It’s the dream of so many to win the lottery and become an overnight millionaire. The thought of being able to pay off debt, travel the world, and live a life of luxury is an alluring prospect, but not everyone is prepared for the reality of what it means to come into a large sum of money.
In fact, some lottery winners have been labeled the “dumbest” of all time due to their actions after winning. Here are just a few examples of lottery winners who lost everything:
Evelyn Adams won not one, but two multi-million-dollar jackpots in just four months. She was the first person in New Jersey lottery history to win multiple million-dollar jackpots. However, Adams had a gambling addiction and also gave away a lot of her money to friends and acquaintances without ever getting paid back. By 2012, Adams had lost all her winnings and was living in a trailer.
“Winning the lottery isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be,” she said. “I won the American dream, but I lost it, too. It was a very hard fall. It’s called rock bottom.”
Michael Carroll was just 19 years old and working as a trash man when he won £9.7 million in 2002. He quickly gained a reputation for his wild spending habits, which included hosting Roman-style orgies and traveling to luxury destinations such as Jamaica, Barbados, and Puerto Banus. His wife left him after he blew through his winnings on booze, drugs, sex, and friends. He appeared in court more than 30 times and lost all his money, leaving him on welfare for six months. The one silver lining is his ex-wife took him back, and they remarried in 2021.
Tonda Dickerson was given a winning lottery ticket as a tip while working at a Waffle House in 1999. She won $10 million dollars but was immediately accused of breaking a promise made to other waitresses to share any winnings from the ticket. Even the man who gave her the ticket sued her for millions. In a bizarre turn of events, Dickerson was allegedly kidnapped by her ex-husband Stacy Martin, who was armed with a .22 caliber handgun. When Martin was distracted, Dickerson got the firearm and shot him in the chest. For 12 years after that, Dickerson was chased to pay $1 million in “gift taxes,” on top of hefty income taxes. It was reported that she got a job as a poker dealer at the Golden Nugget casino in Biloxi, Mississippi.
William Hurt won a $3.1 million lottery jackpot in 1989 but ended up murdering a woman just two years later. Prior to his win, he was happily married and well-known in his community. However, after he won, he became addicted to crack cocaine, lost custody of his children, and separated from his wife. Hurt was arrested for the murder of Wendy Elizabeth Kimmey, 30, who was found shot in the head. The altercation that led to Kimmey’s murder started because Hurt was enraged that they didn’t have any more crack cocaine and couldn’t find more.
Callie Rogers was just 16 years old and in foster care when she won $2.3 million dollars. Instead of using the money wisely, Rogers spent it on breast enhancement surgeries, tattoos, and luxury cars. In 2021, Rogers was on welfare and was given a suspended driving license after crashing her 4×4 while high on cocaine when it emerged she had blown her winnings.
Sources: Taphaps, TheSun, APnews