Who’s in charge here?
A 19-year-old who claims to have scored a £4 million ($4.5 million) prize in a UK lottery is asking social media if he should have split his winnings with his parents.
In a thread featured in the Reddit.com group r/AmITheAsshole, the unidentified teen wrote that he won the UK Lotto earlier this year.
While the money is currently “diversified into several index funds,” he wrote in a May 28 post, he originally intended to earmark £750,000 for his mom, 47, and dad, 49, as a “thank you.”
“But when I mentioned that as a ‘counteroffer,’ they got mad and started calling me selfish,” he said.
After delivering the good news to his folks within a week of hitting the jackpot, he lamented that they began to make plans for the money “as if it [were] theirs.”
“They were talking about retiring, going on holiday, buying a boat and new car, travelling the world, etc. I asked them how much they expected to have.”
“Stone cold face,” he described, “they say half.”
“I understand that with giving half, having £2M left is already enough, but why should they be entitled to that?” he asked Reddit users.
Most commenters sided with the lucky lad, declaring they had no right over his loot.
“Ask yourself, if they won the lottery, would they give you half?” wrote one of his supporters in a top-rated comment.
“We know the answer is no,” another responded.
However, some readers arrived to offer the fortunate son some sober advice for future winners: don’t tell anyone.
“Not just the lotto, if you have money do not tell people. Savings, inheritance, investments, it doesn’t matter. There are way too many people that when they find out you have money, the first thing they think about is how to make your money their money,” said one cynic.
Unlike in the US, His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in the UK does not tax lottery winnings — because a sales tax is applied to all ticket purchases (the US places a tax both at the point of sale and on the winning amount) — thus the author of the Reddit post stands to gain the full £4 million pot.
The author of the Reddit post has not provided an update to the thread since the original query.
Nevertheless, hundreds of readers agreed with one comment calling the poster’s parents out for their shortsightedness.
“The funny thing is, as a parent, other than a nice car, the thing I would enjoy most about winning the lotto would be setting my daughter up for life.”
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