While winning the lottery is often seen as the ultimate stroke of luck, it can also bring unforeseen bad fortune.
With the countdown on to Thursday’s $100 million Powerball draw, past winners have reported using their cash on everything from skydiving to brand-new homes.
But for some who hit the lottery jackpot, their millions became a curse beyond their wildest nightmares.
In a thread shared on Reddit, Australians have shared stories of how winning the lottery has led to disastrous outcomes for their friends and family.
One described a family member’s Lotto win as an event that ‘ruined’ their entire extended family.
‘My uncle won in 2014, and he left the country because my aunt started telling everyone. It ruined my family,’ they said.
‘My parents would get phone calls every day from family members asking where my uncle was.
‘I went travelling a few years later, and they spread rumours that my uncle was funding my life.’
Aussies have taken to social media to describe how winning the Lotto has torn their families apart (pictured, a Lotto newsagency worker)
They hadn’t spoken to their uncle since he left the country and aren’t even sure if he’s still alive.
‘How much does it cost to rip a family apart? $5-10m,’ they said.
A second added: ‘A girl’s family I went to high school with won $10m about 20 years ago, I think. She never really spoke about it because it tore her family apart.’
A third person shared the story of a family friend who won millions in the 1990s, which led to bankruptcy and financial ruin.
‘Have a family friend who won Division One in the mid-90s. About $8m back then,’ they explained.
‘Long story short, they lost it all, and when I mean lost it all – I mean actual bankruptcy.’
Another story described the problems caused by a massive Lotto win, where the adult children complained about not receiving enough money after their father won a huge prize.
‘My ex-wife had an uncle who won $4m. The money caused the family so much trouble. The adult children complained they didn’t get enough.
‘Last I heard, they were waiting for their mother to die to get the inheritance. I never thought they could be such a********.’
Another Aussie spoke out about a family member who won $1.5m and squandered most within a week despite receiving financial advice after the win.
‘One won $1.5m, got some really great advice, structured and would have given him a good income for rest of his life.
‘But a week later, he spunked $240k on a new Range Rover, $150k on a new M4 Convertible for his wife, $150k on a caravan and was back working on his mobile fish and chip trailer six months later.’
A fifth said: ‘My nephew’s girlfriend won $75,000 around ten years ago. She bought an expensive high-powered car and promptly wrote it off before she bothered to insure it.’
Another distressing account involves an Aussie woman who won $22m, only to be exploited by a long-lost brother.
Over six months, the brother managed to fleece $7 million from the lottery winner.
The requests started with a new car, followed by a holiday, then escalated to a new house and a business to facilitate quitting FIFO.
‘When the final amount was paid she never heard from him again. She was quite simple and only bought a four bed house in the burbs and a new Commodore – it was sad as she genuinely thought she had rekindled their relationship.’
An extremely lucky Australian won the lottery not just once, but twice.
However, things took a disastrous turn after the wins.
‘He literally pissed most of it up the wall. Now married with kids and wishes they’d used it for a house at least (and not the Brock edition Commodore he wrapped around a tree on the way home from the pub.’
Another said: ‘Our window cleaner back in the day won something like $100k, which was a decent amount back then.
Australians spend an average of $1.9 billion on lotto every year
‘He went to Thailand and got himself a younger wife. Tried to get her PR and turns out she had HIV and infected him too. He then moved to Thailand to be with her.’
While these stories highlight the negative consequences of Lotto winnings, some Australians also shared positive experiences.
‘Father-in-law’s friend won several million, bought a cattle station and lived his best life, one said.
‘I was a local banker at a small town branch, and a local lady in her 50s who was a client won quite a lot of money,’ another said.
‘She was enjoying her life before, and she was happy afterwards.’
A third person shared a positive story about their boyfriend’s childhood friend, who won $800,000 about 15 years ago.
‘He put it into a high interest savings account, bought a property that he rented out while he still lived with his mum (he was 19) and has never worked a day since.
‘He apparently sat down with a financial advisor and they set it up so he could draw a very humble ‘wage’ amount out each month without it effecting his interest earned too much.
‘He now owns several properties after making some smart investments on the stock market and continues to flourish. Wife, three kids, happy days. He’s a lovely bloke.’
According to a report from Gambling Statistics Australia, Aussies spend an average of $1.9 billion on Lotto tickets every year.
FACES OF LOTTO GONE BAD
SHERIF GIRGIS
In 2007, a 23-year-old Perth man named Sherif Girgis was working part-time at a cinema when he won $30 million.
At the time, it was the largest lottery jackpot in Western Australian history.
Mr Girgis made a series of investments under the guidance of real estate agent and City of Joondalup deputy mayor Russell Poliwka.
He bought a pub, a defunct nightclub called Crush, an 80 foot catamaran for $880,000 and a block of land with waterfront views.
The bundle of investments was later found to be overpriced.
Though his ventures began to lose money and by 2012 he had just $5million left.
Sherif Girgis, 23, was working part time at a cinema in Perth when he scored the biggest lotto win in Western Australian history in 2007
In 2014 he launched legal action against Poliwka demanding nearly $3.5million. He was awarded $2million.
The court accepted Poliwka provided ‘misleading or deceptive representation’ and ‘negligent advice’.
TREVOR COOPER
Newly married Kiwi man Trevor Cooper, who worked in a supermarket before winning $27million in 2012, was sadly divorced by 2015.
Mr Cooper, who went from pricing other people’s groceries to entering his new expensive off-road cars for prize money, went as far as buying the South Auckland mansion he was married in.
He quickly bought 12 properties too, mostly with his new wife, Sharie Mitchell – before the marriage crumbled and he fell out with his mother, Shirley.
She told the NZ Herald her son didn’t make a prenuptial agreement with his new wife, Ms Mitchell.
Trevor Cooper (pictured centre), who worked in a supermarket before winning $27million in 2012 was newly married and then divorced by 2015. He didn’t sign a prenup agreement with his wife
BAZIL THORNE
Sometimes the misfortune from a lottery win is caused by the jealousy and greed of family, friends or even strangers.
The saddest such case in Australia, and the one that changed the rules around announcing the identity of lottery winners, concerned the death of eight-year-old Sydney boy Graeme Thorne.
He was kidnapped for a £25,000 ransom after his father Bazil Thorne won £100,000 in a Sydney Opera House lottery in 1960, the equivalent of $1.7million today.
Sydney man Bazil Thorne (pictured) won £100,000 in a Sydney Opera House lottery in 1960, the equivalent of $1.7million today. Tragically his son Graeme was kidnapped and murdered
The kidnapper, Stephen Bradley, a Hungarian immigrant and poker machine factory worker, lured Graeme into his car, then tied him up in the boot.
He panicked when he opened the trunk and found the boy unconscious. He bashed him, then wrapped his body in a rug and dumped it in a vacant lot at Seaforth.
Police would late track down Bradley after finding the rugmaker and identifying one of his dog’s hairs in it.
Police later said Graeme Thorne probably died within 24 hours of being kidnapped, from asphyxiation, a skull fracture, or a combination of both.
Bradley was found guilty and sentenced to life behind bars. He died in Goulburn jail in 1968.
MARIA DEVRELL
Since the Thorne case, lottery winners in Australia can request anonymity.
But that didn’t help Tamworth’s Maria Devrell, who was killed by a family friend she handpicked to help her manage her $5million OzLotto win in 2011.
She was killed in an argument with Peter Kelly, a financial advisor and friend to Ms Devrell and her husband, David for 25 years, over failed property investments in Fiji and the NSW Central Coast.
Infuriated by what he believed was her ‘wasteful’ spending of the winnings, Kelly bashed her with a plastic-covered rubber mallet, then strangled her in her home.
He was discovered by police attempting suicide, and found guilty of her murder, then sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Kelly later told police he was ‘sick’ of hearing Ms Devrell, who had a gambling addiction, ‘complaining and blaming everyone [else] for her problems’.
After killing his friend, Kelly callously spent a weekend away with her husband, who knew nothing of her death.
Tamworth’s Maria Devrell was killed by a family friend she handpicked to help her manage her $5million OzLotto win in 2011
