10 Smartest Lottery Winners
Source: Listopedia – YouTube
Number 10: Jason Fry [00:08]
Jason Fry claimed a $13 million lottery jackpot in late 2007. Then he did what many lottery winners do. He started spending it lavishly. He became the owner of a brand new Cadillac Escalades. Weeks later, he along with his friends, joined a Limousine drive to Orlando. Fry also spent some money to become a professional golf player. After a few months of leisure, he finally decided to get back to work. He opened store selling batteries. Next he bought range in Fort Myers to practice playing golf. He also established himself as an independent political officer. Although he started off like a typical millionaire, now he acts like a careful and farsighted businessman, who avoid spending unnecessarily. He even says, ‘’I don’t go out to dinner that much.’’
Number 9: Sue Herdman [00:51]
Just a few weeks after a fortune teller predicted she would come into money, hairdresser Sue Herdman, won £1 million 200 thousand in the lottery. Spending the cash on luxury items just wasn’t for her. Instead, she decided to become a pig farmer. Although she is often knee-deep in mud, she has never been happier. Sue’s typical day starts at 6:30 in the morning when she gets up with her partner to take care 7,000 pigs on the family farm in northeast England. Also, every three weeks, around 1000 piglets are born on the farm. In an interview, Herdman said, ‘’Winning the lottery was amazing. But the first time I brought a piglet into the world, I felt like I’d hit the jackpot.’’ We can only conclude this is not the usual life of a millionaire.
Number 8: Yancy Hicks [01:33]
Yancy Hicks from Chicago won $1 million in 2008. After this, he was able to materialize his dream. He continued to work at McDonald’s. He was already working there for the last 26 years. He’s always dreamt of having his own franchise. In the next four months, he researched for several restaurant franchises. Ultimately, decided to go for a Subway franchise. In 2010, he reconstructed the restaurant that today has nine employees. Yancy didn’t spend the rest on expensive things he didn’t need. He was careful with his new winnings. Yancy’s other goal was his daughter’s college education. He spent the money he won for his daughter education. The only expenditure he made for himself was a $30000 Chevrolet Corvette.
Number 7: Emma Wildin [02:17]
Emma Wildin and her husband Philip sketched out a highly professional plan after winning £1 million in 2013. She wasn’t interested in getting fame for being a millionaire. Her husband was financial advisor. This was great help in managing the money in their account. The family agreed to set aside 100000 to waste for stupid things., Remaining £900 thousand was used to invest in two rental properties. Today, the business is managed by Emma herself. This gives her the confidence and the family a regular monthly income. Although her husband would like to buy an Aston Martin, Emma laughs it away. She comments, he has to wait for that time to come.
Number 6: Roy Gibney [02:56]
Roy was a sheetmetal worker. He scooped a £7 and a half million lotto jackpot. Following the win, he started doing what you’d expect from a lottery winner. He bought a six-bedroom mansion, three race horses, and many other unnecessary things that didn’t bring him any profit. Then he realized, it would be better to start investing his money. Roy has set up his own sheetmetal company. He has invested in 14 properties in England, as well as a luxury villa in Cyprus. The property’s value is doubled since then. Gibney also thinks it’s important to give back, so he has supported many charities. For example, running charity fishing. He also is dressing up as Father Christmas for the local hospital.
Number 5: Mark Brudenell [03:35]
Mark Brudenell won the lotto jackpot of £900 thousand in 1997. He owns a five-bedroom family home in Stockton on tees England. When he won the lottery, he was driving a chemical tanker. He also was manager of a local bakery. Together with his wife, he’s been running a double glazing business for the last 13 years. Where he had invested in four years after winning the lottery. In an interview, Mark said, ’We used the majority of our winnings to set up our business. However, we also bought ourselves a great home as well as some lovely cars. Winning the lottery set us up for life, and has given us options we would never have had.’
Number 4: Brad Duke [04:12]
Brad Duke, the winner of the 2005 Powerball. He dreamt of multiplying his winnings within three years. What Duke won in 2005 had reduced considerably after taxes. On his lucky day, he said to his father, ‘’I bet you never thought we would both retire on the same day.’’ But actually, Brad started striving harder from that day. He started several projects with about 20 employees, including a personal assistant, accountants, a publicist, salespeople and consultants. Brad spent a major part of his win in traditional investments. On the other hand, managed mountain bike races and promotion. Duke thinks that all lottery winners should define what is important to them, and develop a smart plan around it.
Number 3: Peter Lavery [04:55]
Peter Lavery, former bus driver, won £10 million in 1996 in the National Lottery. He’s one of wisest spenders. He multiplied the amount they had in their pocket. Despite that he paid a half a million for expensive luxury cars. Lavery’s wealth since claiming the winnings has increased three times. Today, he owns 33 properties given out on rent across Northern Ireland, a number of housing sites in development, and his own whiskey distillery. Peter also hires more than 70 people around the UK.
Number 2: James Harvey and his colleagues [05:27]
In January of 2005, James Harvey, was planning to carry out independent study. He found out about cash windfalls loophole. Unlike traditional lottery games, cash windfalls biggest prize did not exceed $2 million. If the six number jackpot was not won, the $2 million prize was rolled down into smaller prizes for matching four or five numbers. Sometimes increasing those prizes tenfold. This occurred about 99% of the time. Harvey determined that if that happened, each lottery ticket was worth more than it costs. So, Harvey and his dorm mates placed thousands dollars worth of bets. Soon they increased those bets even more.
The group eventually determined that if they purchased at least $600000 worth of lottery tickets during a roll-down, they can achieve an average profit of more than 15%. They began attracting investors. In 2010, they won nearly the entire cash prize in a single drawing. They purchased 700000 lottery tickets for $2 each coupon. They cashed 860 out of the 963 winning slips. Estimates say, the group earned about $3 and a half million over seven years. However, in 2011, the lottery restricted the number of tickets any store could sell in a day. The game was stopped in 2012.
Number 1: Joan Ginther [06:42]
As the people call her the luckiest woman, Ginther won the lottery four times. Most people believe that winning the lottery four times is more than what could be called a coincidence. This 63-year-old Texan won over $5 million in 1993. Then some 10 years later, she won $2 million. Then two years later, $3 million. Then in the summer of 2010, she was lucky enough to get a $10 million jackpot. All together she won over $20 million. She won tops cases involving seemingly normal players. It also exceeds examples involving lottery cheaters, who beat the system through various illegal schemes. Many experts doubt her luck and believe that she, a math teacher, cracked the algorithm, and found out the lottery winning secrets. One of the explanations is that she bought a huge number of lottery tickets, and used the strategy similar to the one used by the students you’ve just heard about in previous example.
