22-year-old scratches a $25,000 winning lottery ticket at the family gift exchange, then everyone demands 'their cut' of the winnings, he refuses: 'They're the selfish ones'

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Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Jan 24, 2025 10:00 AM EST

Nothing good can come from a gifted lottery ticket. 

Either you win nothing and have no gift, or you win cash and get stuck in a moral dilemma about sharing your earnings. This family member found themselves in such a pickle after plucking the winning numbers out of a blind White Elephant gift. 

We all know the rules for a White Elephant exchange. In huge families, this is probably the most cost-effective way to do your gift-giving, because each person only has to buy one gift and they only receive one gift. Balance is in order. However, the scales shifted when the person in our next story got a bunch of lottery numbers as their random gift. Assuming they were losing tickets (according to statistic probability), they hadn't checked to see if they'd won the lottery... Until now. 

Keep scrolling to read all of the grizzly details of this family that came unfurled at the seams over a couple thousand dollars of winnings. 

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  • Cheezburger Image 10457575424
    via AlexD75

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • My dad is really fond of lottery tickets. Every Christmas, every birthday, and for pretty much any reason at all, he'll pop into a 7-Eleven, claiming he's 'feeling lucky.' Has he ever won anything? Certainly not any prizes that would offset the expense of buying so many tickets. 

    It's a gamble, but a fun one to take if you're in good spirits about it. 

    The family in this next story certainly didn't have a generous, fun-loving spirit when they pulled the winning numbers, resulting in a rift widening between every fissure in the family dynamic.

  • "AITA For Not Sharing My Lottery Winnings From a White Elephant Gift?"

    The recent family Christmas party was at my (22M) house this year and about 25 people showed up. The traditional game this year was White Elephant. My family plays the dice version with some house rules for context.
    via Civil_Wrongz
  • - Anyone who doesn't have a gift by the end of the game will receive $10 as a gift. - Trading gifts is allowed only with the $10 consolation gift.
    via Civil_Wrongz
  • The game had a total of about 40 gifts; I ended the game with 4 gifts, and 4 family members ended with none. My gifts were: a space heater, windshield wipers, a 20-pound gummy bear, and a $50 Starbucks gift card. Of the 4
    via Civil_Wrongz
  • people without gifts, 3 of them got rejected meaning only one trade was made. My cousin (26F) ended with $50 worth of lottery tickets but assumed they'd be worth nothing and I don't go to Starbucks. We couldn't trade
    via Civil_Wrongz
  • because of the rules above and argued that the gift cards and lottery tickets had a numerical value like the $10 gifts so they should be tradeable. The family agreed and more gift cards were exchanged.
    via Civil_Wrongz
  • Cheezburger Image 10457575680
    via AlexD75

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.
     

  • Trading ended and people began using their gifts so I went to put my gifts back in my room and a quarter to scratch the 5 $10 tickets. I wasn't expecting to win anyway; as I thought that scratching the second about to move on to the third, I did a
    via Civil_Wrongz
  • double take as I realized I'd won $25,000. For I second I thought they were fake but my Grandma (82F) who bought them wouldn't do that. I sat in my room for a bit and decided to keep quiet about it knowing how some family members might react. I thought
    via Civil_Wrongz
  • 22 30 10 50,000 PRT
    via kledge
  • about how to tell them throughout the party, when they asked I said no and that I threw them out. The next day (the 29th), I asked my Mom (58F) to come with me to cash in the lottery ticket. She
    via Civil_Wrongz
  • was surprised of course and told me that I needed to go to the Casino. My brother (28M) thought it was funny and tagged along. He proceeded to post snaps of me being handed $100 bills in the casino. Although I told him not to say anything because
    via Civil_Wrongz
  • of the commotion it would cause and that I'd share some with the family, he posted it anyway. An hour passes and I'm pulled into a group chat of people from the party plus family members that couldn't make it. I said I'd
    via Civil_Wrongz
  • give everyone who came to the party $250 and thought I was being selfish. For 30ish people that attended that's $7,500 right there, I felt that was fair. Family members who weren't there argued that they shouldn't be excluded, others argued that $250 isn't enough if I have $25K.
    via Civil_Wrongz
  • After about 30 minutes of arguing, I was p ed and gave up negotiating. I told everyone that I'm sorry that they're not happy with your WE gifts this year and that the rule was that all trades are final.
    via Civil_Wrongz
  • I kept all the money, put $15K in my savings, and invested the rest. Many of my family members are still upset with me even as far as calling me cruel and heartless. I told them that if $250 isn't enough from a $100 limit, they're the selfish ones.
    via Civil_Wrongz
  • *Note that no household or individual family member is struggling financially.
    via Civil_Wrongz
  • Even Enthusiasm7223 That is why my personal rule is I never give out lottery tickets as any sort of gift. Because if you lose people are like haha. You got nothing for your gift. If you win everybody wants a piece of it. It's your money. You don't need to share it with anybody.
    via Even_Enthusiasm7223
  • And you will never make anyone happy because they all want more and if you end up more than them they will think you're being greedy. Nobody wins in that way. Also, your brother was a super huge a-he for posting it online knowing there was going to be issues.
    via Even_Enthusiasm7223
  • You offered to be nice and everybody said it wasn't enough free money. So you did the right thing. No one gets anything and you get to have some savings cushion and a little investing.
    via Even_Enthusiasm7223
  • likeeatatarbys Honestly your whole family is the AH. What kind of deranged white elephant game do people not wind up with gifts, and you wind up with four? That game was bound to start fights to begin with. Everyone else seks for not being happy with a generous 250.
    via likeeatatarbys
  • Prudent Border5060 Next time, don't say anything. Seriously, there is a reason why people who win the lottery need to remain anonymous. People get funny about money. Lesson learned.
    via Prudent_Border5060
  • Cheezburger Image 10457580800
    via AlexD75

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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white elephant family drama dads gift exchange gifts famiies drama kids brother lottery siblings gift moms parenting dad story family sibling sister stories parent mom cousins parents
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