Woman Who Bought Nephew Winning Lottery Scratcher Claims He Should Give Her 75% Of The Winnings

Oct 18, 2021 by apost team

The pandemic hasn't been an easy time and on top of everything going on in the world, some people have even been unlucky enough to lose their jobs. Without a stable income, every aspect of the way people live their lives is affected, from grocery shopping to gift-giving. 

Unfortunately, one woman who wrote on Reddit's "Am I the A**hole" subreddit lost her job in the last year and described how it had affected her livelihood. So much so, that she could barely afford to gift her nephew a birthday present. But explaining that she loves her nephew and that she couldn't "get by on the thought that [she] wouldn't be able to get him a birthday present," she managed to scrape together some money and bought him a few lottery scratchers.

To her surprise, her nephew won twice — $50 on one and an undisclosed five-digit amount on the other! However, instead of being happy for him, the woman has asked that he share the prize money with her and give her 75% of the winnings. She even spoke to her sister, her nephew's mother, in a bid to try and get her to make him share the prize money. Following that, the nephew and his mother couldn't believe the woman's demand and cut off contact with her.

Wishing to know if she was in the right or wrong in the situation, the woman took to the Reddit forum, and unfortunately for her, the comments fairly unanimously decided that she is in fact in the wrong in the situation. Let's take a look.

Posting under the username accountforaita33, the woman begins by explaining what a "rough year" she's had, having been laid off from her job and "out of unemployment options." But she does admit she owns her house and adds:

"[I] managed to scrape buy [sic] to pay my property taxes and insurance with odd jobs but I am eating ramen just about every meal."

She says she loves her nephew and therefore couldn't let herself skip his birthday, which falls on Nov. 3, so she "scraped together whatever change [she] could and bought him some lottery scratchers." To her shock, he won, "on two of them no less." She wrote:

"One was for about $50 which was cool enough but the second one was actually into the middle 5 figures. I mean life-changing money (I can't say exactly how much because in our state lottery winners are all public record)."

She explains that "his parents (my sister and her husband) are very well off" and that her nephew's college is "fully funded" and that he has "every material thing he could ever want." So when she found out he won on the scratchers she told her sister "that it would be really cool if [her] nephew gave [her] at least 3/4 of the winnings." The sister asked the woman if she was serious, to which the woman replied:

"I said I felt I was being very generous because I really need all of it."

The sister then hung up on the woman, leading her to text her nephew who she believes blocked her. She ends her post by asking if she's the a** hole, explaining:

"Here's the thing, I NEED this money. It's a matter of me eating or not eating. He doesn't."

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Reddit users gave their opinions and unfortunately for the woman, she must have gotten a rude shock when unanimously, everyone wrote that she's the a**hole. One person wrote:

"It was a gift. You don't get to ask for part of someone's gift. It sucks you're having it tough but still doesn't mean you're 'generous' for asking for only part of the gift. Sure ask them for help, but don't ask for his gift."

Many of the comments agreed that the concept of a gift is that you're giving something to someone without asking for anything in return. Another person added:

"If he hadn’t won you’d have been out the same amount of money. You were gifting him the chance to win more and guess what? He did.

"If he decides to give you some that’s an awesome, heartwarming gesture — which you’ve totally ruined the chances of by demanding 3/4s. Just try and be happy for him. And reach out to local agencies for help."

The fact that the woman had called the sister and basically demanded 75% of the winnings was sure to ruin any chance of her receiving something of the money, which others pointed out too:

"I feel for your situation, and if I was your nephew, I might have even opted to help you out. However, your expectation of help, 3/4 no less, and subsequently asking your sister for it is super off-putting."

Ultimately, Reddit users felt sorry for the woman's situation but they were very clear that her asking for a majority of the money was not the right approach when she gave the scratchers as a gift, fair and square.

What do you think about the situation — was the woman in the wrong to ask for a majority of the money from the winning lottery scratchers? Let us know and pass this on so others can weigh in the situation too.