DAY FILE · DAY 1 · 1:57
THE TICKET
You just won $400 million. Your whole life just got complicated.
CASH
$400,000,000
$120,000,000
HEAT
DAY 1 · VOTE OPEN
Marcus thinks it's your ticket. Tell your best friend, or lie to his face?
TELL
the truth
LIE
to his face
Comment TELL or LIE on the reel. The majority writes Day 2.
VOTE CLOSES AT 12PM ET · YOUR LATEST COMMENT COUNTS
WHAT HAPPENED
It's one little ticket on your kitchen counter, and it's worth four hundred million dollars. Your job is simple. Keep the cash. Keep the secret.
Problem one: that ticket works like cash. There's no name on it, so whoever is holding it owns it. You sign the back. Now it's yours.
Problem two: it's not really $400 million. That's only if you take one check a year for thirty years. You take it all now, so you get about half. Then taxes take their cut. You're down to about $120 million.
You've only got 60 days to grab the cash, so you want to claim today. Problem three: claiming starts a new clock. In Florida your name stays secret for 90 days. After that, anyone can find it. So you hide the ticket in a cereal box and go to work.
Problem four: at 8:47 the news comes on. The winning ticket was sold at the SunStop on Colonial. Your SunStop. Then your phone buzzes. It's Marcus: "Isn't that where you always get yours?" Six years at the next desk. He knows your coffee order, your ex, and where you buy your tickets.
Now he's walking back to his desk, right next to yours, waiting for an answer.
FOUNDERS ARE IN THE CREDITS. GET IN THE NEXT DAY.
THE REAL RULES
The story is fiction. These rules are real.
60 DAYS FOR THE CASH
In Florida, a jackpot winner who wants one lump-sum payment has to claim within 60 days of the draw. Miss it and you get yearly payments instead.
Source: Florida Lottery, Winning FAQ
YOUR NAME, 90 DAYS
Florida keeps the name of a winner of $250,000 or more secret for 90 days after they claim. After that, it's public record.
Source: Florida Statutes s. 24.1051, added by HB 159 (2022)
TAXES COME FIRST
The lottery holds back 24% for federal tax on any prize over $5,000. More can be due at tax time. Florida has no state income tax.
Source: Florida Lottery, Winning FAQ · IRS Form W-2G
TALLAHASSEE
Prizes of $250,000 or more have to be claimed in person, or by mail, at Florida Lottery headquarters in Tallahassee.
Source: Florida Lottery, Winning FAQ