Family Calls Him Selfish After He Traded For 82-Year-Old Grandma's Lottery Tickets In White Elephant Game And Won $25K But Kept It All

If you've ever played White Elephant at a family Christmas party, you know it's less about generosity and more about glorious, chaotic pettiness. Somewhere between trading gag gifts and stealing your aunt's heated blanket for the third time, alliances are formed, feelings are hurt, and someone inevitably goes home with windshield wipers. 

But one family's holiday game—according to a post on Reddit—took a sharp left into jackpot territory thanks to an 82-year-old grandma, five scratch-offs, and a quiet 22-year-old who walked away $25,000 richer.

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For the unfamiliar, White Elephant is a popular gift exchange game where participants pick wrapped presents, often steal from others, and generally stir up holiday mischief. This family's version included dice, a $10 consolation prize for anyone who ended up giftless, and one firm rule: you could only trade with someone who received the $10 cash-out.

The Christmas gathering, held at the home of a 22-year-old host, drew in 25 relatives and a stockpile of 40 gifts. He somehow ended up with four—yes, four—including a space heater, windshield wipers, a giant gummy bear, and a $50 Starbucks gift card. 

Others weren't so lucky. Four walked away empty-handed and had to settle for the $10 consolation. One cousin, 26, landed $50 worth of lottery tickets and figured she'd just been handed glorified bookmarks.

Here's where things spun out.

The cousin tried to trade her scratchers for something else, arguing that, like a gift card, the tickets had monetary value. After a brief family deliberation, the rules were bent to allow trading of items with known cash value, and swaps began. The host picked up the lottery tickets. He wasn't thrilled—until he started scratching.

Back in his room with a quarter and low expectations, he hit a winning streak. The second ticket revealed a $25,000 prize. "For a second I thought they were fake," he wrote. But considering his 82-year-old grandmother had bought the tickets, he knew they were legit.

And just like that, his holiday turned into a secret jackpot.

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Instead of making a big announcement, he kept quiet—probably sensing that nothing says "Merry Christmas" like watching your family turn on each other over money. 

He planned to share some of the winnings and asked his mom to help cash in the ticket the next day. She was shocked, but on board. His older brother, though, wasn't exactly discreet. He tagged along to the casino and started posting photos of his little brother receiving stacks of $100 bills.

That's when all festive hell broke loose.

Soon after, the winner was dragged into a family group chat with both party attendees and no-shows. When he offered to give $250 to each person who came to the party—a total of about $7,500—he thought it was a generous olive branch. Instead, it unleashed a storm of entitlement.

Those who hadn't attended demanded a cut. Others insisted $250 wasn't enough from a $25,000 pot. After half an hour of heated messages, the 22-year-old called it off. "Sorry that you're not happy with your White Elephant gifts this year," he told them. "All trades are final."

The blowback was swift. Some relatives called him selfish for not handing out more money. Others were simply furious they were left out altogether.

He kept the money.

$15,000 went straight into savings. The rest was invested. As for his family? Still bitter. Still talking. Still not getting a dime.

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But plenty of outsiders saw the situation differently.

"My personal rule is I never give out lottery tickets as any sort of gift," one commenter wrote. "Because if you lose, people laugh. If you win, they want a piece. Nobody wins in that scenario."

Another chimed in, "What kind of deranged White Elephant game ends with some people getting nothing and you getting four?"

And many pointed the finger squarely at the brother: "Your brother was a super huge a-hole for posting it online knowing there was going to be issues."

Even so, the $250 offer got some props: "That's pretty generous for doing nothing," one person noted. "They should be happy they got anything."

So, was the winner wrong for keeping quiet? Was $250 a fair slice of luck? Should his grandma get a cut? While opinions were all over the board, one thing was clear: next year's White Elephant might be a little less jolly and a lot more… regulated.

And for those considering tossing lottery tickets into the mix this season, maybe just go with socks. Less drama. No group chats required.

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