OT: File this in the "life is really, really, really not fair" bin

[Louis]

NYT story is here (http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/11/28/connecticut-asset-managers-win-254-million-powerball-lottery/)

November 28, 2011, 6:43 pm
Connecticut Asset Managers Win $254 Million Powerball Lottery
By KEVIN ROOSE

The lottery is full of rags-to-riches tales. Now, the 1 percent has its own feel-good story.

Timothy C. Davidson, Brandon E. Lacoff and Gregory H. Skidmore, three executives at Belpointe Asset Management, an investment firm based in affluent Greenwich, Conn., have won $254.2 million in the Powerball game, the largest jackpot in the state’s history.

“The lottery is all about dreaming, and that runs across all demographics and all people,” said Anne Noble, the Connecticut lottery’s chief executive.

The three men made — or rather, multiplied — their fortunes with a single $1 ticket purchased at a gas station in nearby Stamford, a Connecticut lottery spokeswoman said. Mr. Davidson bought the ticket on Nov. 1, using the Pick 6 option to allow the lottery’s computer to choose random numbers. The winning digits: 12, 14, 34, 39, 46 and the Powerball number, 36.

The following day, when the results were announced, the co-workers realized that they had won a lottery with odds — 1 in 195,249,054, to be specific — that would make even the boldest hedge fund manager run for the hills. But they had a brief scare after a local news station mistakenly ran the winning numbers with a changed digit.

Later, the station corrected the error, and they began planning to collect their millions. The trio formed a vehicle, the Putnam Avenue Family Trust, to handle the winnings, and decided to take a lump payment of $151.7 million rather than receive the prize in installments.

Despite paying a $48 million tax bill, the men are expected to take home more than $100 million, a large sum even by the standards of Greenwich, a millionaire-studded suburb that is home to legions of hedge fund managers and Wall Street executives.

“They’re obviously very excited,” Jason Kurland, a lawyer who represented the trust at a news conference on Monday, said in a phone interview. Mr. Kurland said that the men planned to give a “significant amount” of the money to Connecticut charities, but did not specify how they would divide their winnings.

The gas station that sold the winning ticket will receive a reward payment of $100,000, according to the lottery organization.

“We like to say that everyday people win the lottery, every day,” Ms. Noble said.

The financial executives are everyday people, at least by Greenwich standards, where the typical home is worth more than $1 million.

Their firm oversees $82 million in assets, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Belpointe’s real estate group developed Beacon Hill of Greenwich, a luxury gated community where the properties run around $2.5 million.

Mr. Davidson, a senior portfolio manager at Belpointe, attended the College of William and Mary and grew up in Switzerland, France and Britain, according to his biography on the firm’s Web site. Mr. Lacoff is a managing director of Belpointe, and owns Belpointe Insurance, an affiliate of the firm. Mr. Skidmore, Belpointe’s president and chief investment officer, is a former member of the United States national sailing team, and the grandson of Louis Skidmore, the notable American architect and founder of the firm Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill.

None of the three men responded to requests for comment.

“They’ve become their dream clients, for sure,” Mr. Kurland said at the lottery news conference.

[rbtmcardle]

I cant get over the 1 in 195 million.. just cant get past that figure.. so I will never win since I never play.. as a reference here are some of the other odds in our lives..

http://www.livescience.com/3780-odds-dying.html

Lightning Strike 1-in-83,930

Snake, Bee or other Venomous Bite or Sting* 1-in-100,000

Earthquake 1-in-131,890

Dog Attack 1-in-147,717

Asteroid Impact 1-in-200,000

Tsunami 1-in-500,000

Fireworks Discharge 1-in-615,488

[Louis]

Or this:

[TMB]

I really laugh at the type of shoddy reporting that would have you believe that "the typical home being worth more than $1million" means anything.

I don't live in Greenwich, CT. Not anywhere close. But here, $1 million will buy you a typical family home on a city lot. Maybe. Prices are going up about 15% pa.

Big freaking deal.

[zmudshark]

I really laugh at the type of shoddy reporting that would have you believe that "the typical home being worth more than $1million" means anything.

I don't live in Greenwich, CT. Not anywhere close. But here, $1 million will buy you a typical family home on a city lot. Maybe. Prices are going up about 15% pa.

Big freaking deal.

Canada does not count.

[FlashUNC]

I really laugh at the type of shoddy reporting that would have you believe that "the typical home being worth more than $1million" means anything.

I don't live in Greenwich, CT. Not anywhere close. But here, $1 million will buy you a typical family home on a city lot. Maybe. Prices are going up about 15% pa.

Big freaking deal.

The median US home price in 2010 was around $173000, according to the national association of realtors. The median home price in Greenwich is $1.2 million from the same source. Real estate is, ultimately, a local industry, but to say its shoddy reporting to show those are really freaking expensive homes is a weak critique.
By any standard, Greenwich is far and above the average US real estate market.

[93legendti]

I really laugh at the type of shoddy reporting that would have you believe that "the typical home being worth more than $1million" means anything.

I don't live in Greenwich, CT. Not anywhere close. But here, $1 million will buy you a typical family home on a city lot. Maybe. Prices are going up about 15% pa.

Big freaking deal.
Not to mention there is no clue as to the winners' net worth or salary. (Jon Corzine is going to jail-but the NY Times is claiming all asset managers are rich???)
Sensationalism/typical NY Times. :rolleyes:

Fair? It's open to the public and anyone can win-that's as fair as it gets.

[zmudshark]

You'd think money mangers would understand the odds and opt out of a lottery...crap, that argument doesn't work.

All I have to say, is there is no god, at least one that picks lotto winners.

[akelman]

Canada does not count.

I don't know, man, she seems to be doing a pretty good job. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fciD_II7NI)

[rounder]

I am trying to remember whether this is a good example of the random walk theory, contrarian theory or Las Vegas theory of investment.

[Dekonick]

Or this:

I did not need to see this... :crap: :crap: :crap:

I am going to die from an asteroid impact?!? :banana:

:o

[learningtoride]

...

[learningtoride]

...

[Louis]

I did not need to see this... :crap: :crap: :crap:

Ride safely and lots of those odds become even longer.

Seems to me that as far as health and longevity go, much of it is directly under our control. Not all, but surely most.

Like that bag of potato chips I bought from the vending machine at work this afternoon...

[Chance]

What’s fair in life has very little to do with money. Money may be the icing on the cake but it’s not the substance that separates how lucky we are.

[rice rocket]

Did the three of them really split ONE Powerball ticket? 33 cents a piece?

[gone]

Did the three of them really split ONE Powerball ticket? 33 cents a piece?
I was wondering that too. Maybe none of them had $1.

[Ray]

They say the lottery is a tax on the mathematically challenged. Maybe the better you are at math, the better your odds? These guys musta had SOME math chops...

-Ray

[slowgoing]

They say the lottery is a tax on the mathematically challenged. Maybe the better you are at math, the better your odds? These guys musta had SOME math chops...

-Ray

1 out of a gazillion is better odds than 0 if you don't play. I know a lot of high income folks who play a few dollars a week.

[Ray]

1 out of a gazillion is better odds than 0 if you don't play. I know a lot of high income folks who play a few dollars a week.
That strikes me a bit like saying that an atheist and a religious fundamentalist are really not that different because of the (lets say) 100 deities that are worshipped amongst the world's various religions, the atheist only believes in one less than the fundamentalist. So, only a 1% difference! The difference between playing and not playing the lottery has almost no impact on your odds of winning (waaaaay less than 1%) but a huge impact on how much money you toss out the window. As the beliefs of the atheist and the fundamentalist couldn't be more different.

-Ray

[SamIAm]

I play a dollar every time the figure is over 100MM. I completely understand the odds, in fact the way I explain it to my kids, who actually think we have a chance, is to tell them I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 150,000,000, take a guess. They get that as they are used to failing when asked to pick a number between 1 and 10. But the calculation that I make is

Potential Money Won * Probability of winning >=1

At any rate, its a dollar, big deal.

Properly understood the lottery is a tax on the poor, not the mathematically challenged.

[Ray]

Properly understood the lottery is a tax on the poor, not the mathematically challenged.
Agreed - I was just quoting a funny old saying. I've played from time to time myself, always fully understanding that the dollar I tossed into it was basically the price of a couple of days of light fantasy. When that buck is out there, you do tend to think about what you'd do with a couple hundred million more than you do on all those other days when there's absolutely NO chance. Cheap thrills! :cool: Except for those who can afford it least but probably play it most, because they need the fantasy waaaaay more than I do.

-Ray

[BobbyJones]

What does this have anything to do with life not being fair?

Try being happy for other people's good fortune. It will do amazing things for yours as well.

[93legendti]

What does this have anything to do with life not being fair?

Try being happy for other people's good fortune. It will do amazing things for yours as well.
+1

[johnnymossville]

I play a dollar every time the figure is over 100MM....

Sounds about like what I do. The dollar spent is well worth the 10 second daydream of what I'd do with all that money.

Besides, the money goes to a deserving govt. agency that can waste the dollar far better than I can.

[54ny77]

and it continues to get interesting....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2067456/Record-254m-powerball-winners-accused-collecting-fortune-mysterious-client.html

[93legendti]

The three men work at a small, startup asset management firm called Belpointe LLC in Greenwich. They appeared with their lawyer at a news conference and didn't say much.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/11/28/connecticut-asset-managers-claim-254m-powerball-jackpot/?test=faces#ixzz1f6XdUAsC

[Chance]

Agree lottery is mostly a concealed tax on poor. It’s hard to think of too many programs approved by so many that are so unfair to the poorest in society.

[zap]

Saw this while watching "conventional" USA news (that's relative) last night.

Not surprised to hear from news anchors something along the lines of "to add insult to injury" as intro to the story. But, when watching the news, all I really want are the facts. If I want to hear stupid I can turn to MSNBC or FOX.

Anyhow, lottery is a tax.......but hey, if the jackpot hits a 100 mil or so i purchase one ticket.

[Ray]

Agree lottery is mostly a concealed tax on poor. It’s hard to think of too many programs approved by so many that are so unfair to the poorest in society.
Yup, but at least its a tax anyone can choose to pay (or not) on a day to day basis. To me, that makes it fundamentally different, even if the net effect is the same.

-Ray

[jlyon]

If they truely only have $82 milion under their roof (Fees are less than 2%)and they split it equally after overhead I don't think any one of them would be considered weathly.

But now they are and here is to wishing they do somehting good with the money.

[1centaur]

A lottery is not a tax. No definition of tax fits what a lottery is. Neither is baccarat a tax on rich Asians and James Bond villains. Both lotteries and baccarat are poor payoff games played for the entertainment value of possibly beating the odds. I get a lot more fun from $10 of quick picks for a huge prize than $10 of movie tickets. Some people get more pleasure from steadily losing less at black jack. Some poor people would rather buy a Hostess Twinkie than a lottery ticket. To each his own.

As for these guys fronting for a 1%er, that's a positive story for those who want the poor to play the lottery less, compared to the typical poor person winning story that just perpetuates the cycle.

If we were all rational odds players the lottery would not exist, but neither would a lot of things we find wonderful, like great movies.

[Uncle Jam's Army]

As the legendary thoroughbred trainer Charlie Whittingham once said, "You gotta be in it, to win it."

[Peter P.]

It should be easy to prove whether one of the three fund managers ACTUALLY purchased the ticket.

Virtually every Quickie Mart and gas station has surveillance cameras at the register. A computer generated quick pick lottery ticket is no doubt tied to a time the ticket and its associated numbers, were generated.

Match the ticket purchase to the face at that time and see who's lying.

[Louis]

It should be easy to prove whether one of the three fund managers ACTUALLY purchased the ticket.

So, do you think one of their chauffeurs or butlers bought it for one of the managers? :p