Lottery Winners Who Lost Everything
It’s almost a cliché in this day and age that when someone wins the lottery they’ll be broke and destitute before they even get their first check. Lottery winner horror stories are all too common these days. Not all of the stories are the same, but they begin the same way, with someone having the best day of their, and not realizing that they never should have played the lottery. If you’re a Powerball player or a scratch-off nut, be mindful of the stories on this list of lottery winners who lost everything.
Lottery winners horror stories may seem like they always end with someone working at McDonalds, or fishing change out of the city dump, but that doesn’t mean that the same thing’s going to happen to you if you win the lottery. If you pay close enough attention to this list, there’s a good chance that your lottery-winning experience will play out in a much happier way. Just don’t buy a new car immediately, that seems to be where most of these people go wrong. Check out this list of the biggest lottery losers and start fantasizing about your lucky numbers.
Man's Friend Steals His Winning Lottery Ticket
In December of 2015, Santiago Gasca bought a scratch off lottery ticket and won $40,000. Unfortunately Gasca was an undocumented worker who couldn't cash the ticket. When he offered his wife's co-worker $1,000 to cash the check, she happily did as he asked, but kept the full amount.Lottery Winner's Son Steals $51 Million
In 2012, 76-year-old Etta May Urquhart claimed that her son stole her winning lottery ticket worth $51 million. The theft occurred when Etta took her ticket tot he gas station where she bought it, and had her son endorse the winning ticket. After she took her son to court, he alleged that since he gave her the money to purchase the ticket that the money was his, but she said that she bought the money with her own savings.
After receiving some of the winnings, Urquhart's son bought four homes, 10 cars, a watercraft, and a motor home.16 Year Old Wins Lottery And Goes On A Spending Spree
When she was 16, Calli Rogers won £1,875,000 (equal to about $2,846,812). She said that she initially planned on helping out her family, but that didn't happen. Instead, she underwent two breast implant surgeries, bought about $380,000 of coke, and attempted to take her own life four times.
California Man Loses Lottery Ticket And $1 Million
A man in Rosemead, CA became the punching bag of the Internet when he bought a Powerball ticket that was worth $1 million, but for some reason never came forward to claim his cash. According to NBC Los Angeles, the employees at the supermarket where the ticket was purchased that the man knew he won, but may have lost his ticket.
Lottery Winner Has To Split Winnings With A Waiter
In 2014, a waiter pestered his boss about buying lottery tickets after he had a dream that the manager, Hayati Kucukkoylu, was showing off a briefcase full of cash. Kucukkoylu went out and bought some lottery tickets and lo and behold - he won $1.7 million. Even though the manager bought the ticket and guessed the numbers, the waiter felt that he was entitled to half of the money since he was the guy who convinced his boss to buy a ticket in the first place. A judge ruled in favor of the waiter, saying he was "a strong believer in the power of dreams, he interpreted his own dream to mean that he and Mr. Kucukkoylu would win the lottery," and that they were equally deserving of the winnings.
See what bad things happened to this international lottery winner.Ryan Magee's £6.4 Million Blunder
Ryan Magee made quite possibly the biggest mistake that a lottery winner can make. When he won £6.4 million in the EuroMillions lottery he immediately went out and bought a £170,000 Ferrari. But his luck didn't last, he's since had to put his home up for sale, broken up with his wife, and his business went belly up. In February of 2015 he was pulled over while driving a Ford Focus.