Lottery winner almost killed while cashing ticket

Strange reaction to a lottery win

Everyone kind of imagines what they would do if they found out they won the lottery.  Jump up and down, scream, call your spouse, quit your job, all kinds of things.

Betty Tapson didn’t do any of those things.  When she found out that she held a ticket that had a value of $111,877, she simply and calmly went to work.

Even Tapson herself, when thinking about it later on, was surprised at her own reaction.  “I don’t know how I did it.  I just had to go to work.  I functioned well all day and I didn’t think about it all day.”

Eventually, later in the day, she called her boyfriend who was out of town at the time.  His first question for her was: “What are you still doing at work?”

They plan to do some remodeling to their home, and they will also invest in education funds for their 7 grandchildren.  And they will keep buying lottery tickets, because you never know when you might win a second time.

Church refuses to accept lottery winnings from member

First Baptist Orange Park, in Orange Park, Florida (a suburb of Jacksonville) won’t be benefiting from the lottery winnings of one of its members, Robert Powell.

Powell recently won $6 million in the Florida Lottery, and wanted to give $600,000 of his winnings (a 10% tithe) to his church.  First Baptist Orange Park Pastor David Tarkington would not accept it.  He also would not comment, citing confidentiality of members’ gifts.  A safe assumption is that the church does not condone gambling, so does not want to accept gambling winnings as part of their support.

Most churches maintain a position against any form of gambling.  But some would still accept the money from a member who won it that way.

Is your name Tim? You should buy a lottery ticket

If you are a man named Tim, your chances of winning the lottery are greater than any other name.

At least that’s what the statistics say.  Lottery officials in Iowa were curious about how a person’s name related to how often they won the lottery (they only looked at winners of at least $100,000).  They found that “Tims” won the big jackpots 33 times since the lottery began in 1985.  Coming in second was the name John with 26 big wins.

Of course, lottery management was quick to point out that everyone always has the same chance of winning, no matter what your name is.  They encourage players to NOT change their name with the plan of increasing the odds of winning.   Duh.

Millionaire lottery winner goes back to his job - at McDonald’s

Okay, we have had some weird stories on here, but this one has even us stumped.

Luke Pittard was 24 years old and working at McDonald’s.  He bought a lottery ticket, and he won US$2.6 million.  So of course he quits his job, marries his sweetheart, and takes a worldwide vacation.

That took about a year and a half.  Then he remembered how great his life was when he was working at McDonald’s, so he went back and asked for his old job back.  Of course they were happy to have him back.

Lottery Winner Luke, doing what he loves

Do you see anthing wrong with this picture?  This guy could do anything he wants with his life.  He could spend his days handing out $100 bills to homeless people.  He could establish a college scholarship and fund it himself.  He could buy random strangers a new car.  He could do anything he wants - and he decides that the best way he can spend his life here on this earth is to get up every day and serve junk food to people.

His wife’s reaction?  “Oh, I totally understand it.”  (Keep in mind, however - she works for McDonald’s as well.)