Winning the lottery is something most Americans dream of! Individuals head to their favorite Publix or convenience store hoping their ticket will wipe away all their debt. The problem is with all that extra money people usually blow through their new money too quickly. Greedy friends and family and their own wild spending bad things can happen. Lottery winners are commonly taken advantage of by scammers and even murdered.
According to the PalmBeachPost, the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards said, “Nearly one-third of lottery winners go bankrupt.” Statistically, it’s even worse for people with low incomes. Here’s a list of the seven biggest Florida Lottery winners who had fraud, bankruptcies, and were even murdered.
New Florida Lottery Raffle Gives 100 Winners $500 Each Week:
The Florida Lottery has some exciting news! They just launched several new games plus a limited-time raffle that gives 100 players an opportunity to win $500 cash. The Florida Lottery added four new scratch-off games to their lineup! These include Fast Bucks, Aces and 8s, Hit and Win, and $5 Million Triple Match.
You must purchase a single $10 or more Powerball, Mega Million, CashPop or Florida Lotto ticket. Once you buy one, you will receive a free raffle ticket. You’ll be automatically entered into the next available weekly drawing. The raffle drawings happen weekly. There will be six weekly drawings held every Monday starting Sept. 25 – Oct. 30. During each drawing, 100 players will each win $500 cash! That means there will be a total of 600 raffle winners who will win $300,000 in total cash prizes. Don’t forget about scratch-off tickets. The thrill of playing a scratch-off and uncovering a potential prize is what makes these tickets so exciting. It doesn’t matter if it’s a small or large life-changing jackpot, the suspense keeps players coming back.
#7 Kathryn Faver: $1 Million - New Paid Off House Burned Down
Kathryn Faver won $1 million from a 500X THE CASH scratch-off ticket and took the lump sum of $820,000. She bought a new house cash and paid $400,000 in Destin, Florida. The same day she moved in, it burned down! She blamed it on the mover placing her moving boxes by the stove.
(Getty Royalty Free)
#6 Malcolm Ramsey: $500 A Week For Life - Mental Health Issues
Malcolm Ramsey was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and lived at Loving Care in St. Petersburg, Florida when he bought a lottery ticket. He ended up winning the grand prize of $500 a week for life. He claimed his prize, received a cashier’s check for $302,446 and went to a local Amscot to cash his check. They charged him more than $14,000 in fees! Then he started spending his money on expensive TV’s and extra frivolous things. In only 4 weeks he blew through half of his winnings.
#5 Alex and Rhonda Toth: $13 Million - Bankrupt
The couple decided to take the winnings in annual payments at $666,666 each. But within 15 years the Pasco County, Florida couple gambled everything away. They also spent their earnings on expensive hotels, flying around the world paying to meet celebrities.
Getty Royalty Free
#4 Gloria C. Mackenzie: $371 Million - Sued Son For Fraud
Gloria C. MacKenzie was the largest sole lottery winner in U.S. history at the time but was taken advantage of by her son. Her son and investment manager were stealing and living off her millions while losing money at the same time.
#3 Jeffrey Dampier Jr.: $20 Million - Murdered
Dampier moved to Tampa and wanted to open a gourmet popcorn store but was killed by his mistress, (who was also his sister-in-law) and her boyfriend. In 2005, Victoria Jackson and her boyfriend Nathan Jackson kidnapped Dampier and tied him up in a van. They beat him up, then Nathan handed Victoria a gun and said if you don’t shoot him I’m going to shoot you. That’s when she pulled the trigger and shot Dampier in the back of the head. They’re both serving life in prison.
#2 David Lee Edwards: $41.1 Million - Died In Debt
Edward’s was one of three winners of a $295 million Powerball jackpot in 2001 taking a lump sum of $41.1. They blew through their entire winnings by buying an expensive house, jet, racehorses and multiple business. They also used the money on drugs including crack cocaine. heroin and pills. By 2006, they were both living out of a storage unit surround by dirty clothes and had nothing left. His wife left him and eventually remarried something. Edwards died penniless in a Kentucky hospice care in 2013.
