Biggest Lottery Losers In the History

Winning a lottery looks like a dream scenario, but it can turn out to be a nightmare for some. These are the people who won millions in lotteries, but all that money could not save them from bad luck and bad decisions. It is said that misfortune never comes alone.
After reading about the following lottery losers—people who won the lottery but lost everything—you’ll be convinced that good luck also has a price to be paid, a price that the following people found out was too expensive.

Andrew “Jack” Whittaker

Jack was already worth some $17 million when he won the $315 million jackpot in 2002. He tried to spend the money wisely, giving away 10% of the prize to charities and donating $14 million to his own Jack Whittaker Foundation. He even gifted a $123,000 house, a new truck and $50,000 in cash to the woman who worked at the grocery store where he had bought his ticket. However, Lady Luck was not humoured. Jack was hit by indulgences like gambling, drinking and strip bars. That was followed by back-to-back thefts and hacking of his bank accounts. Then came personal tragedies like the death from drug overdose of his granddaughter. Whittaker was broke in 2007, just 5 years after he had won the biggest jackpot in history at the time. But this didn’t end his nightmare, and his daughter also died in 2009. He sobbed to the camera: “I wish I’d torn up that ticket.”

Michael Carroll

Michael’s story is the story of “don’t do these things if you win a lottery”. In fact, the warning should be printed on the lottery tickets. The home grown “Lotto Lout” Michael burnt away all his £9.7 million on hookers, gambling and drugs … well, most of it anyhow. He was smoking $3,000 worth of cocaine everyday and throwing frequent, indulgent parties at his $500,000 home. His money still lasted him 8 years, after which he was back to unemployment benefits. You can’t blame the guy, though; he was just 17 when he won the lottery and was already an “electronic offender”.

William Post III

Post must have made some kind of a record by going broke in just 3 months after he had won the $16.2 million Pennsylvania lottery in 1988. By the time he received the first instalment of $500,000, he had already spent two-thirds of his prize money, and was in $500,000 debt 3 more months later. What did he do? Well, everything that he shouldn’t have. He bought a useless restaurant, an old parking lot, an airplane, and married 6 times (yes, 6 times!). He had just $2 and some cents in his bank account when he had won; he was back there sooner than anyone could have imagined.

Billie Bob Harrell, Jr.

When Billie Bob Harrell, Jr. won the $31 million Texas Lotto, he was hopping between low-paying jobs, trying to put the bread on the table for his family of 4. When he got the first of his $1.24 million payouts, he was thinking that his troubles were over. He donated heavily to charities, went on a trip to Hawaii with his family, bought cars and houses for his family and friends, and even donated turkeys to the poor. In the end, his story was not different from those of the other lottery losers on this countdown. Reckless spending ate up his winnings, and it was only when the money was gone that he woke up to his nightmare. This was just 20 months after he had won $31 million. To make matters worse, Bob’s beloved wife also left him. In 1999, Bob committed suicide by shooting himself. “Winning the lottery was the worst thing that ever happened to me”, Bob is reported to have said shortly before he died.

Urooj Khan

Forty-six-years old Chicago resident Urooj is perhaps the unluckiest lottery winners/losers on our list. The rest of the winners did have the chance spend and enjoy their fortunes, but Urooj was not as lucky. He won a $1 million jackpot and decided to cash out. The state issued his cheque on 19th July, 2012. Urooj died on 20th July. The cause of death still remains unknown, although it is suspected that he was poisoned with cyanide.

Author Bio

Samual is a blogger and he is managing all the online marketing activities of BonusParadise, a leading gambling portal.