10 Lottery Winners Who Were Better Off Without Their Prizes

8/17/2019 10 Lottery Winners Who Were Better Off Without Their Prizes

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10 Lottery Winners Who Were Better OffWithout Their Prizes

Published on 6/17/2010 under Strange People - by Gracie Murano - 238,745 views

Do you ever dream about winning the lottery ? Be careful. Meet ten lottery winners whose dreams

became a nightmare.

Callie Rogers - The teenager girl who spent all her money on clothes,

parties and silicone

Callie Rogers was once the world's luckiest teenager. At the tender age of 16, Ms. Rogers won

£1.9million lottery. That was, at the time, about $3 million. Now it's all gone. The ecstatic girl

spent her winnings on vacations, homes, shopping, friends, and even a couple of breast

improvements. Six years and two attempts of suicide later, Rogers is a 22-year-old single mother

of two. She now works as a maid to sustain herself and her family. She is paying off debt induced

by her spending. (Link 1 | Link 2)

http://www.oddee.com/strange-people/http://www.oddee.com/strange-people/http://www.oddee.com/strange-people/http://gawker.com/5344020/let-broke-teenage-lotto-winner-be-a-lessonhttp://gawker.com/5344020/let-broke-teenage-lotto-winner-be-a-lessonhttp://gawker.com/5344020/let-broke-teenage-lotto-winner-be-a-lessonhttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1208498/Teenage-lottery-millionaire-Callie-Rogers-won-1-9m-broke-22.html?ITO=1490http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1208498/Teenage-lottery-millionaire-Callie-Rogers-won-1-9m-broke-22.html?ITO=1490http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1208498/Teenage-lottery-millionaire-Callie-Rogers-won-1-9m-broke-22.html?ITO=1490http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1208498/Teenage-lottery-millionaire-Callie-Rogers-won-1-9m-broke-22.html?ITO=1490http://gawker.com/5344020/let-broke-teenage-lotto-winner-be-a-lessonhttp://www.oddee.com/strange-people/


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"Jack" Whittaker Jr - The once biggest lottery winner who lost $114

million in four years

On December 25, 2002, West Virginia building contractor Andrew Jackson "Jack" Whittaker Jr.

won $315 million in the Powerball multi-state lottery, at that time the largest jackpot in history

won by a single person. At the time, he was the president of a successful contracting firm called

Diversified Enterprises Construction. 55-year-old Whittaker was living a successfully comfortable

American life complete with a net worth of over one million dollars, a well rounded family, great

job and healthy grandkids. After winning the prize, he famously pledged 10% of his winnings to

various Christian charities and created the Jack Whittaker Foundation with another $14 million.

Whittaker did some good, but his bad deeds make his story. He was arrested twice, once for

drunk driving and once for threatening a bar manager. A woman sued him after he groped her at

a dog racetrack. Thieves took $545,000 in cash from Whittaker's car while he was visiting a strip

club. About a year later, thieves again stole $200,000 from his car. Caesars Atlantic City sued

him for bouncing $1.5 million in checks. His wife divorced him. Then, there were the dead

bodies. In 2003, Whittaker's granddaughter's boyfriend was found dead of an overdose inside

Whittaker's home. His 17-year-old granddaughter, whom he had been giving a $2,100 weekly

allowance, fatally overdosed months later, at a different location. His daughter—mother of the

dead granddaughter—died this year of as-yet-undetermined causes. When reached for comment,

Whittaker, now with no family and no fortune, said "I wish I'd torn that ticket up."


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Ken Proxmire – The machinist who won $1 million, went into car

business and bankrupt in 4 years

Ken Proxmire was a machinist when he won $1 million in the Michigan lottery. He moved to

California and went into the car business with his brothers. Within five years, he had filed for

bankruptcy. "He was just a poor boy who got lucky and wanted to take care of everybody,"

explains Ken's son Rick. "It was a hell of a good ride for three or four years, but now he lives more

simply. There's no more talk of owning a helicopter or riding in limos. We're just everyday folks.

Dad's now back to work as a machinist," says his son.

Evelyn Adams – The woman won the lottery twice and now lives in

a trailer

Everyone knows the odds of winning the lottery once are astronomical. But Evelyn Adams beat

those odds -- twice. The New Jersey resident hit the jackpot in 1985 and 1986 to the sum of $5.4

million. But Adams was a heavy gambler. And with Atlantic City being located in New Jersey, it

wasn't long before Adams had lost all her money. Twenty years later, Adams is broke and living

in a trailer.


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Jeffrey Dampier – The man who won 20 million in the lottery and was

murdered by his greedy in-laws

Think your in-laws are a pain in the ass? Consider the case of Jeffrey Dampier who won $20

million in the Illinois Lottery in 1986. Upon receiving his prize, the generous winner immediately

began showering friends and family with expensive gifts, including cars, houses and trips to

exotic places. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough for Dampier's sister-in-law, Victoria Jackson.

On the night of July 26, 2005, Jackson and her boyfriend, Nathaniel Jackson (not related),

kidnapped the millionaire and shot him once in the back of the head, killing him instantly --

jealousy was deemed the motive. Both were charged with Dampier's murder and sentenced to life

in prison. (Link )

Suzanne Mullins – The woman who won $4.2 million and yet needed a

loan to pay her bills

Mullins won the lottery back in 1993 and opted for yearly payouts instead of a lump sum. She

planned on splitting the 20 annual payments of $47,800 with her husband and daughter.

However, within five years, she found herself in debt and used her future payouts as collateral for

a $200,000 loan. Mullins later switched to a lump sum payout but never paid back her debts.

The loan company filed suit and won judgment for a $154k settlement but they haven't 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.

http://news.about-knowledge.com/jeffrey-dampier/http://news.about-knowledge.com/jeffrey-dampier/http://news.about-knowledge.com/jeffrey-dampier/http://news.about-knowledge.com/jeffrey-dampier/


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Billy Bob Harrell Jr. - The preacher who won $31 million, lent it all,

lost his money and wife and later committed suicide

A Pentecostal preacher working as a stockboy at Home Depot hit the $31 million jackpot back in

1997. At first, life was good with Billy Bob buying a ranch, six other homes, and some new cars.

Like many others who win the lottery, he was unable to simply say "NO!" when people asked him

for a handout. Later in life he divorced his wife and eventually committed suicide, the stress was

apparently too much to handle for this lottery winner. (Link )

Michael Carroll –The garbage man who won the lottery, lost it all with

party and prostitutes and now is applying for his old job

Want to know how to fritter away a multi-million lottery fortune? Ask Michael Carroll: The

unemployed 26-year-old Brit has blown a £9.7 million jackpot he won in 2002 (approximately

$15 million at the time) and is currently hoping to get his old job back as a garbageman. At first,

Carroll lavished gifts on friends and family, but soon started spending on less admirable causes:

Cocaine, parties, cars, and, at one point, up to four prostitutes a day. Only a year after his winning, he was smoking £2,000 of crack cocaine every day and hosting drug and drink fuelled

parties at his £325,000 home, the notorious Grange in Downham, Norfolk. After his wife left

him, Carroll turned to prostitutes. He boasted about sleeping with four a day - a total of 2,000 at

a cost of £100,000 over eight years - in order to sate his sexual appetite. He also lost £1million on

the dogs and horses and even injected £1million into his favourite football team, Rangers. He was

down to his last £500,000 cash in 2008 and last year sold his £400,000 fleet of luxury cars and

spent the proceeds.

Now he is collecting a £42 a week in jobseeker's allowance. According to him it's easier to live off

£42 dole than a million."

http://lotterywinnerbios.blogspot.com/2009/01/billie-bob-harrell-jr-wins-texas.htmlhttp://lotterywinnerbios.blogspot.com/2009/01/billie-bob-harrell-jr-wins-texas.htmlhttp://lotterywinnerbios.blogspot.com/2009/01/billie-bob-harrell-jr-wins-texas.htmlhttp://lotterywinnerbios.blogspot.com/2009/01/billie-bob-harrell-jr-wins-texas.html


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Vivian Nicholson – The famous lottery winner who said she would

‘spend, spend, spend' and so she did

Vivian Nicholson famously claimed she would “spend, spend, spend” after winning £152,300

(worth about £3 million in today's money) when playing the Castleford football pools in 1961.

And Viv Nicholson was as good as her word, blowing her massive jackpot in less than five years.

Since then she has been widowed, married five times, suffered from a stroke and has been treated

for alcoholism, deported from Malta, became a Jehovah's Witnesses, tried to commit suicide and

spent time in a mental institution. She spent her winnings on Harrods dresses, luxury cars and

holidays and was the subject of the West End production of her life, aptly called “Spend, Spend,Spend”, with Barbara Dickenson playing her role. She is now living on a week pension of £87.

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10 Lottery Winners Who Were Better Off Without Their Prizes