Jackpot moral dilemma
 

Ok, here's a good conversation starter.
You are taking a trip to Vegas. A friend of yours, not a great friend but OK friend, gives you a dollar to play for him in Vegas. You play it for him and you hit a $100,000 jackpot.
If you don't tell him about it, he will never know. What do you do?
What if the jackpot was 1 million? Or 10 million?

Personally, if I won 10 million, I think I'd keep 9 million and give him a million, telling him that that's all there was. I think he'd be pretty stoked and not ask any questions.

Would it make a difference if he was a very good friend?

Re: Jackpot moral dilemma
 

If you accept his money and agree to play it for him, then you should give him whatever return is made, whether that's zero, $100, or a $million. How can you justify doing anything else without labeling yourself as untrustworthy?

I always tell people up front that if I play it and it hit bigs, we're splitting it. They usually agree to that.

Re: Jackpot moral dilemma
 

"I always tell people up front that if I play it and it hit bigs, we're splitting it. They usually agree to that. "

Sounds like a fair and smart plan. Anyone else? I hate how posts get lost in a sea of a 3 page long other discussion.

Re: Jackpot moral dilemma
 

I can't argue with Lestat's position on this. It seems to me that no matter how much money is involved, personal integrity comes first. If you let that go, no amount of riches will relieve your misery.

Re: Jackpot moral dilemma
 

[ QUOTE ]
personal integrity comes first. If you let that go, no amount of riches will relieve your misery.

[/ QUOTE ]

There's the possibility of honestly giving it all to your friend and then getting into some form of depression over the money you could have dishonestly kept.

Re: Jackpot moral dilemma
 

In all situations I would give him half and tell him exactly what happened.

Re: Jackpot moral dilemma
 

[ QUOTE ]
I can't argue with Lestat's position on this. It seems to me that no matter how much money is involved, personal integrity comes first. If you let that go, no amount of riches will relieve your misery.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agree 100%.

Mack

Re: Jackpot moral dilemma
 

Depends. I don't think there is one right answer.

Factors to consider:

- Do you care if he doesn't know you won and kept the money?
- How well off are you/how well off is he?
- Would you rather cut a deal of some sort (give some to him, and keep some for yourself without telling him....he'll be happy either way!)
- What's the best use of that money?

etc

Re: Jackpot moral dilemma
 

I think I'd have to give him half. Unless he specifically told me to buy a lottery ticket with it or to bet it on a specific slot machine. Then I'd give him the whole thing and trust that my friends are generous enough to treat me to something nice like i dunno, spring break at the playboy mansion or something.

Re: Jackpot moral dilemma
 

[ QUOTE ]
Ok, here's a good conversation starter.
You are taking a trip to Vegas. A friend of yours, not a great friend but OK friend, gives you a dollar to play for him in Vegas. You play it for him and you hit a $100,000 jackpot.
If you don't tell him about it, he will never know. What do you do?
What if the jackpot was 1 million? Or 10 million?

Personally, if I won 10 million, I think I'd keep 9 million and give him a million, telling him that that's all there was. I think he'd be pretty stoked and not ask any questions.

Would it make a difference if he was a very good friend?

[/ QUOTE ]

How do you know which dollar is his? I think a more fair distribution would be for you to give him an amount equal to the percentage of his risk. Your trip and associated fees would be included in that risk.

So, if you gambled $1,000, and your trip expenses were $1,000, then you spent $2,000, and his $1 is .05%. You should give him .05% of your winnings (so $50 of the $100,000 jackpot or $5,000 of the $10,000,000 jackpot).

Even if you win on your very first dollar, you should still give him a percentage based on what you were going to gamble.