Man sees nearly half of his £1.5million lottery prize vanish due to technicality
A lottery winner was left stunned when he discovered that nearly half of his $2million (£1.57m) prize money had disappeared after the government said they were withholding part of his winnings.
Andrew Bramall, from Glen Rock, Pennsylvania, had been playing the Lotto for years and finally struck gold in February 2022 when he matched the first five Powerball numbers. He couldn't believe his luck and had big plans for the life-changing win.
However, when he went to cash his ticket, he found out that he would only be taking home $1,302,000 (£1.02m), with more than a third going to the government. The New York Lottery explained this was due to "required withholdings" taken by the state.
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Andrew had bought his winning $1 ticket at a Walmart in Farmingdale, a Long Island suburb of New York City and took his winnings in a single lump sum payment. Despite his $2million jackpot win, the government ended up taking around a third of his winnings in the state "required withholdings."
According to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, withholding tax is applied to prizes won on or after October 1, 2000 that exceed $5,000, while prizes of the same amount won prior to this are subject to withholding tax if the winner was "a New York State resident at the time". They added: "If withholding is required, the New York State Lottery is required by law to withhold tax using the highest effective rate of state tax for the year in which a payment is made, without any allowance for deductions or exemptions."
The Powerball is a big money-spinner for the New York Lottery, which made $358,376,004 in sales last year. About half of this went to school districts in Nassau County as part of Lottery Aid to Education funds. The New York Lottery is the largest and most profitable in North America, contributing $3.6 billion to support education in New York State last year.
A man from Kentucky who won a massive $27million lottery jackpot ended up losing it all in just five years, ending up living in a shed and battling drug addiction. David Lee Edwards, a former convict, hit the jackpot in August 2001, winning a quarter-share of the Powerball's $280 million prize, one of the largest ever.
After his big win, Mr Edwards married his girlfriend Shawna Maddux in Malibu, California. The couple then embarked on a spending spree, splashing out on a mansion in a gated community, a private jet, and over a dozen luxury cars. However, their extravagant lifestyle and drug addiction soon led to their downfall.
By 2006, they were broke and living in a storage shed, reportedly covered in human waste. Ms Maddux eventually left Mr Edwards and remarried. She and her new husband later took Mr Edwards in before finding him a place in a hospice.
* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can report any errors to [email protected]
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