Guy looks like a complete xxxxxx xxx. Needs to tuck in that lower lip!

Mike_Ducker_(resized).JPG

Wow. Cray cray 3x winner. Lucky dude.

How do you know this is the guy?

Also, vendors/suppliers who have been burned should think about adding their grievances to the pile as well. You guys are part of the community as much as anyone else.

If he has been doing this a long time, I seriously doubt he is ahead of the game. Anyone putting that much into the lottery does not understand math. I have a friend whose mother is addicted to scratch off tickets. She will brag up and down about the times she won $500 or $5000 but she neglects to say how much she plays every day and how long she has been doing it. She says she does it because one day she will win big and give it all to her kids. Riiiiiiiiiight.

Lucky? The dude legit looks like a monster.

I thought John Belushi died in 1982......

Declined to state his employment, shocking...

I'm here to stump for Trump!

sounds like an appropriate name Ducker = Duck and Weave

Im in. Mike has banged me on 1.400€
He order a load of stuff, then ask if I could urgently send him TAF cranks and activators in advance. I know Mike since 2002, so I wasnt concerned. But since then there was no more communication.
Peter

That's right, because buying lottery tickets is not tax deductible. Just look if his numbers are correct...

+ $300,000 won
- $125,000 spent
- $150,000 in taxes - typical on winnings
----------------------
Total: $25,000 net - not really worth the risk - what if you didn't hit the big jackpot?

And that's ONLY if you're the BIG Winner!

Maybe you should stick to pinball, or saddle up and mosey on over to Indiana and join the FuturePinhead lynch mob

Gambling losses are tax deductible, but only up to the amount of your winnings.

I might know what one article can lead to.

You, Jared.

In the form of a defamation action against you. Just in this one thread, you've called him a cheater, an idiot, a thief. You've said you'd "like to take this guy out once and for all", which can be interpreted in several ways. If he comes after you, the only way you can avoid being found liable for defamation is if (and only if) it is decided by a judge or jury that he has, in fact, cheated or stolen or defrauded people.

This might not be a popular take, but here goes....

What does having won money have to do with whether someone should or shouldn't steal money? Nothing.

I used to have a bank account I used JUST for buying and selling pins. BFD. If you think about it for a nanosecond, it might come clear to you that segregating gambling money from the mortgage money is a prudent, smart thing to do.

Speaking of smart, it is not smart to accuse someone you don't even know of cheating and stealing other people you don't know. Lawyers, BBB, and the police have no interest in this guy. But you do. And who, exactly, elected you to "bring this idiot down" and "take him out once and for all"?

Speaking of idiots, until it has been determined by a court that he has broken a law, you have defamed this guy and have exposed yourself to personal financial liability. You have accused him of being a criminal, and you've done that solely or largely based on blog posts you've read on the internet, written by people you don't know, who may or may not have been cheated by this guy. The guy just won $200,000, so he can probably swing a few bucks for a lawyer to make your life miserable. You don't KNOW anything about this guy. You have only HEARD bad things; you don't KNOW bad things.

Nothing is going to happen unless the people with standing (those who say they have been cheated) come forward, buy a plane ticket, walk into a DA's office, file a complaint, fly home, buy another ticket, and walk into a courtroom and testify against him.

The market takes care of this. If his business cheats or steals, the customers stop buying and they tell others about their experience and to beware. And if the business stiffs suppliers, they tell other suppliers and they stop supplying. And then he has no customers and no suppliers and he turns to his number-picking skills to pay the mortgage.

If you're looking for a "cause", seems to me there are a lot better and more worthy causes out there in which you could become involved than seeking "justice" for people you don't know who are fortunate enough to own and play with expensive toys.

I know you mean well, but think about it. What good can happen? What bad can happen to you?

Scratch-offs have the absolute worst pay-out of any form of legalized gambling in the US. It's almost criminal...way better of saving that money and investing it.

Yup...fairly sound advice.

I feel bad for anyone that says they've been taken by this guy --but, that being said, I've ordered from MAD several times and the orders arrived on my doorstep within days. Lends to what Joe is saying here: You have to let the folks who claim to be victimized take matters into their own hands...it's not your fight to fight.

*edit* just to be clear: the two orders I placed with MAD were prior to me ever reading about shady dealings with other customers. When those orders were placed - years ago - I thought MAD was a widely-used vendor. I have not - and will not - order from him after learning about some of the issues he has caused others. I would never support a business that was unethical. Perhaps my point is poorly worded - and it very well may be poorly worded, but I'll leave it as is, no ill-will is intended.

Slander or libel is one of the toughest things to prove in a courtroom. If Futrepinhead really believes this guy is a thief, a moron, a cheater and an idiot, then he has not committed libel.

Can someone please share where I can get that snazzy polo Mike is wearing? I'm digging the horizontal stripes.

I like your style!

Tamoore, sadly, I just finished up defending myself and a firm I work with from a year-long defamation/slander/libel suit. I learned a lot.

If you care, here is a nice one page summary on the elements of defamation. Short version is that expressing an opinion is generally fine, but expressing a false statement that damages the business or reputation of another is a problem.

In my case, it was not difficult to defend and it went away after a year's worth of legal fees and liability insurance deductibles. But I was still out $ and a lot of time. There is NO reason in this case to paint a bullseye on your back when you have no dog in the fight. Noble and Stupid"? Yes.

His Pinside username is pinmike. I could not find the post where he discusses keeping a separate account for scratch-offs, but I did find a couple of interesting quotes including a big one where he voluntarily confirms his identitity.

Edit: pinmike is NOT Mike Ducker. Didn't mean to accuse anyone with the above post.

That's not correct. pinmike is not MAD Mike. There was some confusion about that earlier in the MAD megathread, but they're different people.

Yeah, once you post that you are editing your post because what you posted in the first place might be problematic, that'll work.

One thing about Pinside, these guys here are excellent and reposting stuff that was deleted long ago. So good, in fact that the FBI should hire them to find out where <edited>emails are.

this is an absolutely deplorable opinion, you should be ashamed of yourself. you know he is ripping off overseas customers, but you continue to do business with him because it's not YOU he's ripping off. people like him and you are a blight on our hobby. calling out unethical or outright criminal elements in our midst is one of the most crucial benefits of building a community.

if you have read what has been going on, overseas people have spent a LOT of resources -- time, money, and effort -- in trying to get American authorities to do anything about the theft he routinely engages in, but it is nearly impossible to get American institutions to take any action based on the complaints of some people on another continent. it certainly doesn't help when people like you are willing to look the other way as long as it's not your money he's stealing.

as a good friend in college once told me (after we graduated and got jobs and started in the workforce)

THE LOTTERY.................................the tax on the stupid.

have you ever noticed most of the folks dumping money into the lottery are the ones that really should be saving their $$ and being thrifty. I generalize but seems to be the trend.

Most folks that say how they won at the track, won the lottery, won scratchin, won at AC or Vegas usually are talking about how they WON THAT TIME... and like others have said, if you did the full math, i doubt many are ahead of the game. If most were ahead the system would not work.

When i first read the header i was thinking someone would comment: "grab the pitchforks"

i will follow this thread nightly.... this is a good one to grab a warm blanket, popcorn, soda and bunk down with.

It's not a f***ing opinion though. This guy rips people off, with piles of proof.

That Charles Manson fellow has always been nice to me, so I figure you have to let the folks who claim to be victimized take matters into their own hands...it's not your fight to fight.

My house is not on fire, it's the neighbor's house, so I figure you have to let the folks who claim to be victimized take matters into their own hands...it's not your fight to fight.

The guy stealing from my neighbor's house is not stealing from my house, so if figure you have to let the folks who claim to be victimized take matters into their own hands...it's not your fight to fight.

Edit : Thanks for clarifying your post. What I said here was in response to what I thought you meant. That was not what you meant, so I apologize for making you sound like a bad guy.

Thank you for clearing that up! I read earlier where someone linked MikeD to pinmike and several details seems to line up to me.

pinmike was getting worked up about the discussion of MikeD, so a couple of folks were assuming they were one and the same.

Actually, you're wrong. I know my attempt to tell the OP that he might want to be a little less charged may come across wrong -- no ill intent was meant, at all.

I didn't know he (MAD) was ripping people off when I ordered from him - in other words, I was totally unaware that there was any potential issue with him as a vendor when I placed the few orders I made with MAD. And, to set the record straight, I have NOT ordered from him since reading about some of the complaints...nor will I EVER order from him again...because I have no interest in supporting someone who potentially might be a scam artist.

So, you can continue to hold a misguided opinion about me if you so choose, but anyone that knows me in pinball will tell you I'm one of the good guys. I'm not looking the other way... absolutely not true...and I don't make it a practice to rip people off. I, too, find it disgusting that MAD has the international track record that he apparently has...and not another penny of mine will go his way.

Amusing, but poor parallels...and frankly I don't appreciate you equating me to these examples over pinball parts. I'd love to hear about the great lengths you've gone through to fight for the folks that have lost money through business dealings with MAD. If it's simply not giving him business, then we're in the same boat.

Perhaps the point in my post will poorly conveyed...but I certainly am not some heartless a-hole laughing at the folks that have been taken. I've lost a good chunk of money in this hobby in the form of buying a machine (long distance), only to find I had been scammed by seller (receiving something that was far from the description) ---I know the pain and dealt with the situation on my own accord to the best of my ability. I'd hardly expect someone I didn't know to start fighting that fight for me - over a sale that has gone wrong. Way different than the kind of behaviors you're describing and insinuating.

I'm all for helping folks avoid issues and getting problem solved. I guess I would go about it slightly differently.

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They issue you a set on your first day.

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This guy is clearly a fuckin idiot

if you win the lottery, can you claim the money spent on lottery tickets that year as a tax deduction?

I'd rather see him in some vertical stripes complements of the state or wearing one of those fancy white shirts that have the hand strap that goes behind your back. If you have ever met him in person, he really is a NUT job and should be committed..........

Good work guys! Hopefully our friends from overseas will see some sort of "justice".

Yes. Only up to the amount you've won.

God I love pinside... suck great reads... who needs the news

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC77eO5bWh_4jrJQNo5pHZ8A

His youtube

if you're itemizing your deductions, yes.

If your taking to standard deduction, no.

Also, if you're reporting large amounts of gambling winnings and taking a huge deduction for losses, you need to have a detailed record of all winnings and losses with backup in case the IRS comes calling.