Anyone who hears about someone winning a lottery and becoming a millionaire probably feels envious. However, not everyone asks the question: what happened to the winner afterwards? After all, stories are not uncommon, when unexpectedly acquired wealth brings the owner not happiness, but quite the opposite. And today we can learn about five such stories.
Losing all his fortune
Pennsylvania resident William Bud Post entered the local lottery and won over $16 million. Even now that’s a large sum, and the case took place in 1988. Just three years later, however, William found himself broke and mired in debt. According to the “lucky guy” himself, if he had a second chance, he wished it hadn’t happened to him. The big money immediately showed who William was surrounded by. The girl persuaded him to split the money and then parted with him, while his own brother decided to hire an assassin to get his inheritance later.
Post himself tried to invest in various family businesses, but they all ended up going bust and instead of profits he got debts. It ended with Bud pulling a shotgun on the debt collector and being imprisoned. After that, William was able to return to a normal life. Now he is living paycheck to paycheck and doesn’t want to remember the times when he didn’t know where to put the 16 million.
Couldn’t get $5 million
An unpleasant story happened to a married couple from the UK. Martin and Kay Tott won $5 million in the lottery in 1994, but managed to lose the ticket. Interestingly, they were still able to collect their winnings. All they had to do was report it in time and they would have been given the money back. But this had to be done within 30 days of the winner being declared, and the couple failed or did not take that opportunity. Then the failed winners said the whole thing was a serious test for their marriage. The couple first found out that they could become the owners of a huge fortune, and when they couldn’t get it, they experienced the most contradictory emotions.
They had to forget about the luxurious life and go back to work
In fact, even very big winnings are easy to spend quickly. That’s exactly what lottery winner Sharon Tirabassi did in 2004 when she won $10 million. She bought herself a big house, luxury cars and designer clothes. As a result, 10 years later (at a million a year) things are back to normal. And Sharon is back behind the wheel of the bus and has moved back into rented accommodation. The only joy was that she had time to think about the children and left some amount in trusts. The children will all be able to get it when they turn 26.
Killed by her own husband
Ontario resident Ibi Ronchaoli won $2 million in 1991. But she made the mistake of not telling her husband that she decided to give all the money to her child by another man. In doing so, her current spouse was not even aware of the existence of this child. But when he found out about everything, he couldn’t accept it and poisoned his wife with pills.
All is lost.
Evelina Adams was able to set a record for spending winnings. In 1985 and 1986, she received $5.4 million. But that didn’t seem enough for her. The woman went to Atlantic City to multiply her winnings at the casino, but she ended up coming out empty-handed.