back to article South Londoner wins Reddit MILLIONAIRE not-a-lottery lottery

An anonymous South Londoner has been named as the winner of a pseudo lottery designed to (hopefully) make one Reddit user a millionaire. A Redditor who goes under the name Emphursis was picked from the posters at a sub-Reddit called Millionaire Makers. Other forum folk have been asked to each pledge one dollar to him, in the …

  1. Pen-y-gors

    errrm....

    Why?

    1. FartingHippo
      Boffin

      Re: errrm....

      S'a larf, innit.

      And I think that's the beginning and the end of the explanation.

      1. cd

        Re: errrm....

        Ya know, that's how I took it... but then it occurred that there are people who --if they were empowered financially-- might do greater good. Crowdfunding a change in the balance. So to speak.

        1. Slacker@work
          Happy

          Re: errrm....

          "but then it occurred that there are people who --if they were empowered financially-- might do greater good"

          Or go out and spend it on booze, drugs and "ladies of negotiable affection" - and then waste the rest..

          1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. NoneSuch Silver badge

      Re: errrm....

      I wish Mr. Cameron all the best of luck with his new found wealth.

    3. b166er

      Re: errrm....

      Guess you don't read Reddit :D

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Meh

    A million bucks won't go as far as you might think...

    ...especially after conversion to BritQuid and after HMRC have scoffed their portion in income tax, capital gains, et al.

    He MIGHT be left with maybe 10p, if he's lucky.

    1. Tiny Iota
      Headmaster

      Re: A million bucks won't go as far as you might think...

      There is no tax on receiving gifts, unless the gift is a ruse to try to get around inheritance tax. There are no taxes on winnings, but whether this meets that criteria I don't know.

    2. Tom 38

      Re: A million bucks won't go as far as you might think...

      Gifts aren't income, and they definitely aren't the proceeds of disposing of an asset that has increased in value, so income tax and CGT are irrelevant.

    3. Sir Sham Cad

      Re: A million bucks won't go as far as you might think...

      I am not an Accountant but if this can be classed as winnings on a game then AFAIK it's tax-exempt.

      Nor am I a Landshark but if the rules were clear, along the lines of "If you post on this subreddit you agree to be considered as the recipient of the prize or as a donator should you not be picked" then I'd say posting on the SR constitutes joining a game rather than soliciting payment.

      The issue there is how this then falls foul (or not) of the US Internet Gambling laws.

      1. streaky

        Re: A million bucks won't go as far as you might think...

        Suggestion was an RNG was involved in picking the winner - sounds like a game to me. 500 sided die, I wouldn't want to be HMRC trying to prove otherwise. The only tax issue is if you die and you leave it to your kids, it's a fair distance over the IHT threshold.

        That said I wouldn't fancy taking that sort of cash over bitcoin because a) where the hell would you exchange such volume and b) the NSA/GCHQ will be all up in your grill. Frankly your bank might freak out due to money laundering regs even if there was a legit balance transfer. Not that they could stop it but they'd totally freak out, possibly involve SIS :p

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: A million bucks won't go as far as you might think...

      Who cares if it's taxed? He literally did fuck all to suddenly become 10s if not 100s of thousands of pounds richer. Lucky bastard! (If the reddit users stand by their word, which remains to be seen)

  3. thomasthetanker

    Anonymous?

    Three years of comment history on Reddit and a Youtube Channel?

    Doxxed before the end of this sentence.

  4. Fogcat

    I think you'll find that in the UK the recipient of a "gift" of money is not liable to pay tax on it.

    The giver might need to be careful as there are rules to avoid people "giving away" all their estate before they die to avoid inheritance tax, but as we're taxing about 1USD a time here I don't think that's a problem.

    So if the "10p" isn't worth the effort for you I'll take it off your hands.

  5. Mystic Megabyte
    FAIL

    Do not give money

    "So what will he buy with the proceeds? A jetski, he hinted, although there are "not many places to use one in southern England".

    So he can join all the other annoying dicks on the water? Clueless!

    1. LucreLout

      Re: Do not give money

      So he can join all the other annoying dicks on the water? Clueless!

      Easy on the jealousy there Meg. He's already suggested some of it will be going to childrens charities. Doubtless if whoever it is that won gave all the money away to charity, you'd still be calling them names if they wrote and sold a book about doing it.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I am Emphursus!

    And so is my wife!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I am Emphursus!

      No...I am Emphursus...and so is he...and his wife.

  7. AceRimmer

    After 2 hours

    he's got $100

    Contracting is more lucrative than that!

    1. Jedit Silver badge

      "Contracting is more lucrative than that!"

      True, but contracting generally requires that you do some actual work - or at least, turn up and pretend to do some actual work. Collecting donations from Reddit can be done from the comfort of your own home.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    They should have...

    donated the money into escrow or something first, before the winner was picked.

    That's basics.

    No-one will give anything now because they know they wont win it.

    Silly fuckers.

    1. cantankerous swineherd

      Re: They should have...

      took my losing lottery ticket back to the newsagents as it was unfit for purpose. would they refund my money? would they heck.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Better way to do this

    Set up a paypal account, and people are considered to have "entered" only after they've donated. Then turn it over to the winner after chosen. Ideally have a lawyer hold it under escrow legally so you don't have to worry about the guy running the contest legging it with the proceeds.

    I'll bet fewer than 10% of people who posted will actually go to the trouble of making the donation after they're a loser.

    If I knew about something like this, I'd do it just for the heck of it. I'll drop a buck on a lottery ticket down at the grocery store, so it isn't really any different than that. Even though the prize would be smaller this would be a far better deal because 100% of the buy-in would go towards the prize. Unfortunately in the US this would be taxable income, but that would still leave a lot left over.

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