We periodically play the lottery — we never win, but maybe that’s a good thing. A lot of people believe there is such a thing as a lottery curse.
Some people say that the lottery is cursed because your chances of winning are so slim that you’re bound to lose money almost every time. But — I think — the curse of the lottery refers to lottery winners that probably shouldn’t have gotten their hand on winning tickets in the first place.
There have been instances in which people strike it rich with a winning Mega Millions or Powerball ticket and have lost their money, or something happened to completely upend their lives. But I read somewhere that a lottery curse is even rarer than the odds of winning the lottery in the first place.
It’s almost hard to believe that after winning the lottery, you’d somehow lose all that money — but, it does happen. I did a little extensive research and found some actual examples…..
Jeffrey Dampier won $20 million in the lottery and became a Tampa popcorn entrepreneur. Dampier’s generosity to his sister-in-law, Victoria Jackson, including gifts, apartment rent, etc. apparently wasn’t enough. Jackson and her boyfriend kidnapped and murdered Dampier for his fortune. They were sentenced to life in prison.
Only a few hours after Carl Atwood won $57,000 on the televised lottery program Hoosier Millionaire, the 73-year-old was fatally hit by a pickup truck while walking to the store where he bought the winning ticket.
New Yorker Clarence Kinder, age 77, won $50,000 in the state lottery on a Thursday night — and died from a heart attack the following night.
After collecting the first of his annual $1.24 million checks, Billy Bob Harrell — a down on his luck Texan who hit the state lottery for $31 million — began spending like there was no tomorrow. He picked up a ranch, a fashionable home, and a never-ending line of family, friends and strangers with their palms outstretched, dogging him day and night. The spending spilled out of control for 20 months, until Harrell, who had had quite enough, locked himself in his bedroom and let a shotgun solve is dilemma.
William “Bud” Post won $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania lottery. When he died of respiratory failure, Post was living on a $450 monthly disability check and was estranged from his family. Not only was his fortune wiped out, but he ended up deeply in debt, and he served a jail term for threatening a bill collector with a shotgun. At one point, Post filed for bankruptcy, and came out of it with a million dollars — and spent it all in short order.
My extensive research also found out that one in eight American adults play the lottery at least once a week, and almost half buy at least one ticket a year. Even though some think that good luck is balanced out by the bad, most people that win the lottery live normal, quite lives and usually just settle into a comfortable anonymity.
So you can play the lottery with confidence — buy that lottery ticket secure in the knowledge that a windfall is not like to invite a life of pain, suffering or regret. Of course, keep in mind that you face nearly impossible odds of winning…..
— 30 —