Starting with 16-year-old girl spending her winnings on a cocaine habit, to a woman that won lottery jackpot twice, only to lose it all to gambling.
We’ll take a look at five of the dumbest lottery winners ever.
5 of The Dumbest Lottery Winners Ever.
Source: TheWacky – YouTube
Number 5: Michael Carroll [00:19]
The story goes as follows: Michael Carroll, a 19-year-old British garbage man, won about $15 million in the lottery. He began spending money innocently enough. For instance, presents for family and friends. Then he began spending not so innocently on things like cocaine, gambling, prostitutes, and lots of alcohol. Eight years later, he was broke and back to working as a garbage man. According to him, he’s happier now. But we think he’s just saying that because he’s lost it all.
Number 4: Callie Rogers [00:55]
When Callie Rogers was 16, she was just another normal teen living in the UK. Then she won the lottery. At the time, it was roughly $3 million. Callie went on a spending spree and threw her hardly hard earned cash at everything. Including clothes, vacations, parties, breast enhancements, not to mention, cocaine. Six years later, she was completely broke and in debt. She attempted to take her own life twice. The stress of handling and ultimately losing that much money was too much for her. She was ultimately forced to take a job as a maid to support herself and her two children.
Number 3: Alex and Rhoda Toth [01:33]
A married couple, Alex and Rhoda Toth, won the lottery in 1990. At the time, they were literally broke. The prize was $13 million. They opted to receive their winnings in payments of $666 thousand per year for 20 years, until 2010. They briefly lived in Las Vegas, before deciding that the lavish life was not for them. They returned to their home state of Florida to buy some land and a home. Unfortunately, they were broke by 2006 due to court fees. Winning the money had caused a rift in the family that resulted in tons of legal drama and expenses.
Alex was even arrested numerous times for growing marijuana plants and for writing bad checks between 2002 and 2005. They were down to living in a tiny trailer on a small piece of land. Their only source of electricity coming from a wire connected to their car’s engine. They were caught in 2006 for tax evasion. Alex died, while awaiting trial. Rhoda wrote a claim that she was too ill to stand trial herself. Turns out she lied about that too. When video surfaced of her moving around just fine, she was sentenced to two years in prison. She has to pay over $1.1 million to the tax office.
Number 2: Janite Lee [02:46]
Janite Lee won $18 million in the lottery in 1993. She decided to be generous with her money. It is a nice thought that rarely turns out well. She donated much of her money to government related programs and political organizations. She even broke bread with former President, Bill Clinton, who thanked to her contributions. She dropped a million dollars on Washington University in St. Louis to allow them to build a new library. The library is named after her. Lee also gambled a lot. So this was not a good combination. She blew about $347000 in a year on her habit. Finally, she was left with massive debts. She was filed for bankruptcy in 2001.
Number 1: Evelyn Adams [03:29]
Winning the lottery once is one thing. The odds are astronomical at best. It’s like being hit by lightning. Normally, if it does happen to a person, it never happens again. For Evelyn Adams of New Jersey, however, it did happen twice. It happened in 1985 and 1986. She won over $5 million in total. Adams didn’t think maybe it was a sign that she should put it away some winnings or invest. She thought it’d be much better idea to spend all her winnings by gambling in nearby Atlantic City. A little over 20 years later, she found herself broke and living in a less than lavish trailer park.
