Lottery Winners Who Blew Their Winnings

Callie Rogers is the paradigm of misused luck. He won two million euros in the lottery when he was 16 years old and now he has less than 22,000 left. He spent it on cocaine, breast implants, full-fledged vacations, expensive cars… but hey, that’s the least of it. What I wanted to tell you is that she is not the only one. There are ten other blatant cases such as this of lottery winner who lost it all below.

Vivian Nicholson

This is one of the most famous, if not the most famous. This English (from Castleford) earned more than 171,000 euros in 1961 (about two million euros if we extrapolate her success to our days). It is difficult to summarize in one paragraph everything that happened to Vivian, famous because she said she was going to “spend, spend and spend” (and she did it), but I will try. She became a widow and married five times (not once or twice), suffered a stroke, had to detoxify from alcohol, became a Jehovah’s Witness, attempted suicide, and entered a mental institution. I suppose that while spending her earnings on expensive clothes and luxury cars, did not imagine that she would end her days by living on a pension of less than 100 euros. There is a play that tells her life.

Willie Hurt

Willie, Willie, Willie. Before winning the 2,000,000 he bagged in the lottery in 1989, this Michigan man was happily married, had an active social life, and was an exemplary father. Two years later he had spent all the money on his divorce and cocaine, was charged with murder, and lost contact with his family. At least, that’s what the lawyer says.

Suzanne Mullins

She had won about three million euros in the Virginia lottery (USA), back in 1993. A woman in good faith (and a good heart), she established 20 annual payments of about 33,000 euros with her husband and daughter (and she still had more than enough). Unfortunately, something went wrong when Suzanne’s bills started piling up and she had to take out a loan. Eleven years later, the poor woman owes the bank more than 105,000 euros and blames her son-in-law’s long illness for her misfortune. According to her, the man had no insurance and has spent almost 700,000 euros on medical bills.

Evelyn Adams

It is difficult for lightning to strike twice in the same place, but it also seems difficult for you to win the lottery twice, right? Well, it happened to Evelyn (in 1985 and 1986). Unfortunately, this New Jersey woman was so confident of luck that she spent her nearly 3,700,000 euros on gambling. Now she lives in a caravan.

Shefik Tallmadge

He was the luckiest man in Arizona. There was only five dollars in his pocket and he spent them buying a lottery ticket. Sometimes it happens, and it happened to Shefik: he earned more than 4,500,000 euros and he took his father traveling through Asia and Africa. He bought expensive cars (really expensive) and was dedicated to investing. To invest badly, by the way, because he filed for bankruptcy in 2006.

Michael Carroll

What would you do with eleven million euros? Michael, who won them in 2002 when he was only 19 years old, thought it appropriate to buy four houses in the United Kingdom, one in Spain to come on vacation, two BMWs, two Mercedes and a few shares of the Glasgow Rangers. He committed a few minor crimes, among which the possession of cocaine stands out. In the end, in 2006, he was sentenced to nine months in prison after he threatened two young men with a baseball bat.

Rhoda Toth

Florida, 1990. Rhoda wins almost nine million euros in the lottery and it takes a sigh to spend all the money. In 2006 Rhoda and her husband were accused of tax evasion. They lived in absolute poverty, provided by the electricity that came from the engine of a car. Before being tried, Rhonda’s husband died; Of course, forcing the lucky woman to fake multiple sclerosis. They secretly filmed Rhonda, found she didn’t need crutches, and went from being a millionaire to being sentenced to two years in prison.

William Post

More than eleven million euros in 1988. That is money… Although sometimes it is better to keep the secret, like a grave and William Bud knows it better than anyone. His ex-girlfriend sued him and tried to scratch some of his fortune, his brother was arrested because he hired a hitman to kill him and the rest of his family forced him to go into business that failed (in the meantime he had time to buy houses, cars and an airplane, although it was not licensed). It is the saddest story of all, without a doubt. In the end he ended up in jail, with 685,000 euros of debt, declaring bankruptcy and surviving on 300 euros a month. He died in January 2006, at just 66 years old.

Janite Lee

Despite the more than 12 million euros she earned in 1993, this Missouri-based South Korean immigrant ended up filing for bankruptcy in 2001. Before, she had time to donate part of her earnings to charities and interview Al Gore and Bill Clinton.

Jake Whittacker

Well, take a breath. We are in 2002 and Jake Whittacker wins 215,500.00 euros in the lottery. He experienced the “Big Brother syndrome”; that is to say, he started out as quite nice, a friend of his friends, and ended up being a buzz of life. He donated money to charitable foundations soon after winning the prize, but then they arrested him for drunk driving, he spent almost 70,000 euros in a strip club, They stole about 375,000 euros that he had in the car and then they lashed another 137,000.