I won $22M in the lottery — I didn’t tell my kids so they don’t become ‘waiters’

They hit the jackpot — and their kids don’t know jack about it. 

Mums the word on the massive amount of money, money, money, money a fortunate mom and dad won via the lottery. The lucky draw earned the stinking rich sweeties a whopping $22 million. 

And while the deep-pocketed parents have struggled to keep the cash-heavy secret from their brood, the father feels leaving the children out of the loop will ultimately prevent them from becoming “waiters” — heirs waiting for their flush folks to drop dead. 

“My wife and I made a conscious decision just to kind of keep it under wraps,” said John, a working man in his late forties, of his newfound wealth. “We haven’t even told our two teenage children.”

He confessed the secret during a call-in confessional on “The Dave Ramsey Show” podcast. Trending footage of his admission to Ramsey, a personal financial expert, scored over 1 million Instagram views. 

“We just don’t want them to grow up to be waiters,” continued John. “You know, waiting for us to die so they can get our money.”

The seemingly tight-fisted prize winner went on to explain his parenting logic, saying, “I want them to go figure out what they want to do in life and get going.”

John conceded, however, that he and his equally tight-lipped wife will eventually clue in their kiddies. 

“I’ll let them know,” John vowed. “I’m not going to keep it from them forever.”

The well-to-do dad went on to reveal that his little ones aren’t the only ones being left in the dark.

“Our parents and stuff — we haven’t told any of them,” said John, revealing that neither his mother and father nor in-laws are aware of the multimillions. 

And he’s keeping his loved ones ignorant for good reason. 

“The first thing I did after I won was research,” John explained. “It said 1-in-5 people lose their lottery winnings or go bankrupt within the first 10 years…[because] you tell too many people, and you get too many people at your door asking for handouts and expecting you to pay for everything.”

However, when family members are in need, John says he and his partner pull off the perfect scheme. 

“About a month after we won’t the lottery, my wife’s great-uncle passed away,” said the clever conniver. 

“He was never married and he left most of his inheritance to my wife and her sibling,” John continued. “So we’ve been able to use that as our cover story when we help people — like I bought my mom a roof.”

“When she said, ‘How can you afford this?’ I just said, ‘Oh, it’s great Uncle Bob’s money, mom. He wanted us to do this.’”

John isn’t alone in his mission to remain hush-hush about his stash. 

In fact, a woman virally took to Reddit’s ever-popular “Am I The A- -hole?,” thread in April, seeking affirmation around her hesitation to tell her husband she’d won a “semi-life changing” sum through the lottery. 

And in October 2022, when a Chinese man known as Mr. Li scored a $30 million lottery victory, he disguised himself in a plushy yellow costume to collect his winnings — hoping the goofy getup would dupe his spouse and spawn. 

“I didn’t tell my wife and child [about the money] for fear that they would be too complacent and would not work or work hard in the future,” said Li. 

And although John’s choice to keep the dough on the down-low might sound shrewd to some, virtual vultures criticized his seemingly “selfish” stunt. 

“He literally has life-changing money for all his family and friends and he won’t part with any unless it’s a white lie to repair a roof? What a waste of a golden opportunity but well done for winning [it] I guess,” scoffed a mud-slinger. 

“Even if he doesn’t tell his children about the winnings, hopefully, he still pays for their college tuition if they decide to go to college. Winning that much money and seeing your kids go tens of thousands of dollars in debt would be completely selfish,” added another. 

However, fans of John’s moneywise master plan showered him with support. 

“Very smart. I would do the same for the exact same reasons. I would just work less & travel more,” penned an agreeing viewer.

“Every single decision is absolutely 100% correct,” clapped another. 

One approving mom even warned: “Yup! If the kids knew [about the money] they might forgo college to become ‘content creators.’”