Lottery Winners Who Lost Everything

Michael Carroll was 19 when he won £9,736,131 in November 2002. Contemporary reporting shows that he appeared at his winner press conference while wearing an electronic tag imposed after being convicted of being drunk and disorderly and resisting arrest.

He subsequently became one of Britain's most heavily publicised lottery winners. Later reporting documented extensive spending on property, vehicles, parties and other lifestyle costs, together with further legal problems. He was declared bankrupt in 2010.

Sources: The Guardian, 2002 · The Guardian follow-up

Lee Ryan won around £6.5 million in 1995. Contemporary reporting documented major purchases including expensive cars, a helicopter and a large home.

Months after the jackpot he was jailed for handling stolen vehicles, although the offences pre-dated the lottery win. Later reporting says the fortune disappeared and Ryan spent a period sleeping rough.

Sources: The Independent, 1995 · The Guardian follow-up

Callie Rogers became Britain's youngest National Lottery jackpot winner when she won £1.875 million aged just 16 in 2003.

Later interviews and reporting described spending on homes, parties, cosmetic surgery and drugs, together with the intense attention that followed becoming a teenage millionaire.

Her story is important because the challenge was not purely financial. A life-changing sum arrived before she had experienced ordinary adult independence, earning, budgeting or privacy.

Source: The Guardian winner follow-up

Roger and Lara Griffiths won £1.8 million in 2005. The couple bought a large home, upgraded their lifestyle and put money into investments and projects.

By 2013, reporting described the lottery money, investments, property and marriage as gone. Later interviews with Lara added important context: the family suffered a serious house fire, were underinsured and were hit by the economic downturn.

Lara has also publicly rejected the idea that winning simply ruined her life, saying she was tired of being portrayed as a tragic lottery winner and that she had enjoyed much of the experience.

Sources: ITV News · Yorkshire Post

Viv and Keith Nicholson's 1961 Littlewoods football-pools win predates the National Lottery, but it remains one of Britain's defining sudden-wealth stories.

Viv's famous promise to “spend, spend, spend” became part of British popular culture. Contemporary and later accounts document spending on cars, clothes, jewellery, entertaining and a new home.

The later financial story was more complicated than spending alone. Keith was killed in a car crash in 1965, after which Viv faced major financial and tax difficulties.

Source: The Guardian obituary

Andrew “Jack” Whittaker was already a wealthy West Virginia businessman when his ticket won the $314.9 million Powerball jackpot at Christmas 2002.

He chose the cash option, worth approximately $170.5 million before tax, and publicly committed substantial sums to churches and charitable causes.

His post-win years included repeated thefts, lawsuits, enormous publicity and severe family tragedies. That makes his case one of the most famous cautionary lottery stories, but it would be misleading to describe the entire advertised $314.9 million jackpot as money he simply spent or lost.

Sources: CBS News · Los Angeles Times

Evelyn Adams became a remarkable two-time New Jersey Lottery jackpot winner, winning $3.9 million in 1985 and another roughly $1.5 million in 1986.

Contemporary reporting confirms that the combined prizes were worth about $5.4 million and were paid over 20 years.

Later accounts described substantial losses through gambling, gifts, spending and unsuccessful business decisions.

Sources: Los Angeles Times / UPI, 1986 · UPI archive

Suzanne Mullins bought the Virginia Lotto ticket that won $4.2 million in January 1993. The family had previously agreed that any major prize would be split between Suzanne, her husband Tommy and their daughter Susan.

Suzanne's share was paid through annual instalments. She later borrowed money against future lottery payments and became involved in litigation over the resulting debt.

This is another case where the usual “winner squandered everything” description is incomplete. Legal reporting quoted her lawyer saying that the family had faced approximately $1 million in medical costs during the long illness of an uninsured son-in-law.

Sources: Roanoke Times archive, 1993 · Virginia Lawyers Weekly, 2004