LiveWorld Transcripts

California Lottery presents

Milt Laird
California Lottery Winner

June 29, 2000

Milt Laird, who won millions of dollars in the California Lottery, chats about how his life has changed since his numbers were picked.

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CALottery: Welcome to a chat with the one of the California Lottery's millionaires, Milt Laird. At the brink of its 15th anniversary, the California Lottery has more than 1,800 winners of a jackpot prize. With sales of over billion, more than billion has been won by California Lottery players. How does it feel to win the Lottery? Join us in this enlightening chat and find out for yourself. Welcome, Milt, we're glad you're here!

Milt: Thank you.

Edwardo: What fun things have you done with your money?

Milt: Well Edwardo, we have shared a lot of it with our relatives, and family and friends. We built a new house in the Santa Fe style, and decorated it with American Indian artifacts.

Halifax: What happens to the Lottery payments if I die before I receive all the payments?

Milt: Halifax, your estate or heirs continue to receive your lottery payments, just as if you were still alive.

Johnson: How long after winning did it take to get the money?

Milt: It took, after we won, about ten days I think to get the first check. It was delivered with some ceremony for PR reasons to promote the lottery. We were very pleased to participate in that event. The first check was for a little over a million dollars, less taxes of 20 percent withheld. The tax rate has since been raised to 28 percent, so the subsequent checks have been a little smaller.

Ventura: How have you invested your money?

Milt: We have invested the money in several things. One is in California vineyard property. Before winning the lottery, we already owned a vineyard in Sonoma County, and we have purchased land near Paso Robles and brought our children in as partners into each of the vineyards. We have invested quite a bit in securities, common stocks, and tax-free bonds, and some other securities such as preferred stock and convertible bonds. We've developed a financial plan with the help of Merrill Lynch, and we are building a portfolio of securities that will enable us to continue this lifestyle after the lottery payments stop. In the investments, we use a broad portfolio. I have a base of very sound and important companies, such as General Electric, IBM, Lucent, etc and we use a bit of the money for speculation in Internet stocks, and some of this has been quite successful. Each year, we are gradually reducing the equity portion of the portfolio that's in common stock, and increasing the portion in tax-free bonds, primarily California municipal bonds.

Guerneville: Who receives the interest earned on the prize money?

Milt: The winners actually receive the interest. It's a little complicated for those who are unfamiliar with financial affairs, but for me being a CPA and a financial planner, it was easy for me. The lottery buys US government bonds that mature each year when the payment is due, so in our case they buy $1,400,000 worth of bonds that will mature every June 20. So in the beginning, they bought 19 of these bonds. We got the first payment in cash, then every year we get another payment of 1.4 million. Now, it doesn't cost the lottery $1.4 million to buy a bond that will mature in 19 years because it's discounted. The difference between that discount price and the maturity price is the interest, but the winner receives that interest, not the lottery.

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