Income Tax and Lottery Winnings
Hidden Lottery Ticket Wins Israeli Couple £13m
After finding their lucky lottery ticket, which had been nestling in a pile of old newspapers for almost four months, the winners of the largest ever Lottery prize in Israel, came forward to claim their £13m winnings.
Despite the fact that 25% of the £13m prize will have to be paid in tax that’s a mind-numbing amount of money to win. Lottery winnings in the UK are paid out tax free.
Israel frequently conceals the identity of Lottery winners by masking them to protect their identities and for the Tuesday press conference, the couple sported red masks, complete with the Lottery agency’s logo.
The couple told reporters how the elusive ticket had been nestling between old newspapers, and lottery forms at home. They came across the ticket this week, and, after double checking the numbers, found they had a winning ticket.
“If it hadn’t have been for my wife insisting I check the tickets, this win would never had been discovered” the man said.
On clarifying that the ticket was a winner, the couple went late at night to a store shortly before closing time, to evaluate the prize. The husband commented how quiet the room became, as the number of zeros in the winning payout was checked with the clerk.
“What was the value of the prize, for God’s sake?” he remembered thinking; “We were all somewhat numbed.” Both prize winners declared they had no firm plans what to do with their winnings, yet did manage to hint that some charities may benefit.
So yet another example of a couple who almost forfeited their prize winning because the ticket was mislaid. Had they belonged to an E.Lottery syndicate, their winnings would have been paid directly into their bank, with no risk of losing out. Learn more, with no obligation, on the link below.
Source acknowledged with thanks: telegraph.co.uk 13/04/10
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