Lottery ticket worth $1,000 a month – for as long as seller lives – up for auction

A Michigan auction house is set to sell an ex-con’s lotto ticket worth $1,000 a month, though it carries an unusual caveat: the payout will last only as long as the original winner lives.

The $12,000 annual payments will end when 73-year-old Donald Magett dies, according to a notice for the auction. The auction stems from a 2005 bankruptcy petition Magett filed, after he was sued by the federal government for misusing the retirement funds of a private security firm he owned and operated.

The $30,000 minimum bid required to win the prize could deter some prospective bidders. Magett’s bankruptcy trustee, Tom Richardson, said the former police officer is in good health.

“I remember talking to him at his first meeting and he said, ‘It’s worth nothing; I could die tomorrow,’” Richardson told the Guardian. “And I said, ‘Well, you might not, in which case it’s worth something.’ And, of course, he’s lived several years.”

Magett, a resident of Kalamazoo, Michigan, won the “Cash for Life” ticket in February 1984. The prize carried a $250,000 guaranteed payout, court records indicate, which has since been fulfilled.

After a long career as a police officer, in 1997 Magett started Magic PI & Security, a private security firm that worked for public and private entities in offices across the midwest.

But in 2007 Magett was convicted on several charges of pension fund theft, money laundering and criminal conspiracy in connection with Magic PI. He was sentenced to six years in federal prison, three years of supervised release, and was also ordered to pay nearly $540,000 in restitution. He has since been released.

Richardson said Magett still owes about $190,000 in taxes to the state of Michigan and the Internal Revenue Service. The lotto prize was previously assigned to pay off debts owed to several banks, he said, but that has since been paid off.

The trustee said he has handled uncommon assets in the past, but Magett’s lotto ticket is unparalleled. “I’ve never had anything quite like this,” Richardson said.

The auction is set to take place on Thursday from 8am to 8.30pm EST. Bids will increase in $25 increments, and the highest bid is subjected to approval by the bankruptcy court. The auctioneer, Repocast.com, will receive a 10% commission, according to an order from the US bankruptcy court.

“If you look at the life expectancy of a 73-year-old and figure $12,000 a year, that adds up to pretty good money,” Richardson said. “[I’m] hoping somebody will see it that way and take a stab at it.”