Florida's newest millionaire is a Fort Lauderdale truck driver, a habitual lottery player whose stepdaughter figures the $1 million in winnings may just get him even.
"He's been buying them his whole life. This is just all the money he's spent on them," said Kandice Marks, whose stepfather, Donald Ritacco, was driving back from Tallahassee on Monday.
Ritacco, 48, bought his $10 ticket for the Florida Lottery's "$1,000,000 Cash Spectacular" scratch-off game Thursday at a Marathon gas station on State Road 84 in Fort Lauderdale.
"There was only the clerk in the store, and I told him I won," Ritacco said, according to a lottery news release. "I then called my wife to tell her the good news, and she didn't believe me until I showed her the ticket."
Ritacco redeemed his ticket Monday morning at Florida Lottery headquarters in Tallahassee, making him the ninth million-dollar winner in the game. He opted to take 20 annual installments of $50,000.
He has no plans to quit his job driving an 18-wheeler for Show Management of Fort Lauderdale, hauling equipment for boat shows, according to Marks. The family hasn't decided yet what to do with the winnings.
"I think everybody's had input on it," Marks said.
the truck driver didn't really win a million dollars. he won the right to earn one million dollars provided that he takes an annual sum of $50,000 a year for the next 20 years before taxes (federal and state). if he doesn't take that option and decides to redeem the whole value of his winning ticket, it is only worth less than half a million dollars and, when taxes are taken out, perhaps no more than a third of one million. in short, he isn't choosing between a million today and a million tomorrow; he is choosing between a third of a million today and a whole million tomorrow. in the end, whether he comes out better off with one option or the other all depends on the rate of inflation and the rate of return on his investment. it isn't as simple as some on this forum seem to think. nothing ever is; specially the complex world of high finance and money management.
for a guy thats hooked on the lottery that much, annuity seemed like the smart way to go!
Another winner turned loser.
That $1 million isn't going to be worth $1 million 20 years from now. He should have taken the cash. When will people ever learn????????
give me the cash option the only way to win
http://www.pigstye.net/iraq/wd.php?sort=&page=8
dear players,
the truck driver didn't really win a million dollars. he won the right to earn one million dollars provided that he takes an annual sum of $50,000 a year for the next 20 years before taxes (federal and state). if he doesn't take that option and decides to redeem the whole value of his winning ticket, it is only worth less than half a million dollars and, when taxes are taken out, perhaps no more than a third of one million. in short, he isn't choosing between a million today and a million tomorrow; he is choosing between a third of a million today and a whole million tomorrow. in the end, whether he comes out better off with one option or the other all depends on the rate of inflation and the rate of return on his investment. it isn't as simple as some on this forum seem to think. nothing ever is; specially the complex world of high finance and money management.
cheers, hitchaser.
hitchaser:
the "whole million" 20 years from now won't be worth nearly a "whole million" today.