Millionaire Republican Senator plays powerball, wins over $850,000.

[tallahasseedem]

Republican greed knows no bounds.

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20051020162509990007&ncid=NWS00010000000001

snip-

CONCORD, N.H. (Oct. 20) -- You might not expect the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee to go around buying lottery tickets, but Sen. Judd Gregg is glad he did.

On a whim prompted by the frenzy over Wednesday's $340 million Powerball jackpot, the New Hampshire Republican bought a ticket that matched five of the six numbers in the Powerball game.

He collected a $853,492 check Thursday.

-snip
In his 2004 financial disclosure statements, Gregg's major assets were combined Fleet stock and Fleet Bank savings account, $1 million-$5 million; stock in 44 other companies, including $250,001-$500,000 in Bristol Myers and $50,001-$100,000 each in Verizon and Exxon; $100,001-$250,000 in Sarasota, Fla., real estate; $100,001-$250,000 Portsmouth real estate.


Oh yeah, he says he is going to donate some of it too. Yeah right.

[greenbriar]

1. the fucker

I am NOT In a good mood and this guy can KISS MY ASS

[MrSlayer]

2. Things like this really piss me off.

But as they say "money goes to money". I'll never have any.

[Initech]

3. Wow. Fucking lame. Seriously.

:puke: :puke: :wtf: :grr: :nuke: :argh:

[ClintonTyree]

4. Did you have to post that?

I don't need to hear shit like that, I really don't. ;(

[tallahasseedem]

21. I'm sorry.

:hug:

[AX10]

5. Damn.

Do Repugs really need more money? :eyes:

[Catherine Vincent]

6. I know it hurts but he took the chance just like everyone else.

I guess that just means more money for the republicans.

[Fla Dem]

41. Agree, had just as much right to buy a ticket. He has said he will

donate a significant amount to a foundation that helps kids in NH. We can get all indignant over the big things...this just isn't one of them.

[Habibi]

7. Talk about there being no justice in the world!

[LibertyLou]

8. What are the odds? And with Senselessbrenner too!..

"Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg, a New Hampshire Republican who's already a millionaire, won $853,492 playing the lottery this week.

Gregg was one of 49 people nationwide to win second place in the Powerball drawing last night, his spokesman and officials for the D.C. Lottery confirmed. He picked the five winning numbers -- 7, 21, 43, 44, and 49 -- but not the Powerball number, 29, that would have given him a share of the $340 million jackpot, the second-richest in U.S. history

...Gregg is the second U.S. lawmaker to hit a lottery jackpot in the last decade. Representative James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican who now is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, won $250,000 on a $2 bet in a D.C. Lottery game in 1998. Sensenbrenner, an heir to the Kimberly-Clark fortune, is also a multi-millionaire."


http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=alc2ZBx1W1v0&refer=us

I think I'll get out my calculator to compute the odds of both of these events...

"Surprise senator! You won! Now about your vote on that bill..."

[LibertyLou]

10. Gregg's Odds were: 1 in 3.56 MILLION...

'Match all 5 white balls but not the Powerball (Payout = $200,000)
The number of ways the 5 numbers on your lottery ticket can match the 5 white balls is COMBIN(5,5) = 1. The number of ways your Powerball number can match any of the 41 losing Powerball numbers is: COMBIN(41,1) = 41. (Pick any of the 41 losers.) Thus there are COMBIN(5,5) x COMBIN(41,1) = 41 possible combinations. The probability for winning $200,000 is thus 41/146,107,962 = 0.000000280614 or "One chance in 3,563,608.83".'

[LibertyLou]

11. Senselessbrenner's 'Weakness' for the lottery...

"Tightwad" Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner won $250K from a DC
lottery ticket purchased during a beer run to Congressional
Liquors on the Hill. Sensenbrenner "acknowledged a weakness" for
playing the lottery: "I might play every two weeks. It was an
impulse purchase. I was purchasing Wisconsin beer for my
office's Christmas party, and I paid $2 for two Quick Cash
tickets." Congressional Liquors owner Willie McCoy said
Sensenbrenner was initially confused by his win, believing he won
$10. McCoy said "quite a number" of Members play the lottery at
his store (Harris, Washington Post, 12/31)."


http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/2005/05/resolved_sensen.shtml

[LibertyLou]

13. Man, Sensenbrenner's story SMELLS...if it was an instant win ticket..

Here's the AP story that ran:

Millionaire congressman from Wisconsin wins D.C. lottery

Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- If Americans got to choose lottery winners, what are the chances a member of Congress would win? How about a millionaire member of Congress?
Long odds, to be sure.
Obviously, Americans don't get to choose, and Rep. James Sensenbrenner Jr. bought a $2 lottery ticket that turned into a $250,000 jackpot.
"I faced the same long odds that anybody does who buys lottery tickets," the Wisconsin Republican said Tuesday.
He said he carried the winning ticket around in his billfold for nearly two weeks before going in Tuesday to claim what he thought was a $10 prize in Washington's QuickCash lottery game.
"I thought I'd won 10 bucks, and (the clerk's) eyes fell out and he said, 'My friend, you've won a quarter of a million,"' said Sensenbrenner, who said he planned to discuss with his family what to do with the winnings.
He said he couldn't call himself a regular player of the lottery.
"I do it on impulse, and I bought this ticket when I was in buying some fine Wisconsin beer for my staff's Christmas party," he said.
Sensenbrenner's winning numbers were selected by the lottery computer. Players get three plays for $1.
Sensenbrenner reported a net worth of $7.9 million as of last March 31. His holdings included stocks totaling $6 million, insurance policies totaling $294,153, bank and savings and loan accounts totaling $225,359, plus homes and other miscellaneous assets"

I wonder what game it was, and if it's still running:

http://www.dclottery.com/Default.aspx

[LibertyLou]

14. Found it...Sensenbrenner's oddds were: 1 in 1.08 Million!

All of 6 $250,000 1:1,087,541

http://dclottery.com/QuickCash.aspx

[LibertyLou]

19. COMBINED ODDS WERE:? 1 in 3.8 TRILLION?!!???!!!

1 / 3,563,608 times 1 / 1,087,541
equals
3,875,569,807,928

that's 3.875 TRILLION...

but there were TWO people playing and TWO games so...

Buehler??? Anyone????

[oasis]

29. And the Chimp already gave them a tax break along w/ his millionaire pals.

[Skarbrowe]

9. So strange. Yesterday I had been thinking about a politician winning it.

I remember that when I heard that it was 340 million bucks, I wondered if politicians bought lottery tickets and what it would be like if one of them won. I have never thought about that before.

Weird. Yeah, and it had to be a rich Republican that says, oh a small amount will go to charity, but my wife has plans for the rest. So typical.

[Catchawave]

12. Olbermann just snarked this....

and wondering if he'll apply it to the national deficit :)

[DemGirl7]

15. what kind of greedy person does this type of thing....

I mean come on, you already have more money than most people, so you really shouldn't be playing the lotto,in order to win more money.

[ObaMania]

34. Because he is a greedy, cheap piece of shit.

I once bartended a private party of his in his home, and not only did he and his wife treat me and my associate like shit, but they stiffed us on a tip for the evening.

I wanted to punch the motherfu@ker in the head.

Karma will get him and his fuckbag wife.

[wrathofkahn]

36. Ummm...

The lottery pays for a lot of college scholarships around here for people who would otherwise not be able to afford to go. The odds of his winning a single penny on this were just as astronomical as those of everyone else who plunked down a buck or two or ten or whatever on Wednesday. The house ALWAYS wins, in the long run. When he kicked in a couple of bucks, part of that went to educating some poor person in the ghetto somewhere (only about 65¢ out of every dollar spent games like PowerBall goes to the "pot;" the rest goes to things like scholarship funds).


Frankly, I'd much rather see people who can actually afford to play the lottery do so, rather than have all of those who can't afford to spend one extra dime blow a bunch of money out of their every paycheck on the false hopes that the lottery brings.



All of the bitching and moaning here seems to be a bunch of jealous sore losers, frankly.

[FreedomAngel82]

16. How much is

"some of it"?

[MercutioATC]

27. I suppose that's up to him (just as it'd be up to you if you won).

So?

[Marr]

17. Call me cynical, but I think this deserves a little looking into.

I'd like to know for sure that everything is on the level here.

[Blue_Tires]

23. agreed

nt

[MarsThe Cat]

18. you can't win if you don't play-

but it does have to give the religious ones among us pause...

[stevedeshazer]

20. Proof positive that there is no God, at least not a benevolent one. n/t

[HeeBGBz]

22. Is Powerball run through Diebold?

Sheesh.

[MercutioATC]

24. Good for him!

Had it been a poor single mother of three, you people would be full of congratulations.

Why is it different when somebody with money wins?

[libnnc]

25. maybe folks are pissed 'cause

he certainly doesn't need the extra jack :shrug:

[MercutioATC]

26. No, he doesn't, but he DID win by the rules.

Plenty of people who don't need the extra money get money. Griping about it is, IMO, juvenile.

[adwon]

33. So true

[tx_dem41]

35. Because a lot of people are hypocrites?

as well as being unseemly jealous?

[wrathofkahn]

37. Yep.

And everyone seems to be forgetting that he's now going to turn over half of that money or more to ghe IRS, since it has just moved him into a higher tax bracket.

[LoZoccolo]

39. Because people get so passionate about politics...

...that they start to get senseless.

Not good when we need to make some very important rational decisions to get back in power.

[Jara sang]

40. You're serious???

I think the situation would be different if he had won and say donated the money to victims of Hurricane Katrina or something. This guy clearly does not need the money. Why does he even play powerball? To get richer? He is a greedy little Republican fuck nuts.

[MercutioATC]

42. Deadly serious.

Who am I (or who are you) to decide what a lottery winner should do with their winnings?

The guy won fair and square. Good for him.

[shance]

28. Who believes he won this legitimately?

Republicans = cheating = I am not buying this is legitimate.

[lovuian]

30. Rich get Richer!!!

and he's republican why am I not surprised!!!

[Spirochete]

31. I hope that's the last good news

ANY Republican gets for the rest of this decade.

[Skidmore]

32. This was the guy argued for eliminating overtime pay yesterday

in the Senate and pushed the comp time measure.

[Pryderi]

38. God Loves Republicans?

j/k