Contrary to popular belief, even if someone wins the lottery, it does not necessarily mean that this money will guarantee them a comfortable life for the rest of their lives. In many cases, winners receive multi-million dollar winnings and simply do not know how to handle such a fortune due to a lack of financial education or other factors. As a result, they often make rather dumb decisions and fall victim to their addictions, selfish relatives, etc. In this article, we will shed light on five stories of such dim-witted lottery winners.
Denise Rossi
While many winners like to share their money with loved ones and delight them with incredible gifts, Denise Rossi treated her $1.3 million jackpot win slightly differently. Instead of telling her husband about her fantastic luck, she kept quiet about it and filed for divorce in order to keep all the money for herself. The man was definitely confused by such behavior and revealed the truth after a while. Eventually, he sued his wife and got all the winnings. Denise, on the other hand, lost everything and learned a memorable karmic lesson.
Americo Lopes
This man, who worked as a builder, also became the author of a cautionary tale. When Americo pooled his money with five of his other coworkers to buy a few tickets, he discovered that one of them was winning. Lopes cashed in the ticket, received $38.5 million, and quit his job so that none of his colleagues would find out about his betrayal. Americo’s plan failed and one of the employees discovered the truth. After the lawsuit, a judge ordered Lopes to share the massive jackpot among all those who invested their money in tickets.
Michael Carroll
Michael turned out to be such a dumb lottery winner that his story became the basis for a documentary. When he won £10 million, he was only 19 years old. The guy claimed that he was not interested in luxurious life and was not going to make extravagant purchases. However, in reality, Carroll did just that. Michael bought expensive cars and real estate and started taking hard drugs at endless parties. This approach to money management led him to bankruptcy, and he had to get a job at a candy factory eventually.
Andrew Jackson ‘Jack’ Whittaker, Jr.
Jack Whittaker can definitely compete with any other lottery winner in terms of stupidity. When he won a mind-blowing $314.9 million, he decided to take the prize in cash. This option meant that Whittaker would receive only $113 million, but he was more than fine with such an offer. The man promised that he would make many donations and kept his promise. But at the same time, he turned out to be an incredibly naive person and did not pay enough attention to the safekeeping of his money. This behavior led him to a complete downfall, and after a series of accidents with his loved ones and several robberies, he lost all the money he won.
Evelyn Adams
Most people dream of winning the lottery jackpot at least once in their lives. But Evelyn Adams managed to do it twice and accumulated $5.4 million in two years. The only catch was that Evelyn was addicted to gambling and lost the lion’s share of her winnings in one of the popular Atlantic City establishments. It is worth noting that Adams also shared her jackpot with loved ones. However, that does not change the fact that she spat her amazing luck in the face.
