Lottery tickets are a pretty lazy, but harmless Christmas gift, until someone hits the jackpot. And THEN things can get charged. Someone asked the internet, “What’s the proper etiquette if you win $5,000 on a lottery ticket Christmas gift?” And here are the best responses:
1. Pretend nothing happened. Say, “Oh darn, I lost”, while folding it up and putting it in your pocket.
2. Insist on privacy. Resist the urge to scratch it off in front of everyone, even if you have to say you’re going to wait to use your lucky penny or something.
3. Use it as a test. If your friend, family member, or coworker is ANYTHING but happy for you to win, that’s NOT cool. Why would the gift be conditional on the ticket being a LOSING one?
4. Offer a kickback. If it’s a significant amount of money, in the thousands, you could take the giver out for dinner or drinks. Maybe something a little less if the win was more modest, or MORE if the win was even bigger than that.
5. Pay it forward. You buy them a lotto ticket.
6. Split it with the giver. Several people say they’d give the gift-giver a cut, anywhere from 10% up to HALF. (Which is very generous. If someone gave you a pair of jeans . . . would you give them one of the legs?)
7. Depends on the relationship. If it’s someone you like, share some of the winnings with them. If it’s someone you AREN’T that close with, keep it as a gift.
8. One person said, “My uncle gave us all lottery tickets, but filled his info in on the back, in case it was a winner.” Which is a joke . . . hopefully. (This stuff happens a lot. There’s a woman in the news that just won $150,000 from a scratch-off that her mother gave her. She says the money will go toward paying off her college debt and buying a home.)
