hey millionaire we're all here because we share a dream and that dream is winning the
lottery we can only imagine what our life would be like if we want a huge jackpot but
i'm gonna guess it would be pretty great but even though winning the lottery can't be bad
some winners lives don't exactly go to plan after all that cash lands in their account too many
winners seem to end up even more broke than before they hit the jackpot david lee edwards is one of
those people let's take a closer look at exactly what happened to edwards after his big lottery win
david lee edwards was born in ashland kentucky he hasn't had the easiest time as an adult he was
a well-known criminal convicted of armed robbery but holding up banks at gunpoint is no small crime
and he said he'd spent about a third of his life in jail he was already 46 years old in 2001
when his life changed at the time he was flat broke he borrowed some cash from a friend to pay
his water bill and when he saw he had some change he spent it on a pizza and seven dollars worth of
lottery tickets he had no idea he'd picked all the right numbers but he just gone from broke criminal
to a multi-millionaire worth 27 million dollars he accepted his powerball check in front of
rows of media cameras with his fiancee by his side he took the chance to make a heartfelt speech he
said this win was a poor man's dream come true and in a world where so many people have nothing
he was determined to use this money wisely he made sure everyone knew he wanted to take this
opportunity to secure a stable future for his young daughter it sure looked like he was going
to use this as a chance to turn his life around it would have been a great story if edwards used
his millions for good but that's not how the story goes he took the prize as a lump sum and cleverly
he did hire a lawyer and financial advisor to help him out that's the sort of thing we're
always told can stop you from going broke we can only guess if he really meant what he said in his
speech or if it was all a lie either way even if he meant to use his money wisely he didn't
he immediately took out a 240 000 loan for a huge party in las vegas i have no problem using some
of your winnings to celebrate after all it's not every day you win the lottery but that sure sounds
like a lot of cash to spend on one party it's a lot of money for someone who said he wouldn't
spend his winnings on luxury within five days he was already out of money and phoning his
lawyer to ask for more his advisor later told the media that edwards could have lived a great life
if he had listened to his advice in fact the amount he advised edwards to spend was 85 000
per month that sure seems like a life of luxury to me but edwards clearly wasn't happy with that
because he burned through three million in just the first three months and it was all going on
the luxury items he swore he wouldn't purchase when he made his winner's speech the spending
spree started with a 6 000 square foot mansion in palm beach florida worth 1.6 million not only was
it located in a private gated community but it came equipped with a tennis court and a private
golf course but apparently that wasn't enough space because edwards immediately bought another
six hundred thousand dollar home close by then he started buying luxury cars to fill up his driveway
one million dollars worth including a 200 000 lamborghini diablo and a 90 000 dodge viper
he bought so many that his neighbors complained about his house looking like a car lot for most
people a collection of luxury cars would be enough transport for one lifetime but edwards topped it
off with a private learjet costing him another 1.9 million and he just kept spending there was cash
flowing out of his account faster than he could count thirty thousand for a plasma tv seventy
eight thousand for a gold and diamond watch and then a hundred and fifty nine thousand for a ring
it seemed like he got a bit addicted to buying useless stuff because he was soon filling his
life with antiques swords and even three losing race horses then he paid his ex-wife 500 grand
for custody of their daughter and when he had her in his mansion he bought her a 35 000 hummer golf
cart even though she was only 11 years old it won't surprise you that within just one year
of winning he had already spent an incredible 12 million dollars would you go on a spending spree
if you want a jackpot as big as the one edwards got tell us in the comments and keep watching to
find out what happened in his defense he had tried to invest some of his cash he'd purchased a fiber
optics installation business and a limo service for a grand total of 4.5 million but edwards had
one more interest that was burning up cash drugs and lots of them he and his wife were arrested
multiple times for possession of crack cocaine heroin and illegal prescription drugs the drugs
alone were expensive but the trips to rehab ate even bigger holes into his wallet there are also
rumors of edward supplying large quantities of drugs to his friends sadly many of them overdosed
on the drugs edwards gave them when that happened edwards would step in to pay for their funerals
we can only guess how their families felt about that he and his wife were getting on the wrong
side of the police but their bank balance was in even bigger trouble their problem got even worse
when they contracted hepatitis by sharing needles if you think things couldn't get any worse you're
wrong it was now 2006 five years after edward's big win and he was now flat broke his financial
advisor had invested 16 million of edwards money a few years before to make sure edwards didn't
spend it but by this time it was too late for that money to help at most it paid off some of edward's
debts but it wasn't enough to keep him off the street he still owed thousands of dollars to a
whole collection of people edwards and his wife left the mansion and moved into a storage unit
this was all they could afford but it was a sure sign of edward's fall from grace he was on so
many drugs that he probably didn't care that he was living in a dump surrounded by rotting food
syringes and his own excrement but it eventually became too much for his wife she left him and
remarried but rumor has it she never escaped her drug addiction but where was edward's daughter
while all this was happening while edwards had money he enrolled her in a fancy private academy
so she could receive some of the best education money could buy but it didn't go very far when
edwards ran out of money she went to work as an amusement store clerk somewhere in west virginia
in the end the only one willing to help edwards was his first wife when she heard he was in real
trouble she came to get him her new husband helped her to drive edwards from florida to a hospice
in kentucky but even though she put in all that effort edward sadly died in the hospice at the age
of just 58. edwards had made some big promises in his public winter speech he said he was going to
turn his life around and make sure his daughter had everything she needed for a great life but
in the end he didn't stick to even one of those promises when he died he didn't have even one cent
left for his daughter to inherit maybe he meant all those things when he was standing in front
of the cameras but that didn't help him much in the long run but maybe he always intended to live
a flashy life after subtly becoming rich but even though he lived his last days penniless and filthy
we can learn a thing or two if you're ever lucky enough to win a multi-million dollar jackpot like
edwards it's probably a good idea to listen to your financial advisor they can't help you manage
your wealth if you're spending all your cash on more cars than you'll ever have time to drive