How to get away with millions

You hear so many stories of how Lotto winners hit the jackpot and use their money wisely. 

However, statistics show that about 70% of lottery winners end up broke within 7 years and are faced with bankruptcy, jail time or worse, murder and suicide. There is no doubt that winning the lottery will change your life forever, so the big question is, how do you deal with it?

Would you do what any sane person would do? Tell everyone about your BIG WIN, and allow yourself to be interviewed and publicised, because who wouldn't want to become famous? Celebrate your big win by giving gifts to friends and family or help them out. As well as help out others who are in need, they'd be so grateful for it and you'd be their favorite person. 

You'd definitely make so many new friends and be able to buy yourself a new car and a house. Now that you're rich, you'd most likely quit your job. 

This, however, is not how you should deal with your winnings. This is also what most Lotto winners would do and have done in the past. 

This is what that 70% would have done. But here is what you should do.

The number one rule is, keep quiet. Try to keep your identity a secret and keep a low profile. Don't let people know that you have won and definitely don't boast about it, because publicity comes with winning the lottery, and so does jealousy. If people know you've won the lottery, then they know you have money. Many lotto winners have had jealous people, whether it be strangers, friends or even family, plotting against them, which is usually the cause of their downfall. 

For instance, Craigory Burch, Jr. He won nearly half a million dollars from a Georgia lottery in November 2015 and two months later, he was found dead in his home from gunshot wounds after a home invasion where the robbers demanded him to give them his money. 

Rule number two, think long term. Put the money aside for when you need it. You could save this money for your retirement or start an emergency fund to make sure that you never have to deal with debt or any other financial crisis. If you have children and/or grandchildren, set up a college fund for them so that they are guaranteed a great education. 

Click here for more info on what to do when you win the lottery in South Africa.

What many successful lotto winners have done in the past with their winnings is, starting off a new business. Mark Brudenell won the jackpot on the 22 February 1997, 4 years after his big win, he and his wife started their own business that has been successful for over 13 years.

For more practical tips on winning the lottery read here.

Learn to say No. Charities, friends, colleagues, acquaintances, family, and others, are bound to tell you their poverty stories and ask for some kind of financial help. They may put you on a guilt trip, and you can risk losing all your money. However, you need to remember that this is your win, your money. Don't let people dictate to you what you should do with it, unless it's a hired professional. Which leads to the last rule.

If you are not a tax attorney, a family planning attorney, or a licensed accountant, you most likely have no idea what's about to hit you. The best thing you can do is hire a professional to help you out with all this money you never had. It's not like you can't afford it!

As exciting or terrifying winning the lottery may be, you need to know that your life will change, and you would need to learn how to adjust to the change without changing who you are. However, to stand a chance at winning the lottery you need to be in the game. 

So maybe rule number one to getting away with millions would be ... "Buy a ticket".

Your chances of winning can be improved by playing lotteries from all over the world. Simply go to http://www.sun7lottery.com/ to increase the chances of you becoming a millionaire.

Read our previous article here: What to do when you win 

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An unusual way to spend lottery winnings

No matter where you come from and who you are, it is without a doubt almost everyone’s dream to win the lottery.

Each of us has our own list of things that we would do if we were to win the lottery, many lists include donating to some charity or to some good cause. But it is not until you actually win the jackpot that you will know what it is that you will do with all that money.

On the 25^th of March 2011 John Kutey (54) and IT specialist, and 6 of his co-workers (John Hilton (57), Gabrielle Mahar (29), Tracy Sussman (41), Mike Barth (63), Kristin Baldwin (42) and Leon Peck (62)) from the New York Division of Housing and Community Renewal shared in the winnings of the $319 million jackpot. Kutey and his colleagues decided that should they win, they would all jointly accept the winnings as a lump sum amount rather than monthly payments.

Mike Barth was the one to purchase the joint, winning ticket. Mike says that he was waiting in line on Friday to purchase the ticket for himself and his c-workers at an Albany newsstand when he reached out to purchase a snickers bar. A guy cut in-front of in and instead of complaining, he just let him carry on and purchase his ticket. He then purchased the Quick Pick ticket that made them millionaires. An outcome that could’ve been very different should the person who cut him off not have been there that day.

John Kutey recalls that when he learned that he had won the jackpot his hands shook so much that he couldn’t dial a phone. Each of his colleagues had a different idea of how they were intending on immediately spending some of their winnings. All Gabrielle Mahar wanted was to buy a much needed new dishwasher. Mike Barth explained that he really needed a new set of tires and to pay for a college education for his son. John Hilton wanted the opportunity to fly somewhere first class. John Kutey said the choice was very simple, him and his wife wanted to visit every Disney Park there is.

When the dust settled and the money had been received John Kutey decided that instead of donating his winnings to charities, he wanted to build a $250 000 water park in New York at no cost to local tax payers. Spray Park, the refurbished park from the 1940’s, opened in Green Island, New York on July 1, 2013.  The water park was dedicated to both John and his wife Linda Kuteys parents.

John believed that it would be wonderful if all the joint winners shared the same sentiment and invested money on the improvement of their community – together the impact would be great.

Wouldn’t you like to invest in a water park, or a theme park? Your chances of winning can be improved by playing lotteries from all over the world. Simply go to http://www.sun7lottery.com/ to increase the chances of you becoming a millionaire.

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The largest jackpot won in lottery history

It was on Wednesday 13 January, 2016 that the largest lottery in the word to date was won, by not one, but three tickets. The total winnings of the Powerball jackpot were $1.586 billion.  The anticipation of this Powerball jackpot created a frenzy of ticket purchasing in the US on the day of the lottery draw with the odds of winning was 1 in 292.2 million.

As per Powerball US rules, the conditions of the winnings are either an annual payment of the total amount over a period of 29 years or a smaller lump-sum payment, after the government has taken its meaty 39.6% portion.

The largest jackpot won prior to this draw was in March 2012 and was from the US Lottery Mega Millions and was a total of $656 million.

The winning tickets were brought forward by Maureen Smith and her partner David Kaltschmidt form Florida, Lisa and John Robinson from Tennessee, and Mae and Marvin Acosta from California.

Maureen Smith

Maureen Smith and her partner, David Kaltschmidt from Florida came forward just a month after the winning numbers were chosen.

Initially they chose to keep the information private from their children in order to confirm their winnings.

Mrs Smith chose the same numbers each time she played for many years, without ever winning anything. She said that they were looking forward to purchasing a new vehicle and investing their time and new found wealth in charities and investments.

Lisa and John Munford

This couple decided to take the lump sum rather than the annual pay-out. They were interviewed by NBC prior to claiming their wins creating a bit of scepticism as this wasn’t the usual way to react to winning such a large sum of money.

Mr and Mrs Munford were initially in complete disbelief of the fact that they had won and kept on checking and re-checking the winning numbers and their ticket. They decided that evening that they would only believe that they were winners if the news reported a winner of the jackpot in the morning.

Regardless of the morning news announcing that the jackpot had been won, Mr and Mrs Munford decided to carry on with life as normal and went to work. They cannot, however, deny the impact that these winnings will have on their lives.

Mae and Marvin Acosta

Whilst the other two winners of the money came forward shortly after the numbers of the winning tickets were announced, Mae and Marvin Acosta took over six months to come forward.

They explained that the reason for the delay was that they were lining up legal counsel to assist in correctly handling their winnings.

When interviewed the couple said that they were dedicating nearly all of the money to a trust and charities and chose to keep any other information from the media to ensure privacy.

The winning lottery numbers were:

4 – 8 – 19 – 27 – 34 and PB 10

Winning the lottery jackpot is without a doubt a huge life changing event. Unfortunately, so many winners mismanage their winnings and waste it away very shortly after winning rather than planning their future and being smart, click here to read up on advice on how to manage your winnings wisely.

To increase your chances of becoming the next big winner, go to www.sun7lottery.com to play the top lotteries from anywhere in the world.

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From destitute to in the loot!

War tends to destroy many countries, unsettling their people and more often than not, leaving them desperate and destitute. From Syria, Senegal, Mali and Morocco we have some winners stories proving that against all odds, and with a little luck or a lottery jackpot, people can come out victorious.

When a man flees a war-torn country to try and make a new life for himself and he manages to change his stars. Refugees who almost died crossing from Africa to Europe struggle to start a new life but manage to win and other migrants celebrate a happy Christmas indeed. 

These are stories that are bound to put a smile on your face.

SYRIA - FRANCE 

In 2011 a young man, in his thirties, left his home country of Syria to start a new life in France. There he worked as a labourer as many migrants do. This lucky man, who remains unnamed, purchased a scratchcard in June 2015 at an outlet in Seine-Saint-Denis, Paris.

The man, when interviewed by the French daily newspaper, La Parisien, said that he had used some of his winnings to purchase an apartment, and has plans of opening his own restaurant. With the remainder of the winnings, he would like to bring the rest of his family from Syria to France.

The very popular ‘one million euros’ scratchcards saw 215 winners in 2015 of which the Syrian refugee was one.

The Syrian man wasn’t the only refugee to win the lottery. Another touching story is that of Ngame, who hails from Senegal.

SENEGAL - SPAIN

Ngame, elGordo Lottery Winner 2015

In 2007, the Spanish coastguard saved the lives of many migrants, whose ship was sinking. Among those saved were 35-year-old, Ngame and his wife. They made a living by working as farm labourers and vegetable pickers as migrants often do in Almeria.

The couple, who often do not have € 5 between the two of them, managed to purchase a ticket for Spain’s Christmas Lottery 'elGordo', at a ticket outlet in Roquetas de Mar, Almeria.

Find out more about ‘elGordo’ by clicking here.

The winning number for the 2015 ‘elGordo’ Lottery was 79140 which had appeared on 1,600 tickets in Roquetas de Mar, this lucky number saw Ngame and his wife win € 400,000.

When interviewed, the currently out of work, Ngame was unsure of how they would spend their winnings.

Ngame and his wife were one of 35 African migrants to have won a share in the 2015 Christmas Lottery. Their winners included migrants from Mali and Morocco.

MOROCCO - SPAIN

Among the winners was Moroccan-born, Imanes Naamane, who agreed that her share of winnings would change the life of her family. In an interview by La Vos de Almeria the 18-year-old is said to have stated that her family was in trouble before but winning the lottery will allow them to do a lot of things, in fact, everything that they want to do.

2015 saw some great lottery winners’ stories, especially for these Refugees whose lives have most definitely been transformed for the better. Winning lottery numbers can be a great blessing indeed. 

Transform your life by playing lotteries from all over the world with www.sun7lottery.com.  

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UNIQUELY SPANISH – FROM FESTIVALS TO LOTTERY

Things are done a little differently in Spain! They have festivals where brave (or mad) thrill-seekers try to outrun rampaging bulls rush through the narrow streets of Pamplona, costumed townspeople jump over babies to ward off evil spirits and illness near Burgos, it is also home to the world’s biggest tomato fight near Valencia.

These events and many more do make Spain a great place for tourists and it is the reason so many visitors flock to the country annually.

However these unique celebrations and festivals are not the only thing the Spanish do differently, they also have an unusual take on the Lottery. Sure they have the normal National Lottery Draws as well as daily and Sunday draws, they even partake in the EuroMillions lottery. But they also have three big lottery draws each year, them being elGordo ("the big one"), elNino and a Summer elGordo.

THE TICKETS:

Sheet of tickets

a tenth of a ticket 'participation'

The tickets for these draws are more like raffle tickets than lottery tickets as each ticket has a 5-digit number. 

There are 100,000 unique ticket numbers, however, as more than 100,000 tickets are sold numbers are duplicated a maximum number of times and this is recorded by series number. The amount of series’ issued from year to year can differ.

An example from Wikipedia shows that in 2015, there were 180 series of 100,000 tickets each, giving a total of 18,000,000 tickets available at a cost of €200 each. That’s €3.6 billion worth of tickets that were sold, making the prizes worth €2.52 billion (70% of ticket sales).

Due to the cost of these tickets, it is common to purchase a portion of a ticket in the form of a ‘participation’ which is similar to the way a syndicate works. Where a ‘participation’ will receive a percentage of the prize that their number is allocated should it be drawn.

THE BIG LOTTERYS:

The next one up is the Summer elGordo, the draw takes place on Saturday 1^st July 2017 with 140,000,000 € worth of prizes to be won.

Following that is the elGordo, the Spanish Christmas Lottery, which has been drawn every year since 1812 making it the second longest continuously running lottery in the world and according to Wikipedia, the draws even took place during the years of the Civil War.

The elGordo draw takes place on the 22^nd of December every year, tickets for this draw start to become available from early July.

The following draw is elNino, a New Year draw which takes place on 6^th January tickets for this draw will start to become available from mid-October.

THE DRAW:

Each of the 100,000 ticket numbers appears on a wooden ball, and 1 ball is drawn for the first prize, 1 for the second prize and 1 for third. 2 balls are drawn for the fourth prize, 8 balls for the fifth and 1794 balls are drawn for smaller prizes.

THE ODDS:

The odds of evening out the cost of a big lottery ticket are of 10%, which can be done by matching the last digit of a first prize ticket. Chances of higher winnings are approximately 5.3%.

The prize structures of these big lottery’s make it easier to win when compared to other lotteries.

While the chances of winning a first prize in elGordo, elNino or Summer elGordo are 1 in 100,000 (0.001%), the chances of winning the top prize in EuroMillions are 1 in 116,531,800 (0.0000000086%).

It is true that most of the funds raised by these big lottery’s and the majority of the prize money is distributed amongst the people of Spain. Most people are happy to only play these big lottery’s and not partake in the smaller ones and others play only the weekly lottery’s.

Should you be visiting Spain in the near future, pick up a big lottery ticket or a portion of one and try your luck, or play lottery games online from anywhere in the world with www.sun7lottery.com.

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