This is precisely why I support the lottery.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – A Missouri man who won a $258 million Powerball jackpot and plans to use some of the money to pay bills, replace his two missing front teeth and take his children to Disney World said he hasn't decided yet if he'll quit his job at the convenience store where he bought the winning ticket.

Chris Shaw — a 29-year-old tattooed father of three who was raised by his grandparents in rural southern Missouri — came forward Thursday as the winner of the 10th-largest Powerball jackpot ever. Shaw said he had just $28.96 in his bank account and recently bought a 1998 Ford Ranger from a friend who agreed to let him pay off the $1,000 price $100 at a time. Now, he said, he no longer has to worry about how he'll pay his friend — or his utility bills.

"We didn't come from money. For us it's just going to be a huge relief to know I'm going to be able to pay my electric bill, my gas bill," Shaw told the Associated Press. "It's like a weight lifted. I had bills at home I didn't know how they were going to be paid."


This is going to sound insensitive, but who cares. I love the lottery. I love the lottery mainly because it's the only way people that don't contribute to society and pay taxes feel the burden of taxation. You can call me an A-hole for that, but I don't care. I'm forced to GIVE nearly half of my hard earned dollars to the jobless, welfare, the poor, and the lazy maggots of society. That pisses me off more than you can imagine. I don't work for them. I work for me. The lottery is the only way I get to feel like these idiots are being taxed. Yeah, occasionally there will be some guy that warms your heart when he hits, but just give him time. Nearly 1/3 of all lottery winners go bankrupt. There's a reason people are poor and people are rich. If you're poor and you're buying liquor and lottery tickets, you'll always be poor. Rich people make sound financial decisions that place them in positions to be successful. Lottery ticket buyers usually buy booze. It's very simple. Implementing the lottery around the country is the greatest thing that ever happened to a fiscal conservative like me because at least for a couple of times a day, when I'm in Quicktrip, I get to experience the tax on the poor first hand. Golly geez, nothing warms my heart like the reverse transfer of wealth.