When gambling becomes a gamble
By Dawn Cuthbertson, Sympatico / MSN Finance
What a week Ontario's Thomas Noftall had. It started with elation over winning $135,000 from a scratch lottery ticket, followed by speculation that it might be a hoax. Next came frustration when his worst fears were confirmed and ended with some level of satisfaction over an "undisclosed" settlement.
Everyone seems to have an opinion on who's at fault (OLG, printer) and how Noftall should be compensated, if at all.
Regardless of that, there's no denying that $135,000 is a sum of money that can change someone's life. With the flurry of attention surrounding him, it’s doubtful that Noftall has had a chance to think about what he’s going to do with his settlement.
But he should know the risks he may face.
In a recent article on this site, Gordon Powers explains that people who suddenly come into a large sum of money often feel overwhelmed and are at risk of squabbling it away. Using real-life examples of winners who’ve run into trouble after winning the lottery, Powers says that people “underestimate the ripple effect their good fortune can have, both emotionally and financially.”
Hopefully Noftall will enlist the help of a financial advisor to avoid the same fate. Let’s just hope it doesn’t come with the same kind of drama that got him there in the first place.
Posted by: Ralph | Jan 9, 2022 12:59:36 PM
I would suggest hiring a good financial adviser that is fee based. Most of these so called financial advisers are nothing more then sales people for the mutual fund companies.
Posted by: Peter | Jan 10, 2022 2:15:50 PM
Printing error or not, the man should get the full amount he scratched. Not the way games are supposed to be played, the way I was taught anyways. If you win a game your opponent,( gameing commission) should not be able to change the rules to their advantage. Kind of makes you wonder if it is worth buying their tickets at all,as you have little chance of winning in the first place, and No Chance of winning the way they play the game.
Posted by: jake | Jan 10, 2022 7:24:13 PM
Anyone who wins money at gambling doesn't value it as much as money work for and earned. Free lunch is free lunch.
Posted by: Marg | Jan 12, 2022 1:57:57 AM
Not everyone who wins a lotto or a jackpot squanders it away! It may depend on your age and where you are in life, but when my husband won a jackpot of $7,00.00 he invested it.
Posted by: dave | Jan 12, 2022 2:38:32 PM
If the machine made an error tough beans , pay the guy out its not his fault, all these nonsense excuses about not paying someone out is a load of tripe!! olg trying to wiggle out of it again, sorry but these bozos running these oprerations cant be trusted, believe me wether you win a lot or not, there seems to be alot of fiddling going on that some people dont know about or are to naive to understand, WAKE UP LADIES & GENTS , & that you can believe it or not!! ANYONE HEARD OF A CERTAIN MR MADOFF?
Posted by: DrVex007 | Jan 13, 2022 12:17:15 AM
This guy should receive the entire payout. OLG is a scam operation anyway. Explain why it took them so long to figure out that their OWN MERCHANTS were collecting on the tickets that they were scamming from customers. There should be a basic agreement. If you sell these tickets neither you nor your relatives can win. Plus even a small infraction of $2 should be automatic loss of licence to sell these tickets. As for the printing errors, sorry it is not a ticket that has been tampered with, so they should have to pay.
Posted by: cashvacuum | Jan 14, 2022 12:46:43 AM
i agree with the others comments.
really, what's 135,000 going out compared to what they have coming in to their coffers.
and for the most part staying in their coffers.
it's nothing. a drop in the bucket gesture that could have boosted the legitimacy of their games, or at the very least the semblence of fairplay.
they messed up. he wasn't cheating.
and they can't even step up to the plate.....!?!
Posted by: nxsible | Jan 22, 2022 1:04:59 AM
He won that amount of money and they're not even giving it to him because of an error on their part? It kind of makes you wonder why you would buy their tickets in the first place.