Secret to winning? Quit the office lottery pool
If you ask Mark Weir how he won the lottery, he’ll tell you it’s because he stopped playing – at least in his office lottery pool.
Weir bought shares in his office lottery pool for years and only won very small amounts occasionally. He works as a machine operator in a plastics factory. This time, he went out and bought his own ticket. He immediately won US$5.3 million in a Lotto jackpot.
He has a few plans. He is going on a shopping spree with his wife, Julie. He is also going to buy some new fishing gear, and a brand new car. His wife wants to take a vacation to New York City.
He also has a message for his co-workers: “You won’t get a penny”. With that attitude, since he plans to continue working, he may find that a few friendships aren’t what they used to be.
From $16 million to food stamps
This is the classic story of how a lottery jackpot can ruin someone’s life, if they don’t know how to handle it.
William Post won $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania lottery. This is what happened since then:
- his brother hired a hit man to kill Post, with the hopes of inheriting some of the money (the brother was arrested)
- a former girlfriend sued him and got a portion of the winnings
- another brother finally persuaded Post to invest some money into a couple of businesses in Florida, both of which failed
- Post got so angry at a bill collector that he fired his handgun over the bill collector’s head (no one injured, but Post did serve time in jail for that one)
Post eventually had to declare bankruptcy, and now lives on $450 per month from Social Security, and his food stamps. He recently had an operation on his heart.
Post says, “I’m tired, I’m over 65 years old…lotteries don’t mean **** to me.”
NY couple spends $42/week on lotto for 32 years…and WINS TWICE
Eugene and Adeline Angelo know a little bit about defying the odds.
They won the New York Lottery’s 6-number Lotto game TWICE in 11 years. The odds of winning it just ONCE are a staggering 22 million to 1. To win it twice is beyond-all-belief unlikely.
The first time they won was in 1996, when they received the lump payout of $2.5 million (that was a $10 million jackpot that they shared with 3 other people). This time, they had the jackpot all to themselves, but it is still a similar amount as before – $2.5 million in a lump sum.
The money will go for home renovation, and college funds for the grandchildren. But there is something else they will spend their money on. Mrs. Angelo says, “We’ll keep buying lottery tickets, just for the fun of it.”
Winning the lottery twice in 11 years? Yes, I guess that DOES sound like fun.
Unknown British person wins UK’s biggest jackpot
A lucky winner has anonymously claimed the biggest lottery jackpot in the country’s history – the equivalent of US$71 million.
That’s a lot of dollars (or, in this case, pounds).
To win, the player had to match 5 main numbers exactly, plus 2 other “lucky star” numbers. No details about the owner of the ticket could be revealed unless the winner agreed to publicity.
The previous record for a single jackpot payout was a measly US$16.8 million in April 2004, won by Marion Richardson of Gateshead.
First a big lottery winner, now a big loser
Suzanne Mullins does not have fond memories of her lottery experience.
Mullins won $4.2 million in the Virginia lottery a few years ago. She did not plan well.
In the initial arrangement, she was to get yearly checks from the Virginia lottery until her total payout was reached. Based on that arrangement, she borrowed $197,746 and planned on paying back that loan with the yearly checks. So far so good.
But then the Virginia lottery rules changed, and Mullins was allowed to collect the rest of her winnings in a single lump sum. She collected that lump sum, but then decided she could not afford to pay back the loan. She still owed the Singer Asset Finance Company $154,147 so they sued her for it. They have yet to collect the first dollar from her.
Mullins says that the primary reason for her downfall was a relative who was seriously ill and had no insurance – he needed $1 million for medical bills. Of course, that still leaves a few million dollars unaccounted for.
Mark Kidd, the attorney representing the finance company who sued Mullins, says, “My understanding is that she has no assets.”