US Jewish philanthropist bought winning Powerball ticket for employee

[7962]

Source: JPost.com

One of the record-breaking Powerball lottery jackpot in the United States became wealthy overnight thanks to the generosity of her boss, one of the American Jewish community’s leading philanthropists.

Shlomo Rechnitz, a health care magnate who owns 80 assisted living facilities throughout California, purchased nearly 18,000 lottery tickets for all of his employees, one of which happened to contain the winning numbers.

Rechnitz made sure to give all of his employees throughout California an opportunity to go for the jackpot. In areas where there were no 24-hour convenience stores, he offered local mini-marts cash on an hourly basis in order to stay open so as to enable his workers a chance to buy the lotto ticket.

Each ticket that Rechnitz purchased was attached to a card on which he wrote: “We will provide the ticket. You provide the dream.”

Read more: http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/US-Jewish-philanthropist-bought-Powerball-ticket-for-lucky-employee-441597

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WOW. What a great story

Well, shit. I hate to do it, but I JUST read this update saying NO ONE in Ca has come forward yet:

POMONA NURSE IS NOT THE CHINO HILLS POWERBALL JACKPOT WINNER
http://abc7news.com/society/is-nurse-the-jackpot-winner-lottery-officials-skeptical/1159542/

But the story of him buying all the tickets IS still true.

[navarth]

1. Fucking great story, and so refreshing to read of a good rich guy.

We need more like him.

[JackRiddler]

11. You gotta be kidding me.

If he'd spent a million for tickets it would still just be pissing the money away and taking his employees for idiots.

[navarth]

36. well okay then.

party pooper.

[JackRiddler]

14. Campaign contributions to Republicans & Democrats

...long as they look like winners who might set health care policy.

Unsurprising.

http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/shlomo-rechnitz.asp?cycle=12

[oberliner]

15. What a truly bizarre series of responses to this story

What exactly motivated you to look up the political contributions of this person?

[rpannier]

21. My guess is

to find some way to moan about someone being nice

[oberliner]

30. I don't think that's the reason

But I will just leave it at that.

[7962]

35. It really IS amazing isnt it?

And sadly it happens all the time around here. Post a nice story about someone or some company doing something good or fun, and there WILL be someone along soon to try to ruin it by pointing out something they dont like. Further down the thread; "Why doesnt he just pay his employees more?" As if he KNOWS how much these folks get paid

If Ted Cruz pulled a person out of a burning car, I would be the first to thank him for such a deed. I wouldnt follow it up by asking him why his dad is such a goofball.

[JackRiddler]

38. Whenever I see Puff PR for any ruling-class person...

if I never heard of them before, I tend to google them. Your innuendos are disgusting and noted.

[oberliner]

45. Can you point to another example on DU of you doing that?

I would imagine there must be a whole bunch of them.

[JackRiddler]

49. McCarthy much?

[oberliner]

50. Just curious

No need to answer if you don't want to.

[JackRiddler]

51. Can you point to a case on this site

where you didn't assume the slanderous thing you are assuming?

[leftynyc]

26. So what?

What on earth does that have to do with this story? Sheesh - you just HAD to bring politics into this - for no reason whatsoever. That's pretty fucking sad.

[oberliner]

31. I asked the poster what prompted them to look up this person's political contributions

I would be very curious to hear the answer.

[leftynyc]

34. I think we both already

know the answer to that.

[King_David]

53. We all know that answer...

[Luciferous]

2. What a nice story!

[YOHABLO]

3. California does not tax lottery winnings like other states. Big chunk of cash we're talking here.

[7962]

4. Really? A tax that California DOESNT collect? Now thats something!!

I never knew that.

[itsrobert]

8. The Lottery is a regressive tax on the poor

in itself.

[7962]

9. Not on the one that WINS it!

[KamaAina]

37. A much more important tax that California doesn't collect is on services

Our sales tax only applies to goods. That makes it even more regressive than an ordinary sales tax, since one-percenters spend much more on lawyers, CPAs, plastic surgeons, etc. than normal folks like us.

[7962]

46. And income from those jobs is also easily hidden from income taxes

The list of those jobs is long. Thats why I've always wanted a sales tax more than an income tax. I know I'm in the minority on that one here. Theres just too many professions that are well paying that likely never claim a true income like those of us who get paychecks. The list you provided are some of the high-dollar ones, but other well paid ones would be plumbers, electricians, mechanics, IT professionals, painters, machinists, welders, etc. Some of these guys are friends of mine and I KNOW they never claim more than half of what they're really making.
As you say, service taxes would get all the richer folks

[KamaAina]

47. Would it be possible to design a non-flat-rate consumption tax?

I believe this is the idea behind Europe's VAT, but am not sure how well that works in practice.

[7962]

48. I'm not sure either. I also wonder if they do rebates

I know the people who want ONLY a sales tax here propose a rebate for the amount you'd spend up to a certain level of poverty. Do they do that in Europe?

[cui bono]

13. You sure about that? I've never heard that before. n/t

[840high]

18. True about California.

[cui bono]

19. Well hell, I'm gonna buy me some tickets!!!

.

[840high]

20. Go for it!!! WIN

[passiveporcupine]

5. Now let's hope she pays it forward

She'll certainly be able to afford it.

[JackRiddler]

39. She didn't win and the false claim...

was part of the PR campaign. Or at least the way the media ran with it.

[7962]

7. Now a story saying the nurse did NOT win:

POMONA NURSE IS NOT THE CHINO HILLS POWERBALL JACKPOT WINNER
http://abc7news.com/society/is-nurse-the-jackpot-winner-lottery-officials-skeptical/1159542/

[LisaL]

10. Looks like her son pranked her.

"The nurse’s son went so far as to send her a picture of what he said was the winning ticket, Levy said. The woman went home thinking she was a member of the 1 percent — only to find out her son was merely joking around, the daughter said."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/california-powerball-winner-nurse-7-kids-article-1.2497484

[BooScout]

33. What kind of person does that?

That was just mean.

[Feeling the Bern]

12. What a Mitzvah. I am so proud to be Jewish when things like this happen!

Mozel Tav.

[Judi Lynn]

16. Knowing an employer had done something like that would win him a lot of friends

among the people who work for his company.

Very touching.

[oberliner]

17. Reports of Pomona nurse winning Southern California Powerball jackpot a hoax

CHINO HILLS (KRON) — The Los Angeles Times has confirmed Thursday night that multiple reports of a nurse from Ponoma winning the jackpot in Chino Hills was a hoax.

The nurse’s daughter told the LA Times that the story was not true. She works at the same healthcare center as her mother, according to the LA Times.

The daughter also told the Times she believes the “reports were the result of a misunderstanding based on a photo of a ticket that was sent to her mother.”

http://kron4.com/2016/01/14/pomona-nurse-reportedly-wins-powerball-jackpot/

Oh, well.

Nice gesture though.

[7962]

28. Yes, I updated the OP soon after posting.

Still a good story about the guy buying everyone a ticket. Would've been better if one had won!

[oberliner]

29. Agreed

I just can't believe her own kid would play a trick on her like that if that is true.

[JDPriestly]

22. How about paying a better wage instead of buying lottery tickets?

This story, I'm sorry, just disgusts me.

It's a symptom, a bold one, of what is wrong with employers in America.

Buying lottery tickets for employees?

That's an insult.

If someone wants to buy a lottery ticket, let them buy it themselves. Pay them well enough so that they can make up their own mind about whether they buy lottery tickets or not.

Needless to say, I do not like lotteries. I would be insulted if my boss bought a lottery ticket for me.

[JDPriestly]

24. Did you make a mistake in posting this in response to my post?

[7962]

27. So you know how much he pays his employees?

The guy just tried to let people have a little fun by getting thousands of tickets for everyone. No different than all the office pools that so many people get involved in. Its fun to talk about what you'd do if you won.
But as usual, DU has to have someone to toss a wet blanket on a fun story. Happens with almost EVERY good story that gets posted.
Which turns out the woman did NOT win, but thats another story.

[LeftyMom]

44. His nursing homes have the worst staffing levels in CA and are neglecting people to death.

If he cares about his nurses instead of buying them powerball tickets he should hire them enough coworkers to allow them to do their jobs well.

[JackRiddler]

40. Indeed.

And how well he pays his employees - presumably like any capitalist that depends on which employees - is thoroughly irrelevant. This was a human resources and propaganda move and a complete waste of money that he could have indeed spent any way he pleased.

[leftynyc]

25. Great story

We should all have bosses like that (mine is great, just saying).

[LeftyMom]

41. "Philanthropist?" He runs the worst nursing homes in the state. His cheapness kills people.

That fucker ought to be sentenced to live in one of his shitholes.

http://media.sacbee.com/static/sinclair/Nursing1c/index.html

[Earth_First]

42. Thank you!

I came here to post a similar sentiment in that this man owns 80 assisted living communities for elderly care which are generally a mega for-profit enterprise with a disastrous track record for abuse and neglect.

If 'philanthropy' has been cheapened to such a lowly level that merely purchasing lotto tickets is the way to good Samaritanship, we've come a long way down the wrong road...

[LeftyMom]

43. His homes have the worst staffing in the state. If he cares about his employees he should hire help!

He's a terrible person, and people shouldn't give him good press by being too lazy to google his name.

[JackRiddler]

52. Surprise-Surprise-Surprise

And look at all the nonsense upthread eating up this bullshit PR and mollification of the human resources.