Hey, Millionaire! You already know that we spend our days dreaming about winning the
lottery. That's what this channel is all about. But winning isn't everything - especially not if
you're as dumb as these winners. These people were so dumb that they make other broke people look
smart. Seriously, these stories are so stupid they're going to blow your mind. Hopefully,
you won't make the same mistakes these people did. Let's see just how badly they messed up.
17. Christina Goodenow
Christina Goodenow was lucky enough to win $1 million on an Oregon lottery scratch-off ticket!
Amazing, right!? It would've been amazing. But, in an incredible act of stupidity,
she decided it was fine to buy the ticket with a credit card belonging to her boyfriend's dead mom.
Obviously, buying lottery tickets with stolen credit cards is illegal - the same way buying
anything with a stolen credit card is illegal. But that wasn't Christina's only mistake. Obviously,
the moment she received the cash, the feds realized they should probably look into why
this lottery ticket was apparently bought by a dead woman. And when they found Christina,
they hit their own kind of jackpot. They found a whole collection of crimes she was committing. She
was charged with theft, forgery, identity theft, computer fraud, and parole violation. They even
found a nice quantity of meth in her possession as the cherry on top of her crimes. I guess she
deserved it all if she wasn't even smart enough to hide the drugs when the feds came knocking.
16. Joe Antonio Cua-toc
Joe didn't win the biggest lottery jackpot ever, but a $750,000 Georgia Lottery prize is still
pretty amazing. That kind of cash can go a long way if you're an illegal immigrant like Joe. Wait,
what? If you're wondering how illegal immigrants can claim lottery prizes, there's a simple answer:
they can't. So it's pretty stupid it play the lottery in the first place. But I guess
Joe thought he had it figured out. He just asked his boss to collect the money for him. However,
Joe hadn't banked on his boss, just taking the money for himself. But there's not much you can
do about that if you've won money illegally in a country you're not supposed to be in.
Joe didn't see it that way. He got so mad, he decided to sue his boss. And that was his last
huge mistake. Obviously, his illegal status was discovered thanks to the trial, but he wasn't
just deported. He ended up in jail because he'd also taken the time to threaten to kill his boss's
family after he took the money. I know, it's almost impressive how many mistakes Joe made.
15. Justin Reiter Even little kids know that, just because cartoon
characters can jump off a roof without dying, that doesn't mean they should try it themselves. But
Justin Reiter had made it to adulthood without realizing that fact. He'd become obsessed with
the Austin Powers film Goldmember. He made it his life's goal to have a gold member of his own. And
when he amazingly won $600,000, he saw it as his opportunity to finally gold plate his junk. But he
probably should've used real gold. I guess it was just the shiny color he was after because he opted
for lead-based paint. He happily dipped his nether regions into it and continued with his life. But,
when something didn't feel right, he went on another shopping trip, and this time he got
his hands on some genuine gold-infused paint. He could've taken the first layer of paint off,
but I guess he had something important to do because he just painted over it with his new
real gold paint. It didn't take long before Justin was found dead. But what happened? It turns out
the cause of death was lead poisoning from the first paint he covered his family jewels in. I
doubt that's what he planned, but at least he left this world as shiny as he always wanted to be.
14. Amanda Clayton Amanda Clayton was going through a pretty
rough time in her life. She was only in her early 20s, and she was forced to claim state welfare
and use food stamps to be able to eat. It wasn't looking good, until something amazing happened.
She won $1 million on the Michigan lottery's Make Me Rich game! That's more than enough
money to turn her life around completely! But instead, she chose to do something really,
really stupid. A local news outlet noticed she was still claiming welfare benefits and food stamps a
couple years after winning. She hadn't gone broke or anything - she just wanted to have her cake
and eat it too. It wasn't long before she was losing a case in court. She got nine months'
probation and a fine for her crimes. Sadly, she was found dead of a drug overdose a year later.
13. Elecia Battle Elecia Battle always had a talent for getting
on the wrong side of the law. She'd already been arrested for keying cars, credit card fraud,
and even assault. But in 2003, she tried her luck at her riskiest crime yet. When it was announced
that a lucky Mega Millions ticket holder had won a huge $162 million jackpot, Elecia saw a chance
to get rich. She knew she'd purchased a losing ticket from the same store that sold the winning
ticket. When no winners came forward to claim the prize, Elecia stepped forward to tell the world
she'd won. But she said she'd tragically lost her ticket. People from all over joined in to try and
help her while she filed a police report on it. Big mistake. The real winners were simply getting
financial advice before coming forward to claim their prize. They finally arrived to claim their
prize, unknowingly exposing Elecia's lie at the same time. Instead of being a multi-millionaire,
all Elecia got was another brush with the law for submitting a fake police report.
12. Daniel Carley Canadian Daniel Carley
got the surprise of a lifetime one day when he scratched off his Ontario lottery ticket and
realized he'd actually won. And it wasn't just a little bit either. His jackpot was 5 million
Canadian dollars - or about $4.4 million in US money. That's got to feel incredible.
His life was pretty much perfect now - he was engaged to the mother of his unborn child,
surrounded by friends and family, and in the prime of his life! That night,
he went over to the bar he co-owned with his dad to celebrate his win with friends.
There's no better way to celebrate than with a huge party! But even though the night ended, the
party didn't stop for Daniel. He kept it going... for a decade. He estimates he spent a mind-blowing
$1 million on drugs over the next few years! When he ran out of cash, he again figured drugs were
the answer. So he started trafficking cocaine. He was eventually caught and spent a few years
in prison for it. But, on the bright side, it did help him get off the cocktail of drugs he was on.
11. Ken Proxmire You know how people
always say you should choose annuity payments to avoid going broke? It doesn't always help. Ken
Proxmire won his $1 million jackpot thanks to the Michigan state lottery - and that really
was a lot of cash back in 1977. He chose the annuity option, which guaranteed him $50,000
per year for 14 years. That was a lot of cash back then, but not quite as much as Ken thought it was.
He started spending like it was going out of fashion. He bought houses, businesses, cars,
and he was even picking up the tab whenever he went out with friends. But it didn't take long
for his investments to start collapsing. Soon, his pool parlor was $60,000 in debt - which
makes that $50,000 annual payout look like small change. His advice to future lottery winners?
"Crawl into a hole and pull the top in." I don't think that's what I wanted to hear.
Would you choose the lump sum or annuity payments if you won? Let
us know in the comments! Keep watching - there are more crazy stories to come!
10. Lou Eisenberg
Lou Eisenberg became New York's luckiest man when he landed the $5 million jackpot back in 1981. At
the time, it was the largest lottery payout ever in the state of New York. His life should've been
perfect after that. But maybe winning on Friday the 13th cursed his new fortune because it
definitely didn't help him out much. Instead of making clever investments or following a dream,
Lou gambled away most of his cash. The rest went to paying off his ex-wives. And that
was all that Lou's fortune gave him. Last anyone checked, he was living in a mobile home. Maybe it
wasn't the curse of Friday the 13th that got to him - it might just be old-fashioned stupidity.
9. John Roberts
John Robers was living in government housing in Scotland in 1998 when he suddenly won a huge
jackpot. He suddenly had 3.1 million British pounds in the bank - or about $5.1 million.
That's an incredible amount of money for anyone, but it's even more if you've never had any money!
Just imagine what he could've done with it! And when I say 'imagine,' I mean it - because he
didn't do anything except spend it all. He blew his fortune on supercars and giant mansions.
After a couple of people he thought were his friends stole his cash by lying about investments,
he had nothing left. It only took him 3 years before he was living in an old mobile home.
8. Evelyn Basehore Very few people are lucky enough to win
the lottery not once, but twice! That's exactly what happened to Evelyn Basehore. Her first win in
1985 was the biggest jackpot with a huge total of $3.9 million! But the second jackpot sure wasn't
small either - just four months later, she had another $1.4 million jackpot to her name! That's
the kind of money that can keep you in luxury for the rest of your life. But even though Evelyn was
clearly super lucky, she didn't have the smarts to go with it. She gave away loads of her cash. But,
even worse, she spent most of the rest on gambling. I guess she figured gambling on the
lottery had paid off so well that it was her best bet to get more cash. But we could've told her
she'd never get that lucky again. Now she's broke, working two jobs to pay for food, and living in
a trailer park. She still plays the lottery, though - who knows, maybe it's 3rd time lucky?
7. John McGuinness John McGuinness learned the hard way
that following your heart isn't always the best idea. The UK man won a huge UK National lottery
jackpot in 1997, taking home 10 million British pounds, or $16.3 million! And he knew exactly
what he wanted to do with that cash. He quit his job as a hospital porter and bought his favorite
football club for $4.9 million. Unfortunately, he didn't know that buying the club meant he'd
be responsible for all their debts. And they sure owed a lot of cash. By 2009 - just 12 years later
- the club's debts had wiped out his winnings, and he was scraping coins together to buy groceries.
6. Francisco Guerrero You've gotta be really careful who you trust
when you win a big jackpot. Francisco Guerrero was a bricklayer in Spain. He didn't have much money,
but he was happy and had even worked hard enough to buy a few properties! But he became
a multi-millionaire overnight when he won the equivalent of $8.6 million! He'd never seen that
much money in his life, so instead of trying to work out what to do with it, he took it to a bank.
He took the bank's advice and put 40% of the money into savings for his four children, and the rest
was invested. The bank told him his money would be safe and the investment carried no risks, but
would earn him 17% every year. Sounds good, right? Francisco never touched a cent of his new fortune
and chose to keep working instead. He didn't think about the money again until he injured his knee.
He went to the bank to withdraw a small sum for the surgery he needed. But they told him there was
no money in his account. The bank had lost every single dollar Francisco won on the terrible
investment they recommended. But it was even worse than he thought - the investment had racked up an
amazing amount of debt. Not only had they lost his winnings, but he now owed so much money
that he also lost the properties he'd bought with his hard-earned cash. The courts have ordered the
bank to pay back some of the money. But it's not even close to what Francisco had before.
What do you think about how the bank handled Fransico's money? Tell us in
the comments! And keep watching for more stories about how winners lost everything.
5. Lawrence Candlish Lawrence Candlish didn't just blow
through his millions - he actually got himself in trouble with the law in a different country too!
He won a huge UK national lottery jackpot back in 1997 - and I mean huge. It was worth about
$9 million! That's a lot of money to burn, but Lawrence had a talent for losing money.
He started by spending it on sports cars and houses for himself and all his friends. Then,
he moved to Spain and put more of his cash into some dodgy investments. But that wasn't his
biggest mistake. While living it up in Spain, he was getting into trouble in a country he
wasn't even in by continuing to collect social benefits from the UK. In case you don't know,
those benefits are available to people without a job or money to make sure they can still eat.
They definitely aren't meant to be collected by multi-millionaires.
Lawrence was eventually caught and received a suspended sentence for benefits fraud.
4. Peter Kyle Former soldier Peter Kyle became one of
the biggest jackpot winners the UK had ever seen back in 2005. He'd played the same numbers he'd
been choosing for years and was the only winner of a jackpot worth $9.8 million! And if that
wasn't enough, he went out to play bingo with his friends to celebrate and won an extra 500 British
pounds as a bonus. But just 3 years later, he was living off benefits and staying in a room for $18
per night. So what happened to the millions? There's a simple answer - he spent it. Yes,
all of it. A fishing boat kicked off the spending spree, but soon there were luxury cars
and 5 bedroom mansions being added to his expenses. He was spending a whopping $5,500
per day! After that, it only took one or two bad investments to end his life as a rich person.
When he won, he said in an interview, "Everything I see, I can afford." Looks like he was wrong.
3. Lee Ryan Loads of lottery winners end
up in trouble with the law eventually. But this winner was facing a prison sentence before he won.
Lee Ryan was awaiting trial for selling stolen cars in London when he found out he'd won
6.5 million pounds - or about $7.8 million. But he couldn't enjoy it because he had to spend the next
18 months in prison. When he got out, I guess he figured life was for living because he went
nuts with his new fortune. Obviously, he loved cars, but he should've been careful because
they'd already landed him in prison. But he didn't care - his first purchases were a Bentley, a BMW,
a Porsche, and a Ferrari. Then, he needed a mansion to keep them in,
so he bought a house worth $1.2 million. And pretty soon, he also had two Ducatis, a $150,000
private plane, and a $280,000 helicopter. You can see where this is going. He then split up
with his girlfriend and moved to Kyrgyzstan with a different girl. It didn't last long.
He lost his millions on a fish farm when he got on the wrong side of the mafia and had to come
back to London with only a sleeping bag. He spent 2 years sleeping on the streets, but these days
he's working as a cameraman and seems to be doing alright, but he's sure not a millionaire anymore.
2. Keith Gough Keith Gough from England
is another lottery winner who claimed his new fortune ruined his life. He was a happily married,
58-year-old baker at the time of his win. His UK national lottery jackpot was a rollover from the
previous draw and just as big as you'd expect - 9 million pounds, or about $17.3 million! Suddenly,
he went from baking to driving fast cars, betting huge sums on racehorses,
and spending his time in a private executive box at Aston Villa football club.
But it wasn't all the spending that really got to him - it was the drinking. Soon, his alcohol
problem got so bad that he and his wife split up. He said it broke his heart because they were
so in love before he won. All they wanted to do was retire together. 5 years after his big win,
the stress of being broke and losing his wife got to him, and he sadly died of a heart attack.
And our dumbest lottery winner is...
1. Ryan Magee Ryan Magee from Ireland was once
on the UK's Rich List when he won a huge jackpot worth $12.7 million! His first purchase was a red
Ferrari, followed by a luxury mansion. But it all went downhill when he crashed his Ferrari.
When investigators discovered he was driving without insurance, his license was suspended. His
car wasn't the only thing crashing through - his business and marriage were joining in. When he was
caught driving on a suspended license the next time, he was behind the wheel of a Ford Focus.
And this time, he had to claim legal aid from the government to help him through the court case.
It was discovered that he'd already put his luxury mansion up for sale and was flat broke.