NSFW: Uptown Bookstore sells $128 Million Powerball tix

[gnome]

Now, I'm not in the know about these things, but I thought that the Uptown Bookstore was a porno establishment that served the gay community. So the question is, if the ticket winner is your basic married doctor, lawyer or minister on the DL, do you claim the prize or not?

[Downriviera]

I think 128 mil can buy a lot of understanding.

[mikefmich]

They probably just stopped to use the restroom.

[REL]

DownRiviera- LOL

[Bearinabox]

That place sells lottery tickets through a window to people standing outside on Woodward. Unless they actually have a married doctor, lawyer or minister on record buying some gay porn with his winning ticket, I doubt the winner has anything to worry about there.

[EastsideAl]

Back in the old days the Uptown was a legit bookstore magazine stand on one side, with an adult bookstore behind a wall [[$1.00 admission) on the other side. I used to change buses at that corner on my way home from music lessons as a teenager and hang out at the Uptown [[on the legit side) reading magazines to stay out of the cold or heat, then buy some comic books for the long ride back downtown and out to the east side. Given its location, it was a popular stop off spot, and even back then in the days before the daily lotto they sold a whole lot of lottery tickets at that store.

[RYANGUARD]

You have to access the bookstore through a rear entrance so most likely the person who bought this ticket used the lottery ticket window that is facing woodward right by the bus stop.

[DetroitPlanner]

Good point Ryan. I checked it out on streetview and sure enough there is a walk-up window!
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...12,301.15,,0,5

BTW, I think they need to fire the signmaker. Thats the worst butcher of Entrance!

[Bearinabox]

BTW, I think they need to fire the signmaker. Thats the worst butcher of Entrance!

Google street view has glitchy images sometimes. The actual sign is spelled correctly.

[CLAUDE G]

Just goes to show that you can buy a winning lottery ticket anywhere. Just because the place is a porn shop, doesn't mean you can't get a winning lottery Ticket.

[mikefmich]

This must be getting a lot of press. I'm sitting here watching Lopez Tonight's monologue, and he had a field day with it.

[yaktown]

Well to be fair, they do have up to one year to claim the prize. Personally, I wouldn't rush to Lansing right away but would be consulting with my attorney! I'd also invoke PA 243: "July 1, 1988 - The Michigan Legislature passes Public Act 243, enabling Lottery winners of prizes greater than $10,000 to elect anonymity."

[mikefmich]

Could be wrong, but I believe that act applies to Michigan Lotto games only. Powerball, Mega-millions it does not apply to.

[R8RBOB]

Could be wrong, but I believe that act applies to Michigan Lotto games only. Powerball, Mega-millions it does not apply to.

If so, that explains why no one is in a rush to claim neither of the grand prizes. [[Mega Millions in the UP) Let time pass and then you claiming the money is a small story that people wouldn't give two shits about.

[R8RBOB]

If I could give the winner some advice [[as if I'm an expert) I would tell them to watch the season 2 episode of Lost, "Everyone Hates Hugo" when they had flashbacks of Hurley winning the jackpot and realizing that everything was about to change. Everyone he or she have loved or hated is going to come from all corners of the world expecting the winner to show "some love." I think that is the only thing that sucks about winning that much money.

[iheartthed]

Now, I'm not in the know about these things, but I thought that the Uptown Bookstore was a porno establishment that served the gay community. So the question is, if the ticket winner is your basic married doctor, lawyer or minister on the DL, do you claim the prize or not?

Why buy a lottery ticket at a gay porn store if you're afraid of being outted?

[mikefmich]

If so, that explains why no one is in a rush to claim neither of the grand prizes. [[Mega Millions in the UP) Let time pass and then you claiming the money is a small story that people wouldn't give two shits about.

http://www.freep.com/article/20101110/NEWS06/101110035/

[Alley]

Why buy a lottery ticket at a gay porn store if you're afraid of being outted?

It's not necessarily a gay porn store. I've been 'shopping' there, I'm straight

[R8RBOB]

I was on the Woodward Smart this evening and as it passed Uptown I could see how someone who could have been walking by stopped at the window where they sell lottery tickets brought a Powerball ticket and either walked away or waited for the bus. Being straight or gay have nothing to do with win 126 million dollars.

[gnome]

Thank you for clarifying their product selections. I need to brush up on my porno buying, it seems.

So, let's say you are a bus rider and you bought your winning ticket at the walk up window; however, you are so crafty that you continue to ride the bus and keep the ticket in a safe place. Is that what we are to believe? Continue to go car-free ... hmmm

What would you do with the ticket?

Me, regardless of where I bought it, and if I had to go public as part of their rules. I would wear a Hollywood Special Effect disguise. Kind of like that chinese guy did last week while trying to sneek into Canada:



After setting up the trusts for family, funding some civic programs and what not, I would then buy up the mortgage of a former boss and make sure he paid on time. I'd roll up every month in a rented limo and demand my check while letting my dog fertilize his porch.

[Meddle]

Media geography strikes again:

At a press conference in Lansing, Michigan, Greer wouldn't answer questions as to who purchased the ticket at Uptown Book Store in Highland Park, or why they were at the store in the first place.

"Nobody cares," said Greer.

Uptown Book Store, an adult novelty store a few miles north of Detroit


http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/11/12/mic...ex.html?hpt=T2

Well, I guess it's north of parts of Detroit.

[gnome]

According to the news reports, the HP winner, contacted Greer and several others to establish a Lucky Lotto Club after he won. Greer and the Lotto Club is serving as cover for the winner in a game of misdirection in order to not have to admit he went into a porn shop.

Plausible deniability. The winner now can go to Thanksgiving Dinner with his extended family and brag he was asked to be a part of the HP Lucky Lotto club. He can pass out some sugar lumps to the kin and say he didn't win that much, that he was just small stake holder, but he wants to share what he did win. It's all manna.

All that just to avoid the public embarrassment of going to a porn store.

I wonder if he would have had such a problem if he'd bought it at a gun shop?

[Downriviera]

It's not necessarily a gay porn store. I've been 'shopping' there, I'm straight

Alley, are you the winner? Are you going to throw a big party for the forumers? Please have lots of good bourbon and some cuban cigars.

[Meddle]

If anybody REALLY wanted to know, don't these places have time/date stamped videotapes showing the registers and customers for security purposes? Most places do these days.

[kraig]

The guy who cashed in the ticket is probably the guy that bought. He probably did the club stuff as a cover. For any of you that ever get lucky and win one of those big jackpots, you can't keep them from revealing your name, but you do have the right to not participate in the taking of pictures with the humongous check in your hands. Just tell them, here's my ticket, pay up and go to the bank. The papers aren't going to make to much of a story with just a name. Especially an assumed name.