El Tucan Speaks..... (NO POLITICS)

[Rangeballz]

Caddies can now say "I've been Kooched" when they feel they've been stiffed.

[Ferguson]

Pulling away from the Kucheapo story for a second, this thread discussion links to something we discussed on here a few years ago. Though it was triggered by the TW tree/car/7i story. Last ref to TW - promise.

 

People like to think that successful athletes are nice people, this includes me, I've done it too. We admire their skill, their athletic prowess or their technique, we look up to them and since we want to be as talented or successful as they are, we gravitate to liking them or emulating them.

 

This is a rock solid recipe for disappointment. Top athletes aren't all nice men/women doing the right thing and living the values. Within that group of top athletes you have your usual percentage of a** hats. It stands to reason, since there's zero connection say between the score you shoot on the front 9 and how much you tipped your waiter the previous evening, or how much you donated to charity the previous year.

 

Now, this is where it gets more complex. These athletes work or operate in an environment that is commercially driven on marketing and advertisement. So it actually pays to have the appearance of nice. Bringing it back to the tour, there are some guys who by their very nature are nice guys, then there are some others who just aren't. I've met quite a few of the category Bs but I won't name them since that might cause offence. I think it shocks and upsets some people when they realise that someone they admired because of their skill turns out to be a less than great person. But it does happen and will likely continue to. What we see on TV or social media or online is rarely the full story or a persons character, so we shouldn't be surprised when someone turns out to be less than perfect, and then tries to bury the story or the coverage.

 

So true! Add that Kuch has tha aw' shucks "permanent smile face" (opposite of "resting b!tch face"...lol...learned that one from my daughters ��) and folks make all sorts of positive judgements and assumptions about his true character without truly knowing anything about the guy

 

Phil has always had that smile and his thumbs up. Always killed me how many folks just base their opinions on that over the years, but they are "personalities" - I always thought Kate Jackson was "it" going back to "The Rookies" - who knows, she probably stir fried puppies. Funny that great looking women with smiles - A+. Guys - phony, lol.

 

Couple things I can say about Phil is about 7 years ago he acknowledged and fist bumped my daughter (was 12 at the time) twice during a round at the Barclays even though he was playing poorly (shot 74). At several events I've been to he's also been the VERY last player still out there signing autographs well after dark and hours after the completion of his round. I know for certain he also had a lot of time for the Jersey Troopers who provided security at Batusrol for the PGA...other notable players, not so cordial.

 

 

Yes, yes, we've heard all of the heartwarming stories of Phil and his PR-driven frontage of pleasantries.

 

If you ever are at a golf tournament and hear the following words shouted in the direction of Phil, “Hey, Phil get some new deodorant.”

That’s me, c'mon over and say Hi.

[Jackhammer993]

Phil is like a Rolex while Matt is more of a CHEAP knockoff, doesn’t quite look right or work right.

[Ferguson]

Caddies can now say "I've been Kooched" when they feel they've been stiffed.

 

 

I got kooched one time.

 

We were at a scramble golf tourney and after serving lunch to half the people, they ran out of food. It was embarrassing.

Now at those sort of events, I run up and try to be first or second in line.

 

 

 

I’ll never get kooched again, GD IT.

[Drudersh]

Caddies can now say "I've been Kooched" when they feel they've been stiffed.

 

Kuchar really Shruted this one.....

[Z1ggy16]

Speaking oh Phil, I followed Him and a few other groups at the US open last year. Phil was BY FAR the most cheered for and loved, with Rickie being 2nd. Best quote of the day, Phil is on 9, teeing off and after his shot some kid yells out, PHIL YOU'RE MY DADDDDD! Even the teenie boppers love him.

 

While I was sitting on #10 tee toward the end of the day, Phil had finished his round and was walking over toward the exit, which was a walk way that passed right next to #10. This was on the day where he ran over and tapped his ball while it was still moving and caused that whole controversy. Anyway, people were going BANANAS as he walked out, screaming and chanting PHIL PHIL PHIL and singing him happy Bday, as that day was his cake day. The dude is border-line worshiped by golf fans and I think if somebody like Phil short changed a fill in caddie, it would really tarnish his image and I know I for sure would lose some respect.

[bscinstnct]

Caddies can now say "I've been Kooched" when they feel they've been stiffed.

 

Better than getting Munsoned ; )

[nikegal]

I've been going to the Dominican every year for the past 20. We take caddies and the customary tip is now $20 per bag (they also get a piece of the greens fee). We give $25.

 

Anyway, a few years ago I won an invitational down there that netted me about $3500. Giving my caddie $350 of it felt as good or better than winning. It's not that hard to be nice and do the right thing...

Hi D :) Very nicely played and this is exactly what Richard was talking about and guys like you, his tour buddy that he caddied for and others do things like this without thinking, being prodded or giving it a second thought. When I first started dating Richard, and though we had been BB partners, I had not seen this side of Richard and this was a weekend in the end of May and his regular caddy, Chase, was graduating from HS that Friday evening and they had a Saturday morning Inter-Club Vegas money game as he spoke of earlier, with their group of 20-28 guys going off first, starting at 8:04am. Richard & I went to Chase’s graduation and then his party afterward and Richard told him to forget about their Saturday game and just enjoy himself and he would be back on the bag the following Saturday, but Chase wouldn’t hear of it and he said that he’d be there and he was, 15-20 minutes before Richard’s 7:15am arrival time.

 

In a nutshell, Richard won just over $500 that day and he gave Chase all of it as a second graduation gift(we had given him a golf bag the evening before) and he never said a word about it and I know he will be upset that I spoke of it here but you all do not really know him and I know that he spouts off when he feels strongly about something, but he has always walked the talk. I asked him afterwards what made him do that and he said that he always looked at his caddies as either his brother, both big when he was younger and then little as he aged and then with Chase, as a son, and he treated them and compensated them accordingly. He’s weird but I love him for it, hahaha. Based on a lot of your posts, you seem just like him D!! Oh, and regarding Phil, he’s as kind when the cameras are off and no press is around as he is under the lights at tournaments. He’s a good person :) M

[lowheel]

It's funny seeing people say things like "wow, $5,000 for one weekend of work, why is he bitching?"

 

Probably because that one weekend of work was worth far more than $5,000.

 

And anybody who says that they would just shut up and take the 5k is a damn liar. They would b**** too, and they'd have every right.

 

Matt has every right to be cheap, but stiffing someone like that is pretty unconscionable, especially considering that he is a pro golfer and he knows how the player/caddy situation works.

 

Really says a lot about the guy, i always liked rooting for him. Oh well.

 

yep. You hit the nail. Whether it's $5k or $50k or even $70k, if caddy felt he was underpaid, that's totally within his right to b**** about.

 

Kuch also felt he paid more than enough. That's fine too.

 

But, I feel Kuch should have paid a bit more than $2k, and after all the fuss, he offers ONLY $15k? Come'on man!

 

 

I hope Kuchar will think like this after 6-12 months. He sees how his value in the commercial market went down, got bad reps online, heard few boos and "CHEAP" from the crowds.. he thinks. "If I could only spend $$$ to turn this all around and still keep my pretty good PR value and crowd pimping.. how much would it be?"

 

I bet he would definitely spend MINIMUM $100k. He could've spent less than half of it before all this began and everything would've been cool for both sides.

 

Beans are spilled and it will be very expensive, if it's possible, to clean up.

 

Sorry Matt,

 

“Only 15k” ... good grief man

[munichop]

Just a thought here but it appears there are quite a few members supporting the caddie. Is there a way to start a go fund me campaign to raise the 50k he thought was appropriate? I have no idea how it is done or who would make sure it got to him but it seems there are enough people supporting him that a significant dent could be made in getting him a proper tip. BTW I am going to Scotland to play golf in May. Any advice on the proper caddie tip. I have rounds scheduled at North Berwick and Dunbar.

[golfandfishing]

GoFundMe is, in my view, the worst thing to happen to society since Facebook and Twitter.

[BlackDiamondPar5]

Just a thought here but it appears there are quite a few members supporting the caddie. Is there a way to start a go fund me campaign to raise the 50k he thought was appropriate? I have no idea how it is done or who would make sure it got to him but it seems there are enough people supporting him that a significant dent could be made in getting him a proper tip. BTW I am going to Scotland to play golf in May. Any advice on the proper caddie tip. I have rounds scheduled at North Berwick and Dunbar.

There is one and in 15 days its had 14 donations. Hardly overwhelming support. I'm sure the originator thought there would be people throwing money at the cause.

[nikegal]

BTW I am going to Scotland to play golf in May. Any advice on the proper caddie tip. I have rounds scheduled at North Berwick and Dunbar.

Hi MC, I know that the guys who either caddie or use them in Scotland can better answer this but when Richard & I went over, we tipped £25-30, except when we were involved in a money game, of which we Played 4 in our time there, and yep, you can guess what we tipped them, hahaha. I think that the usual tip is £20. I did well but Richard got crushed that week. He said that it was the beer, hahaha. Have fun :) M

[CasualLie]

20 pages, wow! The WGC in Mexico City next week is going to be must see TV!

 

WTF...not the same tournament, not even remotely close in cities...and when it comes to the quality of field, different planet.

 

But yes, must see TV since it is a WGC event.

[Sixcat]

20 pages, wow! The WGC in Mexico City next week is going to be must see TV!

 

WTF...not the same tournament, not even remotely close in cities...and when it comes to the quality of field, different planet.

 

But yes, must see TV since it is a WGC event.

 

Does my post really rise to the level of WTF? You don't think fans in Mexico City are going to be supportive of a fellow countryman? Many have based Kuchar support on how he was received in the desert last week. Not the same tournament, not the same country, not the same field but I guess it's all relative! Given media attention from a wide variety of media outlets in Mexico that are easy to Google, it appears this is very interesting timing for Kuchar heading into a tournament in Mexico next week. And said media outlets have this as a lead story, even in Mexico City!

 

But it is Google so, WTF, right?

[jjl]

Few years back, my nephew looped 18 holes for kooch and his buddy at TPC Ponte Vedra before the tournament. Typical north Florida day, 90 degrees and 90% humidity. Mister kooch drops him a $20 for the effort. Dude is cheap and that's all there is to it.

 

If this is true, and it sounds like it is, I agree it's all you need to know. The caddie should not have agreed to an "unspecified" cut of his winnings, but was probably relying on Kooch to honor the norms on tour. I can't stand it when people of means are cheap, and i was never a fan of Kooch before, this just cements it.

[Matt J]

I'd love to read an interview with John Wood, his perspective has to be fascinating.

 

First, he lost $140k of revenue going to a wedding, that had to sting. Then his man gets embroiled in this controversy. He can't afford to say much, but a frank interview would be choice right now.

[carrier street]

If I'm Kooch, I say eff it. The Money is not changing his day. The only reason to pay now is to save face, but everyone will still think of him as a cheapskate who had to be publicly shamed into "doing the right thing". This already went through the news cycle once and he didn't pay, so obviously he doesn't feel some moral obligation to do so. The PR damage is done, and the Stugotz Army is after him, so he might as well weather the storm for a week and move on.

[kcsf]

Is it customary at all for a player to pay the caddie a % even if they miss carrying the bag one week?

[CasualLie]

As each day passes, it is pretty much fair to say, Tucan may not see another $1. It's not all his fault as I am sure he had no idea how thanks to "the internet" this story would spin out of control. Gillis really f'd it up for him going to Twitter. But where Tucan has really f'd himself is he was offered $15K and turned it down. Out of what? "principles" ??? There are no well established "principles" here.

 

Every analogy posted is nonsense. This is not a restaurant. There are no contracts here, so any talk of legal linguistics is silly. And for a guy who admittedly has limited english skills, I am not even buying this "unspecified cut of winning" or whatever TBD language he wants to use. It was vague, and Tucan made an assumption, probably like any local caddie who is damn happy to be getting a loop for the week, that it will all work out. The 10% bonus does not apply here, there is no precedent for a local caddie getting $100K for a win.

 

Being in Mexico, being in the moment of a first win in four years, just the circus atmosphere of it all, I don't think it is all that unusual for Matt to not have the presence of mind to get a bunch of cash to Tucan, to even determine what would be a good amount. It's all uncharted territory and there are other priorities. The fact Matt even got an enveloper together with odd denominations to even get to $5,000 just shows how unprepared he was for all of it and not a lot of people around to help on the spot.

 

The fact this was not exposed for months tells me Matt went home after the win not even thinking about this. Maybe he did, maybe he thought he would get to it later and time flies (Xmas, NY, parties, commitments, etc...). Maybe it was a done deal. Maybe Matt has the alligator arms. So many "maybe's" and all we really know are two things (1) none of us know Matt (2) A $2k "bonus" on a $1.3M payday leaves the door wide open for comments.

 

Also given the time that went by before Gillis tried to play hero, I can see it playing out like this: day after day Tucan is getting all kinds of recognition locally for being on the winning bag. "how was it?" "what was Matt like?" "were you nervous?" "do you still have the flag?"...question after question from co-workers, neighbors, and tourists passing through to play Mayakoba. Inevitably these questions end with "so how much did you get paid?" and "that's it?!" Eventually Tucan starts wondering about the amount paid, maybe gets a bit bitter, word spreads around, rumors...then months later, Gillis " I will save you".

 

Where did Tucan get this idea of $50K would be fair?

 

Did these clowns think they were going to pressure Steinberg? Hello? I don't know Steinberg, but from everything I have heard and read, in my mind there is no better agent in golf. Once Tucan showed Bamberg a copy of the email reply from Steinberg "I am out of country. What Matt has offered is fair." And now it is published. And Tucan turned it down. Guess what? Game over. That email reply says to me: you were offered $15K, we think that is fair; done.

 

At best Tucan can crawl on his knees and grovel back to Steinberg, apologize to Matt, and say he was misled by all these nosey people, confused, and yes $15K is very fair, thank you, I will take it. But no, he already publicly turned it down, so sorry Tucan, you get nothing but your 15 minutes of internet fame (much longer on golfwrx), and back to your $100 / day loops. Lucky for Tucan his boss is not like a NFL owner and thinks I don't need this publicity, you are fired.

 

It's unfortunate how it all worked out, certainly not a good look for Matt, a big headache. But will his game suffer? No. Sponsors leave? No. Image tarnished? A bit here I guess, but not really anywhere else. It will be a very long time before Matt ever takes a local caddie, but if he does, you can be sure this won't happen again.

 

Many here sure have gone out of their way to post their saintly behavior in the form of tipping activity. For myself, all I can say: it would be more than $3,000, but not 10%!

 

Haha!

[CasualLie]

20 pages, wow! The WGC in Mexico City next week is going to be must see TV!

 

WTF...not the same tournament, not even remotely close in cities...and when it comes to the quality of field, different planet.

 

But yes, must see TV since it is a WGC event.

 

Does my post really rise to the level of WTF? You don't think fans in Mexico City are going to be supportive of a fellow countryman? Many have based Kuchar support on how he was received in the desert last week. Not the same tournament, not the same country, not the same field but I guess it's all relative! Given media attention from a wide variety of media outlets in Mexico that are easy to Google, it appears this is very interesting timing for Kuchar heading into a tournament in Mexico next week. And said media outlets have this as a lead story, even in Mexico City!

 

But it is Google so, WTF, right?

 

Yes, my bad...a little over the top. Sorry.

 

Anyway, Matt is the master of the "non answer" coached by the best, so I don't see much coming out of the presser. He might even find a way to not even talk to the media. PGA Tour is going to protect their own.

 

Or maybe something crazy happens and they fly Tucan out to Mexico City to appear with Matt getting a nice check! Now that would be soap opera TV!

[micha]

Imgaine if Tiger and Kuch go out to dinner and the awkwardness when the bill arrives.

[f5joe]

I've never been caught up in making heroes out of professional players. Kuchar's "aw shucks" personality tends to enamor him to many. In the end, I'm disappointed that the caddie felt the need to come forward. Kuchar's probably in the wrong here but both parties look bad, unfortunately.

[Sixcat]

20 pages, wow! The WGC in Mexico City next week is going to be must see TV!

 

WTF...not the same tournament, not even remotely close in cities...and when it comes to the quality of field, different planet.

 

But yes, must see TV since it is a WGC event.

 

Does my post really rise to the level of WTF? You don't think fans in Mexico City are going to be supportive of a fellow countryman? Many have based Kuchar support on how he was received in the desert last week. Not the same tournament, not the same country, not the same field but I guess it's all relative! Given media attention from a wide variety of media outlets in Mexico that are easy to Google, it appears this is very interesting timing for Kuchar heading into a tournament in Mexico next week. And said media outlets have this as a lead story, even in Mexico City!

 

But it is Google so, WTF, right?

 

Yes, my bad...a little over the top. Sorry.

 

Anyway, Matt is the master of the "non answer" coached by the best, so I don't see much coming out of the presser. He might even find a way to not even talk to the media. PGA Tour is going to protect their own.

 

Or maybe something crazy happens and they fly Tucan out to Mexico City to appear with Matt getting a nice check! Now that would be soap opera TV!

 

No harm, no foul. We're all good! I do think it's reasonable to expect some push-back toward Kuchar from a certain percentage of the crowd next week. It remains to be seen just how much though.

[bandrz]

wow, there is a lot to dissect here.

 

First of all, if I'm carrying 1.3MM in cash in a plastic bag, I'm for sure going to Chili's and not McDonalds.

 

If my Uber driver stops on the way home so I can buy a scratch off and I win 1MM, there is ZERO chance of me even disclosing that I won anything to a complete stranger much less giving him/her a cut.

 

I'm fairly certain that the lottery commission tips the stores that sell the winning tickets, not the individual. Could be wrong and I would love to find out!

 

All kidding aside, and this may have already been discussed, but i stopped scrolling at page 7. do we know that Kuchar did pocket the rest of the money normally slotted for the caddie? Is there no scenario where he paid his regular caddie anyway? serious question. i have no idea how this works or why he missed this event. If you spend years working for someone but then have to miss the week of a victory, is it crazy to think that the player would pay the caddie anyway? Would some of you feel differently if this happened?

[BlackDiamondPar5]

As each day passes, it is pretty much fair to say, Tucan may not see another $1. It's not all his fault as I am sure he had no idea how thanks to "the internet" this story would spin out of control. Gillis really f'd it up for him going to Twitter. But where Tucan has really f'd himself is he was offered $15K and turned it down. Out of what? "principles" ??? There are no well established "principles" here.

 

Every analogy posted is nonsense. This is not a restaurant. There are no contracts here, so any talk of legal linguistics is silly. And for a guy who admittedly has limited english skills, I am not even buying this "unspecified cut of winning" or whatever TBD language he wants to use. It was vague, and Tucan made an assumption, probably like any local caddie who is damn happy to be getting a loop for the week, that it will all work out. The 10% bonus does not apply here, there is no precedent for a local caddie getting $100K for a win.

 

Being in Mexico, being in the moment of a first win in four years, just the circus atmosphere of it all, I don't think it is all that unusual for Matt to not have the presence of mind to get a bunch of cash to Tucan, to even determine what would be a good amount. It's all uncharted territory and there are other priorities. The fact Matt even got an enveloper together with odd denominations to even get to $5,000 just shows how unprepared he was for all of it and not a lot of people around to help on the spot.

 

The fact this was not exposed for months tells me Matt went home after the win not even thinking about this. Maybe he did, maybe he thought he would get to it later and time flies (Xmas, NY, parties, commitments, etc...). Maybe it was a done deal. Maybe Matt has the alligator arms. So many "maybe's" and all we really know are two things (1) none of us know Matt (2) A $2k "bonus" on a $1.3M payday leaves the door wide open for comments.

 

Also given the time that went by before Gillis tried to play hero, I can see it playing out like this: day after day Tucan is getting all kinds of recognition locally for being on the winning bag. "how was it?" "what was Matt like?" "were you nervous?" "do you still have the flag?"...question after question from co-workers, neighbors, and tourists passing through to play Mayakoba. Inevitably these questions end with "so how much did you get paid?" and "that's it?!" Eventually Tucan starts wondering about the amount paid, maybe gets a bit bitter, word spreads around, rumors...then months later, Gillis " I will save you".

 

Where did Tucan get this idea of $50K would be fair?

 

Did these clowns think they were going to pressure Steinberg? Hello? I don't know Steinberg, but from everything I have heard and read, in my mind there is no better agent in golf. Once Tucan showed Bamberg a copy of the email reply from Steinberg "I am out of country. What Matt has offered is fair." And now it is published. And Tucan turned it down. Guess what? Game over. That email reply says to me: you were offered $15K, we think that is fair; done.

 

At best Tucan can crawl on his knees and grovel back to Steinberg, apologize to Matt, and say he was misled by all these nosey people, confused, and yes $15K is very fair, thank you, I will take it. But no, he already publicly turned it down, so sorry Tucan, you get nothing but your 15 minutes of internet fame (much longer on golfwrx), and back to your $100 / day loops. Lucky for Tucan his boss is not like a NFL owner and thinks I don't need this publicity, you are fired.

 

It's unfortunate how it all worked out, certainly not a good look for Matt, a big headache. But will his game suffer? No. Sponsors leave? No. Image tarnished? A bit here I guess, but not really anywhere else. It will be a very long time before Matt ever takes a local caddie, but if he does, you can be sure this won't happen again.

 

Many here sure have gone out of their way to post their saintly behavior in the form of tipping activity. For myself, all I can say: it would be more than $3,000, but not 10%!

 

Haha!

Nice post. I may hire you to write posts for me :)

[Sixcat]

I'm fairly certain that the lottery commission tips the stores that sell the winning tickets, not the individual. Could be wrong and I would love to find out!

 

A local family we know very well won more than a million dollars a few years ago. Their daughter is classmates and best friends with my daughter. Before the family could wrap their mind around what had happened, the store owner that sold the winning ticket was on the local news discussing in great detail, everything they knew (and some they made up) about the ticket and the family who purchased it. The interesting part was how the local news station became aware of the store owner who sold the winning ticket.

 

My point is, you're not wrong!

[dlygrisse]

this is sure to harm Matt Kuchar's reputation in the future..

 

he better make sure he has a regular caddy ALL the time from now on because no one will ever fill-in as a caddie for him if ever he needs one in the future without a written guarantee on the weekly minimum PLUS a % bonus of the winnings depending on the position..

 

I cannot imagine what he was thinking paying his caddie only $5K when he won almost $1.3M....unless his wife made him do it!!

 

None of us know exactly what the deal was. None of us know how helpful the caddy actually was. I've read the guy doesn't know English all that well. How do we know he wasn't just carrying the bag for the week and cleaning the sticks?

 

I've always seen Kuchar as a stand-up guy. He's pleasant. He doesn't have an attitude like Bubba, Rahm or some other guys out there. He's always smiling. He's a great guy out on tour from my point of view and I think he'll continue with that persona. And I'll continue to root for him.

 

Could he have done things differently? Of course. And he'll probably be bullied with all this bad press and end up paying the $50k. But as I said, we weren't there. We don't know the deal. There is always two sides to the story.

 

And I guarantee you that he'd have a fill in caddie much faster than a tour player is going to pick up this guy and risk this type of nonsense when they have an agreement... And then one side "views it differently" and takes it out into the media like he did today.

 

The caddie, as I understand it, was recommended to Kuch by the tournament director. I assume based on his knowledge of the course and his experience as a caddie in previous PGA tour events.

 

 

5k is equal to $375 for every $100,000 that kooch won.

 

Break it down like this,

 

If you won $10,000 in a tournament, would you give you caddie $37 and fifty cents?

 

Let's use another restaurant analogy. Would you expect to pay the same 75% markup that you pay on a $20 bottle of wine as you would pay on a $500 bottle of wine? No. As the dollars go up the percentage goes down. A $500 dollar bottle is probably marked up 25-30%.

 

It seems the caddie earnings system is a bit out of whack, I really don't think the flat 10% rule is in effect with a lot of guys any longer. I have read that many of the caddies are on a base salary plus commission, often times way less than 10%, but it depends on how much is won..it;s on a sliding scale.

 

My guess is some of the tour guys pay their caddies something even if they miss the cut and don't earn squat, and bonus them if they win big. That being said, if the facts of this story are correct....and I'm not convinced we truly know both sides of the story.....then Kuchar need to give a little more for the effort here.

[Lamb]

Kuchar is going to be booed when he comes to defend his title. He better not show up imo and run away like he did when he handed out the $5000 in old used notes.

[Dpavs]

I'm fairly certain that the lottery commission tips the stores that sell the winning tickets, not the individual. Could be wrong and I would love to find out!

 

A local family we know very well won more than a million dollars a few years ago. Their daughter is classmates and best friends with my daughter. Before the family could wrap their mind around what had happened, the store owner that sold the winning ticket was on the local news discussing in great detail, everything they knew (and some they made up) about the ticket and the family who purchased it. The interesting part was how the local news station became aware of the store owner who sold the winning ticket.

 

My point is, you're not wrong!

 

In most cases that I know of the retailer certainly gets an incentive payment for selling large winning tickets. It's part of the incentive package in most cases and how the lotteries attract stores to sell their tickets.