Have you ever dreamt of winning the lottery? Of course you have. Who hasn't?
Imagine this: You hit that Powerball jackpot and win big! You have all the money you could ever imagine, so you buy a mansion, 10 cars, and probably a pet monkey. But have you ever thought of what would happen if it all came crashing down? Read on to learn about these lottery winners whose luck took a turn for the worse.
1. Sharon Tirabassi
Sharon Tirabassi won $10 million in the Ontario, Canada lottery in 2004 and blew through all of her earnings within less than a decade, spending it on "[a] big house, fancy cars, designer clothes, lavish parties, exotic trips, handouts to family, [and] loans to friends." She had her wake-up call in 2009 when she was already at $750,000 (which she saved for her children as trust). Tirabassi is now back in the real world, taking the bus to her part-time job and living paycheck to paycheck.
2. Vivian "Viv" Nicholson
"I'm going to spend, spend, spend!" was the mantra of Viv Nicholson from England. When her husband, Keith, won £152,000 (£3.5 million today) at the football pools in 1961, and that's exactly what she did. She even had a musical made based on her newly found wealthy lifestyle. Her winnings quickly depleted and she was back to being broke. Before she died in 2015 at the age of 79, Nicholson lamented that "Sharing cigarettes, just holding one another and loving one another. That was when I had everything."
3. Craigory Burch, Jr.
Now, this one is just really, really sad. 20-year-old forklift operator Craigory Burch Jr. won the Georgia Lottery of $434,272 and spent a portion of the money on Christmas presents for those in need. Sadly, he was murdered in a robbery by a whopping seven people. The silver lining was that they were all found guilty of his murder and three out of the seven were sentenced to life in prison. Was it really worth it, guys?
4. Lou Eisenberg
It took Brooklyn native Lou Eisenberg 20 years to spend off all of his $5 million that he won in the New York Lottery. Among his purchases were a condo, expensive dinners, and trips to Hawaii and Europe. As of 2009, he is living in a trailer park in Lake Worth, FL., but doesn't regret his lavish lifestyle of the past.
5. Marva Wilson
Marva Wilson won 2 million dollars in the Missouri Lottery in 2010 and, in 2012, allowed her "friend" Freya Pearson to have unrestricted access to her winnings for a "nonprofit" she "established". Wilson learned the hard way that you really can't trust just anyone with your money after she lost more than $400,000 thanks to Pearson spending it on traveling, gambling, cars, and an apartment. Wilson believes Pearson deserved more than only five years behind bars for fraud and money laundering, among other charges.
6. Jack Whittaker
In 2002, Jack Whittaker was already a millionaire when he won $315 million in the West Virginia Lottery! But soon after, his car was robbed twice for some of the money he apparently carried in a suitcase. And in 2004, his granddaughter and her boyfriend both died of drug overdoses. To make things even sadder, Whittaker was back to square one by 2007 and his daughter passed away in 2009. Needless to say, he and his wife both wish he had torn up his winning ticket.
7. William "Bud" Post III
"I was a lot happier when I was broke," said William "Bud" Post III, who won $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania Lottery in 1993 but quickly suffered misfortune after misfortune. His brother hired a hitman to have him and his sixth wife killed, his landlady forced him to fork over one-third of his earnings, and he was slapped with an assault charge after firing a gun at a debt collector. Post was freed of his monetary misery when he passed away in 2006 from respiratory failure at the age of 66.
8. Jeffrey Dampier
In the same vein as Craigory Burch, Jr., Jeffrey Dampier had great intentions with his Illinois Lottery winnings of 20 million dollars in 1996. Aside from buying presents for his family, he moved them to Florida where he established a gourmet popcorn shop. Unfortunately, this celebration came to a halt when his sister-in-law and her boyfriend kidnapped him and shot him in the head. They are each currently serving a life sentence in prison, begging the question once more: Was it really worth it?
9. Evelyn Adams
Evelyn Adams won the New Jersey Lottery not once, but TWICE in 1985 and 1986 (seriously, how do you do that?!). And what did she do? She threw away all her $5.4 million on spending, bad investments, and gambling, of course! In a rather shocking turn of events, she currently lives in a trailer park.
