If you are lucky enough to win a lottery jackpot, you can live a rich life. But not everyone gets that lucky. Some lottery winners have tragic stories. For example, there was a woman in Virginia who won a $4.3 million jackpot in 1993. She split the money with her family and took out loans with her lottery winnings as collateral. Soon, she found herself in deep debt. She then took advantage of a change in lottery rules and stopped making her payments.
There are many famous lottery jackpot records. These include the largest single-ticket jackpot in the Philippines and Europe, and the biggest jackpot in the SuperLoto in France. Other big jackpots include EUR30 million (US$25.7 million), EUR19.1 million (US$21.8 million), and EUR12.2 million (US$15.8 million) in Finland’s Veikkaus lottery.
One lottery winner spent his fortune a bit too lavishly. He spent $300,000 on cocaine alone, and then spent the rest on plastic surgery, gifts, and partying. In the end, he died alone in hospice care at age 58. Another lottery winner, Mickey Carroll, won $11.8 million at the age of 19. He was dubbed Lotto Lout because he spent the money on drugs and luxury items.
Lottery players see their purchase of lottery tickets as a low-risk investment that is likely to yield a handsome reward. However, while they may have no intention of retiring or paying off college, these players are also putting their savings at risk. In the long run, this could result in millions of dollars in foregone savings.