Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner: The 10 Weirdest Stories of Lottery Winners

The lottery is played by millions all over the world because, in the right hands, money can buy happiness.

Some winners played religiously every week for years while others just decide to give it a go once. Either way, the stories of lottery winners stretch from the unbelievable to the downright insane.
Read on see just how lucky (or unlucky) some people can be.

The 10 Weirdest Stories of Lottery Winners

Death, assassinations, drugs, and depression, some winners of the lottery go through a lot both before and after they win.

While each story is unique, you may find there’s an important lesson to learn from their mistakes. If you’re feeling lucky, see this page to get your ticket and continue the article with your fingers crossed.

1. Defying Death to This Day

The road to winning the lottery is sometimes full of excitement and suspense. In the case of Frane Selak however, it was a matter of life and death.

Dubbed the world’s luckiest and unluckiest man, Frane has survived multiple attempts on his life by none other than the universe itself.

He was on a train that crashed into a river and was thrown out of a malfunctioning plane door. He was on a bus that also crashed into a river and two of his cars set on fire. The first one exploded and the second shot flames out of the air vents.

He was also hit by a bus and even run off a mountain while traveling in his car.

But since none of these things killed him, the universe gave up and handed him a $1.11 million lottery ticket instead. Remarkably, he’s still alive and has decided to live a more frugal lifestyle.

2. Versace All Around

When she was just sixteen Callie Rogers won ?1.8 million on the national lottery.

It’s safe to say no sixteen year old should be given that kind of money without some help which sadly, Callie didn’t get. Instead, she dropped ?18,000 on boob jobs over ?300,000 on clothes and worst of all gave over ?500,000 away in “gifts”.

As an adult, Callie realizes she was targeted and exploited by hundreds of people for her money. She also says she’s happier to not have the pressure of all that wealth anymore.

3. Almost Washed Out

There are some lottery winners who have success stories. In 2011 an Earthquake hit New Zealand and damaged many homes.

Sad and still dealing with the consequences of this, one man purchased a lottery ticket hoping for some luck.

He then threw the ticket in the washing machine along with his clothes without realizing it.

As he pulled the clothes out, he found the ticket soaked but still intact. He ran to the local store to try and see if the ticket could be scanned but the water had damaged it too far.

Fortunately, the numbers were still just legible enough that he could check them at the register. To his surprise, he’d won a whopping $250,000.

A life lesson about washing clothes: always check your pockets first.

4. So Trashy

A North Carolina man frequently bought lottery tickets but nothing ever came of it.

One day while out in town, he heard the news that his local store had issued a call of a winning ticket worth $650,000.

As any sane person would he sprinted home to find the ticket he had purchased but couldn’t find it anywhere. His house probably looked like a self-induced police raid with every pocket and drawer turned inside out.

Eventually, with the help of his fiancee, the ticket was found in the trash, apparently, he’s already given up on it.

Sure enough, though, it was the winning ticket.

5. Immigrant Crisis

Jose Cua-Toc was living quietly in Georgia as an undocumented immigrant when he found out he’d won the lottery.

$750,000 to be exact.

Understandably, Jose was extremely concerned about cashing in the ticket and exposing his undocumented status. In a gesture of goodwill, he and his boss came to an agreement.

His boss would cash the ticket on his behalf and give him the money. It’s likely Jose also promised to pay him as a thank you.

However, his boss decided to thank himself and kept the money claiming Jose bought him the ticket.

It took two years but eventually, a court decided in favor of Jose after security footage showed him making the purchase.

6. Let’s Smash

In 2002, Michael Carroll won over ?15 million in the national lottery and knew exactly what he wanted to do with it.

The first step is something many people would also have done which is purchase a lot of cars. The next thing he did was completely stupid, he started a demolition derby where cars smashed into each other until just one was left working.

Sure the car’s weren’t expensive but Carroll was the one supplying all the cars for every derby he held. That cost really started to add up and saved nothing for the future.

That plus the partying, women, drugs, and jail time.

7. You Can’t Buy Everything

You can do a lot with $31 million and Billie Harrell of Texas wanted to do his state proud by going big.

The excitement and pressure he placed on himself to live large got out of control, however. After the normal house, car, charity purchases, Billie started throwing money around like crazy and found himself broke in just two years.

He was fine before he won the money and could have been fine after it was all gone. Sadly, however, the stress and guilt he felt from the loss depressed him deeply and he ended up taking his own life.

8. Give It a Shot

When Will Post won $16.2 million he was ecstatic and he and his wife couldn’t have been happier.

His brother, however, was extremely jealous and, having apparently only read the first part of the Bible, decided murdering his brother was the right thing to do.

Not one to get his own hands dirty, he actually hired a hitman to take out Will and his wife.

The assassination failed and Will’s brother was sent to jail. In a seemingly unavoidable situation, Will himself couldn’t handle the wealth responsibly and eventually filed for bankruptcy.

9. Karma Works in Mysterious Ways

Many marriage counselors would advise against having an affair with your sister-in-law. But Jeffrey Dampier had won $20 million so felt like he could do anything he wanted.

He gave gifts to his family, started a popcorn company and of course, continued his affair.

This all backfired however when in 2005, the sister-in-law (Victoria) decided that she wanted more. With her boyfriend helping, she tied up Jeffrey and robbed his home before finally killing him with a shot to the head.

10. It’s Always a Gamble

Gambling sort of makes sense if you don’t have a lot of money because there’s always a chance you’ll win big. For the rich, however, it just seems like something to do to pass the time. Who cares if they lose big, they’re rich anyway.

That wasn’t the case for Evelyn Adams however. After two lottery wins, she found herself with $5.4 million to play with.

A few spending sprees and some many unnecessary trips to the casino later, Evelyn now finds herself living out of a trailer, broke.

Winners Are Weird.

People do weird things to make money, but winning the lottery does not have to spell disaster.

The central lesson of these stories of lottery winners seems to be the same throughout: play to win and be responsible if you do.

Dropping tons of cash on items won’t bring you happiness and many people will try to exploit you. Ultimately, the best thing to do is continue to live life as if you never won and just enjoy the security you have for life.
For more strange stories check out our other articles.

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