The Unluckiest Lottery Winners in The World

Lottery winners are often called the luckiest people in the world, beating odds of tens if not hundreds of thousands to match all the numbers required to win millions. Most treat themselves to a new mansion, fleet of luxury cars and an exotic holiday then sit back and enjoy life – but what about those that don’t; or, like recent $1 million scratchcard murder victim Urooj Khan, who is flooding the news at the moment, can’t? Here, we look at the unfortunate events to happen to the unluckiest lottery winners in the world.

Abraham Lee Shakespeare
Where do we start with the catalogue of unfortunate events which befell poor Abraham Shakespeare (pictured below)? An unlucky man even before his lottery win of $30 million in 2006 (Abraham was an illiterate labourer who was in and out of jail his adult life for theft), his problems got worse when he took his $17 million cash lump sum from the Florida Lottery.

After his win, Shakespeare bought a mansion in a gated community, a car and a Rolex, and proceeded to give away his funds to anyone who would ask. He was sued by his friend, who claimed he was owed half the winnings, taken to the cleaners by a variety of women who sued him for child support, then finally – met Dee Dee Moore, who ended up murdering him and he was found buried under the patio of Moore’s home nine months later.

William Post III
Post was another man unlucky from birth, who had bought his $40.00 lottery tickets for the Pennsylvania State Lottery in 1988 by pawning a ring and using the last of his money. His childhood has been troubled – he grew up in an orphanage and lived off disability allowance. His $16.2 million win should have set him up for life, but he was simply unable to manage the annual payments of the money, got into debt, and filed for bankruptcy in 1996. After being married seven times, fathering ten children, auctioning off his lottery payments and selling his crumbing mansion for a song, he died of respiratory failure a broke man.

The Town of Roby, Texas
A whole town in Texas is our final pick of unluckiest lottery winners ever – after 43 residents won a giant $46 million jackpot on the 1996 Thanksgiving Texas jackpot. This dying cotton gin and farming town (pictured below) with a depleting industry from drought and low cattle prices thought the millions could save them, but alas, they caused more problems. Most of the new millionaires made poor financial decisions, and cut bad deals with lottery buyout brokers which left them out of pocket.

Then, the organiser of the syndicate, Peggy Dickon, died of a brain tumour aged 49 – with suggestions it was bought on by the stress caused from countless TV and media appearances after the win. Today the town of Roby is no more affluent despite its dozens of millionaires, and still flounders – despite the presence of brand new pick-up trucks – and the droughts still cause crop failures.

If you are reading this and still think the lottery could change your life for the better, don’t be disheartened! There are far more stories of lottery winners enjoying their success then hating it – despite what is reported in newspapers. Just look at Chris and Colin Weir, who are changing lives on a daily basis with their winnings. Or the down to earth couple Mark and Cindy Hill who plan to adopt a child now they can afford it. For every bad story, there is a good one – and there is a real adventure to be had, either way!