Lottery winner's husband 'thought she was faking' £176,000 jackpot win in online game
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Ashley Smith, from Mason County, Kentucky, was left trying to convince her husband she had won the $224,000 jackpot after deciding to play one night having put the kids to bed
A mum-of-two was left trying to convince her husband she had won a lottery jackpot after he "thought she was faking".
Ashley Smith, from Mason County, Kentucky, decided to play an online lottery game one night after putting the kids to bed. She explained: "I was just waiting for the kids to go to sleep and decided to play." She was sat playing when all of a sudden the Bank Buster online jackpot popped up on her screen. She had won a whopping $224,000 (£176,000).
Ashley jumped out of bed and screamed with excitement after seeing the jackpot pop up. Her husband took some convincing, though. He said: "I thought she was faking. I called my mum, and she couldn't believe it either."
The next morning, the family piled into their car and drove to Kentucky Lottery headquarters. They decided to choose the lump sum option to collect their winnings. This means they took home a cheque for $160,409 (£126,200) after taxes. Taking the lump sum payment means the family took home just over half of their jackpot.
The money couldn't have come at a better time for the family either, as Ashley had just totalled her car. Her husband had also had car trouble on the morning they picked up their winnings. "I hit a deer this morning," explained Ashley's husband. "I had to go home and switch trucks to get to work."
The family are planning to be practical with their winnings. They said they plan to spend the majority of their winnings on bills. Lottery winners have two options when it comes to how they collect their win. They can either take the lump sum, as Ashley and her family did, or save on taxes and choose annuity payments which are spread out over 29 years.
There are benefits and downsides to opting to collect winnings in the form of annuity payments. While they can help lucky players to avoid overspending and ending up bankrupt, it does also mean having to remember to claim winnings every year when filing taxes. Most financial advisors recommend taking the lump sum and taking the pay cut. But, they warn it's wise to have a team of experts by your side to help you navigate your new lifestyle and protect your winnings.
They recommend having a good long-term financial planner, a lawyer and an accountant to help wade through the complex tax filing that comes with becoming a lottery winner. However, some financial advisors prefer annuity payments, saying they're underrated. Legal expert Andrew Stoltmann points out that one-third of lottery winners end up bankrupt. He said at least 90 per cent of lottery winners opt for the lump sum payment, which he says is the first, and worse, mistake a winner can make..
Speaking to the US Sun, he said a lot of winners don't have the "infrastructure" to handle such large quantities of cash. He said it has a lot to do with financial education and the socioeconomic background of lottery winners - which he says tends to be lower. "So they then take this massive sum of money and they just don't really know what to do with that," he told the outlet. But, he said, those who take the annual payments can make mistakes and not lose the entirety of their winnings in one go.
