Playing the Lotto is a really bad decision… in so many ways.

The average lottery player spends $700.00 a year.

A better choice would be to keep this money under a mattress. Because after 50 years, we would have a guaranteed $35,000.00 in cash saved.

But even if we win, the odds of happiness are against us.

Most lottery winners become unhappy and broke.

Because most people are not used to winning huge amounts. And they spend it foolishly.

Dave Ramsey claims the divorce rate among lottery winners is four-fold the national average.

Also, 65% of lottery winners are bankrupt within 15 years.

Even if we handle the big payday well, being a loser is almost always better than winning “the big one”:

(Note: I owe Pattyanne Kent a big thanks for helping me track down all these lottery winning stories.)

The number of riches to rags stories are many – here are just a few:

Callie Rogers

Britan’s youngest-ever lottery winner wasted away the money on drugs, booze and cosmetic surgery.

She became so depressed, she even (allegedly) attempted suicide three times.

Rogers was introduced to cocaine by a boyfriend and spent over $400,000 on the drug in six years before getting clean.

She also got breast implants, fancy cars and more.

“I’ve learned that money can’t buy you ­happiness.”

Now that Rogers is broke, she’s back home living with her parents and works as a maid.

Despite what the news media says, winning the lottery is a REALLY bad choice.

It is a surefire way to a life of misery.

Jonathan (Jay) Vargas

When your life goes from rags to riches on the quick, it is impossible to make good decisions.

And 19-year old Jonathan Vargas proves it…

Vargas took home a $35.3 million Powerball jackpot in 2008.

Vargas used his new-found wealth to start a pro wrestling business.

He called it “Wrestlicious” – featuring all female wrestlers clad in bikinis:

Wrestlicious lasted just one year on TV, but is no longer in business. And according to reports, Jonathan Vargas is broke.

Evelyn Adams

Yes, it’s true – Evelyn Adams got lucky twice… winning the Lotto in 1985 and 1986.

But predictably, her story didn’t have a happy ending…

“Winning the lottery isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be… I won the American dream, but I lost it, too. It was a very hard fall. It’s called ‘rock bottom.’ Everyone wanted my money. Everyone had their hand out.”

The money is gone. Evelyn lived her remaining days in this trailer:

Suzanne Mullins

Imagine winning $4.2 million dollars… only to need an emergency loan just five years later.

A loan company filed suit against her and won a judgment for a $154,000.00 settlement.

But they have not collected anything, because Mullins reportedly has no assets.

She blamed the debt on the lengthy illness of her uninsured son-in-law, who needed $1 million for medical bills.

Ken Proxmire
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Tool-grinding machinist Ken Proxmire used his winning to enter the Great American Dream.

He moved from Michigan to California to open a chain of sporting goods stores.

But several years later, his business folded, and he declared bankruptcy.

Willie Hurt

 

In 1989, Willie Hurt of Lansing, Michigan won $3.1 million.

Just two years later, his luck changed for the worse.

Hie blew through his entire fortune on crack cocaine and a costly divorce settlement.

Charles Riddle

Overnight millionaire Charles Riddle hit it big in 1975.

But shortly after his lottery win, Riddle divorced and soon became a drug dealer.

Plus, he endured many high-profile lawsuits.

Eight years later, Riddle’s life came off the rails. He ended up in a US District Court on drug abuse charges.

Ten years later, Riddle was sentenced to three years in a federal prison after he pled guilty to dealing cocaine.

Abraham Lee Shakespeare

Winning the $30 million Florida Lotto turned into an ironic curse for a man named Shakespeare.

He went missing just three years after taking a lump-sum payment of $17 million.

Less than a year later, his body was found buried under a concrete slab in this backyard. He got shot with a .38 Smith and Wesson by acquaintance Dorice Donegan Moore.

According to allegations, Moore became Shakespeare’s financial advisor…

She eventually controlled every asset he had left. This included an expensive home, the debt owed to him and a $1.5 million annuity.

Winning the big one is a surefire way to a financial ruin… even a brutal death.

Janite Lee

This 52-year-old South Korean immigrant gave away much of his winning to charity.

His $18 million winnings lasted just eight years.

Lee filed for bankruptcy with only $700 left in the bank.

Winning such a large amount created a slew of new friends…

Lee donated hundreds of thousands to political campaigns. Lee paid her way to table-side seating with Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Margaret Thatcher.

William “Bud” Post

You would think winning the lottery for $16.2 million would be a dream come true.

But like almost every other case, it soon turned into hell on earth.

William “Bud” Post had just $2.46 in his bank account. He just finished serving 28 days in prison.

To afford lottery ticket, Post sold a ring for $40 and purchased 40 lotto tickets.

Two weeks after winning, Post went on a spending spree… spending more than $300,000 on buying a restaurant, a used-car lot and an airplane.

William “Bud” Post died 18 years after his big win. He admitted he was both careless and foolish, trying to please his family.

He eventually declared bankruptcy and died over a million dollars in debt.

He allegedly remarked that “I was much happier when I was broke.”

“Lucky” Lou Eisenberg

At the time, “Lucky” Lou hit the biggest lottery payout of all time – $5 million.

Hitting big does make one famous. Eisenberg sat on Johnny Carson’s couch, snapped photos with Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis Jr., Regis Philbin and Oprah Winfrey.

But Lucky Lou lost his lucky ways and wound up broke gambling and doling out much of the rest of the dough to his now three ex-wives.

After losing it all, he survives on $250 a week from Social Security and pension checks.

Curtis Sharp

Wealth and fame came instantly for Curtis Sharp.

Sharp’s 15 minutes of fame included hanging out with Andy Warhol and bringing Yankee games to a standstill when players and fans noticed him in the stands.

But Sharp blew most of his cash on booze, babes and bad investments. He invested in electric-powered cars that never needed recharging.

Curtis took the same road most rags-to-riches lottery winners take. He bought a Cadillac, a “small mansion” and a “lavish wedding.”

“I was living it up, traveling everywhere, buying watches, rings, clothes,” Sharp said.

Bad business deals landed him in worse trouble. Sharp learned that a tax shelter he invested in was bogus when the IRS seized his lottery checks.

Sharp is now a Baptist minister living off his pension and Social Security checks in a small house in Antioch, Tennessee.

Michael Carroll

National Lottery winner (and former garbage man) soon became Briton’s most-hated man.

He plowed through his £9.7 winnings at record speed.

He bought gaudy mansion, endless supplies of crack and the hiring of thousands of prostitutes.

Angry at his life of excess, his wife left him and took their baby daughter with her.

Carroll has a many sobering quotes attributed to him:

“The party has ended, and it’s back to reality. I haven’t got two pennies to rub together and that’s the way I like it.”

“The dealer who introduced me to crack has more of my lotto money than I do.”

“I’m just glad it’s over. There were also vultures everywhere after my cash. I started to see what people were really like.”

Jay Sommers

He was just 20 years old when he split a $28.9 million lottery jackpot with five people in 1988.

Armed with his first annual payment of $290,000, Jay Sommers bought not one but five new cars.

“I blew all of the check in 2½ months,” says Sommers. “What 20-year-old wins that kind of money and is sensible with it?”

The news got worse when his friends persuaded him to swap his annual checks for a discounted lump-sum payout.

One day, Sommers went to the bank and discovered all his money was gone. It evaporated when a friend’s bad investments and shady deals went sour..

Now single and living near Detroit, Sommers is a construction worker and is a race-car driver trying to make it big in NASCAR.

“I’m still bitter and I’ll be bitter the rest of my life,” he says. “I think I’d be further along today if I had never won.”

Ibi Roncaioli

The wife of a successful Toronto gynecologist won a $5 million lottery jackpot in 1991.

She (allegedly) paid $2 million in hush money to the father of her illegitimate child (and blew even more at casinos and on booze).

Her husband had no idea that her spending was so out of control, and when he found out, she bankrupted the family.

He (allegedly) murdered her with an injection of painkillers.

Lara and Roger Griffith

Roger Griffiths quit his job and lived a luxury lifestyle just after his big 2005 jackpot win.

The winnings bought him a beautiful home, a Porsche, Land Rover – even a private school education for their children

But all this money turned their life around for the worse:

A freak fire gutted their house.

His once-happy, 14-year marriage ended after having an affair.

There were ill-advised investments and business ventures that turned sour.

Then, one week after he moved out of the family home, Roger dropped a bombshell – every penny of their fortune was gone.

Alex and Rhoda Toth

Toth hit the big Lotto prize – winning $13 million.
Opting to take $666,666 each year for 20 years, Toth promised his new-found wealth would not change his life much.

But the sudden glut of cash was too much to handle…

The Toths took a three-month trip to Las Vegas.

They stayed in a $1,000-a-night top floor room at the Mirage.

They gambled and took in shows and soaked up the fancy life.

And their spending binges never ended… forcing the couple into bankruptcy.

Alex died penniless at age 60. And Rhoda lives in a dilapidated mobile home… collecting a widow’s pension and disability that amounts to just $1,084 a month.

A big thanks to Oren Weintraub for helping me compile this massive list.

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18 lottery winners – the surprising truth about the Lotto