RED DEER, Alta. — Dave Johnston is kicking himself for pulling out of a lottery pool that's about to cash in a lucky ticket for $30 million.
The steam-fitting instructor at Red Deer College in central Alberta, Canada, used to play regularly with plumbing teachers he sat with in the school's lunchroom every day.
But he pulled out over a year ago.
"It's hard to stay in," said Johnston, who added he kept putting in his cash but the pool wasn't winning big. He eventually decided it just wasn't going to happen.
"And then it does."
Seven of the plumbers won last week's Lotto 6-49 jackpot. The men, each set to pocket about $4.3 million, are to be officially introduced at a Western Canada Lottery Corp. news conference today.
Johnston said he found the plumbers hugging each other and dancing around soon after they realized they had the winning numbers.
"I walked over and said, 'What did you do? Win a hundred bucks?' "
Johnston said he was happy to learn his co-workers were new millionaires. And he offered them a quick proposal.
"I said, 'Well, if each of you give me a $100,000 then I can retire too.' I thought I'd throw it out there," Johnston said. "I didn't have any bites."
A retired instructor who sometimes put money in the pool when he popped in for coffee also phoned to offer congratulations. But he also gave the group grief for not keeping him in the pool when he wasn't around.
Johnston said he's not upset and his family isn't blaming him, either. "It's just one of those things. If it was meant to be, it would be. That's all."
Well, he should contact the lawyer of that other guy that dropped out 3 years previous and the court just awarded him his cut. That was unreal!
Unbelievable! Some people are just sore losers. He said: "I said, 'Well, if each of you give me a $100,000 then I can retire too.' I thought I'd throw it out there," Johnston said. "I didn't have any bites."
You are entitle to NOTHING! ZERO! ZILTCH! NADA! Why should any of the winners give him anything? You don't pay you don't play!
WOW,, who would have thunked it... Well I guess he thought it would have been better to save a few bucks... LOL... Some people are not meant to have millions .
You know how educators and mentors are always exhorting kids to stay in school? Well, I guess this can be adapted for this guy, and he is a teacher no less. STAY IN THE (LOTTERY) POOL!!! You lottery pool dropout!
I guess this illustrates an important point: Don't alter your lottery buying pattern. If he would have stayed in the pool, he would be some millions richer and retired. But if you are not playing a pool, don't start...too much headache. Also, I am reminded of the many folks who say they only play the lottery when it reaches a certain amount, like $100 million. Well if these people would have done that, they would not have won. And how many people pick their own numbers but exercise this scheme only to discover that their numbers rolled when the jackpot was MERELY $25 million?!!! I think one quarter of $25 million is more than many people have in investment/bank accounts today!!! I play regardless of the jackpot amount as it is irrelevant UNTIL your numbers hit.
The guy pulled out over a year ago, no court would honor any claim. You have to stick with it. Oh well, it wasn't meant to be.
if it is meant to happen it will happen if not it won't. it was not for him. life,must keep trying when it your time it will happen
Can't hurt to ask...The worst they can say is no. He wasn't claiming anything...he just told the world he pulled out a year ago. Oh We'll...It now becomes a story that sticks with you to the end....
LOL, I know he's losing sleep over it. You have to stick with it.
Stay in those lottery pools if you're in one.
Otherwise play solo
Good advice Rightprice, I just sent a text to a few of my group players about this article..
Whoa, bummer.
He may have been what was holding them back. I believe the old saying that "scared money never wins" and cheapskates are always scared about risking their money. I wouldn't want to be in a pool unless everyone in it was upbeat and positive.
He thought he was never gonna win.
And of course he was right.
That's how it works.
tough toenails for him. this will teach you to either never join one of those pools or if you do stay in it no matter what. everyone should take turns buying him an item out of the vending machine one time each just for laughs if they still are working there, which they shouldn't be.
CONCUR
"SCARED MONEY DON'T MAKE MONEY!"
"GOT TO BE IN IT TO WIN IT!"
Wow ........................
I keep playing by myself .......... if only $1 per draw (Mega or Powerball)...............
If you want to be green ......... win money !
One advantage of playing only for yourself and not in a pool is if you drop playing for awhile you will never know if you won or lost.
Now this person here may need to go to a therapist to be treated for "lottery pool dropout trauma" now that he knows he could have been a winner.
Yep, prime example for a lawsuit waiting to happen. I'm sure he's already been contacted by % lawyers.
Ya gotta play for it to pay.
"TODAY's the DAY"
Quote: MEL FISHER Flordia treasure hunter
if it wasn't meant to be, then it wasn't meant to be
Congratz to the Lucky 7
I'm sure he is a bit peeved at his "potential" loss, yet I have little advocacy for Lottery pools. Between Taxes and the govt, one just does not gain what they could if they went it alone.
Play alone, claim alone is my motto!!
It is possible that they might not have been winning because of him, the bible says that you need to have faith for things to happen and maybe he didn't, if he had faith he would have kept on playing, maybe it was a good thing for the group that he pulled out of the pool.
The esoteric thought is that there is more power in the union of many than in one alone, if that is right and I don't know if it is then those who play together have a higher chance of winning, they might anyway as they should be able to play more lines-combinations than one person.
I guess it was not his time to win and that he has bad karma. He was bringing the group down so they gave him the boot. Now they are winners good luck to them. It is a nice win for the seven. They can relax and not work so hard.-weshar75
Thank you for this concept. In lottery play it is irrelavant. One line wins plain and simple, so having ten tickets with variable combos may all be losers, where as one ticket can have them all. True fact , Now if its asked if you buy 50$ worth of tickets is your chance any better? Nope, the odds stay the same. One line with all winning numbers. I prove this succesfully every week as our work place has a "pool" for players. Accumilatively the group contributes 60$ per week for playing with wins of 2-8$ maybe once a month. I can pull in 12$ and 150$ sometimes on my $1 play. Yet they must split the 8$ win amongst 15 people. Hopefully this example makes sense. Point being I gain more on my own then a group that has to split a win no matter how meager it is.
Lottery pools when won may seem like a big win, and sometimes it is. TO that I have no disagreement, yet we rarely hear of all the lottery pools that lose more consistently and longer. After awhile a good investor would realize that there money is better served in other ways then to squander it with a group that is losing consistently. Moral being: KNow when to cut your loss's and know when to go it alone. The Guy made the right decision for his budget.
Yep, good point.
You are right about playing a lot of lines and the odds are still the same where it takes only one line to win.
In the case of this person dropping out the rest of the players did not need his pool portion to buy more lines. They won on what they purchased.
these court cases are hardly ever decided by the judge. they are setled out of court. ie the winners decide to hand over the cash rather than wait around for the case to settle.
funny this is here; becasue the syndicate im in, for over 8 years, has just been told 1 guy is pulling out. and when told another guy had pulled out a 2nd guy decided to leave. From 5 to 3. One of the guys is my second, and was named and titled to be syndicate manager if i ever couldnt do the job. so all the paper work we did is now useless.
i guess it was a good run. of course there was no problems it never won anything of consequense.
funy over the years $8k was spent and $4k was won back, they state at lotto that the return on avg is %50 of wagers!
"you got to be in it to win it" simple as that!
I am hoping to go Green tonite .................... with MONEY !