I think most of us, at least once, have thought about how cool it would be to win the lottery. We've also had either some discussions with our friends, family or just thought to ourselves what we would do with the money if we actually hit the jackpot. Some of us probably would buy everything we have dreamed about, others would travel the world, invest or use this money to make more money.
So every one of us would spend it (probably) differently. But it’s always interesting to know how the actual lottery winners have spent their money and how that jackpot actually changed them or their life, no? Well, look no further - one Reddit user started a thread online asking folks to share stories about people that they know who won the lottery and how it changed them. And let’s just say - there are quite different outcomes.
More info: Reddit
#1
A guy I went to high school with won the lottery in his early thirties. He bought the low-income housing block he grew up in and his mother still lived in, completely renovated it, and kept it low income housing.I don’t know what else he did with the money, but he changed a lot of families’ lives for the better with that one purchase.
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#2
He bought a house, got sober, and invested a bunch of time into hobbies. He went from being a good guy to a great guy. Super proud of him.
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#3
My grandparents took our entire family on a cruise, and then paid for all of the grandkids college educations and first cars ? they bought a new house and cars, but took the payment over years option and rode that MF out- traveled all over the world.
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#4
Guy I worked with asked what would I do if I won a lot of lottery money, I said tell noone, see a financial planner, do what makes me happy.Later he brought a nice 4wd and left and a while later I heard he was just fishing in Queensland.
Tell noone.
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#5
My friend won just under $30 million, and dropped out of college to learn to manage her money herself, then finished off her degree online and moved from the East Coast to the West Coast to start her dream career. She invested most of her winnings, works a 9-5 job she loves, and got married and has a couple of kids now. Her personality didn’t change at all, she’s goofy as hell with her friends, and an absolute sweetheart.
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#6
Girl that was jumping from one s****y job to another. Did win not a massive amount but enough to be able to study 2-3 years without having to work. Was able to land a good job and nice paycheck thanks to her studies, so basically changed her life for better.
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#7
My parents won the Readers Digest sweepstakes. (Yes, people really win those; no, they didn’t have to buy anything.)It paid out $5 million over 30 years, or roughly $170K per year. So not “buy a private island” money, but more than my parents had ever seen.
They retired early, bought a modest house in their hometown near their family, and started doing the things they’d always wanted to do. They traveled the world, ate at good restaurants, drank nice wine. When grandkids came along, they could afford to visit four or five times a year.
The money was an unqualified blessing for them and I’m so happy they got to enjoy it.
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#8
I knew a guy who quit his job as a factory worker and went back to college to get a doctorate in music performance and composition. Played a mean jazz bass. Happiest guy I ever met.
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#9
Years ago one of my roommates won one of those $5k/week for life scratch offs.She then moved out and my life got better because she was a terrible roommates.
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#10
I worked with a lady who was two cubicles down from me. She would buy the lottery religiously and one Friday our boss said to her, “I laugh you win the $55million and come in on Monday and quit.” Well…. She sure did. She was the first solo winner in my city and she quit Monday morning… she and her husband didn’t change much. They just remodelled their home and continue to live simple lives. Both are retired. She was 42 when she won. This was about 10years ago now.
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#11
My friend's aunt won about 800k (which can be a generational-change sum if managed correctly), she gave her immediate family 1k each (about 15 persons), paid her and her husbands student loans in full, all of her debt and house mortgage and decided to invest the rest, she still works at a school as a head teacher and my friend tells me that her mentality is something like "what easy comes, easy goes" so she doesn't spend the money lavishly.
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#12
Went to school with a guy whose parents won about $1m. This was in the early 90’s.His dad just paid off the house, sent his kids to private school and kept working.
Last I heard, they’re now retired but still in that house. I’d like to think if I won a lot of money, that I’d do something similar.
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#13
He didn’t change at all. It was a moderately big win, he took his dream holiday and gave the rest away to family.
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#14
I know a guy that won $1 million. It ended up being way less than that because of taxes. I didn't know him before he won but he was older, like late 50s, but he didn't stop working. Still a fabricator and the nicest guy. Apparently he didn't buy anything big, still lives in his small house and drives a beater. Couldn't have had a nicer guy win it honestly
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#15
I worked in retail with a woman who won just over $1 mil in the US in 1998. She got laid off from her job as a checker the very next day. The HR lady said she had never seen someone so happy being laid off, and this was about 20 days before Christmas. She became a stay at home mom and her husband, who was working at 7-11 and absolutely loved to talk to people, took his dream job - selling cars. I saw him about 8 years age and he said they still lived in the same house and he was still selling cars for the same dealership.
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#16
One Christmas when I was 24 my mother who lived out of town came to visit. I took her and my grandmother to an Indian gaming casino for Christmas Eve / Christmas. I had just closed on my first house, very much a fixer upper. My mom gave me $300 and said “go double up”. I ended up winning over 9k that night. I hit three separate jackpots in the high limit room. It’s like I could do no wrong. There was one machine I was eyeing, but I didn’t want to press my luck. The very next morning I watched a guy hit the button twice and he won $4200.I had to borrow 1500 from my dad for closing costs on the house. I had a 6 month payment plan all figured out - I paid him back immediately. I also had to pay for an oil tank decommission in my backyard. I spent the remaining on all new appliances, which was GREAT. The first night I spent in my new house, the refrigerator sounded like it ran on gas. Thump thump thump thump alllll night long. Super thankful for that lil financial boost to this day.
#17
A friend’s mom won in like 1989. This was before you could take the lump sum. After taxes her payout was $37,000/yr for 25 years. She quit her job, thinking she’d be rich, but didn’t realize she was making less than her job paid, and ended up going back to work a few years later because of insurance etc.
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#18
She was already retired, so she gave like 100K to each of her children, gifted 10K to each of her nieces /nephews, bought a nicer apartment for herself and her husband, and mostly leads the same life as before. She still has the same friends, and she still has coffee with her sisters every weekday.But now she takes her grandkids on trips, pays for their cool extracurriculars / summer activities (surf school, SCUBA diving, whatever) and, now and then, she buys something nice for her close ones or for herself.
Basically, she didn't change. She was always generous and kind, and she still is. Now she can splurge on things that are important to her, so she does. And she still has many family members who love her, as well as a lot of the money she won, so we know she'll be able to support herself in her old age.
#19
My friend's aunt and uncle won Cash 4 Life. Less than a year after winning, their house was hit by a tornado. They rebuilt, much larger than the original build. They didn't change, but their home did.
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#20
My best friends father won 1000 a week for life scratch off. Moved his family out of a horrible two bedroom apartment in NYC and he moved them down to Florida. Was able to pay for his children to do all the extra curricular activities they wanted to.
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#21
Once I bought one of those $3 bingo cards and won $20. I cashed it in at the convenience store and the guy was so excited because, in his words, "I've never seen anyone win so much money on these before."That was the last day I bought a bingo card.
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#22
They bought a big house, went on loads of vacations, years later had to sell the house and downsize. In the end spent every last penny
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#23
She divorced her husband, a baggage handler for American Airlines if I recall, and married a rich flashy Cuban guy.But she did split the prize with her first husband.
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#24
My folks won it in 2015 and now every problem they think they can just throw money at it. I became a widower they're reaction was to throw money at it. No wonder i have no contact with them.
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#25
My neighbor won the lottery, and the next day, they replaced their front door with one of those grand castle gates. I mean, seriously, I had to use a drawbridge just to borrow some sugar. They're still nice, humble people though#26
The father in law of a close colleague won in the area of 250,000 euros on the Irish Lottery many years ago. He did the classics of fancy car, big house and gave a lot to his family. Two years later he was dead from alcohol poisoning having spent most of that time in the pub with all of his new found “friends”.
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#27
Well, the biggest Powerball winner in Australia (over $100 million) just kept going to her nursing job because she said she likes nursing. Not surprisingly, she made use of the option to remain anonymous. Apart from saying she bought new place to move into, no plans to do anything particularly flashy and especially not financially irresponsible.Jackpot next Thursday has hit $150 million for the first time. Going by past history, it'll likely go to 1-4 winning tickets.
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#28
Mid 90s, a man from my county (about 50,000 people max so pretty rural) won 500k in a lottery. Used the money to open up a handyman/repair business that his son runs today.Not the lottery but I knew someone else who won 21,000 in three days at Vegas. Bought a partnership into a pirate themed bar that lasted about six months.
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#29
the town I used to live in has a lottery every year where they give away a house.this guy won it in 1996 who would become the neighbour of the place I was renting a few years ago. at this time, the house was worth about $400K.
this guy was old and in poor health. he was married but his wife was wealthy and had her own entire house in a nicer area of town. when his health got so bad that he couldn't live alone, he gifted lottery prize house to my landlord who was his neighbour. he also gifted my landlord the entire contents of the fully furnished house. he just didn't have the energy to deal with selling everything so he said if you can deal with it, it's yours.
me and the landlord went through the house for fun, opening boxes and checking it out. of interest we found 5 rifles hidden behind a false wall, some gold jewelry, a machete, an 80s police scanner, nice home gym equipment, gold panning gear and more.
I got to keep the machete and some gold.
turns out his wife didn't want him home alone with those guns so she had been pushing for him to get out of there and leave it all behind.
I don't know if he's still alive or what. but my former landlord is a lucky guy.
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#30
Won two million dollars and paid off their debt plus made a few large purchases. Friends, relatives, churches, and charities found out and asked for loans and hand outs. Eventually, the money ran out and they ended up stealing a bit from a some organization they were the treasurer of because they wanted to chase that high again. I can't remember if they did jail time or just did community service but they had to sell some things and ended up only slightly better off than they were before winning the lottery.
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#31
I worked with someone who won a house. Then a few years later, they won a condo on a different lottery. They were nasty, mean, devious and rude before they won. And remained that way after they won. As another colleague said after the first win, “You’d think they’re a good person….”. SMH.
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#32
I worked with a lad who won 80k on a scratchcard, this guy had a daughter and still lived with his mum and dad. He spent it all on horses booze and [sunstances] lol. He lost his job shortly after and it was a few months until I saw him again. I asked him what did you do with that money and he's said he topped up his phone and bought a pair of trainers lmao blew the rest. Uk btw
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#33
My chinese grandpa paid a trip in Europe for all the family and he died just before the trip. My mom studied French and met my father with this money.#34
The parents of a girl I went to school with won 7.5 mil and the parents kept their day jobs for a bit and invested in real estate, before quitting said jobs.The daughter, one day, came to school with a terrible fake tan, lots of makeup and new clothes. Honestly, she was kinda a b***h before her parents won, and that part of their story did not change.
#35
A workmate won the lottery, quit the job and spend most of his time traveling around the world. He is now broke and in depression
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#36
Neighbour won like 300k i think. Nobody knows for sure. He redid the heat insulation of his house, installed some extremely ugly water heating panels on the roof, and he also bought the neigbouring house. Its a 3 story multi apartment decrepit as hell old house from like 1830s, and its extremely dangerous and unstable.Other than that, he stayed the same moron as he was before. I think he spent about 2/3rds of his money on this, at least if my guesstimations are somewhat correct.
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#37
Knew a guy that won 3 million, sunk a bunch into his business to get out of debt and expand - still went under. Blew through the remaining on frivolous purchases including cars, boats, jewelry. Got taken advantage of by people but he was super popular and the life of the party. Less then 5 years later, he's broke and working overnights at a warehouse so he can watch the kids during the day.Winning millions is hard to phantom but it goes quick and you all of a sudden have everyone coming out of the woodworks to be your friend. Same reason you never announce an inheritance. Watch the 30 for 30 "Going For Broke" to see how easy it is to blow through millions and end up with nothing left.
#38
I knew a guy who's computer I used to fix who won a few hundred thousand. He couldn't handle it and ended up pissing it all away on alcohol, [illegal substances], and women. As far as I know he didn't even pay off his house with it.#39
Coworker won 250k on a scratch-it. He ended up with 170k. He bought a house and a used car, then took his kids to disneyland. Then the story gets weird.He wanted to move to a different state, so he sold his house and moved into a "value inn" in that new state. Then he proceeded to never find a house. Spent ALL the money living in a garbage hotel. He had some pretty big problems that just seemed to get worse. Eventually his mother passed away, so he moved back to his home state to live in his mother's old house. Poor bastard.
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#40
My former boss won it. Divorced his wife, married some plastic filled new lady. Ended up divorcing her too and ODing on [substances] somewhere in the Caribbean.
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#41
Me and I lost everything. I left my wife, my family home, quit my steady job and went out with this stunning Ukrainian escort who it turns out was only after my money. It was a haze of Champagne and Caviar before back to some crazy expensive hotel room in London to blow even more money on emptying the mini bar. Lo and behold once it was gone so was Oxana and the Wife and kids wanted nothing to do with me plus my whole family had cut me off for being so stupid. Now I live in a s****y room above a vape shop with a c**p job at the local supermarket and not a £1 coin to my name. Honestly, I wish I'd never won that £3650.
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