Unlucky Lottery

What must it be like to win a fortune ..... and then lose it?

"Spend, Spend, Spend" ....
A Clarion Call That's Echoed Down The Decades

I know of someone at work, who allegedly lost such a fortune over twenty years ago. I don't know the circumstances of the loss, but bad investments seems to have been a factor in this rags to riches to rags scenario.

When I heard this story, I was incredulous that anyone who had won such a life changing amount, would even gamble in the slightest with such good fortune. But I guess that unless you walk in their shoes, it is impossible to understand the circumstances surrounding their losing such a sum, and having to go back to work again.

However this local tale of woe made me think. Are there any other publicised rags to riches to rags again stories? I am not talking about those idiots who were born to wealth and then bankrupted their inheritance, or those who get wealth thrust upon them through a false celebrity (and who invariably lose it again) ... There are web pages full of these kinds of losers. No, I am talking about 'lucky winners', those whose luck then seems to reverse again.

Now before the older readers from the UK shout out .....Yes there was Viv 'spend, spend, spend' Nicholson. She won £152,319 on the football pools way back in 1961. This is the equivalent of £3,222,176.52 adjusted for inflation in 2017. In the early 1960s, the average wage was £672pa, and the average house price was £2,530 - £2,700, a car was £805, with a litre of four-star petrol costing a very reasonable 5p. A carton of milk could be purchased for 4p while a pint of bitter from the a London pub would set you back a mere 8p. So £152,319 was a very considerable sum .... of course Viv and her husband Keith managed to blow the lot and the creditors swirled around them, and after Keith died in a car accident, she was awarded £34,000 from the estate in 1968. Although still a considerable sum with which to start again, she lost that as well, and never regained any financial safety again.

But there are indeed others - of course there are plenty in the US - but sticking to the UK:

Welsh-born Luke Pittard won a £1.3 million ($1.9m) jackpot in 2006, but spent almost all of it on a trip to the Canary Islands, a wedding, and a house. A year and a half later, Pittard was forced to return to his former job at McDonald's. "They all think I'm a bit mad, but I tell them there's more to life than money," he told the press in 2008. "I loved working at McDonald's before I became a millionaire and I'm really enjoying being back there again."

Michael Carroll Lived The Whole Cycle Of A Large Win
 ... Rags, to Riches, To Rags.

Michael Carroll was a garbage collection man in England in 2002, when at age 19, he won £9.7 million (about $14.4 million at the time). A great big mansion, plenty of drugs, hundreds of hookers, multiple cars and motor bikes, a couple of prison spells, and £100k in bling gold jewellery later, and by 2010 he was broke and living off unemployment cheques. Now he is apparently clear of drugs, he works in a factory (or slaughterhouse, accounts vary), making £400 (about $511) per week .... which is pretty much where he started. He says that he has no regrets and would do the same again.

John Roberts, a former Scottish security guard, won a whopping £3.1 million ($4m) in 1998. He was persuaded by his friends to make some terrible business investments. These included buying a pub (where it later turned out that his name was never even on the deeds and he didn't own it). Roberts ended up £20,000 in debt and living in a caravan.

In 2005 Lara and Robert Griffith won £1.8 million ($2.1 million today) on the Lotto. True to the dream, they bought a home for £670,000 ($790,000), along with a Lexus 4×4 and a Porsche convertible. Robert paid for his band to have a record made, and Lara splurged on designer handbags, and luxurious trips to Dubai, Monaco, and New York City. They set up a beauty salon business ... which was lucky  ..... Because just six years later, their fortune ended in 2010, when a freak fire gutted their house (which was reported as being under-insured), forcing them to shell out for repairs and seven months of temporary accommodations. Roger then disappeared with the Porsche, and Lara discovered suspicious emails on his computer from another woman, and the marriage ended. It turned out that all the money was gone, and Lara had to seek employment at the salon they set up.

In 2003, at age 16, Callie Rogers was the UK's youngest big lottery winner when she won £1.9 million ($2.2 million). Her winnings were blown on all the things that you might expect from a 16 year old girl. Cosmetic surgery (breast enhancements), drugs (cocaine) and partying. She later said that she attempted suicide three times, because she was unhappy. Luckily she met a nice man, got married and is a mother of three children, but she had only £2,000 ($2,359) left in the bank .... however reportedly stated that she is finally happy. She said of the experience, “I was too young to win the lottery — I don’t think 16-year-olds should be eligible.” .... luckily she did spend more than £200,000 pounds on a bungalow for her mother, before the money was gone.

John McGuinness was a Scottish hospital porter earning just £150 a week and living with his parents, when he scooped £10 million ($13.5m) on the National Lottery in 1997 .... He then started spending. He gave £3 million to his family, and £750,000 to his ex-wife, and also splashed out on cars, holidays and a £200,000 wedding to his second wife. But perhaps most dangerously he invested £4 million in Livingston Football Club, his local club ..... but that's a rich mans game. The club was later forced into administration and, as McGuinness had used his wealth to guarantee the club’s loans, he was liable for its all its debts. He tried to claim that he was misled about his football club investment risks and his potential liabilities, but despite a bitter legal battle, he lost, and was forced to sell his property to cover his costs. By 2009 McGuinness was a virtual recluse, reportedly with barely enough money for food.

Just three years after his £5.1 million ($6.5m) win in 2005, retired Royal Artillery gunner Pete Kyle, who had been living on an Army pension, after suffering from a bad knee, had reportedly lost his luxury five-bedroom mansion and was living and working at hotel in Plymouth ... he had vowed that his winnings would change his families life. He took his relatives on lavish holidays, bought cars and boats, and bought a luxury five-bedroom mansion boasting a steam room, a bar and a pool. He was living the dream .... but after lashing out on top-of-the-range cars, house extensions and building works, luxury holidays, and cash handouts to his kids, he went bust. He had squandered an eye-watering £4,600 a day, and by April 2008, he had lost his mansion in Plymouth, and was reportedly living and working at the £15-a-night Rooms Hotel on the city's Union Street. There is some dispute as to whether he has any of the cash left, but reports said that his home had been repossessed.

But maybe even worse than having won a large amount and recklessly blown it, is the idea that you had won a fortune, only to have it snatched away before you could ever spend it ..... so near, but yet so far.

This was the unhappy fate of Martyn Tott and his wife Kay, who missed out on a £3.5 ($5m) million lottery fortune, after losing their ticket. A seven-week investigation by Camelot Group, the the company that runs the UK's national lottery, convinced officials their claim to the winning ticket was legitimate.

But since there is a 30-day time limit on reporting lost tickets, the company was not required to pay up, and the jackpot became the largest unclaimed amount since the lottery began in 1994. "Thinking you're going to have all that money is really liberating. Having it taken away has the opposite effect," Kay told The press. "It drains the life from you, and puts a terrible strain on your marriage. It was the cruellest torture imaginable."