4 Lottery Winners Who Lost All | TheRichest
If asked, most people would say that winning the lottery would be an absolute dream come true for them. The idea of having a lifestyle free of bills and worries about finances sounds appealing to nearly everyone. However, a lottery win is not always what it's cracked up to be, and there are actually a number of lottery winners that have been surprised and excited to win the lotto, only to find that they somehow managed to lose it all. It's hard to imagine having to revert back to a 'normal' lifestyle after reaching an incredible status of wealth, but sadly, this happened for many people along the way.
In fact, Business Insider reports on a series of situations in which, for a variety of different reasons, a lottery win ended up being the worst thing that happened to someone's life, and they ended up losing it all anyway!
Some of these stories will truly shock you, and might make you change your mind about the appeal of winning big bucks!
4 The Lost Ticket
When Martyn Tott and his wife won a $5 million jackpot. Well, sort of. The couple, from the United Kingdom, had the winning numbers and were thrilled to see their numbers appear as the big jackpot winners. They excitedly began to plan for their new life filled with fortune and lifestyle changes that they had only ever dreamt of until that time.
Unfortunately, when the went to take their ticket in to claim their prize.... they couldn't find it! They tried desperately to talk to the Camelot Group, which are the officials for handling lottery winnings. However, the couple had missed the 30 day time limit that is permitted for reporting lost tickets. As a result, they were not legally owed their $5 million in winnings.
This is truly one of the dark sides of the lottery regulations. The Daily Mail reported Martyn as saying; "Thinking you're going to have all that money is really liberating. Having it taken away has the opposite effect. It drains the life from you and puts a terrible strain on your marriage. It was the cruelest torture imaginable."
3 Too Much, Too Fast
Sharon Tirabassi won the lottery in 2004, and unlike the story above, she had kept her lottery ticket tucked safely away and swiftly cashed in a $10 million Canadian lottery win. She was ecstatic as you'd imagine anyone else to be, and her life was instantly transformed.
Sharon went from being a single mother who relied heavily upon welfare, to being an instant multi-millionaire, with all the fringe benefits that came along with a lavish lifestyle.
Unfortunately for Sharon, she didn't pace things out properly or seek financial advice, and she ended up falling victim to spending too much, too fast. The Balance Everyday reports that she spent her winnings on a "big house, fancy cars, designer clothes, lavish parties, exotic trips, handouts to family, loans to friends, and in less than a decade she was back riding the bus, working part-time, and living in a rented house."
Thankfully, she had put some of her money into a trust fund for her 6 children to benefit from later in life.
2 A Truly Sad Ending
This sad tale tells the story of Gerald Muswagon who won a $10 million jackpot and enjoyed the instant transformation from rags to riches. It was 1998 when he fell into uber-wealth and like many people who suddenly cash in such a big prize, he went on an exorbitant shopping spree.
The Globe and Mail reports that he "bought several new vehicles for himself and friends, purchased a house that turned into a nightly 'party pad' and often celebrated his new lifestyle with copious amounts of drugs and alcohol," It was said that he lavishly shopped for his friends as well, and generously scooped up 8 big screen televisions for them in a single day.
He then went on to make a poor business decision and invested money in a logging business which did not take off. He eventually found himself dirt poor and took on a job doing intense physical labor on a friend's farm, just to make enough money to pay his most basic bills.
This tragically proved to be too much for the former millionaire to handle, and he ended up way worse off after the lottery win than he was before. He was found in his parents garage in 2005, citing this financial pressure as being the tipping point that caused him to end it all.
1 The Truth Prevails
If there ever was a story about the value of telling truths instead of fabricating lies, this would be a good one to share. When Americo Lopes won the lottery, he didn't tell anyone. He was a construction worker at the time of his big win, and told his employer he was quitting as a result of requiring foot surgery.
Eventually, he let the truth slip to a former coworker an friend. This proved to be a huge, irreversible mistake.
A group of men from his old workplace insisted that this ticket was part of a group lottery win and that they had rights to some of the winnings. The filed a fraud suit, claiming they had all contributed to the purchase of the ticket and were entitled to an equal split. The court granted them their wish, and Lopes had to pay up.
Sources: Business Insider, Yahoo Finance, The Balance Everyday, Globe and Mail
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