Money changes everything!
This is especially true when it's free money, and a lot of it.
Money windfalls can tear apart families.
Redditor u/Sex_Shop_Souvenir wanted to discuss their experience and get some feedback, so naturally, they came to the "Am I The A**hole" (AITA) subreddit.
They asked:
"AITA for not giving my sister money after I won a sizable amount on a scratch off ticket?"
The Original Poster (OP) explained:
"I (27 M[ale]) recently won $10,000 on a scratch-off.
"My sister (31 F[emale]) immediately started joking that I owed her half because she was the one who stopped at the gas station and bought the tickets."
"The thing is, I paid for them."
"She was already going inside, so I gave her $20 and asked her to grab me a few."
"When I actually won, the jokes turned into her seriously asking for money."
"She thinks because she physically picked the winning ticket, she deserves part of it."
"I offered to take her out for a nice dinner and give her 100 bucks, but I’m not giving her thousands of dollars."
"Now she’s pissed, and our mom says I should give her at least $1,000 because I 'wouldn’t have won without her.'”
The OP was left to wonder:
"So AITA?"
Redditors shared their thoughts on this matter and weighed in on some options to the question, AITA:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You're The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
- INFO - More Information Needed
Redditors declared that OP was NOT the A-hole.
"NTA. You paid for the ticket, so the winnings are yours."
"Handing someone a card at a register isn't an investment strategy, and dinner plus $100 is already more than generous for running a minor errand." ~ Spectre_Omega
"Totally agree."
"Picking up a ticket on a quick gas station run isn't a joint venture."
"OP took all the financial risk, so he gets the reward. $100 and a nice dinner were already more than fair." ~ meltiozek
"NTA. If you think it's worth the peace of mind, I mean, you do you."
"Just ask yourself if she would've done the same thing for you if the roles were reversed."
"If so, you do you."
"If not, I wouldn't, but if you really just want her to shut up and it's worth it to you, give her the $1000, but never deal with anything else with her financially."
"Cause it'll be the same thing all over again."
"For me... NAH, bro."
"Cause then by the same logic, ya might as well give the gas station attendant $1000 as well; he pulled the ticket and scanned it, so you wouldn't own it without him."
"Also, ya owe your mom $1000 and $1000 to your dad, or else neither of you would've been alive at the gas station to purchase the ticket."
"Ah sh*t, forgot the $1000 for the car salesman you got the car from, or else you wouldn't have been getting gas at the gas station."
"Oh, don't forget the owner of the gas station for taking the time to file forms to sell the tickets; he'd deserve his cut, so that's another $1000."
"If any of that sounded ridiculous, it's the same logic for you giving your sister anything."
"You handed her money to buy something for you."
"She could've said no, bought herself that ticket, and won it all herself."
"You could've just as easily gotten it yourself, so it's not like she did anything aside from what she was already doing, aka walk into the gas station."
"So the offer of $100 for free and a good dinner is pretty dope to begin with."
"Hell, you could skip the dinner and give her $200, and that'd still be more than generous."
"I pay DoorDash people like 25% for a sushi order, and that's like $7, and that's generous for what they did, which takes more effort than she put in, and not a single driver has asked to split the meal with me." ~ DougieBuddha
"A family member gave coworkers scratchers for their birthday."
"One person won like a few grand."
"She asked us if she was wrong for thinking that buying lunch or a coffee was the appropriate thing to do, because she bought the ticket and the person got a major win."
"A coffee or lunch was agreed to be the polite response."
"Nothing more."
Your sister would, at most, be right to expect a coffee or lunch. Nothing more than that." ~ DefinitelyNotAliens
"OP will be taxed since it's under their name, and whatever money (if distributed) to others obviously would not be taxed."
"I would do like $100 max, but even then they still had no part in winning, so honestly, eh."
"Like, had this person stopped you, and it was their idea and said, 'Hey, I really think you should play right now, and you won because of their suggestion, sure, I think a few hundred would be reasonable.'"
"But OP, you thought to buy them yourself and would’ve got the same tickets no matter who walked in to purchase." ~ Pineapplefish3
"NTA, it will never be enough."
"The other day I read a story on Reddit about a lottery-winning couple's children not wanting to see their parents again after 'only' receiving 30 MILLION each from their winnings."
"Other people winning stuff brings out a strange kind of greed in some people." ~ AccordionCrimes
"NTA. If she didn’t use her own money, then she has no claim to it (I don't know about technical legal stuff, but on a moral front, this is my opinion on the matter)."
"It sounds like you were together and you just had her grab them for you while you stayed outside?"
"Seems silly to say you wouldn’t have won the money without her when you simply would have walked inside yourself if she wasn’t with you." ~ im-gwen-stacy
"NTA, but learn a lesson from this: don't tell people you won."
"Or if you do, do it later and pretend you bought another ticket."
"But don't."
"For some reason, a lot of people seem to think that money that you won is for sharing, while money that is given to you or that you worked for isn't." ~ Jocelyn-1973
"NTA. If you were my brother, I might have laughed and said something along the lines of, 'You jammy sod, it was me who picked them up!" But I would never have expected or demanded any of your winnings; I'd have been delighted at being taken out for a meal, never mind getting 100 bucks. Your sister is greedy and entitled, and your mother is enabling her. Congratulations, and given their attitude, keep your winnings to yourself.'" ~ Public_Reaction2129
"NTA. Welcome to the world of lottery winners."
"The psychology at work here stems from the fact that nobody, including the winner, feels that they 'earned' or 'deserve' the money."
"So people have even fewer qualms than normal about asking for some of it, and the winner often feels weird about declining those requests(slash demands)."
"In reality, your money is your money however you (legally) obtained it, and the ethics on giving it away are the same as any other situation." ~ CoverCharacter8179
"NTA. However... she will resent you for this."
"I've seen it happen; my two uncles haven't spoken to each other in 20 years because of a scratch ticket, and I think that one was a $1000 win."
'It's so dumb."
"I learned early, if I do a scratch ticket, I don't tell anyone anything about it unless I plan to share it with them."
"Not sure why, but gambling wins make other people lose their minds."
"Like, they feel they should have won it, so of course you should split it with them."
"It's kind of unhinged."
"So... you're NTA for not splitting it, but not splitting it may cause a rift between you and your sister for the rest of your lives."
"It sucks to be in that situation." ~ Matsu-mae
"Tell your mom and sister."
"You see their point."
"Even though it was your money that purchased the ticket and you were the one who decided to buy the ticket, you should totally give half to the person who grabbed the ticket."
"So you’d like your sister to go to the store with you and point out the person who was behind the register since they were kind enough to rip off the winning ticket, and without them you wouldn’t have won."
"And then let them explain to you why he doesn’t deserve anything and keep saying, but he had to actually rip the ticket and open and close the register, so he did the most that day and let them explain why the cashier doesn’t deserve it, but your sister does until they admit that she doesn’t."
"If nothing else it’ll be entertaining." ~ Electrical_Beach169
"NTA, but I totally agree with your mom."
"I'd be happy to give my sibling $1000 and would think that it was our combined mojo that pulled the winner..."
"It'll get taxed like fu*k, so maybe divide the tax amount by 10, take 1/10th of that out of the $1000 and give her the remainder."
"It's worth it not to sow resentment at worst and/or have to hear about it forever at best."
"It's just money, and as my grandma and mom say: 'I have it to give and more is coming."'
"Relationship health with your sis is more important than $1000!" ~ Yarius515
"NTA. Did she offer to pay for half the tickets before she knew they were a winner?"
"I doubt it."
"Now that you’ve won, all of a sudden she wants to be your partner." ~ Intelcourier
Reddit is with you, OP.
This is your money.
This may never be resolved, though.
Good luck.
