The Wishes of the Biggest Lottery Winners in the US

The biggest lottery winners in the US were not confident that they knew how to properly spend the money they won.

Lotto jackpots in the US are probably one of the most unreal wishes of every American citizen. A beautiful home in the suburbs, latest model of some European car, pools,

• Spending millions is a difficult task to do
• Many lotto winners decide to invest through their financial advisors
• Most of the lotto winners hide their identity

nice company and much more are just part of what would be a picture-perfect life for every American lottery winner, gambling news report. However, the lucky players of the lotto prizes in the US have not always chased the lavish life thanks to the money from the jackpot. In this article GamingZion gives the answers of the question: “what would you do with your lotto win?” for some of the people who have won the greatest prizes in the history of American lotto.

How to spend millions is not an easy task for the biggest lottery winners

A group of six lotto enthusiast in 1990, out of which only Merle and Patricia Butler from Red Bud Illinois came into public, won the Mega Million jackpot of USD 656 million. In their moments of fame the couple stated for the newspapers of the time that they will mainly spend the sum of USD 157 million according to the plans made by their financial advisors and attorneys. So proficient, isn’t it? Patricia even told the media that they would also try to do “some real good” with the money. How much good in the world did the couple make is unknown up to date.

In 2007 Eddie Nabors, however, a truck driver from Georgia won a jackpot worth USD 309 million. He was far more sincere than the Butler couple from Illinois and read the list of things that he will do with the money, reported online gambling sites in the US. House for his daughter, fishing boat for the son and paying off the debts and mortgage of his closest family members, were written on the top of the list. And what about Eddie? He said that he will retire and go fishing until the rest of his life.

On August 28, 2009 two friends from both coasts of the US, Kevyn Ogawa from California and Jimmy Groves from New York won the Mega Millions. An amount of USD 336 million was added to the accounts of the friends. However, their coming into public resulted into serious trouble. As Groves, spoking for the New Your Post, soon after the win was buried by phone calls from everybody that he has ever met, asking for him to borrow some money. ”It’s a dream turned into a nightmare,” reported Groves. “Winning is the beginning. Living with it is pure hell.”

Hiding: an unlucky destiny for the biggest lottery winners

This is exactly the reason why some lotto winners like to hide their identity. One of them is Holly Lahti from Idaho, a single mother and a bank clerk that won the USD 380 million jackpot on January 4th 2011. Not surprisingly, she immediately quit her job and started hiding from the public. However, her former husband Josh Lahti, was a far more open person that liked to boast about the prize. When a reporter from the Associate press told him that his ex-wife won the Mega Million jackpot he exclaimed joyfully: “O that is amazing! I won’t have to pay child support now!” Following journalistic investigation into Holly Lahti’s history, it turned out that she really had reasons to hide. Legally, as online gambling news in the US report, she was never divorced from Josh, so he had rights to claim a big piece from Holly’s jackpot.

On 18 February, 2006 eight workers in a meatpacking company in Nebraska won the Powerball worth USD 365 million. Their job was to process hams and pork, but when they got the prize three of them immediately quit their jobs while the others did the same after they were informed they became millionaires. Three of the lucky winners were immigrants, one from Congo and two from Vietnam. When the Congolese immigrant, Alain Maboussou, was asked about his plans how to spend the money, he responded that he will use them to gain a business degree, and manage his property on his own. And when the single woman among the eight winners was asked whether she will get married soon, she just answered: “No, it is all mine.”