They WON the Lottery!

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.

Lottery Winners

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.

Lottery Winners

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.

Lottery Losers

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.

Lottery Winners

Numbers from fortune cookie pay off big

Danny Williams went out to eat with his girlfriend Christina at a Chinese restaurant in Greece, and of course at the end of the meal he was given a fortune cookie. The key word there is “fortune”.

That was four years ago, and he has been playing those numbers ever since. He has won a few times, just small amounts. But last week, the UK National Lottery was kind to him and he won a share of the big jackpot. He was one of 10 people who each won about US$470,000.