You Win Some, You Lose Some… or a Million!
By Patrick on Nov 30, 2007 in Ethics and Money, Fun Money
Imagine this - for a day, you are one of the luckiest people in the world. For the small cost of a $10 scratch off lottery ticket, you win $1 million dollars. The sun is brighter, the birds sing louder, and the world is a happier place.
Then disaster happens. It all gets taken away from you.
No, the award was not made in error. In fact, the first payment of $50,000 had already been made. The lottery ticket was legitimate and verified. But now it turns out that winning this big award may end up sending one man to jail.
The problem was that any form of gambling, including purchasing a lottery ticket, violated the probation order of convicted bank robber, Timothy Elliot.
Under terms of his probation, he “may not gamble, purchase lottery tickets or visit an establishment where gaming is conducted, including restaurants where Keno may be played.”
State lottery officials routinely cross reference winners of large lottery prizes against state records to verify whether or not they have any back taxes or child support, and Elliot’s name came up on the bad boy list. A judge will soon determine what will happen to Elliot’s winnings.
In this case, it looks like his luck may have run out. 
What do you think should happen to his winnings? Should he be allowed to keep them or not?
Source: MSN.
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14 Comment(s)
By glblguy on Nov 30, 2007 | Reply
I disagree that lottery tickets should have been a condition of his parole. Now, with that being said, I would suspect given that condition his original offense had something to do with gambling maybe? So it’s hard to make a call.
Given that was a condition of his parole, and I am sure he knew that, no he shouldn’t be allowed to…he violated something he agreed to follow.
btw…don’t play the lottery…complete waste of money. Invest it or pay off your debt instead.
By Free From Broke on Nov 30, 2007 | Reply
If the law says he can’t purchase lottery tickets then that’s that! It shouldn’t matter whether he won or not. If he only won $2 he would still be violating his probation. If a judge lets him keep the money it only tells the public that punishment for criminal actions aren’t serious.
By hrun on Nov 30, 2007 | Reply
Well, it’s simple, isn’t it. There was nothing illegitimate about him winning the lottery, so the prize money should be his to keep. In an only tangentially related matter, the man also violated his parole conditions, thus, his parole needs to be reevaluated by the parole board and they’ll have to decide if they want to throw him back into jail for violating parole. However, I don’t see how they would have the right to confiscate his legitimate lottery winnings.
So, my call is: send the millionaire back to jail for violating parole.
By Patrick on Nov 30, 2007 | Reply
Is there a clause in the terms that prohibit or void prizes under certain conditions? If so, then it is possible that he bought a legitimate winning card, that could be voided out under lottery rules.
I think it will be interesting to see what happens with this.
By Mrs. Micah on Nov 30, 2007 | Reply
I like hrun’s idea of separating the two. And I wonder why it’s part of his parole to begin with…but that isn’t the issue I suppose.
By Double Journey on Nov 30, 2007 | Reply
The only problem with Hrun’s argument is that if you receive money through an illegal activity, you don’t have a right to that money.
While he may have a legitimate winning ticket, his purchase of the ticket was illegal, and therefore the entire action of it should be void. I’m no lawyer, but it stands to logic that you should not benefit from an action you should not have been doing anyway.
Then again, there are instances of criminals making money off of book deals and movie rights, so maybe this is justification for this person’s actions.
By hrun on Dec 1, 2007 | Reply
Double Journey (and others), the point of my post was that violating parole (or probation) is NOT necessarily a crime. For example, if I commit fraud using a computer and part of my probation is not to access the internet while on probation, then accessing the web does not become a crime for me. So, if I violate probation, I would not get ‘convicted’ of committing a crime and get thrown back into jail. I’d be found to have ‘violated’ probation and thus my probation would be revoked (and I’d serve my full term in jail if the board finds that my violation was severe enough).
So, unless the purchase of the ticket was actually a criminal act (which I doubt it was), I don’t really see how the winnings could get taken away.
By Jerry on Dec 1, 2007 | Reply
Something leads me to believe that the state lottery commission will have some sort of an “out” in this situation. If they can keep the money, legally, then they probably will. However, if the guy does get to keep the winnings, here’s hoping he will invest it wisely for his future — an annuity, other investments, whatever. Anybody else bet that he doesn’t?
By Patrick on Dec 1, 2007 | Reply
I think you have a very good point with the comparison to using a computer. The act of buying a ticket may not be a crime itself. However, I wonder if there is the state lottery board has some king of legal clause regarding something like this. One thing is certain - it will be an ugly court battle!
Jerry,
A convicted bank robber be wise with his money? Hmmm. I’m guessing it was financial desperation that lead to the initial crime. I’m nit sure he will invest wisely or not. And I bet his legal bill will be huge!
Thanks for the insightful comments.
By Blaine Moore on Dec 2, 2007 | Reply
I’m with hrun.
He did not do anything illegal, and is entitled to the money. He should also go back to jail for violating his probation.
By Swim Upstream to Wealth on Dec 2, 2007 | Reply
I agree with hrun’s thinking. They can send him back to jail for violating his parole, but I don’t think they can take the money since the lottery is not an illegal activity. If he had stolen something, then they can confiscate the stolen goods, but this is a legit activity.
He should be allowed to keep that money in a brokerage which will await him once his prison term is up.
By hrun on Dec 2, 2007 | Reply
As a final note from me on this issue: just because you violated parole (or probation) does not mean you automatically have to go back to jail. That’s up to the parole board to decide– based on things like severity of violation, previous violations and time spent out on parole.
Btw. I’m not a legal expert (nor am I currently out of jail on probation). I just gathered some facts together from the web which I thought were interesting.
By hrun on Feb 26, 2008 | Reply
Seems like the story had a happy end for Timothy Elliot after all.
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1067426&srvc=home&position=recent
By Patrick on Feb 26, 2008 | Reply