5 things not to do with your lottery winnings

When you were a child, your mother may have told you that money does not grow on trees. Unless it's a magical tree, of course, something humans are yet to find. But we could compare winning a lottery with finding money growing on a tree. Money that you have come to unexpectedly without any work involved is always easier to spend, and as such, people are known to do stupid decisions with it. The last $5 you found on a pavement, you probably spent on something you didn't intend to buy at all. If you suddenly won with a lottery, and you can check if you did by checking the Latest Mega Millions Results here, don't do anything these people did.


They say drugs are bad, but drugs combined with a huge lottery win and lavish lifestyle is even worse. Michael Caroll won a jackpot back in 2002, but had to declare bankruptcy 8 years later. He used his money on drugs and way too lavish lifestyle.



Donating most of your winnings to charities is definitely not a bad idea, but giving it all away might, just might, leave you off worse than before the lottery win. Janite Lee was lucky enough to win $18 million, but just eight years later she had to file for bankruptcy. Charity is good, but only up to a point.


I'd like to think that most of us have good relationships with our families, but it seems we couldn't say the same about a number of lottery winners. William "Bud" Post manage to achieve going from winning $16 million to being $1 million in debt just after a year. But that's not the worst of it. His brother hired a hitman to kill him, and his former girlfriend successfully sued him for a share of the money. Etta May Urquhart, 76-year-old woman from California won $51 million only to have her daughter sign her own name on the check and keep the winnings to herself. They are probably still involved in ongoing legal battles.



While some people give away all of their winnings, the certain others have done the opposite, continuing collecting food stamps even after winning a lottery. Amanda Clayton won $1 million and still decided to continue taking food stamps. Before dying of a drug overdose, she was sentenced to 9 months probation for welfare fraud.


If your first idea after winning a lottery is to completely change your life, don't! Spending your money on luxurious mansions you don't really need, and taking on multiple mistresses just because you can will only ruin your life. Lara and Roger Griffiths won $2.76 million which could have set them up for life. Instead they spent a good half of it on a home that was soon lost in a freak fire, and their 14-year marriage ended due to Roger's numerous infidelities.

We all know that the chances of winning a lottery are quite low. So the worst thing you can do after beating the odds are anything from the list above.