this post was submitted on 30 Dec 2024
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That seems incredibly scammy to me. They're pretending the prize is double what it actually is and then claim even more of that back as taxes. If the actual prize money is only 20% of what you're advertising that's dishonest at best.
Where I am lottery winnings are tax-free and without an insane hidden 50% "claimed your winnings" fee. What they advertise is what you get if you win.
On one hand, it does feel a bit scammy. On the other, I'm not gonna lose a lot of sleep if I only took home 50 million dollars from a 150 million jackpot. It's still a "Work? Sorry, I'm unfamiliar with peasant slang." amount of cash.
You're walking down the street and see a sign in a new sandwich place saying they have a three-for-one deal on, buy any one sandwich and get two sandwiches completely free. Sounds like a great deal, it might be a bit much but you skipped breakfast today and you can always keep one for later anyway, right? So you head inside and think about what you want, maybe you're cutting back on red meat and you're tired of chicken so you go with a tuna or cheese sandwich. You get to the counter to pick up your tuna+cheese sandwich, the worker hands over your two freebies and you walk out. Turns out you're hungrier than you thought so you practically inhale your tuna+cheese, barely savouring the flavour. You reach for your second sandwich but when you unwrap it you discover it's not the same as the one you ordered; it's bread with a thin smear of butter, technically it is a sandwich but it's definitely not what you wanted or expected when you ordered.
Did you get scammed? Are you okay with that since you still got one sandwich even though you chose that vendor because they advertised three?
It really shouldn't be a controversial statement to say that lying to people to get their money is wrong. If it really makes no difference as you're suggesting why can't they just advertise the real value instead?
I think everyone agrees with you that at face value it's bullshit. What the commenter above was also saying is that in your scenario, you end up with slightly less food then you expected which has happened to all of us.
In the lotto scenario, you end up with multi-generational wealth that means your great great grand children would never have to work if the money is managed appropriately.
The state lotto systems should absolutely be taxed up front though. That way whoever wins gets the full advertised value of the jackpot.