Why is winning the lottery dangerous? “It would be better if we didn’t win anything.” What happens to the winners of Russian lotteries - Davydov.Index Why is it difficult to win the lottery

Everything in life is luck.
Donald Trump

Of course, the secrets to winning the lottery are known: persistence, patience, a positive attitude towards the process and, of course, luck. But is it possible to influence your luck? About 20 years ago, Professor Richard Wiseman decided to find the elusive factor of luck by studying beliefs and experiences different people. The results show absolutely new look on the principles of luck and fortune.

Luck factor

Since 1994, Richard Wiseman, a professor of social understanding of psychology at the University of Hertfordshire in England, has interviewed volunteers, conducted questionnaires and tests. The result of these studies was a book by a team of authors led by Richard - “The Luck Factor”. The work became a global bestseller, even despite the expected conclusion: our luck is in our hands.

Richard Wiseman demonstrated that success and failure depend on people's measurable habits. The professor identified four simple behavioral methods for attracting good luck.

Method No. 1

Make the most of every chance

Through research, Richard Wiseman discovered that life is full of random opportunities. In addition, they have a high ability to create such opportunities for personal self-realization. This is due to some extent to the lack of fear of life changes and new ideas. They usually say about such people: “He was in the right place at the right time.”

In the book, the professor describes an incident told by one of the study participants. Wendy, 40, housewife: considers herself lucky in many aspects of her life. But Wendy is especially lucky in competitions and prize draws. On average, a woman wins about three prizes a week. Many of them are insignificant, but some, for example, holidays abroad, are very useful. You might think Wendy has magical powers. But the answer lies on the surface: she participates in a large number of different competitions and competitions and simply loves to win.

This method is also applicable in lotteries.

Tips from Stoloto

To win the lottery, you need to play - this is a simple truth. But to improve your chances, you can purchase several lottery tickets at once. After all, the chances of winning increase in proportion to the number of tickets or bets made.
- Another useful feature for lottery luck in the Stoloto online supermarket is multi-draw - it allows you to bet on several draws in advance. What if one or several at once turn out to be victorious? This is how one of the largest Russian super prizes was won state lotteries. Valery T. from Omsk placed a multi-draw bet in Gosloto “6 out of 45”. The lucky one filled in three playing fields of 6 numbers each for 9 draws ahead. As a result, one of them, 735, brought Valery 184.5 million rubles!


Method No. 2

Listen to your intuition


Photo: medicaldaily.com

Richard Wiseman conducted a survey among successful and unlucky people (the division into two categories was based on the personal beliefs of the respondents). There was only one question: “Do you use your intuition in different areas life - in your career, in relationships, in business? Almost 90% of lucky people said they trust their intuition when it comes to personal relationships, and almost 80% said their sixth sense came into play important role in choosing a career. The unlucky ones had 20% lower rates.

“When I asked people who considered themselves lucky, what was fundamental in making this or that decision? Successful people most often simply knew which decision would be right. This is the ability to listen to your own intuition,” Richard Wiseman summarizes in the book.

Advice from Stoloto
- It happens: an inner voice tells you that today you need to try your luck. Such an intuitive, sometimes, wins. Natalya Kireeva won the Russian lotto 1 million rubles and explained her luck this way: “Everything happened spontaneously. A long time ago I saw a program on TV about lottery winners. And for some reason I remembered her when I walked past the lottery kiosk. She came up to him, then left again, as if something was pulling her. I took this attraction as a sign and bought a ticket. Then on Sunday I woke up two minutes before the start of the Russian Lotto program. Also a sign! Right up until the drawing itself, I was sure that I would win, even if it was a small amount. But, of course, I didn’t expect a million rubles!”


Method No. 3

Focus on luck


Photo: slideshare.net

Successful people live in a constant sense of positive expectations, betting on a positive outcome. Losers tend to have negative expectations and almost always think that everything in their life is going wrong. On a subconscious level, they are not even ready to face luck.

Different levels of expectations give us dramatic differences between successful and unlucky people. The first believe: “I always try to get what I want in life, even if the chances of success are very small.” Second: “My luck is zero.” Why is there such a gap between these people? Richard Wiseman explains this by saying that our expectations play a key role in life, so one group of people can easily achieve their dreams and aspirations, while another group rarely succeeds.

This concept is confirmed by an example from the book. Many study participants admitted that they had never even tried to play the lottery or take part in a competition because they were always convinced that their failure would prevent them from winning.

Advice from Stoloto
- everyone has a lottery. It is a mistake to underestimate your chances of winning. If you have a goal to win, then this is already half the success. And don't forget about useful tricks that can improve your chances of winning: use expanded bets and participate in distribution draws.

Method No. 4

Turn failures into success

Lucky people believe that negative events can be useful, and do not worry about troubles for long. In this way, they soften the emotional impact of bad luck.

Here's what Marvin, one of the study participants, says about this: “I just know that in the end everything will be okay. I know that I will win the lottery. Yes, I may not win the £10 million jackpot, but I'm sure there will be more to come. This is my advantage over people who don’t believe in their luck.”

Advice from Stoloto
- Be confident in your success. If you give up, nothing will happen. Natalya R., winner of the 86th draw Housing Lottery, won a million rubles thanks to her husband’s confidence: “All week my husband kept repeating like a habit: “I want five hundred thousand, I want five hundred thousand.” And closer to the point, as they say, he became even bolder: “I want a million!” When checking the results of the draw, the very first ticket turned out to be a winner. And not just a winning one, but a million-dollar one! So don't be afraid to dream."

Everything in life is luck. You just need to be able to turn circumstances to your advantage and not ignore luck.

Many people dream of winning the lottery, and each fortune hunter has his own approach to this matter. Some try their luck almost every day, others play several times a month. Who gets the lucky tickets, behind which huge sums are hidden? And what happens to these lucky ones then? Read about the six largest lottery winnings in Russia and their owners in the review...

6th place. In 2001, an unemployed family from Ufa hit a big jackpot. Nadezhda and Rustem Mukhametzyanov won the Bingo Show lottery 29 million rubles. The bet was made spontaneously. It would seem that a large sum should have changed the lives of the spouses in better side, however, fate decreed otherwise. Or rather, the winners themselves made a dubious choice.

Having received the money, the couple began to lead a reclusive life, and alcohol became their main entertainment. The couple spent part of the winnings on real estate - they bought two apartments in the city center. The rest of the money was managed, according to neighbors, “according to their mood”: they gave loans, paid off loans for friends and acquaintances... Five years later, the fortune was completely spent. In an interview with the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda“Nadezhda Mukhametzyanova admitted that winning the lottery did not bring her happiness.

“It would be better if we didn’t win anything,” the woman said. In 2006, Nadezhda died. For the last few months before the tragedy, the couple lived in complete poverty.

5th place. Owner 35 million rubles in the spring of 2009, a 51-year-old mechanic from Moscow, Evgeniy Sidorov, became a 51-year-old mechanic. A lucky bet on Gosloto cost him 560 rubles. The man did not spend the money he won on apartments in the capital, travel and entertainment. Instead, the newly made millionaire took his family and left for small homeland- to the Lipetsk region. In his native village, Evgeniy built new home, repaired the road and started a small farm. Today the man is engaged in carp breeding.

4th place. In August 2013, a 42-year-old living in Voronezh won in Stoloto 47,368,520 rubles. The bet cost the man 120 rubles. According to the lucky man, he distributed most of the amount to relatives and best friends and decided to help the dreams of loved ones come true. The winner spent the remaining money on apartment renovations and household expenses. For some reason, the man did not want to change his life radically. However, according to him, he does not lose hope of hitting the big jackpot again.

3rd place. In 2009, 36-year-old resident of the Leningrad region Albert Begrakyan won the lottery 100 million rubles - guessed 6 numbers out of 45 in the game of the same name from Gosloto.

Before purchasing the lucky ticket, the man was engaged in a small business - he owned several retail kiosks - and lived with his family in a rented apartment.

After receiving the money, the lucky man's life changed dramatically. Albert fulfilled his old dream - he acquired his own housing (he bought several apartments in the center of St. Petersburg) and expensive car Lexus brand. The man also purchased a plot of land in Krasnodar region for the construction of a hotel. Albert lent a considerable sum - almost 12 million rubles - to acquaintances and friends.

Despite the impressive size of the amount won, according to the winner himself, not a penny was left of it after two years. Moreover, today a man owes the state 4.5 million rubles. And all because he did not pay the full tax on the amount he won - 13 million. Because of this incident, the bailiffs seized part of Albert's property. He is also prohibited from traveling abroad.

According to the former lucky man, if he had the chance again winning ticket for 100 million rubles, he would have used the money differently, would not have spent it in this way, but would have taken his family and gone to live in the USA.

2nd place. In February 2014, a 48-year-old builder from Omsk named Valery won 184,513,512 rubles in Gosloto. The Siberian spent on lottery tickets, among which the lucky one was 800 rubles.

For several days, the lottery organizers could not find the lucky winner; the man simply did not get in touch. As it turned out later, he was so stunned by the news of the win that he locked himself at home and did not communicate with anyone for three days. Later, in a short interview with the Gosloto press service, Valery asked not to tell anyone his last name and other details. It is only known that the man lived all his life in Siberia and has three children. The lucky winner, in his own words, is going to spend the winnings on moving and buying a new home - somewhere by the sea.


1st place. By far the largest lottery winnings in Russia is 202,441,116 rubles. The owner of this condition was a 45-year-old man from Nizhny Novgorod Michael. He became a millionaire in the fall of 2014. The lucky bet cost the man 700 rubles.

He applied for his winnings a couple of months later, and after receiving the money, he went “underground.” Journalists only managed to find out that he has a wife and two children. Mikhail, who never declassified his last name and profession, did not tell, in his own words, even to his relatives about his winnings. According to the man, he will keep everything secret for some time.

World's biggest lottery win

Despite the fact that the amounts won by Russians in the lottery are growing year after year, we are still far from matching the lucky ones from other countries. Judge for yourself - today the world's largest prize won in the lottery (Powerball game) is $365 million. The owner of this fortune became a resident in 2006 American state Nebraska.

Everyone has played the lottery at least once. But very few win. Most people think that winning the lottery is something unrealistic. Their opinion is very biased, since in most cases the experience was sad.

Why are some lucky and others not?

There are people who bet on the same sets of numbers and don't win for several years! Meanwhile, there are exceptions - lucky ones who win the jackpot¹ almost immediately. Although there are very few of them on earth.

However, despite the statistics, there are ways to significantly increase your chances of winning the lottery.

They will be discussed in this article. First you need to understand and accept the fact that luck in the game lies somewhere between good strategy, intuition, patience, persistence and a positive attitude.

There are a lot of components, but with the right approach, you will learn how to stop worrying about your lottery winnings, because you will act for sure. A powerful course will help you tune in to the energy of money and abundance and attract wealth into your life.

"Valuable" strategies for winning the lottery

Before buying lottery tickets, remember this rule:

Never buy more lottery tickets than the minimum winnings in a given lottery!

So, if the minimum amount that can be won in a drawing is 100 rubles, then you can spend no more than 100 rubles in one game. Buying more tickets will not increase your chance of winning the lottery.

In fact, overspending on a game has the exact opposite effect. Stress, anxiety and worries only waste your energy and put a strong barrier to your intuition.

As the sages say: “only in calm water can you see the reflection of the starry sky.”

If your feelings and emotions are calm, then you will be able to see the clues of your intuition. Do the right thing from the start by managing your financial investments wisely. This way you increase your chance of luck, because good mood and peace of mind is the foundation of your success.

There are two methods used by lottery players. What are their features?

Method one. elemental luck

You take randomly selected numbers each time and constantly change them, trying new numbers and hoping only for spontaneous luck. One of the benefits of random numbers is that they are different every game, but your success is entirely dependent on the randomness of fate.

Using this method, you are powerless to do anything. This is a very controversial method of winning the lottery, based on random selection.

Method two. Persistent consistency

You pick up a static (unchangeable) set of numbers that can be chosen from dates, ages, addresses, etc. In any case, you always rely completely on the luck of these numbers alone, fixating on them.

But this is the psychological trap of static numbers. Some people are attracted strange superstition related to numbers. Some have favorite numbers, some have significant numbers, marked in some way in fate. That's why people try to take only them. They believe that these numbers should win, and not any others.

Often such players bet on the same numbers year after year. They fall into the trap of their mind and fear, thinking that as soon as they stop betting these numbers, they will immediately win.

There are, of course, exceptions - people who received numbers in a dream, or they have strong intuition. , in fact, is a very important part of the strategy for playing the lottery. She is like a beacon that illuminates the numbers and guides your ship to victory.

How to play the lottery correctly?

You can choose one of the three methods below. All of them are based on a certain choice of numbers and drawing up a game plan. Based on these methods, you can develop your own strategy that will work for you.

Studying the pattern of numbers, you understand that randomness in its pure form does not actually exist. It's about about balance and equilibrium in the Universe. To be successful in the lottery, you need to observe how certain numbers behave. Then you need to draw conclusions and find the right numbers for your winnings.

Of course, there are exceptions to any strategy, however, by observing the statistics, you will be able to see patterns and use them to make money. To begin with, the winnings may be small, but by honing your skills, you will be able to win more often and more.

The essence of the strategies is based on studying the history of the game. This means that if an event happens at least once, it will definitely happen again, and you will be able to predict and calculate when it will happen.

What do these strategies guarantee?

  • Make the game more enjoyable and predictable.
  • Help you understand how numbers behave over time.
  • Inspire you to develop and improve your own strategy for selecting numbers.

Yes, at the initial stage it will require patience from you. You will also need a game history for at least the last few dozen draws. No matter what kind of lottery it is, you can even play lotteries online. You will be able to download the history of winning numbers directly from the lottery website. You need game history to develop your personal successful strategy.

Strategy #1. Combinations of the most frequently winning numbers

Selecting frequently winning numbers will give you the opportunity to win from time to time. It can even lead you to the jackpot. To do this, you write down the winning numbers; if some appear several times, put this number opposite.

The list with the most frequently winning numbers needs to be updated from time to time, since after some period of time the numbers tend to be replaced by other numbers.

Looking at such a list, you can clearly see the frequency of “good” numbers and use them in your game. Do not forget to note the sample history.

In addition to this method, use your intuition - " Green" Looking at the entire list of numbers, ask that the winning number in this lottery turn green. You will intuitively be able to see this color on some numbers - write them down separately. This will increase your chances of winning the lottery.

Strategy No. 2. Eliminate numbers that are out of play

This strategy won't take much time either. It is easy to calculate - you will need to carry out statistics on the participation of numbers in the game. To do this you need:

1. Write down all the numbers that participated in the lottery for a certain time.

2. Next to each number, put a number indicating how many times this number was out of the game, and how many times it was in the game.

3. Enter the average value into the table. For example, if the number “2” came up 3 times in games, and did not appear 1 time, then in the end you need to enter the number 2 into the table. If it’s a draw, it’s zero.

5. After each drawing, the data table must be updated in order to have up-to-date information on the participation of numbers in the game.

This way you can track which numbers play, how many times they appear, and which ones win. After this analysis, try to create your own numerical winning series. Use the Green Color technique described above.

Strategy No. 3. Select the numbers between the drop down ones

You probably noticed that, for example, in one game the numbers came up 8 and 10, and in the next the number 9. Whenever you notice nearby numbers involved in an intermediate game, you observe their pattern.

This way you can predict what number will come up in the next game if, for example, you see 8 and 10 in this game. Based on these three strategies, you can create your own method and be sure to get your lottery winnings!

Notes and feature articles for deeper understanding of the material

¹ Jackpot - prize fund in some slots, lotteries and other gambling games (Wikipedia). How to win

In the UK married couple I was almost left without a gigantic amount of money won in the lottery. Tradition of buying lottery ticket every weekend became such a habit that the family even periodically forgot to check the winning numbers. A responsible salesperson helped them.

In the UK, a married couple celebrates winning the jackpot in national lottery. They got more than 20 million pounds (one billion six hundred forty-three million nine hundred eighteen thousand rubles and zero kopecks). However, if not for a happy accident and someone else’s responsibility, they could have been left without winning, writes Metro.

Donna, 48, and David Stickley, 58, from Berkshire, forgot to check the ticket they bought on May 12. As Donna said, buying lottery tickets became a long-standing habit - they went for them every Friday before going to the pub.

As a result, when it turned out that the ticket was winning, the couple did not know about it. But during her next shopping trip, Donna was approached by a salesperson who asked her to call the national lottery company (Camelot) because the store could not give out prizes larger than £500.

David said that his wife called him at work, but could only breathe excitedly into the phone, so at first he even thought that something had happened.

She said the store told her to contact Camelot because we had won some money. She said: "I checked on the internet and I think we may have won £2 million, but maybe I'm wrong."

David told his wife to check everything thoroughly again, as he was sure that “things like this don’t happen to people like them.” After checking everything again, Donna sent her husband a screenshot, which clearly indicated that the couple had won, but not two million, but 21 million pounds.

“I didn’t know what to do, it was the middle of my work shift,” says David, “I told my wife to hide the ticket in a safe place for now and go shopping to take my mind off the thought of winning. And when I return from work, we will decide what to do next.

David and Donna said that they would use their winnings to help their parents, as they promised to take care of them. They want to celebrate their good fortune by “doing something they will never forget.”

If you think a British couple is fabulously lucky, you haven't heard the story of Canada's Dayne Bishop. There was a black streak in her life, there was no money or health, but then she... It turns out that this happens.

David and Donna were lucky with a responsible seller, but another British player got an inattentive seller, which led to problems. He told the guy that he won a large sum, and when the “lucky one” told everyone about it and planned the purchases, .

Many people dream of winning the lottery, but only a lucky few succeed. What’s interesting is that having hit the million-dollar jackpot, these people often go crazy and start spending money left and right, ending up broke. Here are 15 stories of lottery winners who were too dumb to become millionaires.

15. Lisa Arcand

If ordinary person If you ask him what he would do with winning a million dollars, he would most likely answer that he would buy an expensive house and a cool car, and perhaps also travel the world. This is exactly what this woman did when she won a million dollars in the lottery in 2004. She bought a whole bunch of new furniture and a huge house so that she would have somewhere to put this furniture; enrolled her son in an expensive private school; I spent some of the money on expensive resorts. The only problem is that after taxes, a million dollars remains an amount on which it is impossible to live for the rest of your life, especially if you spent most of the money without leaving the cash register. Realizing this, the woman spent the rest of her funds on a restaurant in order to generate income. But the restaurant went bankrupt - and by 2007, Lisa Arcand became bankrupt. When asked what it was like to become a lottery winner, she says that her experience was very bad.

14. Denise Rossi

It is believed that marriage is a sacred union between people who have sworn love and fidelity to each other, and although the divorce rate is high, strong married couples exist and live together happily ever after. But sometimes seemingly happy couples suddenly divorce: this happened to Denise Rossi when she asked for a divorce from her husband after 25 years of marriage in 1996, just after discovering that she had won $1.3 million in the lottery. She filled out a petition for divorce and insisted that all formalities be settled as quickly as possible so that she would not have to share the winnings with her ex-husband. However, he found out about the winning ticket and sued the woman. The case was considered for several years - and in 1999 the court concluded that Rossi had grossly violated the law on income declaration, as a result of which all her winnings were awarded to her ex-husband.

13. Marva Wilson

Since childhood, we have lived with the belief that our friends will support us in any situation and will go through fire and water for us - and most often this happens, but sometimes people whom we considered friends meanly betray us. Marva Wilson also had to experience this bitter truth. In 2012, she won $2 million in the lottery, took the money and deposited it in a bank account. And then she gave unlimited access to this account to her “friend” Freya Pearson - who somehow managed to convince her to do this. Using someone else's bank account, Pearson did not deny herself anything - she paid for housing, went on vacation, bought cars and gambled. In total, she spent more than $640 thousand. As a result, Marva Wilson went broke just two years after her winnings (she herself, apparently, also spent a lot).

12. Willie Hurt

They say that money makes a person's life better, but sometimes the opposite is true - as in the case of Willie Hurt. In 1989, he won $3.1 million in the lottery, but instead of living happily with his wife and children on this money, he managed to ruin everything and lose his millions in just two years. After receiving the winnings, Hurt divorced, losing custody of his children; Moreover, he was arrested for attempted murder. The man spent most of his money on lawsuits related to his divorce and arrest, and the rest on drugs (it’s amazing how he survived, because he had a lot of money for drugs and, accordingly, drugs).

11. Callie Rogers

The average teenager wants to hang out and have fun, and it would be strange to expect them to be responsible with money. This was proven by 16-year-old Callie Rogers, who won £1,875,000 ($2.9 million) in 2003. There’s not even anything to tell: the girl spent part of the money on plastic surgery, and spent the rest on parties and drugs. Now she is married, she has children, but not a trace remains of her former millions. Callie sadly admits that she was too young to manage money wisely, and even says that 16-year-olds shouldn't be allowed to participate in lottery drawings.

10. Suzanne Mullins

Most often, lottery winners decide to take all their winnings at once, but some choose a different route and ask to be given the money in parts so as not to spend it all at once. This method may be smarter, but even it does not save everyone - and the case of Suzanne Mullins serves as an excellent example. In 1993, this woman won $4.2 million and decided that she would receive annual payments of $50,000 for 20 years. And she received them regularly, but she still didn’t have enough money. So Mullins applied for a loan from a company that lends money to lottery winners. In 2000, Virginia law changed to allow Mullins to keep the rest of her winnings in full; but what she forgot to do before she started spending this money was to close the debts of the company that had been lending her money for 7 years. As a result, she was taken to court and forced to pay everything (while still owing $150,000).

This couple from the UK really made a name for themselves! When they saw the winning lottery numbers on TV, they realized they had just hit the $5 million jackpot. But despite the fact that these people actually won millions, they managed to lose them without seeing a penny. As it turned out, for some reason they did not apply for their winnings immediately, and when they finally decided to do so, they could not find their lucky lottery ticket. And then they went to the lottery company to explain the situation. They were able to confirm that the winning ticket was indeed purchased by them. But it turned out that they did not meet the 30-day deadline that is given to report the loss of tickets, and therefore they will not be able to receive the winnings.

8. Evelyn Adams

Anyone who plays the lottery knows that the chances of winning are slim: you are more likely to be struck by lightning than to win a million. But just as sometimes lightning strikes the same person twice, there have been cases in lottery history where the same person has become a winner several times. Evelyn Adams was lucky enough to win the lottery twice, with a difference of only a year - in 2005 and in 2006 - and the total winnings were about 5.4 million dollars. But already in 2007, Evelyn lost all her money. She made several unsuccessful investments, spent too much money on gifts for relatives, but the main problem was that she was too fond of gambling (which only benefited the casino owners in Atlantic City).

7. Louis Eisenberg

Louis Eisenberg is another man who won the lottery and lost everything despite agreeing to receive his winnings in installments. One of the reasons for this was that he practically handed them out left and right. Eisenberg won $5 million in 1981 and decided that he would receive $120,000 every year for 20 years. Of course, he spent money on himself - he bought a house in Florida, went on vacation to Hawaii and Europe, and was not averse to visiting the casino. But besides this, he also gave money to everyone who, in his opinion, desperately needed it. It is for this reason that nothing was left of his millions and, as a result, he had to live on social benefits. Nobody says that you shouldn’t help people in need, but that’s not a reason to give everything you have.

6. Gerald Muswagon

This native of Canada won $10 million in 1998, but managed to screw it all up. He bought cars and expensive gifts for friends and family, but spent most of his money on an expensive house designed specifically to host extravagant parties. The dude loved to have fun. These parties very quickly drained his bank account, to the point where he had to look for work with minimum payment just to feed his family (by the way, he had six children). The loss of all this money led the man to severe depression and in 2005 he took his own life.

5. Sharon Tirabassi

Another resident of Canada is Sharon Tirabassi, who won $10.5 million in the lottery in 2004, but in 2008 she no longer had it. After winning, Tirabassi lived in a big way: she bought herself insanely expensive things - a house for half a million, cars for 200 thousand, and so on. She also sponsored friends and relatives for trips to the Caribbean, Las Vegas, or wherever else they wanted to go on vacation. It is not surprising that with such regular spending, very soon she was left with zilch of money. But at least she was proactive about her children's future by opening a secure closed-end trust fund for each of them.

Englishman Michael Carroll was so lucky that he won $14.4 million in the lottery, having just been released from prison and while on probation. probationary period. Before luck struck him in 2002, the 19-year-old worked as a garbage man. 19 years old is still a teenager, and we remember that teenagers do not know how to handle money responsibly. Carroll managed to spend his winnings with great speed and on a large scale: he bought a house, organized endless drinking parties in it, bought expensive jewelry and, of course, drugs... and a lot of money was spent on “dancers.” In general, he managed to spend everything in less than 10 years, and then went to work at the factory.

3. Janite Lee

As we have already said, charity is not bad, you just need to know when to stop. But Janite Lee, who won her $18 million in 1993, had no limits on anything. Neither in addiction gambling(she spent at least 300 thousand a year on this hobby), nor in her generosity. Surprising but true: most her winnings went to charity. Over the course of eight years, Lee gave away millions of dollars to various charities, which was, of course, very generous and generous of her. But, besides this, she also sponsored political campaigns - and this was an even more stupid waste of money than losing in a casino. In 2001, she was declared bankrupt.

2. Billy Bob Harrell - Jr.

Billy was a Texas preacher and in 1997, his prayers apparently were answered when he won an incredible $31 million jackpot. Harrell bought a ranch, and then six more houses for good measure, and several new cars, and, of course, made a significant donation to his church. But the bulk of the money went to his “friends” who urgently needed money - and Harrell had such a characteristic that he could never refuse someone in need. As a result, by 1999, his money ran out and his wife left him. Instead, depression came - and the man committed suicide.

1. David Lee Edwards

David Lee Edwards rightfully takes first place on this list - he surpassed everyone in the speed and scale of his spending. Edwards, a former criminal, was one of four lucky people to win a $280 million jackpot in 2001. After paying taxes, he received 27 million, and after just a year he managed to spend almost half of his winnings. This year, a man bought a house for 600 thousand, a whole fleet of cars sports cars. for another four years he thoughtlessly threw money away. It’s sad, but he also spent it on drugs. As a result, everything he bought over five years had to be sold off to buy drugs and pay off his debts. By the time he died - and this happened in 2006 - he no longer had any money left.