The Dumbest Lottery Winners Ever!

Here are the

dumbest

lottery

winners

ever

! 6- Abraham Shakespeare The fact that someone with the last name Shakespeare lived through a modern tragedy is perhaps one of the best ironies imaginable, how

ever

unfortunate it may be. Unlike the more famous Shakespeare, Abraham worked hard as a teamster's assistant. But when he won a THIRTY MILLION DOLLAR jackpot in Florida in 2006, his life got even worse. Instead of crunching the numbers and delving into discounted cash flows, Shakespeare decided he was smart and could beat the guaranteed rate he was presented with and instead opted for a lump sum of $16.9 million, significantly less than the annuity of 30 million dollars to which he was entitled.

Never mind the fact that he is a truck driver and if he was really good at finance he would be in the industry. ANYWAY, after buying a Rolex and making big mistake #1 with a million dollar house, Shakespeare didn't seem to binge on drugs or spend a lot of money. But like many before him, there were tons of people who came asking for money. In particular, he started a business with a woman named Dee Dee Morgan called Abraham Shakespeare LLC, with the goal of writing the story of his life... or something vague like that. Just a word of advice guys, you have to have achieved something in life to sell an interesting story...not just win the

lottery

.

What ended up happening was that Moore took full control of the company's money, withdrew a million dollars from the bank, bought cars, and maybe even managed to buy Shakespeare's house for something like $665,000... which is less than what he paid for it. Further investigation suggested that he didn't even pay anything for the house...which is more of a scam! Oh yeah, tip number 2. Never ever let someone else control your real money! I don't care if he is your wife or your husband. Unsecured liabilities, like a company credit card with a fixed limit? Sure. But not your actual cash.

In April 2009 he disappeared and his friends and family could not find any trace of him. Investigators were soon able to locate him at one of Moore's homes...unfortunately he was buried under a concrete slab. Moore was arrested and charged with the murder, although she offered a few different defenses. They were drug dealers...no wait, she killed him in self-defense...she even went so far as to blame her 14 year old son. Investigators didn't believe any of it and she was charged with the crime. She is currently serving a life sentence. Her story was featured on E!'s “The Curse of the Lottery,” as well as an episode of American Greed.

In the end, Abraham Shakespeare will be a tragedy that will hopefully serve as a warning to those who find great fortune in the future. 5-Vivian Nicholson In 1961, a British woman named Vivian Nicholson had the opportunity of a lifetime. Her husband Keith managed to earn more than 3.5 million pounds, a fairly large amount at the time taking inflation into account. Her husband won the money in soccer pools...pretty much another popular form of gambling. She told the press that her plans were to "spend, spend, spend." And she wasn't kidding. Over the next few years she bought all kinds of things.

Expensive cars, fur coats, luxurious vacations, a huge ranch-style house and a spectacular lifestyle that quickly caused her fortune to decline. When Keith was in a car accident in 1965, she was left with a huge tax bill. On top of that, the banks determined that what was left of Keith's earnings belonged to her estate...not Viv's! She ended up bankrupt. After the loss of her husband, Viv supposedly became depressed and she began drinking a lot of alcohol, although she later sobered up. She would marry three more times, work briefly at a strip club, become a Jehovah's Witness, and write an autobiography titled Spend Spend Spend, which was later adapted into a musical.

After watching it, she gave it a fairly neutral review, stating that the musical score and actors were great, but that it didn't reflect her life very well. When she passed away in 2015, there were many things that could be said about her 79 years on earth. Her having a boring life was not one of them. Hey, you know what? I bet there was never a dull moment with her, no matter how bad her decisions in her life were. 4 - Willie Hurt There are several ways to spend a huge fortune. One of the most popular beings, who literally "blows" it... if you know what I mean.

In 1989, this family man from Lansing, Michigan, won $3.1 million in the lottery. However, the next two years proved to be a nightmare for Hurt and his loved ones. Before he could collect all of his earnings, he filed for divorce, separated from his children, and spent all of his money on crack. In 1991, he was charged with murder when he allegedly shot his girlfriend in the head during a 48-hour drug binge, which is exactly what you're not supposed to do to someone, no matter how much money you have. Money doesn't change people, which I agree with, but it certainly allows them to make terrible decisions in life! 3 - Billy Bob Harrell Jr.

It took less than two years for Texas native Billie Bob Harrell Jr. to undo the good fortune of winning $31 million from the Texas jackpot. In his case, he was too kind. After taking his family on vacation, he quit his job, donated money to his church, bought cars and houses for his friends and family, and donated a lot of money to charities. For example, he once donated nearly 500 turkeys to poor families. No matter how big his heart was, his ability to manage his wealth was not so good. Do you notice a theme here? Here's a tip: If you ever win the lottery and have never handled large sums of money before, hire a real LICENSED professional to advise you financially!

Don't let that person be a date, family friend! Anyway, after good old Billy Bob negotiated a deal with a company that paid him a lump sum in exchange for his annual lottery payments, he was left with much less than what he actually won. After a divorce left him basically bankrupt, he tragically committed suicide in 1999. According to TIME magazine, he once told a financial advisor that winning the lottery was the worst thing that had ever happened to him. What is the lesson here? It is better to have recurring cash flow than a lump sum. Never forget that! 2-Michael Carroll In 2002, when 19-year-old Michael Carroll won the UK National Lottery, he gained a kind of celebrity status.

Carroll earned about 10 million pounds, or just over 14 million US dollars. His antics earned him nicknames like “lottery guy” or “King of the Chavs,” which he actually had engraved on a black Mercedes. After a troubled youth, Carroll found work as a garbage collector and made a living collecting trash. When he earned his enormous fortune, Carroll didn't even have a bank account, so he obviously had no idea how to handle any type of financing. Carroll claimed that he planned to spend his money frugally and save much of his money. Ummm... are we supposed to laugh now or later?

Spoiler alert, obviously that didn't happen or else it wouldn't be on this list, right? Instead, Carroll became famous for his partying and gambling habits. Now it's worth noting that he already had a minor criminal record when he won and was wearing a cute little fashion accessory known as an ankle monitor when he came to collect his winnings. I'm just trying to give you a point of reference as to the type of guy we're talking about. Carroll went and bought a mansion, which he called “The Grange”, where he hosted legendary parties, with alcohol, drugs and prostitutes galore!

Oh yeah, he'd also hold amateur demolition derbies in his backyard. Yeah, what the fuck crossed my mind too. Believe it or not, throwing the kind of parties that would surprise even The Wolf of Wall Street or Jay Gatsby tends to attract some pretty nefarious characters. In 2012, he had spent all his money, was broke and was camping in the woods! If there's any silver lining to somehow squandering a $14 million fortune, it's that, according to the Huffington Post, he was able to kick his drug addiction after losing all of his money. For example, he once claimed that when he was rich, he would wake up, take a line of coke and wash it down with some beer...the breakfast of champions.

Last we heard, he was working at a cookie factory making $300 a week. He told the BBC that he appreciates those salaries much more than the fortune he fell back into. To be honest, I don't think he's being real and I think he's just saying it so people don't call him stupid. so I call bullshit. But in case he WAS honest, this guy lost all of his money, but he gained some perspective... that counts for something... I guess... psyche!! Last time I checked, prospects don't pay any bills!! Stay wild, my friends. 1 - Andrew Jackson Whittaker Jr. Many of the stories we've shared with you here are surprising, to say the least, and on some level, they seem believable.

But for someone to lose around THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN MILLION DOLLARS seems almost impossible!! But "next to" is the key word here. Because that's basically what happened. Let's follow the incredibly stupid steps of spending $315 million, shall we? In 2002, Andrew Jackson Whittaker Jr, who I assume he is named after the colorful seventh president, won the multi-state powerball for an ungodly amount of money. In fact, Whittaker's ticket was the biggest winner in U.S. lottery history. His first mistake was rejecting the annuity worth $315 million and opting for a cash purchase of $170.5 million. After taxes, that was worth about $113 million.

Good Lord people, PLEASE DO THE COUNTS!! He then he tried to be quite generous. After donating 10 percent of his earnings to Christian charities, he also created the Jack Whittaker Foundation, using $14 million of his earnings. The foundation provided food, clothing and shelter to low-income families in rural West Virginia. Okay, so Andrew is a really nice guy, huh? No doubt. But was he smart? Well, that's a different story. While visiting a strip club, he left $545,000 in cash in his car. Who are you, Floyd Mayweather? At least Mayweather has recurring cash flows!! Obviously his car was broken into and the money disappeared.

So more than half a million has been lost there. He apparently didn't learn his lesson because months later, his car was broken into again and the thieves made off with $200,000 in cash. Dude, come on, how dumb ARE YOU? Unfortunately things only got worse. His granddaughter's 18-year-old boyfriend lied when she overdosed at Whittaker's home in 2004. A few months later, the granddaughter also lied under mysterious circumstances at a friend's house. The case was never solved. He would later be charged with DUI in 2005 and developed somewhat of a gambling habit. He bounced a $1.5 million check at an Atlantic City casino.

And as icing on the cake, his house burned down in December 2016. It turned out he had never insured the house...so it was a total loss. Oh really? Uninsured? I think my head just exploded. No matter how well-intentioned he may have been, Whittaker didn't manage his earnings very well, and what may be left will soon be gone if he doesn't raise it! Now, if he were to bet half my net worth on what was going to happen, it would surely be that he would be bankrupt again. This is what's next!