BC man chooses $500K lump sum over $25K per year for life for lotto winnings

If you won the lottery and had the option of a $500,000 lump sum or $25,000 per year for life, what would you choose?

A Vancouver resident named John recently faced that decision after winning the secondary prize through Daily Grand on May 21.

He chose to receive the $500,000 lump sum and quickly booked a meeting with his financial planner.

“It feels surreal,” he said of the feeling behind winning the lottery. “It feels like proof that life is a simulation.”

John was relaxing at home when he learned that he won the life-changing lottery prize.

“I was in the kitchen, checked the numbers online and saw it was a winner,” he recalled.

“I scanned the ticket [using the BCLC Lotto! App] and initially thought it was a mistake of $2020. Then below was $25,000 a year for life!”

He said he first shared the news with his family and “it felt like they were a bit jealous!”

Given the impressive nature of the secondary prize for Daily Grand, what could possibly be the lottery game’s top prize?

It’s another hard choice – A lump sum of $7,000,000 or $1,000 per day for the rest of your life.

For those not willing to do the math, and ignoring the potential for investing the lump sum, here’s how long you’d need to live to get to the lump sum if you chose the other options.

• It would take 20 years to get to $500,000 with the $25,000 per year prize.
• It would take just over 19 years to get to $7,000,000 with the $1,000 per day prize.