Update: 19-year-old refuses to give 47 and 49-year-old parents his $5.3 million dollar lottery winnings: 'They felt entitled to half.'

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
May 31, 2026 3:15 PM EDT

At the age of 19, this kid should be set for life after winning the lottery, but now he's not so sure

Commonly given advice dictates that if you win the lotto, there's only one other person in the world you should tell: a lawyer. That's it. 

You'll be understandably tempted to shout about your big winnings from the rooftops! 

But there's a lot of good reasons why you should keep the news about your 7-figure winnings to yourself, and this kid is discovering in real time why that is. 

After winning £4 million pounds, or roughly $5.3 million dollars, in the lotto, this kid told the wrong people about his win. 

Should he really give all that money to his parents, or should he keep it to himself? 

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  • Teenager holds hundreds of dollars, questioning what to do with the winnings, as a model depicts.
    via Alexander Mils

    Teenager holds hundreds of dollars, questioning what to do with the winnings, as a model depicts.

  • AITA for not giving my parents half of my lottery winnings?

    Context: I won approximately £4M earlier this year from the Lotto. Currently the money is diversified into several index funds. I was planning on giving them £750,000 as a thank you but when I mentioned that as a 'counteroffer',
    via Rayapt
  • they got mad and started calling me selfish. I'm 19M, my parents are 49M and 47F. Without going into too much detail and making this longer than necessary, I only waited around a week before I told my
    via Rayapt
  • parents. They were excited and so was I, it was all going fine until they started talking about the money as if it was theirs. They were talking about retiring, going on holiday, buying a boat and new
    via Rayapt
  • Teen writes down options on pen and paper and he struggles to figure out what to do with his lottery winnings, as a model shows in a representation.
    via Scott Graham

    Teen writes down options on pen and paper and he struggles to figure out what to do with his lottery winnings, as a model shows in a representation.

  • car, travelling the world, etc. I asked them how much they expected to have, stone cold face they say half. I understand that with giving half, having £2M left is already enough but. why should they be entitled to that.
    via Rayapt
  • I know they're my parents and we've had a great relationship. To me, £750,000 seems like it's enough as they already have their own savings and a payed off mortgage.
    via Rayapt
  • Teenage son tries to decide what to do with his lottery winnings as he stands with his Mom, Dad, and sibling, as represented by models.
    via Devin Santiago

    Teenage son tries to decide what to do with his lottery winnings as he stands with his Mom, Dad, and sibling, as represented by models. 

  • So, am I the a hole for refusing to give my parents half of my winnings?
    via Rayapt

  • Hmm, giving them the 750k seems like a sweet deal. It's surprising that they'd be pushing for more. 

    It also seems exceptionally kind of the son to give his parents that much money in the first place. He could've given them a new car or a house or something, but instead, he wants to give them this big lump sum of cash. 

    These 2 remind me of the type of parent that waits until their child becomes a working teen, then demand to be paid back for all childhood expenses. This is the type of parent who watches as their proud  teen gets their first job, then they ask that kid to pay them back for all the diapers, food, and clothing they've used up throughout their life. As if the teen asked for that stuff in the first place. Of course you should be respectful of your parents and grateful for all they've done for you, and most of us are, but when they suddenly want repayment for their child's whole life, it can really sour their relationship. 

  • Different types of currency, including US dollars and British pounds, in a representation.
    via John McArthur

    Different types of currency, including US dollars and British pounds, in a representation.

  • The 19-year-old read up on the advice that people gave, and replied with a clear head

    EDIT: I posted this and went to sleep, didn't expect it to blow up the way it did. I want to thank everyone for giving me advice and some insight on the situation. I'll do my best to reply to any DM's I've got as well as the comments. To clear
    via Rayapt
  • something up, I saw a few people talking about tax, since I live in the UK, lottery winnings are not taxed so I got the full amount. I may have not clarified this in the post but my parents did not accept the £750K and insisted the original
    via Rayapt
  • amount (£2M). This argument has been going back and forth for some time now but a lot of the comments I read mentioned I should lower my offer instead of just letting them try to control me. I've thought about what I can do and they're
    via Rayapt

    Letting your parents lose their control over you is just one of those parts of life that every kid has to navigate. Best of luck to this teen, and I hope he shares even more updates in the future. He could do great things with this money, but he doesn't have to let it ruin his familial relationships in the meantime. His parents will soon realize that they can't control their son, who's of legal age. And if they keep pushing him and testing his patience, they're going to end up with a lump sum of zero. 

  • still my parents so I still do want to give them a portion of my winnings despite the fact they felt entitled to half. And for the reason why I told them instead of keeping it. a secret, I'm young and I was excited so I only saw it as a positive thing.
    via Rayapt

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