http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3909987Oh my.
depakid (1000+ posts) Fri Jun-05-09 04:33 PM
Original message
23-year-old SD rancher claims $232.1 Powerball win
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A 23-year-old rancher whose family has fallen behind in their taxes and recently had a mobile home repossessed claimed a $232.1 million Powerball jackpot on Friday, one of the largest undivided jackpots in U.S. lottery history. Neal Wanless, who lives on his family's 320-acre ranch near Mission, S.D., bought the winning ticket in the nearby town of Winner late last month during a trip to buy livestock feed. He will take home $88.5 million in a lump sum payment after taxes are deducted.
Wanless, who did not speak publicly about the win until Friday, spoke for only a couple of minutes at a ceremony Friday, reading a prepared statement. He was wearing a big black cowboy hat and had a huge grin on his face during the brief ceremony. "I want to thank the Lord for giving me this opportunity and blessing me with this great fortune. I will not squander it," he said.
Wanless said he intends to use the money to help those in need. "My family has been helped by the community and I intend to repay that help many times over." He told lottery officials that since winning, he has spent his time preparing to bale hay and doing other jobs around his family's ranch.
Wanless said he intends to continue ranching, albeit on a larger plot of land. He said he recently told his horse, Eleanor, that "It'd be nice if we go for a longer ride than usual on a bigger ranch of our own."
Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gWbI9...
YOY (1000+ posts) Fri Jun-05-09 04:37 PM
Response to Original message
1. Welp...it went to someone who needed it.
Nice when that happens.
maxsolomon (1000+ posts) Fri Jun-05-09 04:39 PM
Response to Reply #1
3. there were others who needed it
88 million could go a long way towards helping 88 times as many people.
but, good for the kid.
DissedByBush (774 posts) Fri Jun-05-09 06:39 PM
Response to Reply #1
26. It will, no matter what
He'll buy more land, the former owner will get the money and spend it.
He'll need more workers for his new larger ranch.
He'll buy trucks that were made by workers.
He'll invest it, and it'll get invested in companies to help give them capital to hire workers.
All that will happen even if he doesn't give away a dime.
brendan120678 (294 posts) Fri Jun-05-09 04:38 PM
Response to Original message
2. Cool. Good for him.
Hope they spend it wisely (not that it is any of my business though).
Posteritatis (1000+ posts) Fri Jun-05-09 04:41 PM
Response to Original message
4. Welp, he's doomed
If I won one of those I'm pretty sure I'd have to change my identity and flee the country just to get away from the amount of harassment that he's going to be getting.
Cal Carpenter (200 posts) Fri Jun-05-09 04:46 PM
Response to Reply #4
5. I'm pretty sure you can claim the winnings anonymously through a blind trust or something (I read that in an article about all the big lottery winners who have ended up in a gutter). I can't imagine why anyone winning so big would want the publicity.
You may be right, he may be doomed. Rich, but doomed.
Well, he's no longer anonymous.
joshcryer (1000+ posts) Fri Jun-05-09 05:16 PM
Response to Reply #5
15. He used the wrong words when he said he wanted to "give back."
People are already writing this guy letters and trying to find him.
Probably a lot of primitives are right now e-mailing him.
It's easier than writing letters.
Posteritatis (1000+ posts) Fri Jun-05-09 05:19 PM
Response to Reply #15
16. Well, really, he used the wrong words when he identified himself
joshcryer (1000+ posts) Fri Jun-05-09 06:00 PM
Response to Reply #16
21. All winners are publicy identifable.
Taxes and all.
Cal Carpenter (200 posts) Fri Jun-05-09 06:44 PM
Response to Reply #21
27. I'm under the impression you can form a trust of some sort and claim your winnings that way. Taxes are paid by the trust, not the individual, so they don't have to be identified.
I'd imagine in a case like this word would get out eventually though regardless.
One can do that in certain Powerball states, claim the winnings anonymously, but not in South Dakota or Nebraska, unfortunately. When franksolich gets around to winning the Powerball, he's sure the primitives on Skins's island will know about it before he does.
A HERETIC I AM (1000+ posts) Fri Jun-05-09 07:11 PM
Response to Reply #27
31. Damn straight you can and that's exactly the way to do it.
Hire a lawyer, form a Trust and send the attorney to pick up the check in the name of the trust. You meanwhile disappear for 6 to 9 months on a boat or island somewhere, because as mentioned by others, family and old friends will come out of the woodwork with their hands out.
You need to be no where to be found until things calm down.
bluestateguy (1000+ posts) Fri Jun-05-09 05:20 PM
Response to Reply #4
17. Yep
People who win these things have to be very careful. You get "friends" coming all out of the woodwork, people who you haven't spoken to in 20 years, and scammers write you letters claiming to have a child dying of leukemia, and gosh, if we don't come up with $200,000 for the surgery he will die.
Hmmm. Didn't somebody try that on Skins's island about, oh, four years ago?
Mythsaje (1000+ posts) Fri Jun-05-09 04:49 PM
Response to Original message
6. I've considered what I'd do (not likely, since I don't PLAY the lottery), but I'm addicted to modest means... I've been terribly poor and I know how much of a boon it is just to have enough to be moderately comfortable. Excess disgusts me. I'd reinvest as much as I could into things that would help as many people as possible. It's good that he wants to help his neighbors, but I'm not sure that's enough.
givemebackmycountry (1000+ posts) Fri Jun-05-09 04:58 PM
Response to Original message
7. WTF! You win $232.1 million and after taxes you get $88.5 million?
"The gub'mint, she do take a bite!"
That's $232.1 million after being invested for 30 years at 2% interest.
It's false advertising, I think.
The real amount, before taxes, is circa $120.0 million.
depakid (1000+ posts) Fri Jun-05-09 04:59 PM
Response to Reply #7
8. You do if you take the lump sum option
Blue_Tires (1000+ posts) Fri Jun-05-09 05:00 PM
Response to Reply #7
9. well, he also took the lump sum
the annuity would have worked out to be more...
Nope, the annuity's not recommended. Only one Powerball winner has ever taken the annuity rather than a lump sum.
After all, even an idiot can do better than 2% a year.
Kittycat (1000+ posts) Fri Jun-05-09 05:01 PM
Response to Reply #7
10. He chose the lump sum payment vs. lifetime.
That's why it's not as much. Then taxes of course.
CANDO (1000+ posts) Fri Jun-05-09 05:03 PM
Response to Reply #7
11. Lump sum option pays half of total jackpot minus taxes.
He actually got 116 million minus taxes.
Yeah.
Synicus Maximus (128 posts) Fri Jun-05-09 05:05 PM
Response to Reply #7
13. He had 2 options
He could take it as an annuity and have the $232 million paid out over about 30 years or take it as cash which is typically about 60%, say about $130 million, then comes the taxes so he ends up with $88 million.
truthisfreedom (1000+ posts) Fri Jun-05-09 06:23 PM
Response to Reply #7
24. Better to take the immediate pay option. The lifetime payments are streched out over a long, long period.
Posteritatis (1000+ posts) Fri Jun-05-09 07:05 PM
Response to Reply #24
29. Well, when you're twenty-three..
And a conservative Republican.
kestrel91316 (1000+ posts) Fri Jun-05-09 05:04 PM
Response to Original message
12. Kewl. He gets to keep ranching, in style. Good for him AND his community.
AlbertCat (1000+ posts) Fri Jun-05-09 05:08 PM
Response to Original message
14. Shouldn't he give that $$$ to AIG? They need it!
I guess he will next April anyway.
PfcHammer (1000+ posts) Fri Jun-05-09 05:24 PM
Response to Original message
18. Let the chaos begin
Odin2005 (1000+ posts) Fri Jun-05-09 05:49 PM
Response to Original message
19. Awesome! He sounds like a nice guy!
He is a nice guy. He's a conservative Republican.
oxbow (1000+ posts) Fri Jun-05-09 05:54 PM
Response to Original message
20. Mr. Wanless Won in Winner?
Kewl...I guess it's the Universe's way of saying, it's not who you are, it's where you're at...
mamaleah (76 posts) Fri Jun-05-09 06:14 PM
Response to Original message
22. He needs to change his name or disconnect his phone because everyone who thinks they may be his "kin" will be calling.
And there'll be primitives wanting a cut too.
truthisfreedom (1000+ posts) Fri Jun-05-09 06:23 PM
Response to Reply #22
23. No kidding. A huge winner here in Minnesota a few years ago was the accountant for a local music store where one of my best friends worked. He was close with everyone there... had to change his phone number and move immediately because everything went apeshit after his prize hit the news.
mamaleah (76 posts) Fri Jun-05-09 06:26 PM
Response to Reply #23
25. If I won
I'd buy myself a plane ticket for a few weeks out. Make my plans, go collect my winnings, hop on said plane and disappear. Only the family and friends who have ever been there for me would see a dime. The rest could go pound sand.
Now, that's not a socialist attitude; one's supposed to share with all.
Algorem (1000+ posts) Fri Jun-05-09 06:55 PM
Response to Original message
28. I'm sure he'll keep his present lifestyle of raising livestock, having sex with them and slaughtering them.
Posteritatis (1000+ posts) Fri Jun-05-09 07:08 PM
Response to Reply #28
30. Aren't you wonderful
