Rosario Monachino
A lottery winner who won £4 million only took home £2.5 million after being given an ultimatum.
Everyone dreams of winning the jackpot at some point in their lives and has ideas about what they would spend their fortune on.
Some would travel the world and stay in luxurious hotels, others would buy a huge house and give money to their family.
Some people would choose to invest in something to ensure the money continues to flow in.
But when you imagine winning the lottery – I bet you don’t ever consider giving some of the money back.
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Daniel Grijalva Esquivel, from Kansas City, won a mouth-watering $5 million (£4 million) after buying a New York Lottery’s Cash X100 scratch card for $20 (£15) from a convenience store in Spring Valley, New York.
In the US, when someone wins the lottery they can choose whether they want to be paid in one lump sum or across several installments.
There are pros to both, for example, if you receive the one-off payment you get a huge lump sum of money in your account straight away.
But if you choose to receive annual instalments, you are less likely to blow your earnings straight away and you are guaranteed money every year.
Esquivel asked to be paid in one payment, however, winners in the US are taxed on their winnings.
This meant that despite winning £4 million, he only took home £2.5 million.
Although, only receiving £2.5 million is still an eye-watering amount that we all dream of earning.
Lawyer Andrew Stoltmann, who has represented several lottery winners throughout his career, believes that opting for the annual payouts is a much safer option for most people.
“To make a mistake with the first year’s winnings is not catastrophic if the winner is going to receive another 29 years’ worth of payments.”
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In a separate interview with The Sun, he adds to his point by saying that most winners don’t have a plan in place when they win all that money.
Slotmann says: “They [the lottery winners] tend to be from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
“So they then take this massive sum of money and they just don’t really know what to do with that.
“It’s a pretty big mistake.”
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