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How 7 lottery jackpots ended in theft, bankruptcy, crime and tragedy

These lottery winners who lost it all show how seven jackpots, from Powerball to the U.K. National Lottery, ended in spending, bankruptcy, crime and tragedy

A lottery jackpot is one of the few ways a person can go from ordinary wages to enormous wealth overnight, with no preparation for what comes next. A business founder usually builds a fortune over years. Along the way, founders hire accountants, learn the tax code and figure out whom to trust. A jackpot winner gets the money all at once, often with an audience already watching.

The first decision arrives fast. In the U.S., winners typically choose between an annuity paid out over decades and a smaller lump sum paid right away. Either way, federal taxes take a large share before the money reaches the winner. Many states add their own tax on top. The advertised jackpot is rarely the amount that reaches an American winner's bank account. U.K. National Lottery prizes work differently. They are paid as a single tax-free lump sum.

Visibility is the second pressure. Many U.S. states treat winners' names as public record, and lottery operators often feature winners in their marketing. Once a name is out, requests follow. Relatives, old friends, strangers, charities and scammers all learn who has the money.

This article looks at lottery winners who lost it all, or came close, and at how it happened to each of them. The seven cases are a selection from the U.S. and the U.K., not a ranking or a complete record. Each one turned on something different.

Some winners spent heavily and quickly. Others lost money at casinos, gave much of it away or ended up in bankruptcy court. In two cases, the money drew people who stole from the winner or killed him.

The accounts here draw on court records, lottery announcements, press reporting and, in some cases, the winners' own public statements. Where a loss rests on press reports rather than audited figures, it is described as reported. No widely repeated statistic about how often winners go broke appears here, because no reliable figure supports it.

The seven stories share a sudden change in circumstance, a public profile and very little time to adjust. They also show how many different ways a lottery fortune can come apart.

Jack Whittaker and the $314.9 million Powerball jackpot

Jack Whittaker, a West Virginia businessman, won a $314.9 million Powerball jackpot on Christmas Day 2002. It was then the largest undivided jackpot in U.S. lottery history. The years after the win brought theft, personal and legal trouble, and the deaths of family members.

A single ticket matched all the numbers in that drawing, so Whittaker kept the entire prize. He bought it at a convenience store in Hurricane, a small town west of Charleston, the state capital.

Whittaker was 55 and ran a construction contracting business in West Virginia. He was already financially comfortable before the drawing.

He chose a single cash payment instead of yearly installments. After taxes, that payment came to about $113 million. The $314.9 million headline figure reflected the annuity value, not the sum he........

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