there's only one way to win the lottery it's pure luck there are a lot of ways to lose everything you want this is our super cut of the dumbest ways lottery winners went broke that we've covered over the years strap in because it's gonna be a wild ride filled with crazy stories number 36 Justin Ryder even little kids know that just because cartoon characters can jump off a roof without dying that doesn't mean they should try it themselves but Justin Ryder had made it into adulthood without realizing that fact he become obsessed with the Austin Powers film Gold Member he made it his life's goal to have a gold member of his own and when he amazingly won six hundred thousand dollars he saw it as an opportunity to finally gold plate his junk but he probably should have used real gold I guess it was just the shiny color he was after because he opted for lead-based paint he happily dipped his nether regions into it and continued with his life but when some didn't feel right he went on another shopping trip and this time he got his hands on some genuine gold infused paint he could have taken the first layer of paint off but I guess he had something important to do because he just painted over it with his new real gold paint it didn't take long before Justin was found dead but what happened it turned out that cause of death was lead poisoning from the first paint he covered his family jewels in I doubt that's what he planned but at least he left this world as shiny as he always wanted to be weird way to lose it all right the next person on our list sounds like she was competing for weird points number 35 Alicia battle Alicia battle always had a talent for getting on the wrong side of the law she'd already been arrested for keying cars credit card fraud and even assault but in 2003 she tried her luck at her riskiest crime yet when it was announced that the lucky Mega Millions ticket holder had won 162 million dollar jackpot Alicia saw a chance to get rich she knew she'd purchased a a losing ticket from the same store that sold the winning ticket when no winners came forward to claim their prize Alicia stepped forward to tell the world she'd won but she said she tragically lost her ticket people from all over joined in to try to help her while she filed a police report on a big mistake the real winners were simply getting Financial advice before coming forward to claim their prize they finally arrived to claim their prize unknowingly exposing Alicia's lie at the same time instead of being a multi-millionaire all Alicia got was another brush with the law for submitting a fake police report how did she think she was gonna get away with that the same question applies to the next person on this list number 34 Joe Antonio cuetok Joe didn't win the biggest lottery jackpot ever but a 750 000 Georgia Lottery prize is still pretty amazing that kind of cash can go a long way if you're an illegal immigrant like Joe wait what if you're wondering how illegal immigrants can claim Lottery prizes there's a simple answer they can't so it's pretty stupid to play the lottery in the first place but I guess Joe thought he had it figured out he just asked his boss to collect the money for him however Joe Haden banked on his boss just taking the money for himself but there's not much you can do about that if you've won money illegally in a country you're not supposed to be in Joe didn't see it that way he got so mad he decided to sue his boss and that was his last huge mistake obviously his illegal status was discovered thanks to the trial and he wasn't just deported he ended up in jail because he'd also taken the time to threaten to kill his boss's family after he took the money I know it's almost impressive how many mistakes Joe made sure some people get really lucky but nobody's ever got that lucky except maybe four number 33 Evelyn basor very few people are lucky enough to win the lottery not once but twice that's exactly what happened to Evelyn Basehor her first win in 1985 was the big biggest jackpot with a huge total of 3. 9 million but the second jackpot sure wasn't small either just four months later she had another 1. 4 Million jackpot to her name that's the kind of money that can keep you in luxury for the rest of your life but even though Evelyn was clearly super lucky she didn't have the smarts to go with it she gave away loads of her cash but even worse she spent most of the rest on gambling I guess she figured gambling on the lottery had paid off so well and it was her best bet to get more cash but we could have told her she'd never get that lucky again she's broke working two jobs to pay for food and living in a trailer park she still plays the lottery though who knows maybe she's Third Time Lucky there's one mistake that Evelyn didn't make her ticket purchases were all legit that's not true of our next winner number 32 Christina goodenow Christina goodernal was lucky enough to win one million dollars on an Oregon Lottery scratch-off ticket amazing right it would have been amazing but in an incredible Act of stupidity she decided it was fine to buy the ticket with a credit card belonging to her boyfriend's dead mom obviously buying lottery tickets with stolen credit cards is illegal the same way buying anything with a stolen credit card is illegal but that wasn't Christina's only mistake obviously the moment she received the cash the feds realized they should probably look into why this lottery ticket was apparently bought by a dead woman and when they found Christina they hid their own kind of jackpot they found a whole collection of crime she was committing she was charged with theft forgery identity theft Computer Fraud and parole violation they even found a nice quantity of meth in her possession as the cherry on top of her crimes I guess she deserved it all if she wasn't even smart enough to hide the drugs when the feds came knocking it's almost all right to do something that crazy when you're only looking out for yourself but the next person on our list had kids to look after number 31 Gerald muswagon Canadian Gerald muswagon bought a two dollar lotto ticket that made him an instant millionaire in 2011.
he won a 10 million dollar jackpot but blew through it in just a few short years he bought a house that doubled as a nightly party spot hosting his ever-growing lesion of Hangers On he also blew the cash on cars partying and Gifts while racking up a string of legal entanglements by the end he was doing manual labor on a farm to support his girlfriend and six young children seven years after his big win he hung himself in his parents garage there were a lot of tragic lottery winners out there you can blame it on the lottery curse it got to the next person on our list too number 30. Amanda Clayton Amanda Clayton was going through a pretty rough time in her life she was only in her early 20s and she was forced to claim state welfare and used food stamps to be able to eat it wasn't looking good until something amazing happened she won 1 million on the Michigan Lottery's make me Rich game that's more than enough money to turn her life around completely but instead she chose to do something really really stupid a local news Outlet noticed she was still claiming welfare benefits and food stamps a couple years after winning she hadn't gone broke or anything she just wanted to have her cake and eat it too it wasn't long before she was losing a case in court she got nine months probation and a fine for her crimes sadly she was found dead of a drug overdose a year later it's a sad ending but the next person on our list proves many winners create their own problems number 29 Tonda Lynn Dickerson this story started in a Waffle House the group of waitresses who worked there had become pretty close over the years one of their regular customers started tipping them with lottery tickets on one condition they'd split the prize money if they won and also buy him a new truck they never thought they'd win but they were wrong one of the waitresses checked her ticket the next day and realized it was worth 10 million dollars there was just one problem Tonda was the holder of the winning ticket and she decided she didn't want to share obviously the other waitresses were pretty unhappy about that not only had they lost out on all their money but they'd also been betrayed by someone they thought was their friend so they got together and sued Honda Unfortunately they lost the case and tana got away with all the cash by then the customer who bought the ticket heard what she'd done he couldn't believe she'd treat her friends that way and get away with it so he tried to get some justice for the waitresses he sued Tonda saying the waitress had promised to buy him a new truck if they'd want the case went all the way to Supreme Court butanda eventually won again she nearly got away with it but then she slipped up Tanda decided to protect her money by opening a corporation that would have been safe except then she gifted shares of the corporation to her family that was a big mistake because she didn't realize those shares qualified for gift tax the IRS came after her when they'd realized the tax hadn't been paid and she was forced to hand over a million dollars so none of her friends got to share the money but at least she had to pay something at least Hana tried to hang on to her money that's the only good thing you can say about her the next person on her list had a different idea number 28 Sharon tirabassi Sharon tirabasi won 10. 5 million dollars in a lotto Super 7 jackpot in Canada in 2004 excessive spending and giving her life an over-the-top makeover in the years after she won drained the money quickly assuming the money was bottomless the vacations cars houses and handouts piled up until there was nothing left by 2013 she was riding a bus to the part-time job she worked to support her children because all her winnings were gone by then you'd think as a mom she would have had better priorities I think that's a weird way for a parent to behave just wait until you hear about the next winners on US list number 27 Lara and Roger Griffiths the marriage of Laura and Roger Griffiths ended in divorce less than a decade after the British couple won a 2.
19 million lottery jackpot Roger pursued his rock star Drams by spending large sums of money to have his band release an album Laura became familiar with the High Life After the couple purchased exotic cars a one million dollar home designer clothes and accessories and a costly private school for their daughter they invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in opening a salon where Laura was later forced to work as an employee just to make ends meet in the end the couple had less than ten dollars in a shattered relationship when we said you gotta follow your dreams that's not what we meant the winner coming up already had his dreams come true and he still blew it number 26 Daniel Carly Canadian Daniel Carly got the surprise of a lifetime one day when he scratched off his Ontario Lottery ticket and realized he'd actually won and it wasn't just a little bit either his jackpot was 5 million Canadian dollars or about 4. 4 million in U. S money it's got to feel incredible his life was pretty much perfect now he was engaged to the mother of his unborn child surrounded by friends and family and in the prime of his life that night he went over to the bar he co-owned with his dad to celebrate his win with France there's no better way to celebrate than with a huge party but even though the night ended the party didn't stop for Daniel he kept it going for a decade he estimates he spent a mind-blowing 1 million on drugs over the next few years when he ran out of cash he again figured drugs were the answer so he started trafficking narcotics he was eventually caught and spent a few years in prison for it but on the bright side it did help him get off the cocktail of drugs he was on you know things have gone wrong when prison time turns out to be a good thing still it could have been worse just ask the next winner number 25 Alex Toth Alex Toth won 13 million in the Florida lottery in 1990.
he lived well for a few years then went broke by spending all the money and not investing correctly after he went broke he split up with his wife he got in trouble for filing false tax returns and spent some time in a mental institution he died penniless at age 60 in 2008. some people learned the hard way that money's not so easy to manage the next winner on our list sumed that up nicely number 24 Ken proxmeyer you know how people always say you should choose annuity payments to avoid going broke it doesn't always help Ken proxmeyer won his 1 million dollar jackpot thanks to the Michigan State Lottery and that really was a lot of cash back in 1977 he chose the annuity option which guaranteed him 50 Grand per year for 14 years that was a lot of cash back then but not quite as much as Ken thought it was he started spending like he was going out of style he bought houses businesses cars and he was even picking up the tab whenever he went out with friends but it didn't take long for his Investments to start collapsing soon his pool parlor was 60 000 in debt which makes that 50 000 annual payout look like small change his advice to Future lottery winners crawl into a hole and pull the top end I don't think that's what I wanted to hear if full-grown adults can ruin their chances like that what happens when a teenager wins the lottery let's ask number 23 Kali Rogers back in 2003 Kali Rogers was living in a foster care and working at a supermarket then she suddenly made headlines when she became the world's youngest ever lottery winner she was only 16 at the time but she now had an incredible 2. 3 million in the bank the British team totally changed her life with that money sadly not in a good way she started spinning it on crazy stuff with no role models to help her make good decisions she also developed a drug habit and strange lifestyle and she became depressed that led her to spend tons of cash on plastic surgery in the hopes of feeling a little better about herself but it didn't help she said the money made her feel like nobody cared about her because she would buy drinks for people in bars who were only talking to her so they can get a story they can sell to the tabloids she lost every cent she'd won in the end and now campaigns to try to change the minimum age for lottery players obviously Cali isn't the most famous teenage lottery winner that price goes to number 22 Michael Carroll at the tender age of just 19.
British teen Michael Carroll won the lottery he collected the 14 million with a police ankle bracelet still around his leg that probably gives you a good idea of what happened next he spent wildly buying a mansion He didn't like and spending even more on fixing it up he built a demolition derby race track in the back Garden where he'd destroy luxury cars he even started the day with narcotics and vodka for breakfast and he spent Millions on sex parties in the Mansion even though he had a wife and child soon his family and friends had left him because he was behaving so badly luckily for him when he went broke his wife decided to take pity on him and she came back considering he said he'd be dead by now if he still had the money do you think this is just bad luck well the next person won on Friday the 13th so he might have the answer number 21 Lou Eisenberg Lou Eisenberg became New York's luckiest man when he landed the five million dollar jackpot back in 1981 at the time it was the largest lottery payout ever in the state of New York his life should have been perfect after that but maybe winning on Friday the 13th cursed his new Fortune because it definitely didn't help out much instead of making clever Investments for following a dream Lou gambled away most of his cash the rest went to paying off his Ex-Wives and that was all that Lou's Fortune gave him last anyone checked he was living in a mobile home maybe it wasn't the curse of Friday the 13th that got to him it might just be old-fashioned stupidity okay so maybe it's not bad luck after all some people can lose it all and still come back like number 20 Curtis sharp Curtis sharp won five million dollars in the New York lottery in 1982. unfortunately his story was one of the rags to riches and Back Again from trips to the casino Reckless spending on sports cars and lavishing gifts on friends and relatives Curtis saw his fortune disappear fast forward to today Curtis is a minister in Tennessee according to him other winners should walk away and clear their heads before spinning any of their winnings that's a pretty positive story considering he lost his winnings so we've made sure the next story on our list is one of the worst number 19. William post William Bud post III won 16.
2 million in the Pennsylvania Lottery in 1988 he thought his problems were solved but it wasn't long before he'd blown it even though William didn't have a pilot's license he decided to purchase a plane he tried to help his sibling start a restaurant and a used car business his former girlfriend who was also his landlady sued him for a third of his winnings he didn't pay her so a judge throws his assets the relationships with his family members also went sour William even claims one of his brothers tried to hire an assassin to kill him it doesn't get much worse than that one day a repo man tried to take William's car away stupidly when Williams saw him he opened fire you won't be surprised to hear he ended up in jail for it in the end he lived off Social Security disability payments until he died at age 66. some people just don't know how to grab an opportunity just ask number 18 John Roberts John Roberts was living in government housing in Scotland in 1998 when he suddenly won a huge jackpot he suddenly had 3. 1 1 million British pounds in the bank or about 5.
1 million dollars that's an incredible amount of money for anyone but it's even more if you've never had any money just imagine what he could have done with it and when I say imagine I mean it because he didn't do anything except spend it all he blew his fortune on supercars and giant mansions after a couple people he thought were his friends stole his cash by lying about Investments he had nothing left it only took him three years before he was living in an old mobile home sure his friends took off with the last of his cash but he didn't really try to do anything good with it the next person kinda did just in the dumbest way possible number 17 Lisa arkand Lisa was the winner of a one million dollar lottery prize in Massachusetts in 2004. she like previous winners purchased a home and took multiple vacations she threw an extravagant dinner for 20 of her friends and family ordering multiple bottles of wine for two hundred dollars each she put her son in a fancy school and bought expensive furniture for her home Lisa decided to open a restaurant as a source of income after realizing that one million dollars didn't go very far after taxes Lisa had no prior restaurant or financial management experience sadly the restaurant didn't perform well and she was forced to close it Lisa's money was gone by 2007 barely three years after she won the lottery they say stick to what you know and Lisa proves that's true the next person on the list stuck to her ideas a little too much though number 16. Janet Lee South Korean immigrant Janet Lee won 18 million in the Illinois Lottery in 1993 eight years later when she filed for bankruptcy she had less than 700 in the bank and 2.
5 million in debt her donations were well intentioned but she simply gave too much she donated considerable sums to educational political and social causes but it wasn't just donate to charity that ate through her winnings although her gambling habit reportedly cost her more than three hundred thousand dollars per year still she did more on charitable and political donations her generosity included a million dollars for Washington University to build a new library in 2001 her Fortune had evaporated but at least some other people benefited from it it's good to be generous but maybe not that much the next winner was generous too except it was a total accident number 15. John McGinnis John McGinnis learned the hard way that following your heart isn't always the best idea the UK man won a huge UK National Lottery jackpot in 1997 taking home 10 million British pounds or 16. 3 million dollars and he knew exactly what he wanted to do with that cash he quit his job as a hospital Porter and bought his favorite football club for 4.
9 million unfortunately he didn't know that buying the club meant he'd be responsible for all their debts and they sure owed a lot of cash by 2009 just 12 years later the club's debts had wiped out his winnings and he was scraping coins together to buy groceries if you learned anything from that story say you should always do your research another lesson for lottery winners is to never trust anyone just ask number 14. Marva Wilson Marva Wilson won two million dollars in the Missouri Lottery in 2012. it's not easy to manage that kind of money luckily Freya Pearson a good friend agreed to help Marva manage her money and do all her taxes but she was lying she duped Marva into signing over four hundred thousand dollars of her winnings into pausing them into a bank account set up by Pearson as well as giving her access to Wilson's other bank account Pearson went on a spending bench traveling gambling and purchasing cars in an apartment with Marvis money thankfully she was eventually caught Pearson was convicted and given a five year sentence on account of fraud tax evasion and money laundering but it was too late to recover the funds Pearson had squandered all of Wilson's money in less than two years it's always sad when a lottery winner has their cash stolen but what about when lottery winners are stealing cash from others number 13 James Hayes James Hayes worked as an overnight security guard in 1998 when he won 19 million playing California's super lotto game but he quickly went from winner to Loser his ex-wife reportedly took half the jackpot money James developed a heroin habit costing him a thousand dollars a week he then resorted to robbing banks to keep up his lifestyle the FBI nicknamed him the PT Cruiser Bandit and the season Bandit because of his car and gray Air in 2018 James pleaded guilty to bank robbery and was sentenced to 33 months in prison of course by that time there was not one dollar left of his winnings after you hear the next Story on our list you're gonna feel like the banks totally deserve what James did even if legally we disagree with that idea number 12.
Francisco Guerrero you've got to be really careful who you trust when winning a big jackpot Francisco Guerrero was a bricklayer in Spain he didn't have much money but he was happy and he even worked hard enough to buy a few properties but he became a multi-millionaire overnight when he won the equivalent of 8. 6 million dollars he'd never seen that much money in his life so instead of trying to work out what to do with it he took it to the bank he took the bank's advice and put 40 percent of the money into savings for his four children and the rest was invested the bank told him his money would be safe and the investment carried no risks but would earn him 17 every year sounds good right Francisco never touched the scent of his new fortune and chose to keep working instead he didn't think about the money again until he injured his knee he went to the bank to withdraw a small sum for the surgery he needed but they told him there was no money in his account the bank had lost every single dollar Francisco won on the terrible investment they recommended but it was even worse than he thought the investment had racked up an amazing amount of debt not only had he lost his winnings but he now owed so much money but he'd also lost the properties he bought with his hard-earned cash the courts have ordered the bank to pay back some of the money but it's not even close to what Francisco had before that might be the most tragic story of any lottery winner ever it might even be more tragic than murder but we'll let you decide number 11 Joseph and E. B ronakioli Canadian residents Joseph and E.
B ronakioli were already pretty wealthy when EB won five million dollars in a 1991 Lottery they were known as a happy elderly couple to their neighbors however their supposed comfortable lifestyle changed when Joseph discovered EB had spent all of their life savings due to her addictions to alcohol and gambling if that wasn't bad enough she refused to share her lottery winnings with him but he discovered she gave away the 5 million to a secret son she had with another man before marrying Joseph a few short years later EB was found unconscious in her home an autopsy showed that she had been poisoned Joseph who was a doctor claimed he was checking her blood due to her poor health but prosecutors saw through his lies and sentenced him to seven years it's a pretty tragic ending to what could have been a great life that could have almost been a Netflix show with all those twists and turns but the next winner on our list wasn't far off number 10. David Lee Edwards five years after David Lee Edwards a resident of Kentucky won a jackpot he was penniless and had to live in a storage shed with his wife he married a woman 19 years younger than he was the couple squandered the fortune on luxury item they bought dozens of high-end cars a big mansion and a plane in the first three months they had blown through three million dollars by the end of the first year they had burned more than 12 million the couple later spiraled into drug addiction in just 12 years after hitting the jackpot that changed their lives their house was lost to foreclosure David died in 2013 completely broke at age 58 in a hospice care facility a few years later his wife was arrested for stabbing a boyfriend it's the perfect example of the lottery curse that's sadly a familiar story with lottery winners the next winner on our list didn't go near drugs but still got himself on the wrong side of the law number nine Lawrence candlish Lawrence candlish didn't just blow through his millions he actually got himself in trouble with the law in a different country too he won a huge UK National Lottery jackpot back in 1997 and I mean huge he was worth about 9 million dollars that's a lot of money to burn but Lawrence had a talent for losing money he started by spending it on sports cars and houses for himself and his friends then he moved to Spain and put more of his cash into some dodgy Investments but that wasn't his biggest mistake while living it up in Spain he was getting into trouble in a country he wasn't even in by continuing to collect Social benefits from the UK in case you don't know those benefits are available to people without a job or money to make sure they can still eat they definitely aren't meant to be collected by multi-millionaires Lawrence was eventually caught and received a suspended sentence for benefits fraud at least he deserved what he got the next winner on our list sure didn't number eight Baruch Khan Baruch Khan founded a dry cleaning business in Chicago after immigrating to the United States from India in 1989. he worked hard to create a good life for his family years later he bought a lottery ticket and was shocked to discover he'd won 1 billion dollars he chose the lump sum which came to 424 000 after taxes he told the world he wanted to use it to expand his business so his kids would have something big to inherit however he never saw a dime he died before he could collect his check his brother was the first to know after he got a mysterious call that a Rouge was having a heart attack his assets became embroiled in a battle between his wife and stepdaughter his brother convinced the police his brother had been murdered for his Lottery money and sure enough an autopsy showed evidence of the deadly substance cyanide in his blood aroush's death was declared a murder but police still haven't caught his killer it wasn't even a giant Powerball ticket the next person on our list will tell you half a million dollars isn't as much as you think number seven Peter Kyle former Soldier Peter Kyle became one of the biggest jackpot winners the UK had ever seen back in 2005.
he'd played the same numbers he'd been choosing for years and was the only winner of a jackpot worth 9. 8 million and if that wasn't enough he went out to play bingo with his friends to celebrate and won an extra 500 British pounds as a bonus but just three years later he was living off benefits and staying in a room for 18 per night so what happened to the millions there's a simple answer he spent it yes all of it a fishing boat kicked off the spanning Spree but soon there were luxury cars and five-bedroom Mansions being added to his expenses he was spending a whopping 5 500 per day after that it only took one or two bad Investments to end his life as a rich person when he won he said in an interview everything I see I can afford looks like he was wrong the next person on our list won three times as much as Peter who did his money go any further number six Billy Bob Harold Jr Billy Bob Harrell Jr is a well-known Victor him of the lottery curse he hit the Texas Lottery jackpot in 1997 but burned through his 31 million dollars in just two years the profoundly religious family donated heavily to their Church an individual congregation members but his expenses and spending were not all donations he and his wife bought a couple of houses and expensive cars for themselves and their family members they paid for costly trips to Hawaii and lived the most luxurious lifestyle possible with his excessive spending money quickly dried up soon after the money was gone Billy's marriage fell apart the divorce was too much for Billy to handle and only two years after winning more than 31 million dollars his son found him dead tragically he had taken his own life Billy's story is surprising because his life seems so perfect but the next person on our list was on the wrong path from the start number five Lee Ryan loads of lottery winners end up in trouble with the law eventually but this winner was facing a prison sentence before he won Lee Ryan was awaiting trial for selling stolen cars in London when he found out he'd won 6. 5 million pounds for about 7.
8 million dollars but he couldn't enjoy it because he had to spend the next 18 months in prison when he got out I guess he figured life was for living because he went nuts with his new Fortune obviously he loved cars but he should have been careful because they'd already landed him in prison his first purchases were a Bentley a BMW a Porsche and a Ferrari then he needed a mansion to keep the man so he bought a house worth 1. 2 million and pretty soon he also had two Ducatis a hundred and fifty thousand dollar private plane and a 280 thousand dollar helicopter you can see where this is going he then split up with his girlfriend and moved to Kyrgyzstan with a different girl it didn't last long he lost his millions on a fish farm when he got on the wrong side of the mafia and had to come back to London with only a sleeping bag he spent two years sleeping on the streets but these days he's working as a cameraman and seems to be doing all right but he's sure not a millionaire anymore in a way that story somehow ended better than it started we can't say the same about our next winner number four Willie hurt Willie hurt was a happily married family man who was well known in his neighborhood before he won the lottery in 1989 hurt won the 3. 1 million dollar Michigan Super Lotto Jackpot this was during the height of the crack epidemic and hurt was deeply Tangled in the Mayhem his winnings were used to fund a raging crack drug addiction soon after his win hurt divorced his wife lost custody of his children and lost his fortune he went on a multi-day drug and alcohol frenzy with a woman who was found dead he was charged with her murder although it was likely the result of a drug overdose hurts attorney claimed the money was spent on his Rocky divorce and crack addiction by 1991 just two years after winning the 3.
1 million dollars was nothing more than a blurred memory sadly broken families are common among lottery winners just ask number three Keith go Keith go from England is another lottery winner who claimed his new Fortune ruined his life he was a happily married 58-year-old Baker at the time of his win his UK National Lottery jackpot was a rollover from the previous draw and just as big as you'd expect 9 million pounds or about 17. 3 million dollars suddenly he went from baking to driving fast cars betting huge sums on race horses and spending his time in a private executive box at Aston Villa football club but it wasn't all the spending that really got to him it was the drinking soon his alcohol problem got so bad that he and his wife split up he said it broke his heart because they were so in love before he won all they wanted to do was retire together five years after his big win the stress of being broke and losing his wife got to him and he sadly died of a heart attack you're probably wondering if things go differently for lottery winners who are already wealthy they know how to handle that kind of cash right let's ask number two Jack Whitaker Andrew Jack Whitaker unlike most of the winners was already wealthy his company was making contracts worth about 15 million a year on Christmas morning in 2002 he won the largest jackpot ever awarded to a single Powerball ticket it was a whopping 319 4. 9 million he chose the lump sum which left him 113 million after taxes however Jack Whitaker's lottery winnings changed him more than the money he had earned through hard work he gave some to good causes like 15 million to build churches in West Virginia Jack also set up a charitable foundation and even bought a new house for the woman who sold him the ticket and he threw in a new car and gave her some extra cash too despite his Good Deeds the lottery curse get him his company was hit with frivolous lawsuits from people who wanted to get their hands in some of the jackpot money costing him millions in legal fees under strain Whitaker started to go on a downward spiral he started drinking hard and getting into fights if this wasn't enough his granddaughter Brandy got involved with the wrong people and died at a young age a year after her boyfriend died from an overdose the death had devastating consequences for his family Andrew's daughter Brandy's mother was found dead seven years after the jackpot was won his wife filed for divorce and soon Andrew had lost his family and all the money he had won the last person on our list loved something too he loved his cars but they got him into serious trouble number one Ryan McGee Ryan McGee from Ireland was once on the UK's rich list when he won a huge jackpot worth 12.
