Let’s play pretend. Imagine that a friend or a relative gives you a PA Lottery ticket. Maybe it’s a scratch-off, or a draw game.
And let’s say you hit it big. The kind of jackpot that carries a bunch of zeroes.
Do you tip them? Or share some of the winnings?
An extensive survey in a recent article and some social media posts by PlayPennsylvania explored this very topic, along with a few others. And the results were rather intriguing.
Half the respondents of a lottery survey have gifted tickets
Last month, PlayPennsylvania released a survey of 1,100 people regarding their lottery habits. The answers revealed quite a bit.
The vast majority of people (79%) have played the lottery with a co-worker. Half of the respondents (1 in 2) have purchased a lottery ticket for a family member or friend. And nearly half (47%) have agreed up front to split money with a family member, friend, or co-worker if they won the lottery.
But what else happens if you win?
That topic provided even more interesting responses. According to the survey, 58% of people expected to get a cut if their co-workers were gifted a $1 million ticket, but that number dropped to 38% if it was a family member who received a winning ticket. So much for blood being thicker.
Perhaps the perfect case study of those statistics arrived on Reddit. A Reddit user recently relayed a story explaining that he frequently gives away scratch-off lottery tickets to family members as stocking stuffers. And this year, a cousin won $50,000 from the scratch-off gift.
The Reddit user’s spouse wasn’t happy and demanded that the ticket be returned. It’s been a point of contention ever since.
But the issue of what to give, or what you should receive from a winning ticket, varies widely. This infographic from PlayPennsylvania illustrates the differing expectations.
Does a $1 million jackpot earn you a kickback?
Furthermore, according to a smaller PlayPA survey on Twitter, if you gave a family member or co-worker a lottery ticket that won $1 million, here’s what respondents said they would expect in return:
So nearly half of the respondents would expect nothing in return. And those in the other half would expect amounts that vary rather significantly.
Lotto jackpots: How much money would it take to quit your job?
Another section of the PlayPA survey focused on how lottery jackpots might impact your employment. Surprisingly, nearly 50% of respondents said they would need to win $4 million or more to quit. However, roughly 10% would quit instantly. The full data is pictured below.
Let’s say you win a PA Lottery drawing, now what?
The last part of the survey explored what else might happen if you won the lottery. On a positive note, 88% of players surveyed said they would give away a portion of the winnings. But a similar number (83%), also said they would prefer to keep the winnings a secret, maintaining a low profile with the new-found wealth.
Most people (70%) would take the money in a lump sum.
And interestingly enough, here are the five most popular ways the winnings would be spent:
- Traveling
- Paying debts
- Becoming an artist
- Writing a book
- Becoming a full-time video gamer
The PA Lottery surprises new winners every day with jackpots they never expected. The same phenomenon happens in other states all across the country. It’s sometimes hard to even imagine it.
But as the survey shows, most people know just what they would do if they won.
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