Hey, Millionaire! There are lots of ways to win the lottery. Some people simply play the same
numbers every time until they eventually come up. Some people buy as many tickets as possible,
figuring one of them is bound to win something. Other people just make sure
they never miss a draw. And some will use the laws of attraction to help them win,
whether they visualize winning in their minds or actually write themselves a mock check
for millions. And those methods do seem to work for a lot of people. But there is one more way.
You could just use magic. At least, that's what Elwood "Bunky" Bartlett would say. He claimed
that's how he achieved his big win back in 2007. But could he be right? We're going to dive into
this story to find out if there really is any way to use the dark arts to help you hit the jackpot.
Do you believe that magic can help you win the lottery? Tell us in the comments! Let's get to it!
Bunky was technically a 40-something-year-old accountant at the time of his big win. But
there was more to him than that. He was also a practicing wizard. He had been doing it for
years and regularly taught Wicca faith and magic to others in a New Age bookstore in Maryland.
According to Bunky, this magical practice was vital to his lottery win. As he tells it,
he was doing a tarot card reading for himself a little while before his big win.
During the reading, he drew a card that told him he needed to take time to focus on his faith. So,
he decided to make a deal with the gods. He told them that, if they could give him
enough money to allow him to quit his accountancy job, then he'd focus on teaching Wicca full time.
Bunky says he didn't specifically say he wanted to win the lottery. He didn't
care how he got the money. But he figured winning the lottery was a pretty easy way to
deliver a big chunk of money. So, while driving to his class at the bookstore,
he and his wife stopped at a liquor store where he bought
two $5 Mega Millions tickets. He allowed the machine to choose random numbers for both tickets.
And sure enough, one of those tickets was a winner! He was one of 4 winners
who split the huge $330 million jackpot. That was more than enough to quit his job
like he'd asked - he went home with $32.6 million after taxes.
Do you think a magical force made it happen? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!
Bunky sure believes that magic helped him win.
And who's to say he's wrong? We don't exactly have any evidence that he wasn't
helped by some Wiccan god. Either way, Bunky did start teaching Wicca full-time.
He also started giving large amounts of money to friends and family - and just about anyone else
who asked. According to some of the people he helped, he's one of the nicest men you'll meet.
But it didn't serve him so well. Just about every business he helped fund has failed.
He was helping his friends to achieve their dreams, but when their businesses went bankrupt,
they blamed Bunky. And they weren't the only ones. Bunky himself has invested in several businesses
that have failed miserably. The first one was the thriving bookstore where he used to teach
his Wicca classes. The bookstore was hugely popular and had already expanded to include
a coffee shop. Bunky invested money to make it even bigger and add a space for yoga classes.
But the business went bankrupt almost as soon as it re-opened its doors.
This was followed up by several other failed real-estate investments and a record label that
folded after just two album releases. Although he has got a very successful pizza franchise.
Not only has he lost several businesses, his attempt to design the world's greatest
multiplayer online game has brought nothing but huge amounts of criticism. People really seem to
hate Bunky ever since his lottery win. One website even named him their "stupid asshole of the week."
And his pizza franchise's google page is littered with reviews from strangers
attacking Bunky. He admits he's not the greatest businessman,
but he doesn't seem like the type of person who should invite so much hatred.
Bunky says that he's not broke yet - according to him, he still has $15- or 16 million in the bank.
But with all the failed businesses and the huge numbers of online haters,
I've got to wonder - was Bunky's lottery win a blessing from a Wicca god or a curse
from something on the darker side of magic?