THOSE WINNING WOES

By Andrea Chambers

When benevolent Tycoon John Beresford Tipton passed out checks in the 1950s television series The Millionaire, the recipients wound up with a cool $1 million tax free. No such luck awaits the million-dollar winners of state lotteries. Though the lottery commissions hardly emphasize the fact, they arbitrarily dole out their millions in installments of $50,000 a year over 20 years, all of it taxable. A winner with no other earnings to boost his tax rate further will end up with, at best, about $30,000 a year. In short, what you see emblazoned on the ticket is not what you get.

This "shortfall" surprises many winners and outrages some lottery critics. Walter Fackler, a business professor at the University of Chicago, calls his state's lottery "the Illinois rip-off." Says he: "The advertising is downright misleading. If private enterprise used such tactics, the Federal Trade Commission would be on its heels in a minute."

The million-dollar misunderstanding may not be the only jolt for lottery winners. Many are soon besieged by relatives, charities and causes that want to share the presumed riches. One Air Force sergeant who won the Maryland lottery was asked to contribute to UFO research. Dominic Barisano, 63, won the jackpot in Massachusetts, only to give away so much to his four children, 13 grandchildren and eight brothers and sisters that he had no money to pay his income taxes. Says his wife Concetta, 61: "I'm a little sorry we won. One of my grandchildren told me, 'It's like you're a millionaire but you're not.' "

Indeed, most of the winners find that the extra $30,000 or so a year does not dramatically change their lifestyles. A former candy-factory worker, Alexander Angelo, 54, of Big Fish Lake, Mich., says winning Illinois' big lottery last January "took me out of the working class." But, adds Angelo, a father of eight, "it doesn't make you live like Rockefeller. I could use more money."

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There are, of course, benefits to winning even a diluted million. Says James A. Easter, 32, of Chicago, who hit his jackpot in November 1974: "I've been meeting girls like crazy. I always thought women took time and money. Lately I've had both." Some winners quit their jobs, partly because their newly inflated tax bracket makes working literally less worth their while. Travel becomes affordable and a way to kill time. Gary and Janet Beaton of Boxford, Mass., visited warmer climes, such as Acapulco and Bermuda, then spent the summer cruising in their new boat.

In many cases, however, the novelty of spending eventually wears off. Some winners, like Irene Balodimas, 59, a former Chicago waitress, get so bored they even want to work again. Whatever else they do, a few find themselves back at the lottery window bucking the cosmic odds against their winning a second million--or, rather, another taxable $50,000 a year.

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