Who are the most generous lottery winners?
Source: Listopedia – YouTube (the list created by Listopedia)
The List of 10 Most Generous Lottery Winners.
Number 10: Solomon Jackson Jr. [00:06]
Pastor Solomon Jackson Junior’s life changed forever when he won the $260 million Powerball jackpot in 2009. He chose the lump sum amount of $130 million. But Jackson has something that many other lottery winners sometimes lack, humility. Jackson gave $10 million to Morris college, where he studied theology back in the 70s. He also gave $1.7 million to the University of South Carolina. In 2015, he gifted South Carolina State University a $120000 contribution.
Number 9: Jim Dancy [00:42]
Jim Dancy from Richland won $10000 in the Michigan lottery club. His prize seems positively paltry, but instead of spending the money on himself, Dancy has decided to donate the entire prize to the Greater Kalamazoo United Way. This was his way of helping charities and organizations that strive to make the world a better place. He also said, he was influenced to do the good deed by his friend Julie, who reminded him to think of others first.
Number 8: Hilda Floyd [01:11]
In 2011, Hilda Floyd won the Idaho lottery’s million-dollar Raffle, taking home a check for $1 million. Seconds after winning, she knew exactly what to do with the money, give the majority away. She’s donated 90% of her winnings to different organizations, family members and her church. ’You could only have so much money. You know what you need it for, give it away. Make a difference in somebody’s life,’ said Floyd in an interview.
Number 7: Dennis Mahurin [01:39]
One would think that a homeless man, who wins the lotto, would immediately use the winnings to turn his own life around. That was not the case for 59-year-old Dennis Mahurin of Illinois. He won $50000 on a $3 scratch ticket that he bought at a gas station. He said, he won’t leave the tent that he’s lived in for the past 20 years, and will give $100 each to all other homeless people that he knows. In an interview, he jokingly remarked that the number may go up with all the new friends that are coming out of the wood. Surprisingly, this was not Mahurin’s first winning. He has twice won the lotto before, both $1000 in scratch cards.
Number 6: Allen and Violet Large [02:20]
In 2010, Canadian couple, Alan and Violent Large, won an $11.2 million lotto prize. After the large family finally got their hands on the winnings, they did what most of us would not do, give away most of it. The couple divided the money between family members, friends, hospitals, churches, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and even their local fire department.
Number 5: Anonymous French lottery winner [02:45]
The unidentified winner from Southwest France scooped more than €72 million on the EuroMillions lottery in February of 2014. He decided to give €50 million of it to 10 major French charities. The media reported that the man was single, in his 50s, and didn’t have any children. He has made only one stipulation, that he is informed how his donations are used.
Number 4: Ray and Barbara Wragg [03:12]
It’s been a decade and a half since England’s biggest hearted lottery winners scooped their life changing win. The couple won a whopping £7.6 million. But to date, have given away an astonishing £5.5 million. Literally, hundreds of people have benefited from the Wraggs’s big win. From family and friends, to total strangers and charities. When they moved to a bigger house, they sold their own house at a bargain, and donated the proceeds of the sale to two hospitals. They also bought 30 television sets, so each child in a local hospice could watch TV in bed. Today, the couple has little money left to give away, just enough remains to fund retirement.
Number 3: Bob Erb [03:54]
Bob Erb had spent six decades quietly donating to everyone from homeless strangers to schoolchildren needing winter coats. But that was before he won $25 million in November of 2012. Just during the first year, he has donated about $8 million. His acts of kindness range from hundreds of thousands for family and friends, to $20 for wandering street people. From the 10 cars he has bought for people, to the $300 thousand dollars, which he has spent on dental work for residents, who couldn’t afford them themselves. He even paid for his meal of a burger and fries with a $10000 check. He told the restaurant owner to keep the change to help his young daughter, who is suffering from cancer. This generous multimillionaire and marijuana legalization advocate still lives in his same small house with his same girlfriend.
Number 2: Tom Crist [04:47]
Tom Crist won $40 million in 2013. He kept it a secret from his own children. He exactly knew what to do with the money. It’s not the Crist needed the money for himself after serving as the president and CEO of an electricity company for 44 years. He decided to donate every single dollar to charitable causes in honor of his late wife, Jan, who died of lung cancer in February of 2012 at the age of 57. Among those Crist has helped, are a number of cancer stricken children. They need to leave Alberta for treatment in places like Toronto. With the money Chris won through Lotto Max, he makes sure that financial stress isn’t added to the problems which those families already face.
Who is the most generous lottery winner ever?
Number 1: Sheila Ryan [05:28]
In 1988, Sheila Ryan made history when she won a staggering $55 million jackpot in the Florida lottery. She was the largest single lottery winner in the US at the time. Ryan was a modest woman, a former real estate agent, who lived in a mobile home before she won the jackpot. She was divorced and never had children. Sheila used the money to help everyone, children, abused women, to senior citizens, and stray animals through the Ryan Foundation. Ryan foundation is the charitable organization that she established. She dedicated the last few years of her life to better her community, until she sadly passed away due to cancer in September of 1994 at the age of 69. It was just six years after winning the lottery. The good news, however, is that Sheila’s vision is still being realized at the Ryan foundation today. The money she put in is still being used to keep the foundation active, helping people in need.
