Just this past Christmas, I was telling my parents that I thought lottery tickets were the worst gift idea imaginable.

There’s only three possible outcomes, all of which are varying degrees of bad.

Most likely, you win nothing.

Meaning the gift was, very literally, nothing, which doesn’t make anyone feel particularly cared for.

Maybe you win a *little* bit, 50 bucks or so, in which case, they may as well have just bought you a proper gift.

But maybe…just maybe…you start a huge fight.

That’s what happened to Reddit user @Civil_Wrongz.

AITA For Not Sharing My Lottery Winnings From a White Elephant Gift?

The recent family Christmas party was at my (22M) house this year and about 25 people showed up.

The traditional game this year was White Elephant.

My family plays the dice version with some house rules for context.

– Anyone who doesn’t have a gift by the end of the game will receive $10 as a gift.

– Trading gifts is allowed only with the $10 consolation gift.

Simple enough, right? White elephants are supposed to be fun!

My gifts were: a space heater, windshield wipers, a 20-pound gummy bear, and a $50 Starbucks gift card.

[…] My cousin (26F) ended with $50 worth of lottery tickets but assumed they’d be worth nothing and I don’t go to Starbucks.

We couldn’t trade because of the rules above and argued that the gift cards and lottery tickets had a numerical value like the $10 gifts so they should be tradeable.

The family agreed and more gift cards were exchanged.

A late change in the rules would have consequences no one saw coming…

I went to put my gifts back in my room and a quarter to scratch the 5 $10 tickets.

[…]I did a double take as I realized I’d won $25,000.

For I second I thought they were fake but my Grandma (82F) who bought them wouldn’t do that.

I sat in my room for a bit and decided to keep quiet about it knowing how some family members might react.

I thought about how to tell them throughout the party, when they asked I said no and that I threw them out.

And that might have been the big mistake.

The next day (the 29th), I asked my Mom (58F) to come with me to cash in the lottery ticket.

She was surprised of course and told me that I needed to go to the Casino.

My brother (28M) thought it was funny and tagged along. He proceeded to post snaps of me being handed $100 bills in the casino.

Although I told him not to say anything because of the commotion it would cause and that I’d share some with the family, he posted it anyway.

Cat’s out of the money bag now.

An hour passes and I’m pulled into a group chat of people from the party plus family members that couldn’t make it.

I said I’d give everyone who came to the party $250 and thought I was being selfish. For 30ish people that attended that’s $7,500 right there, I felt that was fair.

Family members who weren’t there argued that they shouldn’t be excluded, others argued that $250 isn’t enough if I have $25K.

After about 30 minutes of arguing, I was [angry] and gave up negotiating.

I told everyone that I’m sorry that they’re not happy with your WE gifts this year and that the rule was that all trades are final.

Nothing starts a fight faster than cash.

I kept all the money, put $15K in my savings, and invested the rest.

Many of my family members are still upset with me even as far as calling me cruel and heartless.

I told them that if $250 isn’t enough from a $100 limit, they’re the selfish ones.

AITA?

He ends with a note that no one in his family is in need of money, they just seem to really want some of it.

So who’s in the wrong here?

@Even_Enthusiasm7223 shares my entirely correct opinion on the practice as a whole:

@Producent_Border5060 points out that lotto winnings ALWAYS cause issues:

@wlfwrtr knows EXACTLY who bears the most blame:

@Moki_Canyon came in hot with some pretty harsh words:

@gruntbuggly has a suggestion for how to better pull off the con:

Oh, and @babraul has some very important words of wisdom:

If you thought your family was harsh, wait ’till you see what the IRS has in store.

Keep it and live your best life.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.