the young mom a thing legally. It would make her look good if she woud give her some money, maybe a trust fund for her children and future children (if any) to pay for education expences.

I'll will also chime in and say that the first reporter who tracked down the mother who let the lady in line in front of her created a non-story. She did not give up her place in line only to lose hundreds of millions of dollars. The Powerball quick picks are completely random. Those numbers the lady got were not sitting in the terminal waiting for somebody to buy a quickpick. The lotteries use a random number generator and it is affected by the entire network of manchines in each Powerball state.

The Powerball winner is already 84. The real big life changes are for her heirs. What happens to big lottery winners is this, if they are basically good people before they have big money, it should make them an even better person, if they were basically a bad person with a questionable personality, the big money will make them even worse. The money doesn't change them, it magnifies who they already were.

[brentspeak]

13. The first person would have gotten a different number, anyway

Lottery numbers are generated randomly, with each digit in a game 'spinning' from 1-to-max number on the order of millions-per-second. The chances that the person who relinquished their place in line would have received the exact same lottery number as the eventual winner are astronomical.

[Jenoch]

32. The chances that the young mother

would have hit the win ing numbers if the old lady had not cut in line are the same as if the old lady did not change her place in line.

All the reporters and media reporting the story as if this mom gave up winning the Powerball ticket are morans.

[BlueJazz]

17. A

[LadyHawkAZ]

18. I would be hunting down that person

with a bouquet of flowers and a big fat check in my hand.

[we can do it]

19. How would you know who the person was?

[LeftofObama]

22. I would track the person down and give them some money.

As others have said, you don't legally owe them anything, but Karma says you do.

[roamer65]

23. Drama wise...this one could well be worth the money I spent.

[BlueJazz]

24. Actually..it IS a damn good post!

[roamer65]

25. I love the flag, btw.

Advance Australia fair!

Very fond memories of my trip "down under" in 2001.

[liberal N proud]

26. You don't sit in those types of lines, you stand.

And the chance that someone lets you go in front of them is the same as winning the lottery.

[forestpath]

27. If that person was identified, I would write them a big check.

[Gin]

28. The winner told people about the woman who let her go ahead...

If she had kept quiet we would not have known.......since she brought it up......a generous check would be a nice gesture...

IMO

[bbinacan]

29. I'd give her $10,000,000 n/t

[WinkyDink]

30. I don't see any "moral dilemma." Maybe the other person chose her own numbers. (You aren't from the

U.S., right? Because you would know, then, that we don't "sit" in lines.)

[CANDO]

31. Had to explain it to my wife

The winning ticket was a RANDOM. Doesn't matter if it was the first one or the very last ticket purchased. When you step to the counter and ask for quick picks, the puter randomly spits out numbers. It matters not when you stepped to the counter.

[meow2u3]

34. I'd find the person who let me in front of him or her

and give'em 10% of my after tax winnings--subject to nothing but a gift tax.

[bluestate10]

35. I don't play the lottery regardless of the size of the jackpot. But, in the situation

that you mentioned, if the person became known to me and I recognized that person, I would share enough of my new found wealth to make that person comfortable for life.

[MiniMe]

36. It depends. Chances are that you have no idea who the person who let you in front of them is

If I did know who it was, I would probably give them a cut of the winnings.

[NCTraveler]

39. I don't see how morals play into it.

Seems more like some want to guilt the winner into coughing some up. I think they are the ones dealing with the moral dilemma.