Hey, Millionaire! We've all heard stories about big lottery wins ruining people's lives.
Sure, it's pretty surprising - we always think winning the lottery is the best
thing that could happen to anyone. But there are all kinds of ways a big win
can go wrong. This is another story of a jackpot ruining someone's life,
but it's not quite like the stories we're used to. There are no poor investments, scammers,
or addictions in this story. It's just one woman who won big and ruined her own life in
the process. And she really has nobody but herself to blame. Let's just say people like you more if
you keep your word. This is the unlikely story of Tonda Lynn Dickerson's multi-million dollar win.
Tonda had been working at the Grand Bay, Alabama Waffle House for a long time,
and so had most of the other people there. The waitresses at this Waffle House felt they had
all formed a pretty strong bond over the years.
Edward Seward was a big part of this little Waffle House family. He'd been a regular for years, and
he often bought lottery tickets for the waitresses instead of a tip. It was a pretty cute gesture of
appreciation - especially when you think back to the story of Robert Cunningham tipping his
waitress friend Phyllis Penzo with a winning ticket. While none of the people in this Waffle
House really thought they'd win, there was always a possibility that their lives would change.
Edward really was a generous man, and he only asked for two
things from the waitresses if any of their tickets ever won big. First,
he requested that they buy him a pickup truck. Nothing too fancy, just a good, reliable truck.
But even more importantly, he wanted the winnings to be shared between all the waitresses.
They were more than happy to accept those conditions. As I said,
they were all good friends, and they wanted to share anyway. Well, most of them did.
One ordinary day in 1999, Edward entered the Waffle House as usual
with one lottery ticket for each of the five waitresses, including Tonda.
They all loved having something to talk about. It was the day of the lottery draw,
so three of the waitresses checked the numbers on their tickets immediately. When none of them won,
the excitement was over, and nobody really believed any of the tickets would win. So Tonda
and one other waitress didn't open the envelopes containing their tickets until the following day.
When Tonda finally decided to check her numbers, the waitresses couldn't believe
what they saw. They had actually won! The ticket was worth a whopping $10 million! That was more
than enough to buy Edward his pickup truck and give each waitress a life-changing amount of cash.
And that's probably exactly what would've happened - if only the winning ticket had been handed to
any of the other waitresses. But, as luck would have it, the winning ticket was in Tonda's hands,
and she had no plans to share. She immediately accepted the $5 million lump sum and took off.
What would you have done if you were one of the waitresses? Let us know in the comments,
and keep watching to find out what happened!
Obviously, the waitresses were really disappointed.
Sure, losing all that money was bad, but Tonda's betrayal was even worse.
They all thought they were real friends. So, while Tonda was enjoying her new fortune,
the waitresses got together and decided they'd sue her. After all, they had an agreement.
And I think Tonda sure deserved to face some kind of justice for her actions.
The courts acknowledged that the waitresses had a verbal agreement about splitting the winnings.
And, of course, everyone watching was rooting for the money to be split up. But there was
a problem. In Alabama, the law forbids any contracts related to gambling. That meant that,
even though the waitresses did have an agreement that would've won the case in another court,
this verbal contract was illegal in their state and not enforceable in a court of law. Tonda
won the case and got to keep all the money. But that wasn't the end of the story.
We can only imagine how disappointed the waitresses were. But they weren't the only ones
who felt the injustice. Edward was still visiting the waffle house and talking to the waitresses.
He wasn't too happy about what Tonda had done to his Waffle House friends with his gift.
He had only gifted the lottery tickets under the condition that the winnings would be shared,
so he definitely sided with the waitresses. Plus,
Tonda never bought him a truck as promised. Seriously, that's the least she could've done.
Even though the last case had lost in court,
Edward wasn't giving up that easily. The waitresses couldn't take Tonda to court again,
but he could. He hoped he could get justice for his friends at the Waffle House. He claimed that
Tonda's actions were equal to fraud because she had accepted the ticket on the condition that
she would share any winnings. But he didn't have as much power in the case as you'd hope.
His case lost before it even made it to court. And, even though he was determined enough to
continue to appeal until the case reached the Supreme Court of Alabama, he never won.
What would you have done in Edward's position? Tell us in the comments.
It must have been a pretty sad day when Edward and the waitresses ran out of options.
They were sure Tonda would get away with her actions.
None of them would've guessed that this wasn't the end of the story.
Unlike most lottery winners who spend all their money on luxuries, Tonda was investing
the winnings. She worked out a plan with her family to open a corporation they called
'9 Mill.' This type of S corporation is popular with rich people. It protects their
money from creditors, makes gifting easy, and often helps them avoid certain taxes.
This sounded great to Tonda - she could keep her assets safe and share with her family at the
same time. At least, that's what she thought. She kept 49% of the stock for herself while
her parents and siblings split the other 51%. And that's where she made her first mistake.
13 years after Tonda was given the winning ticket, an eagle-eyed IRS attorney named Toye Sue
decided to take a look at 9 Mill. According to this super smart attorney, when Tonda transferred
shares to her family, she had given them a gift worth about $2.5 million. Unfortunately for Tonda,
these kinds of gifts come with a gift tax. We can assume that Tonda thought she was avoiding
this tax by opening 9 Mill, but the IRS didn't agree. They issued Tonda with a bill for her
unpaid federal gift tax. And it was no small fee. She actually owed them over $771,000!
But Tonda had been to court about the winnings before. And even though she was
clearly stealing from her friends, the law took her side every time.
She probably figured she could continue her winning streak, even against the IRS.
Would you have paid up if you were Tonda? How would you have argued against it?
Let us know in the comments!
So Tonda claimed she wasn't responsible for paying the taxes. And now she was back in court. She
wasn't worried, though - she had her argument planned. She claimed that she had made a verbal
agreement with her family members that she would share her winnings with them even before she had
been given the ticket. Therefore, the shares she gave them weren't a gift. She was simply
fulfilling a contract. Sounds familiar, right? I guess Tonda forgot that she won the first
court case because verbal contracts related to gambling aren't enforced by the law. Oops.
It was obviously a big mistake. The courts weren't about to take her side this time.
Unfortunately, they did discount the total because the total amount she'd given to her family was not
as valuable as when she had initially given them the shares. But even though the courts
claimed the discounted value of the ticket was just over $1.1 million, she still had to pay a
huge amount of tax. The total amount she lost in the end was around $357,000! That's not as
much as anyone would've hoped. But, at least she had to face some kind of justice for her actions.
You can bet Edward and the cheated waitresses were pretty happy to hear that news, even if they never
got what they deserved. As I said, there are many ways a lottery win can ruin your life. But the
only way to guarantee it will make you miserable is by lying and stealing the cash. I doubt Tonda
is very popular these days. But if you betray your friends, I don't think you deserve new ones.