Lottery winners who lost their millions
Having piles of cash only compounds problems for some people. Here are sad tales of foolishness, hit men, greedy relatives and dreams dashed.
For a lot of people, winning the lottery is the American dream. But for many lottery winners, the reality is more like a nightmare.
Evelyn Adams
"Winning the lottery isn't always what it's cracked up to be," says Evelyn Adams, who won the New Jersey lottery not just once, but twice (1985, 1986), to the tune of $5.4 million. Today the money is all gone and Adams lives in a trailer.
"I won the American dream but I lost it, too. It was a very hard fall. It's called rock bottom," says Adams.
"Everybody wanted my money. Everybody had their hand out. I never learned one simple word in the English language -- 'No.' I wish I had the chance to do it all over again. I'd be much smarter about it now," says Adams, who also lost money at the slot machines in Atlantic City.
"I was a big-time gambler," admits Adams. "I didn't drop a million dollars, but it was a lot of money. I made mistakes, some I regret, some I don't. I'm human. I can't go back now so I just go forward, one step at a time."
William “Bud” Post
William "Bud" Post won $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania lottery in 1988 but now lives on his Social Security.
"I wish it never happened. It was totally a nightmare," says Post.
A former girlfriend successfully sued him for a share of his winnings. It wasn't his only lawsuit.
A brother was arrested for hiring a hit man to kill him, hoping to inherit a share of the winnings.
Other siblings pestered him until he agreed to invest in a car business and a restaurant in Sarasota, Fla., - two ventures that brought no money back and further strained his relationship with his siblings.
Post even spent time in jail for firing a gun over the head of a bill collector. Within a year, he was $1 million in debt.
Post admitted he was both careless and foolish, trying to please his family. He eventually declared bankruptcy.
Now he lives quietly on $450 a month and food stamps.
"I'm tired, I'm over 65 years old, and I just had a serious operation for a heart aneurysm. Lotteries don't mean (anything) to me," says Post.
Suzanne Mullins
Suzanne Mullins won $4.2 million in the Virginia lottery in 1993. Now she's deeply in debt to a company that lent her money using the winnings as collateral.
She borrowed $197,746.15, which she agreed to pay back with her yearly checks from the Virginia lottery through 2006. When the rules changed allowing her to collect her winnings in a lump sum, she cashed in the remaining amount. But she stopped making payments on the loan.
She blamed the debt on the lengthy illness of her uninsured son-in-law, who needed $1 million for medical bills.
Mark Kidd, the Roanoke, Va., lawyer who represented the Singer Asset Finance Company who sued Mullins, confirms her plight. He won a judgment for the company against Mullins for $154,147 last May, but they have yet to collect a nickel.
"My understanding is she has no assets," says Kidd.
Ken Proxmire
Ken Proxmire was a machinist when he won $1 million in the Michigan lottery. He moved to California and went into the car business with his brothers. Within five years, he had filed for bankruptcy.
"He was just a poor boy who got lucky and wanted to take care of everybody," explains Ken's son Rick.
"It was a hell of a good ride for three or four years, but now he lives more simply. There's no more talk of owning a helicopter or riding in limos. We're just everyday folk. Dad's now back to work as a machinist," says his son.
Willie Hurt
Willie Hurt of Lansing, Mich., won $3.1 million in 1989. Two years later he was broke and charged with murder. His lawyer says Hurt spent his fortune on a divorce and crack cocaine.
Charles Riddle
Charles Riddle of Belleville, Mich., won $1 million in 1975. Afterward, he got divorced, faced several lawsuits and was indicted for selling cocaine.
Janite Lee
Missourian Janite Lee won $18 million in 1993. Lee was generous to a variety of causes, giving to politics, education and the community. But according to published reports, eight years after winning, Lee had filed for bankruptcy with only $700 left in two bank accounts and no cash on hand.
One Southeastern family won $4.2 million in the early '90s. They bought a huge house and succumbed to repeated family requests for help in paying off debts.
Here's how one lucky winner spent his new-found fortune.
By Ellen Florian Kratz, Fortune writer
February 28 2007: 7:46 AM EST
(Fortune Magazine) -- Brad Duke, 34, a manager for five Gold's Gym franchises in Idaho, pocketed a lump sum of $85 million after winning a $220 million Powerball jackpot in 2005. He spent the first month of his new life assembling a team of financial advisors. His goal: to use his winnings to become a billionaire. Here's what Duke has done with his money so far.
• $45 million: Safe, low-risk investments such as municipal bonds
• $35 million: Aggressive investments like oil and gas and real estate
• $1.3 million: A family foundation
• $63,000: A trip to Tahiti with 17 friends
• $125,000: Mortgage retired on his 1,400-square-foot house
• $18,000: Student-loan repayment
• $65,000: New bicycles, including a $12,000 BMC road bike
• $14,500: A used black VW Jetta
• $12,000: Annual gift to each family member
Did you often buy lottery tickets or was this a one-time thing?
I played the lottery often when I won. I had developed a little numbering system.
Since I've won, there's been a lot of numbering systems for lotteries all over the Internet. Before that, there weren't any. I really thought I was going to win. I even wrote it down in my journal in 2002.
How did you develop your system?
How to choose my lottery numbers started through a trial and error process. I just started playing number games with myself about how to capture the most diverse numbers. Then I looked at the most recent Powerball numbers over the last six months and took the set of 15 numbers that were most commonly coming up. My Powerball numbers were going to be those 15. So I starting messing around with it, and my number games got a little more complex and a little bigger. I was starting to win smaller amounts like $150 and $500.
So many lottery winners have sad endings. Did you worry about that?
I've always handled responsibility well. If you accept that check, you accept an amazing responsibility to yourself and whomever you decide to include in it. I was quiet about winning for a month before I decided to come out. During that time, I was getting as much research as I could on existing lottery winners and what their stories were. Most of them lose all the money within a short amount of time. I'm looking at statistics where people in ten years have nothing. In ten years, I wanted to be worth about ten times as much. I think a lot of people who play the lottery are people who live on hope.
What else did you do with your money?
I wanted to make the most of the opportunity that was given to me, so I put together a team with the intent to reach and maintain a $1 billion status over a particular period of time. I wanted to do it in 10 years, which I knew was aggressive. My team talked me into looking at 15 years. But it looks like we're on track for 12 years. When you do something like that, the more you become worth, the quicker your growth curve is. My total net worth right now is at an unofficial value of $128 to $130 million. We've done very well for the first year and a half.
What about a big new house or a fancy new car?
I guess I'm more worried about spending time on my investments and helping my consulting company along and doing fun things with my family and friends. I will have a new home and a great car at some point, but just not now. The great thing about the lottery was that I get to experience amazing things with people I care about. I started up a consulting company and am employing some people that helped me along the way with my employment. I took my family on a cruise.
You had to have treated yourself to something.
I bought bicycles. I'm probably own upward of 17 bikes. I also bought a 2002 Jetta. I gave my 2005 Jetta to my nephew. So it's the exact same car except for his is white and mine is black.
You had a newer car that you gave to your nephew and you bought an older car?
That's correct. I wanted a black VW Jetta with a black interior. Believe it or not, those are really hard to find. I went to the local dealership and had them track one down for me. They had to go to Texas to get it. It fit my bicycle rack really well.
What happened to your job at Gold's Gym?
I still teach a spinning class there twice a week. I took some time off after the whole thing because everybody had investment opportunities that were the greatest thing since sliced bread, and there were 100 of them every day. So I had to get out of there for a while, but when I went back, the people I'd been teaching for the last 8 years were still the same people, and I was still the same instructor.
Have you given money to members of your family?
One of the first things I did was give everyone in my family the maximum amount without tax consequence. I have all of my nieces' and nephews' college funds set up, and they're set. And there's no debt for anyone anymore. Everybody is happy.
Are you happier since you¹ve won the money?
Absolutely. When it comes down to it, I get to do the things professionally that I've always wanted to do. I get to invent a piece of equipment that I've always been thinking about doing. I get to give back to some people that have given to me over years.
Powerball Winner Says He's Cursed
Jack Whittaker Won $315 Million, Lost Friends, Family and the 'Shining Star' of His Life
By MARTIN BASHIR and SARA HOLMBERG
April 6, 2007
On Christmas morning in 2002, Jack Whittaker woke up to perhaps the biggest gift imaginable. Whittaker had won the Powerball lottery jackpot -- a whopping $315 million.
Jack Whittaker hit the jackpot, but his good luck turned bad.
"I got sick at my stomach, and I just was [at] a loss for words and advice," Whittaker said. "You know, I was really searching for advice, and it's, like, Christmas Day."
It was a made-for-TV Christmas story, and Whittaker's hardworking family became celebrities overnight. Whittaker's wife, Jewel, and their granddaughter Brandi Bragg would appear on no fewer than eight television shows. But as Whittaker celebrated his good fortune, he had no way of knowing that he was embarking on a journey that would lead to tragedy and the loss of everything he held dear.
'No Control for Greed'
Whittaker now says that he regrets winning the lottery.
"Since I won the lottery, I think there is no control for greed," he said. "I think if you have something, there's always someone else that wants it. I wish I'd torn that ticket up."
Whittaker had the very best of intentions: He truly wanted to share his good fortune and help people.
"I wanted to build churches," he said. "I wanted to get people food that didn't have food. I wanted to provide clothing for children that needed clothing."
Within months, Whittaker was making good on his promise. He handed over $15 million for the construction of two churches alone.
The initial blitz of publicity meant that everyone knew about Whittaker's record-breaking win, and he was besieged by requests for help. In order to deal with these requests, he formed the Jack Whittaker Foundation. Jill, the clerk who sold him his winning ticket, went to work for him in the mailroom.
"There were so many letters that they wouldn't even deliver the mail. It was nothing for us to sit for 10 hours just opening envelopes," said Jill, who asked that her last name be kept private.
Jill says the foundation received all kinds of requests, such as, "people wanting new carpet, people wanting entertainment systems, people wanting Hummers, people wanting houses -- just absolutely bizarre things."
Whittaker gave away at least $50 million worth of houses, cars and cash. Suddenly, the man who won a fortune at Christmas had become everybody's Santa Claus.
"Any place that I would go they would come up," he said. "I mean, we went to a ballgame, a basketball game … and we must have had 150 people come up to us … and it would be going right back to asking for money."
Humble Beginnings
For a man who didn't start out with much, the experience was a bit overwhelming.
"I grew up very, very poor in Jumping Branch, W.Va.," said Whittaker. "We never had a lot of luxuries. We never had a car. We didn't have a TV until later in life."
At the age of 14, Whittaker met the woman who would become his wife, and started his own construction company. Whittaker said it was the birth of his granddaughter that finally changed his obsession with work.
"I was with my daughter going to her doctor's visits," he said. "And Brandi waved at me on the first sonogram, so I was hooked then."
By the time Whittaker won the lottery, he said, he was doing $16 million to $17 million worth of work. He enjoyed years of success with few complaints, but less than a year after winning the lottery things began to change.
Rob Dunlap, one of Whittaker's many attorneys, said Whittaker has spent at least $3 million dollars fending off lawsuits.
"I've had over 400 legal claims made on me or one of my companies since I've won the lottery, " said Whittaker.
When asked why that might happen, Whittaker said it's because "everybody wants something for nothing."
'I Just Didn't Care'
As his company's reputation was challenged by lawsuits, Whittaker began drinking heavily to console himself. At night, he made the rounds of the local bars throwing money around everywhere he went.
"I just got to the point that I just couldn't tolerate what was happening to me anymore," he said. "I would fly off the handle and if somebody wanted to fight me, I'd fight them. I just didn't care."
Whittaker alienated just about everyone in town, and things came to a head when he left his car running in front of the Pink Pony strip club and more than $2,000 in cash was stolen.
"I parked my car in the middle of the driveway, I went in to get me a drink to go, and I was drugged and my briefcase was stolen," Whittaker said.
The money was recovered, but the luckiest man in West Virginia was left friendless and lonely. It seemed as if everyone still wanted a piece of his winnings, but the one person Whittaker was determined to share every moment of his good fortune with was his granddaughter.
"What I really enjoyed the most was … watching Brandi enjoy it," he said.
Whittaker bought and decorated an elaborate home for Bragg and her mother that included a perfect recreation of the bottle from the 1960's TV sitcom "I Dream of Jeannie." He also gave Brandi about $2,000 a week and bought her four new cars.
Whittaker said while Bragg was only 17 years old at the time, she was very responsible with her money.
"To a young kid cars mean a lot," Whittaker said. "She had four cars and I'm very proud that she had four cars."
Downward Spiral
According to her friends, Bragg's cars and cash began to attract the attention of some "bad people," including drug dealers.
Whittaker said, "She was bitter because she had lost some of her friends, I mean the drug dealers, just ganged up on her because of me."
Bragg started to use illegal drugs. Whittaker repeatedly tried to get her help and sent her to several treatment programs, but she couldn't stay clean.
"She doesn't want to be in charge of the money; she doesn't want to inherit the money; she just looks for her next drugs," Whittaker said. "She said, 'Pawpaw, all I care about is drugs.' It broke my heart."
Bragg's friend Jessie Tribble was a drug user too. In September 2003, Tribble was found dead of a drug overdose in a house owned by Whittaker. Tribble's father believes that his son might be alive today if he hadn't had access to Bragg and her weekly allowance.
"I'm going to say this with total conviction. I blame her for my son's death. I hold her accountable," he said.
Whittaker doesn't feel responsible for Tribble's death.
"The house was closed down," he said. "They didn't have permission to be in my house."
Almost two years after Whittaker hit the jackpot, Bragg disappeared. After a frantic two-week search, on Dec. 20, 2004, she was found dead, wrapped in a plastic sheet, dumped behind a junked van. The cause of death was listed as unknown. Whittaker believes that the Powerball win had become a curse upon his family.
"My granddaughter is dead because of the money," he said.
"She was the shining star of my life, and she was what it was all about for me," he said. "From the day she was born, it was all about providing, and protecting, and taking care of her. You know, my wife had said she wished that she had torn the ticket up. Well, I wish that we had torn the ticket up too."
Whittaker believes that money isn't what makes people happy -- family is.
"Family is what is dear," he said. "I don't know where it'll end. But you know, I just don't like Jack Whittaker. I don't like the hard heart I've got. I don't like what I've become."
The Richest Black Lottery Winners
WOULD you spend $18,000 on a dining room set? Lee and Barbara Pierce won't, although they can easily afford it. Until recently, the Pierces each worked two jobs in Chicago to make ends meet. All that changed last summer when the couple won $22.6 million in the Illinois Lottery's "Lotto" game.
Suddenly, the price of furniture--or in this case, hiring an interior decorator to furnish a new house--is no longer a problem. Overcoming the reluctance to spend money on high-priced furnishings, however, is.
"You want it to be nice, but we're not extravagant," Barbara says. "We couldn't deal with an $18,000 dining room set. There are people who have had money all of their lives. They may be used to it. We're not."
To hear some of the nation's richest lottery winners tell it, winning an eight-figure fortune takes some getting used to. Old habits die hard, and for the most part, people remain the same, even in the face of an enormous financial windfall.
Winning the lottery may well be the new American dream. According to gaming industry statistics, the nation's lotteries generate roughly $12.7 billion in annual sales. Half of that is returned to winners in cash prizes. To date, eight lucky Black winners are now multi-millionaires, having "hit" the right six numbers for jackpots ranging from $16 million to $37 million. For the next 20 years, they can expect annual paychecks from $609,000 to more than $1.6 million. So what is it really like to discover after years of struggle that you're suddenly rich beyond belief? Is it all champagne dreams and caviar wishes?
Well, not quite.
Big lottery winners usually make major purchases, such as new homes, clothes, automobiles and vacations. They often use their new wealth to help family members and close friends. However, don't expect the money to bring major changes in the winner's personality. For these lucky few, the lifestyle of the rich remains a big adjustment that takes time to make - if it ever occurs at all.
Take the case of Gloria Mitchem, a 26-year-old nursing home housekeeper who is now the nation's richest Black lottery winner. She once was described as a "low-key" person. She is now called a "recluse." Within a week, the excitement of winning $37.4 million in the Florida lottery gave way to a desperate struggle to be left alone.
Mitchem lived in a rural community in central Florida, where she occasionally played the lottery without much success. Her luck changed one Saturday last March when she discovered she had the winning ticket. Word of her good fortune spread quickly, and the following day, crowds of well-wishers and news reporters packed the front yard of her mobile home. A police escort was called to take the winner and her family to Tallahassee to claim the grand prize. Things got worse at the lottery press conference when family members said they wanted an "IROC Z" sports car and a Rolls-Royce.
Automobile salesmen soon began mingling with reporters outside Mitchem's home, clamoring for her attention and her money. By the following Friday, Mitchem had had enough. She announced through her relatives that she would have no further contact with the press. She then left town.
Mitchem did buy a new home for herself and for one of her five sisters. She also quit her $13,000-a-year job making beds at a nearby nursing home. She reportedly donated some money to local churches, although several ministers declined to confirm or deny the donations, describing the issue as a "private matter."
However, the diminutive prizewinner surprised some observers when she removed her child from a local daycare center for fear of a possible kidnapping attempt. She still refuses to grant interviews to the news media and keeps her whereabouts a closely guarded secret. Her family, boyfriend and others are also tight-lipped, and for good reason, according to one longtime family acquaintance who claims that Mitchem will cut off anyone, particularly family members, from sharing the lottery fortune if they disclose the location of her new home or talk to the news media.
Mitchem is not the only big lottery winner to shun the spotlight. According to lottery officials in New York and Ohio, Roland R. Roberts, a retired pipefitter in New York, has declined several requests for interviews since winning $16 million.
Zelma and Sharon Barnes, a Columbus, Ohio, couple who won $16 million in the Ohio Super Lotto game, have also turned down requests for interviews to guard their privacy. Game officials in New York and Washington, D.C., say they can't locate two of their biggest winners, Augustin Jombo, a $26 million winner in New York and U.S. Army Sgt. Lee Nelson, a $16 million winner in Washington, D.C.
Lottery winners say they receive general advice from the lottery agency, which includes finding an attorney and financial advisor. They also advise the big winners to change their telephone number and consider moving. After the press conference, winners are usually on their own.
Disappearing outright is one suggestion Martin J. King is quick to offer any lottery winner--even if he didn't take the advice himself. After winning $29.1 million last summer in Lotto America, King still lives in his same neighborhood in suburban St. Louis. He tried to get away briefly by visiting relatives in Wisconsin, but soon found that almost everyone there seemed to know him for what he had become--rich. "It was as bad as if I had stayed [home]," he recalls. "After you get everything together with the lottery, the best thing to do is to disappear for four or five months. I think it would be much easier."
Before hitting the financial jackpot, King had had his share of hard times. A divorce with five adult children, he once worked as a satellite dish repairman until 1982 when he was laid off from his job. The 49-year-old repairman began working odd jobs, sometimes earning as little as $10 a day. Now, the hard-luck days are behind him. To date, he has purchased a new van and a boat. He plans to build a new house in Mississippi for his family. He spends most of his time travelling, either visiting his relatives or enjoying his favorite pastime--fishing.
Having become rich overnight, King is learning that some people treat the wealthy differently. "I was going to buy a house from a lady who wanted $110,000 for it," he says. "The price suddenly jumped to $169,000. It was something that I had wanted. But now, I wouldn't waste my time, not at that price." And, although his telephone number is unlisted, he still receives occasional requests for favors. "You'd be surprised at some of the things people will ask you," he says. "A lady I used to date way back in the 1960s is calling me. I tell her like I've told the others, I have my lady and that's it." When he doesn't feel like talking, King says he politely tells the caller that he isn't home and dutifully takes a message.
Unlike King, Lee and Barbara Pierce disappeared. After a quick ride to the Illinois Lottery in a white stretch limousine, the Pierces claimed their $22.6-million prize and submitted to the mandatory press conference. The couple then took their families to dinner and later moved into a hotel to sort out their future.
Like most lotteries, the Illinois Lotto usually takes about five weeks before issuing the first payment to its winners. However, the Pierces needed money long before their first check, since they had quit their jobs and were living with relatives. So, armed with documentation from the state lottery agency, the couple went to a Chicago bank to apply for a $50,000 loan. About ten days later, the Pierces still hadn't heard from the bank. "By the time they called us, we had gone to another bank and had gotten a loan," Mrs. Pierce recalls. "When the lady called, I told her that they could take the application, and I was going to say, '. . . put it in the garbage.' She thought I was going to say something else."
Fortunately, life for the Pierces has settled down. Lee no longer works as a machine operator and welder. Barbara quit her job as a nurse's aide and a school cafeteria aide. The couple has decided to divide the winnings with ten members of their immediate family. While the group remains well off, the Pierces insist that no one has become an instant millionaire after splitting the annual installments ten ways.
The money has even eased Pierce's fear of flying. Initially, he backed away from a suggestion of taking a plane to an exotic destination. "Maybe I'll take the train to visit [relatives in] Philadelphia," he said at the time. "I have never been on an airplane, and I'm not too quick to jump on one now."
Several weeks later, Barbara coaxed her husband onto an airplane to Philadelphia. He survived.
To date, the couple has gingerly stepped into the lifestyle of the rich. Lee has junked his 13-year-old car for a new Cadillac, and Barbara admits to having done her fair share of shopping. The couple also enjoy late night television, something that was once a luxury when the Pierces had to worry about getting up early to rush to work. It seems like a good life. "Lee sometimes says to me that we haven't spent this much time together in 20 years," Mrs. Pierce says. "It's not a bad feeling."
COPYRIGHT 1990 Johnson Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group
He escaped from a derailed train, a door-less plane, a bus crash, a car into flames, another 2 car accidents... then won a million dollar lottery
Here's the story of how the world's unluckiest man turned his fate upside down. Frane Selak, born in 1929, is a Croatian music teacher who used to be famous for his numerous escapes from fatal accidents:
• In January, 1962, Selak was traveling via train from Sarajevo to Dubrovnik. However, the train had suddenly derailed and plunged into an icy river, killing 17 passengers. Selak managed to escape, and only suffered a broken arm and minor scrapes and bruises.
• The following year, while traveling from Zagreb to Rijeka when the door blew away from the cockpit, forcing him out of the plane. Although 19 others were killed, he suffered only minor injuries and had miraculously landed in a haystack.
• In 1966, he was riding on a bus that crashed and plunged into a river. Four others were killed, but Selak managed to escape unharmed.
• In 1970, he managed to escape before a faulty fuel pump engulfed his car into flames.
• In 1973, another of Selak's cars caught fire, forcing fire through the air vents. He suffered no injuries save the loss of most of his hair.
• In 1995, he was hit by a city bus, but once again suffered minor injuries.
• In 1996 he escaped when he drove off a cliff to escape an oncoming truck. He managed to land in a tree, and watched as his car exploded 300 feet below him.
•
But then, in 2003, the heavens seemed to review his case: he won $1,000,000 dollars in the Croatian lottery!
"I know God was watching me over all these years." he said, and has reputedly refused to fly to Australia to air on a Doritos commercial, saying he "didn't want to test his luck." Frane also said that he can either be looked as "the world's unluckiest man, or the world's luckiest man," and prefers the latter.
Woman googles husband, finds he won the lottery but never told her
On 2007, Donna Campbell became suspicious of her husband, Arnim Ramdass, when he started to keep the television turned off and disconnected the phone line. Her suspicions rose when she found a postcard about a new home purchase.
But Campbell was unaware that her husband was hiding a $10.2 million secret from her until she Googled her husband's name and lottery number. She found a Florida lottery press release that named 17 airline mechanics who won the jackpot, her husband was one of them.
The group of mechanics opted for the lump-sum payment of $10.2 million, meaning each of the 17 winners would receive about $600,000 before taxes. Since the winning, Ramdass took a leave of absence from work, according to his co-workers. He hasn't shown up at the couple's home and servers can't find him to hand him the lawsuit papers: she wants half the money and out of the marriage.
Doubled his share of the jackpot... by mistake!
When Derek Ladner next suffers from absent mindedness, he may think twice before cursing his poor memory. For the 57-year-old's forgetfulness has landed him an amazing double lottery win.
He and his wife Dawn were elated when their six regular numbers came up on the midweek draw on 2007. They were quick to claim their £479,142 share of the £2,395,710 jackpot split between five winners. But, incredibly, a week later Mr Ladner remembered he had bought another ticket with the same numbers for the same draw.
That gave him two of the five shares of the jackpot on July 11, doubling his winnings to £958,284. A spokesman for lottery operator Camelot said it was the first time a player had won twice in the same draw! Mr Ladner's forgetfulness cost the other three winners almost £120,000 each. Had he not bought the extra ticket, they would have split the jackpot four ways instead of five and won £598,927 a person.
Run over by a truck, hours after his win
On 22 January 2004, 73-year-old Carl Atwood of Elwood, Indiana, who won $73,450 in an Indiana lottery game taped for television, died scant hours later. He was knocked down by a truck and expired shortly thereafter in an Indianapolis hospital.
That evening he had been walking to the grocery store that had sold him a winning ticket when a pickup truck rounded a corner and struck him. (The store was located one block from his home.) "It was at an unlighted intersection, and Mr. Atwood had dark clothing on, so the driver did not see him before he hit him," Elwood Police Chief Toby R. Barker said.
Won $16.2 million... got sued by everyone, went broke and died
William "Bud" Post won $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania lottery in 1988 but now lives on his Social Security. "I wish it never happened. It was totally a nightmare," says Post.
A former girlfriend successfully sued him for a share of his winnings. It wasn't his only lawsuit. A brother was arrested for hiring a hit man to kill him, hoping to inherit a share of the winnings. Other siblings pestered him until he agreed to invest in a car business and a restaurant in Sarasota, Fla., - two ventures that brought no money back and further strained his relationship with his siblings. Post even spent time in jail for firing a gun over the head of a bill collector. Within a year, he was $1 million in debt.
Post admitted he was both careless and foolish, trying to please his family. He eventually declared bankruptcy. Now he lives quietly on $450 a month and food stamps. "I'm tired, I'm over 65 years old, and I just had a serious operation for a heart aneurysm. Lotteries don't mean (anything) to me," said Post. He died on Jan 15 of respiratory failure.
Won the lottery twice after a dream
Many successful lottery entrants have said their winning combinations came to them in dreams; that they awoke with five or six numbers dancing in their heads, jotted the combinations down, played them, and won. Sometimes the dreamed-of numbers paid off right away, and sometimes the dreamers played those combinations for years before hitting the jackpot. So, that 86-year-old Mary Wollens of Toronto won the Ontario Lottery on 30 September 2006 after seeing "a lotto ticket and a large cheque" in a dream a couple of days before the drawing wasn't all that unusual — the remarkable part was that her prophetic dream enabled her to win the same lottery twice.
You see, Mary had already purchased a lottery ticket with the combination she later dreamed about, but her vision instilled her with such confidence that she went out and bought a second ticket with those same numbers. Now, some people would consider purchasing a duplicate ticket be a foolish waste of money (because if your numbers lose, you're needlessly out an extra dollar, and even if you hit the big jackpot, you don't necessarily get any extra credit for winning twice), but not Mary — and good thing, too, because she happened onto one of those occasions when having a second ticket paid off big.
As things turned out, someone else had also correctly picked all six numbers for that week's draw, so instead of having to split the $24 million jackpot evenly with another winner, Mary was able to claim a two-thirds share and take home $16 million!
Committed suicide because he mistakenly believed his lotto numbers had come up the one week he didn't play them
In April 1995 Timothy O'Brien committed suicide by shooting himself in the head because his half-share of a five-week ticket on Britain's (then) new National Lottery had expired just before the draw he thought would have made him a multi-millionaire.
The truth is, even if he'd held a valid ticket for his usual numbers, O'Brien wouldn't have won. The numbers that came up would have entitled the ticket holders to a prize of 47 pounds, not the 3.2 million he thought he and his partner had missed out on. And why? Because only four of the six numbers matched those drawn.
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