Hey, Millionaire! We've heard a lot of stories about lottery winners blowing their jackpots
and ruining their lives in the process. I guess there's just something about winning big that
makes people want to party a little too hard. Those stories are so common that you can forget
that winners sometimes do really good things with their new fortunes. But that's why we're
here - we've gathered incredible lottery stories with happy endings. These winners will remind
you why you love playing the lottery and warm your heart at the same time. Let's get to it!
9. Eric Cochrane Sometimes, good deeds get rewarded
when you least expect it. Eric Cochrane's son had been suffering from serious health issues, but he
still loved playing guitar. Eric took his son's guitar to John Galvin's guitar store for repairs,
but when he tried to pay, Eric refused to take his money. See, John knew about the tough time Eric's
son was going through, and he wanted to repair the guitar as a gift. Eric tried to convince
John to take at least $40 for the job, but John wouldn't accept, so Eric bought lottery tickets
with the money instead. He told John that he'll split any winnings with him, 50/50. Obviously,
neither of them expected to get anything, but they were wrong. Eric actually won $1 million!
Sure, it's not the biggest win ever, but it's still a prize we'd all be happy to receive!
Legally, because Eric bought the ticket, he could've kept the winnings to himself.
But he kept his word and split the prize evenly with John to thank him for his good deed!
8. Neal Wanless Neal Wanless was just 23 years old
back in 2009. He was a real-life cowboy from South Dakota, which sounds cool until you hear that half
of South Dakota's population was living below the poverty line. Neal's family was one of them. Neal
wasn't bringing in much money from being a cowboy, and his dad was forced to sell scrap metal to keep
the family afloat. It didn't help - sadly, their home was repossessed by the bank, and the family
of four was forced to move into a tiny camper van. But everything changed when Neal decided to buy a
Powerball ticket one day. It was the best decision he ever made. That ticket made him the largest
jackpot winner ever in his state - Neal suddenly had $232.1 million! Instead of blowing the cash,
he bought a ranch so he could keep being a cowboy! He also used the money to pay back his neighbors,
who'd helped his family through tough times. That seems like a worthy way to spend a jackpot.
What would you do with your lottery winnings? Tell us in the comments!
Keep watching - you won't believe what the other winners did with their money.
7. Allen & Violet Large
Allen and Violet Large were both over 70 years old when they won the lottery in 2010. They enjoyed
playing the lottery, and the Canada Lotto 6/49 finally gave them their big win of 11.2 million
Canadian dollars, or $8.6 million in US currency. That's just about enough to let them spend their
retirement in luxury. But they weren't that sort of couple. They felt they had enough savings for
their retirement to live comfortably. So they decided to give away their win. And by that,
I mean all of it. They kept just 2 percent for themselves, in case of emergencies,
and gave everything else to friends, family, and local charities. They said they didn't need
anything else because they had each other. I guess we could all learn a lesson or two from them.
6. Anonymous French Winner
We all know how important it is to protect the environment. But that's not normally your first
thought when you win the lottery. This anonymous French Euromillions winner was different.
When he won 200 million euros, or about $210 million, he immediately knew what to do with his
record-breaking jackpot. He opened a foundation that will help protect the environment and
intends to give almost all of his winnings to the foundation over the next few years.
So far we've seen some pretty incredible winner stories. If you feel you are in luck,
you can play completely online by using The Lotter. The safest online lottery platform. You
can play lotteries from all over the world from wherever you are. Remember to play responsibly.
check the link in the description. Let's move on!
5. Paul and Sue Rosenau I should tell you that this story
starts off pretty sad. Paul and Sue had tragically lost their 2-year-old granddaughter, Makayla,
to Krabbe disease in 2003. This terrible disease affects about 1 in every 100,000 newborn babies
and usually results in death before the age of 2. On the fifth anniversary of Makayla's death, Paul
and Sue were watching the news when Sue reminded Paul to check his lottery numbers. Paul didn't
play every week, but he did have a ticket for this draw. They watched in amazement as the announcer
read out every single one of Paul's numbers. The couple was suddenly $180.1 million richer! We can
only guess what we'd do with a prize that big, but Paul and Sue knew exactly what they'd spend
their jackpot on. They set up a nonprofit to help fund research into the disease that ended their
granddaughter's life in the hopes that they would be able to find a cure. Their foundation, called
The Legacy of Angels, not only helps families pay for treatment, but they have also funded promising
research that might actually lead to a cure in the near future! They might not have been able to save
Makayla, but their lottery win could potentially save countless children like her in the future!
4. Frances Connolly Frances Connolly became a
bit of a celebrity after giving away most of her jackpot winnings. You'll realize how generous that
was when you hear how much she'd won - her Euromillions jackpot made her 115 million
British pounds richer! That's about $140 million! She started out giving away big
chunks of her new fortune to friends and family. Amazingly, she'd already made a list of who she
would give money to before she'd even won! But Frances said that giving money to those people
made her addicted to helping others. So she kept doing it! So far, she has donated more
than half of her prize to others, and it looks like she's going to keep doing it!
3. The Best Daughter in the World
What's the best thing you ever gave your mom for Mother's Day? This woman from New Zealand bought
her mom a lottery ticket as a Mothers Day gift. Sure, that sounds like it was just a cheap gift.
But she had already checked the numbers before giving it to her mom! Even though she knew the
ticket was worth over $2.2 million, she still put it in the envelope with a card for her mom!
We can only guess how proud her mom was for raising such a generous daughter.
What's the best gift you ever gave to your mom? Let us know in the comments!
2. Brian Parisi
Most people would never have thought to give away their lottery winnings if they'd been
in Brian Parisi's position. He'd been having a really tough two years, starting with a really
bad car accident that left him with a serious injury. As if that wasn't bad enough, he'd also
been diagnosed with cancer. He kind of deserved to win the lottery after all that, and that's exactly
what happened. He took home $1 million thanks to the Massachusetts State Lottery's Double
Your Money instant ticket game. Nobody would've thought he was being greedy if he'd kept that
money to himself. But he didn't. The first thing he did was to repair his brother-in-law's house,
to thank him for helping him through his rough patch. See? Helping good people can pay off!
And finally, our number 1 happy ending is...
1. Pearlie Mae Smith
By the time Pearlie Mae Smith won big, she'd already raised seven children to adulthood,
so she knew a thing or two about giving. In 2016, she was rewarded with the 6th largest Powerball
jackpot in history. It was an incredible $429 million! I know, that's an insane amount of money.
The first thing she did was to split the money into 8 parts so her kids got as much out of it
as she did. That paid off all their mortgages and student loans, but she didn't stop there.
Her children joined her in setting up The Smith Family Foundation - a charity aimed at helping
people in need get an education and enter the workforce. She hoped that by giving people skills
instead of a financial handout, she'd be able to empower the community for many years to come.