Weird Things People Who Have Won the Lottery Have Bought

The biggest lottery drawing occurred in January of 2016 when someone won $1.59 billion.

That’s a lot of cash to be responsible for all at once. Of course, you have the choice of receiving the winnings in payments over the course of 30 years or in a smaller lump sum all at once.

What does someone do with $1.59 billion? Well, one pair of the winners said they were planning on getting massages, upgrading their truck, and retiring.

Sounds pretty low-key. Not all people who have won the lottery are the same! Here are some of the weirdest and most bizarre things that lottery winners have bought.

Weird Creations Funded by Lottery Winnings

Instead of purchasing a boat or a brand new house, some people who win the lottery choose to create something with their winnings.

This was the case for Jonathan Vargas, who won $35.3 million in 2008. At the time, he was only 19 years old, which meant that his desire to spend his winnings was pretty much what you’d expect out of a teenage millionaire.

Vargas took his millions and created a women’s wrestling TV show titled Wrestlicious.

The TV show only lasted one season and features scantily-clad women performing sketch comedy while also trying to wrestle at the same time.

John Kutey, a resident of New York, won $28.7 million in 2011 and decided to use his lottery winnings to create something. 

While not as outrageous as creating a female wrestling show, Kutey and his wife decided to use a portion of their millions to create a water park.

Spray Park is a family-friendly water park in Long Island, New York. The Kutey’s said they funded a portion of the park in the names of their parents.

Lottery Winners Who Got Political

Some Powerball winners’ stories are inspirational and some are political. Some are both!

That is the case with Janite Lee, who decided to use some of her $18 million winnings to support the Democratic Party in 1993.

Lee was a wigmaker from South Korea who wanted to support the Democratic Party but ended up supporting them a bit too much.

She spent so much of her winnings without financial advice that she declared bankruptcy in 2001. She’s not the only one. People who win the lottery are pretty famous for going bankrupt and losing all of their winnings.

Lee, however, did end up getting a reading room at the University of Washington named after her!

Bob Erb, on the other hand, went political with his winnings in a different way. The Canadian construction worker was $25 million in 2012. 

The winning ticket? He bought it on the way to his father’s funeral. 

Erb became so inspired after winning that he donated $1 million to the 420 Day, which is an annual event in Canada that supports legalizing marijuana.

Winners Who Purchased New Body Parts

What do lottery winners do when they’re in their golden years? A new set of knees or other body parts for their loved ones!

The former was the case for Tony and Great Dodd, who were in their late 60s when they won over $3 million CAD. Greta was always a big fan of line dancing, and she used a portion of her winnings to pay for knee replacement surgery.

Her husband Tony? He also got a brand new set of knees! You get Greta needed a partner to line dance with.

The couple reportedly enjoyed a much more active lifestyle after getting all four of their collective knees replaced.

Sarah Cockings, however, purchased very different body parts. Cockings was still a student when she won over $4.2 million.

Being young and naive, she chose to spend all the money on buying things for her family.

One of the biggest purchases? New breasts for her sisters. This was on top of paying for a new house for her parents, new cars, and a handful of vacations.

One of these winners reportedly didn’t know they had won the lottery. If you think that’s you, then you can find out here whether or not your numbers were lucky.

Investing in Intergalactic Real Estate

We saved the best for last, because who isn’t interested in a lottery winner who spent their money to purchase real estate in space?

David Copeland won $1.7 million CAD and used the money on pretty standard lottery winner purchases. Champagne, a new car, and some cruises were how he spent the initial portion of his winnings.

Then, he decided he wanted to invest in real estate. However, he didn’t want to invest in any land close to home.

Copeland purchased an acre of property on the moon. Then, he decided that wasn’t enough and purchased land on Venus and Mars.

Hey, this beats spending over $30 million dollars to get your college band back together in order to release an album.

Yes, that actually happened. One couple won the lottery and the husband decided to use the winnings to pay for recording time and a record deal. 

The wife? She decided to try and open her own small beauty salon. Needless to say, the record didn’t do well on the charts, the beauty salon tanked, and the couple ended up divorcing years later.

They didn’t make the cause of the divorce clear, but perhaps they would have been better off investing the money in separate houses on the Moon.

Weirder Things Than People Who Have Won the Lottery

People who have won the lottery often feel like they’re invincible. 

They make the huge mistake of thinking that their millions are going to last them a lifetime and they blow it all on material things that lose their value over time.

However weird their purchases, though, they do get to live out some of their wildest dreams. From wrestling shows to water parks and even new knees, it’s hard to judge the purchases of those who win millions.

Looking for even weirder things than a new set of breasts and buying land on Venus? Browse our Popular Weirdness section for recent news and general weirdness.

Weirdomatic is the place where all weird things come to life through the amazing world of photographs – a corner of our wild imagination or the whimsical face of the reality?