Edward Ugel - Money for Nothing: One Mans Journey Through the Dark Side of Lottery Millions

MONEY forNOTHING

One Mans Journey Through the Dark Side of Lottery Millions

EDWARD UGEL

FOR BROOKE

The best part of my life.

The best part of my day.

FOR SASHA

One day youll understand

how much I love you.

FOR MOM AND DAD

For a lifetime of humor and love.

Money often costs too much.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

TIMING IS SOMETHING, ISNT it? Sometimes, I wonder what would have happened had I never gotten involved with the lottery business. Sometimes, I thank God I found the business when I did. In a way, it saved me. Anyway, The Firm didnt turn me into anything. The seed was planted long ago. I was who I was long before I showed up at their door. The Firm just provided the right amount of sun and shade with which I needed to grow.

Id do it all again, for the experience, and for the money. Id be lying if I said the money wasnt great Addicting, but great. The money gave me options guys my age tend not to have. But things changed. The tail began to wag the dog. The money got me the big house. The big house came with the big mortgage.

Suddenly, I needed my job. And, theres the rub. The day you realize that you, like every other schmuck in the world, need to work, youre an adult.

Why did I spend the better part of a decade chasing lottery winners? I could have done something else.

But I had no earthly idea what else I wanted to do with my life. Its not as if I had big plans. Anddid I mention my paychecks?you should have seen my paychecks. I was clearing multiple six figures since I was twenty-eight. Dont be impressed, most of its gonejust like with a lottery winner. Its as if I never had the money in the first place. Im as jealous as you are.

I fell into this business ass-backwards, but its an industry perfectly matched to my talents. If you are good at something that is bad for some people, does that make you a bad person? Try making heads or tails of that with your shrink.

Anyway, Im writing this book because I know what really happens to people when they come into a lot of unexpected cash. Plus, the last decade has seen a paradigm shift in the nations gambling culture, and Ive been a big part of that storyfrom both sides. Ive earned a good living off gamblers because I know them inside and out. Im also emblematic of the gambling epidemic our country faces today.

When it comes to gambling, Im both the shark and the mark.

This book looks at the ubiquitous nature of casinos and gambling in our culture. We are raising a new generation of gamblersand some, no doubt, will be addicted gamblers. Casinos are no longer distant fantasy worlds, a faraway Vegas or Atlantic City. Now, theyre just down the street or the next town over. Whats worse, anyone with an Internet connection has gambling options at his fingertips. Its a lot easier to sneak in a little gambling online from the den than it was for my uncle to find a little action back in his day.

The last decade has seen an absolute explosion in gaming technology. The Internet has altered the way individuals access all forms of gambling. And when the Internet fails to lure gamblers, television is there to pick up the slack. Poker is shown nightly on TV. When teens, and even preteens, turn on ESPN, they are just as likely to see Daniel Negreanu bluffing at a poker table as they are to see Kobe Bryant shooting a free throw. Instead of Sportscenter, they find the World Series of Poker, where young people some no older than twenty-onefight for their share of multimillion-dollar prizes.

These youthful, brash poker players are the new heroes of young American males. Everyone wishes he could be Tiger Woods, but few really think they could actually do what he does. Unfortunately, there are tens of thousands of people who are convinced that they have the chops to sit with, and beat, Daniel Negreanu. Moreover, if they can come up with the bankroll, theyre welcome to have a crack at him.

And, believe me, theres a lot more dumb money out there than real talent.

What does this mean for our youth culture? I believe that todays adolescents, some at least, will eventually look a lot like me. God help us all. Todays teens are growing up in a gambling society entirely different from what it was even a decade earlier. And forget about nostalgia; we dont have to travel too far back in time to remember when things were different. Im thirty-five, and I didnt even have an e-mail address in college. No one did. So were not talking ancient history. Gaming is more socially accepted, and far more ubiquitous, than at any time in our history. What on earth will these folks act like when they are thirty, married, earners, and parents? This book contemplates that reality.

The fact that I worked with lottery winners while being a gambler myself makes for an interesting and valuable perspective into the greater gambling culture in our nation. And the work itself was certainly never boring. I worked in an industry that, among other things, sold money to lottery winners in exchange for a portion of their long-term annuities. Its a competitive and intense industrynot for the faint of heart. Yet, Ive known it to be legal and legitimate in any and all of its dealings. The industry neednt play games with the law. Theres plenty of money to be made playing it straight.

This is my true story. That is, the me part is trueinsofar as how I experienced things. Still, I have a legal obligation to keep certain details of my employment confidential, which I fully respect. Ive gone to great lengths to give all the people in the book their absolute respect and privacy. Among other things, Ive changed every name, win amount, and win state, as well as certain descriptions of lottery winners with whom Ive worked in order to protect their identity. Every detail has been changed so that actual people, locations, processes, and dates are unrecognizable. Every factual detail has been fictionalized so that no proprietary, confidential, or personal information is conveyed. Ive done so in order to insure that the book violates no laws or third party rights. The people in this book deserve their privacy. I owe them that. Ive made the same effort to protect the privacy of my colleagues in the company. This book isnt their choice; its mine. Its my story; they all have their own. Let them write a book. Its a complete pain in the ass. Finally, everything I write about sales methods or strategies applies to salespeople in any industry.

I have no interest in causing any harm or discomfort to anyone in this book be they lottery winners, colleagues, former colleagues, or others. I have no ax to grind with my old company, its owner, old colleagues, the state lotteries, or, most important, lottery winners themselves. All of the above have been extremely generous in obvious ways (paychecks, promotions) and in ways far more subtle. They will never fully know how much I valued this time in my life, these people, and even this bizarre industry.

Firing me said, in the most absolute way, we dont choose you. That just about killed me. It took me a few months to get over it. Still, writing the book has been a surprisingly happy trip down memory lane. I find Im a lot more mature and content a year later.

In the end, Im trying to share a good story that gives people a laugh, and perhaps the occasional wow

nothing else. The business gave me more than I could have asked for, so many years ago. I wish them nothing but good deals and safe roads. I just want to write a good story, well told. I just want to write books.

You are all safer that way, too.

Edward Ugel

August 1997: Southeast Florida