Long before I knew him, my father-in-law won $10,000 in the state lottery. He used some, or maybe all, of it to pay for my husband's college education at a private university. Back then, mid-to-late 1970's, $10,000 would have covered about 3 years. Now it covers a quarter of one year.

Maybe some was saved for my SIL's education? Not sure about that, I've only ever heard it paid for my husband's. It's been used as a method to try to induce guilt. :-(

My FIL continues to play the lottery but I don't know that he's ever won anything of significance after the first win.

There was a local family that won about $340 million in the lottery. I work in a RE office and one of the agents was friends with them before (and after) the lottery, so I have met one of them. They seem to be handling it very well, and have started a local foundation and have supported the local schools.

I just don't know why it's set up where someone would win $340 million. I would rather see 340 people win $1 million, or say 680 win a half. I think I'd be more likely to play. It would be fun to dream what I'd do, for sure a trip around the world but I'd stay married.

One day a Korean student got a call in the middle of class. She went out to take it (it was her husband). She came back in and told us, somewhat disbelieving, that they had won $14,000. We never saw her again after that day; I like to think they used the money to learn English : )

Cool about that family, terri. Who is it who pays for kids from a certain area down there to go to college if they get a good gpa? Is it the local gov't? Or a private party?

My aunt and uncle won $10K on a instant scratch-off maybe 15 years or so ago.

I so agree with you natesgram. My favorite are the stories of regular working class people who get in a group and buy a ticket and win.
One recent story was a group winning and one peron was out that week and I can't believe that the group didn't let hm in on it. We had this discussion at work and we all felt that if we contributed for years with the same group, then we would split with the same people regardless if someone didn't put in on one occassion. What a few million between friends, right?

My mom won a little over $17K in the Florida lottery some years back. Gave me $1000, which was very nice of her.

My parents were quite well-off at the time, so certainly it was fun for her, but not the impactful thing it would be for someone in a less financially comfortable position.

I've won a few bucks here and there. I've never known anyone who was a big winner. Recently a group of 48 people who work in a department of SEPTA (public transportation for city and suburbs) won $172 million. Sigh.

Our neighbours across the street won $12M about 8 years ago.
They moved here after they won the money. Had a beautiful house built and bought was a boat for $1M. Seem to be enjoying the rest taking luxurious vacations.

Natesgram echos what my DH and I have been saying to each other every time we see someone winning these huge amounts of money. Couldn't agree more.

I worked in a dry cleaners in college. My boss the owner won the take 5 and it was about $100K. He paid off all his debts, and bought a new car. After that it was business as usual.

I often wonder how things would change if I won. It would be so nice to finish fixing up my fixer upper home and be able to hire someone to do it instead of being a weekend warrior with DH! It has been a LONG 5 years of projects, it's getting very old.

One of the ladies who worked for me won two million. Then one of my clients won two million. It was pretty exciting.

It would be so nice to finish fixing up my fixer upper home and be able to hire someone to do it instead of being a weekend warrior with DH! It has been a LONG 5 years of projects, it's getting very old.

I can totally relate and sadly am so glad to hear we are not in this boat alone. We're in our 6th year of projects but after hiring someone to do our bathroom a couple of years ago, DH saw the advantages and it has been an uphill battle to get anything more done since. The problem is, he procrastinates about doing the projects but doesn't want to pay anyone to do them either!!!

Years ago dh won 10k in the Arizona lottery. He was visiting his parents and they all bought a ticket. He gave his parents half (my sweet man!)and I don't remember what he bought with the rest - something music related I'm sure.

I remember him calling me with the news and I was sick with the flu. I could muster no enthusiasm whatsoever....

Lukki, I think you are married to my XH. He wouldn't hire anyone to do anything, was going to do everything himself and rarely got around to any of it. I won the lottery the day we split.

Great stories.... yayagal, YOU need to play the lottery!

I've always been very lucky, and have won much more than my fair share of door prizes, scratch-offs etc. But for some reason I have never felt compelled to play the lottery, and rarely do....

My SIL's father won the lottery in PA, I think. I never met him but I recall my SIL saying that it was ~$1 million, but it wasn't a breathtaking amount as dispersed; over 20 years, minus taxes etc. Just did the math, that would be $50K annually before taxes. Figuring a 25% tax rate, I guess that is an extra $40K a year. Not bad.

And in that same vein, a colleague's wife was part of a lottery work pool that hit big. In that case she ended up getting a payout of ~$30k annually for 20 years. I recall my husband and I commenting that was a nice figure; enough to be able to supplement the family budget but not enough to create a huge change in fortune, if that makes sense.

I only bought a lottery ticket once in my life and it became part of one of my luckiest weeks ever. In that one week I: bought my dream car, was (unexpectedly) tapped into the most prestigious honor society at my university...and won $80 in the state lottery :). I drove the new car out to lunch with friends-my treat thanks to the lottery-and celebrated the honor society membership!

My parents used to sit and plot for hours what they'd do if they won the lottery. The trips they would take (golf Pebble Beach or visit in Tuscany, hmmmm, let the debating begin), the bequests to us kids, the new wing for the animal shelter. . .

I'm sorry they never won, just because I know how happy it would have made them to be able to put their plans into action.

You know, Leafy, I honestly think there is a lot of fun and joy in the imagining of "what if..." Your parents sound as if they made themselves happy just thinking of the possibilities. I know I do the same and that is almost as much fun, I think, as the actual winning (stress on almost).

When my kids were young and asked for things that we couldn't afford I told them, okay, I'll put that on the list for when we win the lottery. It usually satisfied them.
I don't think that I would even want to win hundreds of millions of dollars - too much responsibility. Ten million would be nice.

The guy who did our brickwork in the backyard last summer called to tell me his mother had won $100k in the lottery. He wanted me to collect it for her because she was in the country illegally. I refused, but called our lawyer to find out if she could collect the money and how to go about it. Then I passed along the info to him and assume he helped her collect. I never heard from them again and a few weeks later got a bill for $200 from our lawyer for the 20 min phone call!

I don't even know anyone who plays.

natesgram and lukkirish - You probably won't believe this but if lottery payouts are "small", $1,000,000 or less, regular people won't bother to play. The big payouts bring everyone out of the woodwork. My husband deals with the lottery through his business so that's how I know that fun fact.

KSWL, that's too much!

Yep, leafy,no good deed goes unpunished!

I used to work with a woman whose brother won about 7 million in a state lottery.

I used to work with a woman whose brother won about 7 million in a state lottery.

fly, I forgot to answer you question. Actually I don't know the answer! Since my kids are past that age I guess I haven't paid attention. Yay for having 3 kids done with college!

My mom...24 years ago...she won 1.7 million in the NY State LOTTO. At the time, she was one of only 6 people in NY to win over a million...it was a big deal...nowadays, that seems to be a drop in the bucket.

When Hubby and I first started dating, we bought a lottery ticket together -- He picked three numbers and I picked three. We hit 5 out of 6 and won about $600, if I recall correctly. We joked that it was a sign the fates were rooting for us -- and thankfully, we were right ;-)

My second cousin (I think.... my dad and his dad were first cousins) won $44 million about 8 years ago. In Canada we don't pay any tax on lottery winnings. He and I grew up in different communities, so I don't really know him very well. Enough to say hi to when I run into him. I've seen him at the odd family gathering since, bit have never chatted with him about his winnings. I do see a bit do stuff on FB through mutual acquiantances, and it seems like they've been traveling a lot. I know he donated a lot of money to diabetes charities.... his oldest daughter has been an insulin dependent diabetic since she was quite young.

Wow, I have to say I really didn't expect to see this many stories of people who knew others who had hit it big. Amazingly enough, just after I posted this, I found an instant lottery ticket that the kids had stuck on the fridge. It was a 'win a free ticket" one, and had come from one of their Christmas stockings. So I took it to the store and wanted to trade it in for another instant ticket. But the clerk gave me back a QuickPick for the lotto. I think the drawing was last night. I better go check my ticket!

No one has never won it's all a scam and or fixed! My friend and my friend and my friend ohhhh shut up will ya!! It's a poor man tax!! Stop playing everyone !!

I know somebody who played for years-him and his friend together. A tradition of theirs. One evening he checked that week numbers and realized they actually won two million dollars. In the morning though, he found out his friend has lost the ticket..))

Wow, april, that's even worse than a friend of mine. She always spent about $20 a week on the lottery and another mutual friend persuaded her that that was just a stupid waste of money, so she cut down to just buying a quick pick ticket, and wouldn't you know it, three weeks later one set of numbers she'd been playing won $54m.

Wow.

Actually he told me that during the long night he thought he was a winner, he realized his life was about to change drastically. And he was not sure how to feel about it. He got mad at his friend of course, but you know..not all the way- genuinely- mad. Felt somewhat weirdly relieved too. He said to me, in conclusion of this interesting story of his: "Never win the lottery.."..))

I don't know anyone who has won except years ago an acquaintance won five thousand. For years I rarely bought tickets. My husband does a group work ticket. I'm thinking of buying one $25 scratch off a month. I told my husband when we win the big one we will split it down the middle into our own personal accounts. I could see him all of a sudden with lots of so called friends (he has no bad guy radar). Seperate accounts would save the marriage.

My sister won $3000 and had a few months of nice times. She didn't share it but we didn't expect her to. It's not much money. She still buys tickets religiously every week.

There's a joke which has many versions depending on your ethnic background. Or if you're blonde? It's apparently Italian in origin. It goes something like this...

There's a man with a family who is down on his luck who goes in a (enter prayer place of your choice) and begs the saint (or God) to help him win the lottery. As difficulties continue to rain down on the man he continues to pray and plead for many months that he win the Lottery to the saint. As things finally reach the breaking point in desperation he decides to try one more time to convince God. "I've been good" he says in essence and expresses his disappointment in the Saint's not answering his prayer. Finally he feels he's pleaded his case and gets up to leave. To his astonished eyes the statue comes to life and booms out "Buy a ticket John!"

I"m sure John ran fast as he could to buy a ticket, which he'd never done. I can always chuckle at this joke, even though I tell it poorly.

No lottery, but a trip to Paris courtesy of McDonald's. I think that pretty much blew our luck quotient, so we don't buy lotto tickets. :)

Lukkiirish are we married to the same guy...lol

When my father was a young, broke and a new law school graduate, he won a lottery for the down payment on a new house. He told me he was so relieved to have a house for his young family (I was 2, and my brother was newborn). He had to take an advance on his first pay check at his new job to buy the $100 lottery ticket.

We had 5 out of 6 numbers when the Florida Lottery was young. $1800.00 after taxes.

I had a friend who won a million in one of the first Florida Lotteries. She was smart about what she did with her money, the only extravagant purchase was a house on the beach (back when a beach house was affordable). Nice, smart lady.

I won $1000 on a scratch ticket when I was young. I invested in sizeable cash gifts to my siblings (not my idea, thanks a lot Mom and Dad), a nintendo and a bike. Wish I'd gone for Apple stock!

Not exactly the lottery, but a nice middle-aged couple from our city won the HGTV Dream Home last year (2015). The local news media did a follow-up story on them and their friends were all very supportive and happy for them. They were able to sell their 70's tri-level and purchase an almost-new one-level ranch in an upscale neighborhood that better suited their lifestyle (grown kids and grandkids).

I was one of 10 winners who won a trip for 2 to San Diego in a contest sponsored by Juicy Fruit in 2002 I think it was. The main event was a multi-performer concert headed by Alanis Morisette and included a private concert by her, reception, photos, etc. I took my DD and we had a ball. I don't even know why I entered as I seldom do anything like that. I don't even buy gum very often, but happened to do so and it caught my eye and sounded like fun so I did.

My aunt won 200k about fifteen years ago. They renovated their modest (under 100k) house to be accessible for her as she had/has slow progressing MS. Thats probably 3-4 years of income for them. Not sure what they did with the rest, probably saved it.

My bil's sil and her DH l won about $300 million 10 years ago. They retired and bought a very nice house on a lake. They have adjusted well.

I've never won except $5 here and there on scratch offs. I have a friend who always says that if she ever end lotto she won't give anyone any money but she will to fix people's teeth if they need it. I thought that was a great idea and a nice way to draw a line in the sand.

Once, I won a free ticket... Oh, another time about $3 which I spent immediately on ice cream at the local parlor. Some co-workers won about $2000, split eight or so ways.

My son won $50 once. He was pretty happy but didn't let it change him :-)