The cost? Only one cheap lottery ticket and one happy life…Or so it seems.
On February 19, eight Nebraska meat packing plant workers learned that they had the winning tickets for millions of dollars, and they claimed a record $365 million jackpot soon after. This was the largest lottery award in the United States ever, and once the money has been divided and taxes withheld, each winner will have 15.5 million dollars to keep them comfortable.
Three of the winners were refugees from war and hostile regimes, and the other five were born in the United States Midwest to a life of working hard as normal people with normal jobs. That is, until that unforgettable day in each of their lives.
“It’s still a blur; we still think we’re going to wake up from a dream,” said 29-year-old Chasity Rutjens. Quan Dao, who worked in sanitation for fifteen years at the meat packing plant, hopes to send some money home to his family in Vietnam. One of the Vietnamese men tearfully told how after the win he could quit work and spend more time with his wife and son. Though they were not sure yet how they would use the money, the other seven also expressed the desire to stop working.
“I want to make sure it lasts me the rest of my life,” Chasity Rutjens said.
These jubilant winners should take heed, however, because those lottery winners who went before them have not been nearly as thankful once several years have passed.
William Post, who won $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania Lottery in 1988, had a brother who tried to kill him for his inheritance. Mr. Post lost and spent all of his winnings, and was living off Social Security when he died. He said in an interview, “Everybody dreams of winning money, but nobody realizes the nightmares that come out of the woodwork, or the problems.”
Billie Bob Harrell Jr. dreamed of winning the lottery and believed wholeheartedly in the salvation of sudden fortune, until, one Sunday evening in June 1997, his dream was reality. He and wife Barbara held the only winning ticket to a Lotto Texas jackpot of $31 million. Life went splendidly for Mr. Harrell, his wife, and his three children. He purchased a ranch and bought a half-dozen homes for himself and other family members. He, his wife, and the children got new cars, and he made large contributions to his church. But then his spending spiraled out of control, and two years after winning the lottery, he locked himself in an upstairs bedroom and shot himself.
Victoria Zell, who shared an $11 million Powerball jackpot with her husband in 2001, is broke and serving in a Minnesota prison. She was convicted in 2005 in a drug and alcohol induced collision that killed one person and paralyzed another.
After Patrick Collier randomly won $1 million at a McDonald’s in September of 2001, he said, “I’m getting a Harley and a couple of houses.” Two weeks later, Mr. Collier was arrested for supposedly choking and punching his fiancée in the face.
Gerald Muswagon was all smiles after he won the unreal $10 million lottery jackpot, but he managed to spend every penny of it in only a few years. He bought several new vehicles for himself and for friends, purchased a new house, and often celebrated his new lifestyle with huge amounts of drugs and alcohol. In a single day, he bought eight big-screen televisions for friends. Seven years after his big win, Mr. Muswagon hanged himself in his parent’s garage.
In September of 2003, 16-year-old British lottery millionaire Callie Rogers lost her boyfriend, fought with her father, and was mugged. “Some days I don’t even want to leave my house because people just scream abuse at me,” she said. “Two months ago I thought I was the luckiest teenager in Britain. But today I can say I have never felt so miserable.”
The happy faces, the excited plans, the squeals of delight…these are the beginning of the new lives for those “fortunate” lottery winners, but tell me now: are they so fortunate? Would you give five dollars for a life of misery?
Sources:
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2631&ncid=2631&e=25&u=/nm/20060222/ts_nm/life_lottery_dc_2
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-022206lottery_lat,0,6150452.story
http://www.rotten.com/library/culture/lottery-winners/
http://www.dallasobserver.com/Issues/2000-02-10/news/feature.html
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