Probably everyone dreamed of winning big money at least once in their life. There are few people who succeeded in making that dream reality by winning the main prize in a lottery or on websites like bitcasino.io. However, the real question is – was it a blessing for them, or were they the victims of the lottery curse? Let’s look further into this matter…
Abraham Shakespeare
Abraham was a highschool dropout who couldn’t even read. One day, when he and his coworker stopped at a corner store, he gave him some dollars to buy tickets. And the unexpected happened – Shakespeare won around $40 million. However, his joy didn’t last for long, as right after the win he was taken to court by his coworker who claimed that Abraham stole the tickets from him. Shakespeare won the case, but it was just the beginning of his troubles.
Since he gave money to those who asked, more and more people started to ask him for money. According to him, it was then that he began to realize that people who he thought were his friends, were keeping in touch with him only for the money.
The climax of his troubles happened when he met Dee Dee More, who wanted to write about him and help him with money management. However, as soon as he said yes, Dee Dee started to spend all of his money on herself and went as far as taking possession of his house. But it still wasn’t enough for her.
Dee Dee ended up killing Abraham and buried his body under the floor at her boyfriend’s house. She was trying to convince everyone that he was still alive by sending fake texts and even tried to bribe his family so that they would say that they saw him. However, all of her efforts have been for nothing as her crime came to light. She was accused of first-degree murder and is serving her sentence up till this day.
Jack Whittaker
In contrast to Shakespeare, Jack Whittaker actually had quite a lot of his own money before he won in a lottery. And even though he did a lot of good with his prize (for example he set up a charitable foundation), the lottery curse didn’t spare him.
Since his story was a subject of interest in many media outlets, a lot of people started to ask him for money. He also had a bad habit of leaving money in the car because of which, one time, when he was in a strip club he got robbed of almost half a million dollars. His company started to suffer the consequences as well, with hundreds of lawsuits filed against it. All of this caused him to start drinking and often get involved in fights.
Whittaker loved to spoil his granddaughter Brandi. However, the wealth made her fall in the wrong crowd. Her boyfriend was found dead in his house – the death was caused by overdose – and one year later Brandi also died under suspicious circumstances. Till this day nobody knows what happened. It wasn’t the end of his losing streak, as seven years later his daughter died, and his wife filed for a divorce.
Neal Wanless
Neal is an example of how winning in a lottery can be a blessing. When he was 23 years old, he was one of the poorest ranchers in his county. He was behind on taxes, and couldn’t afford to make even the basic repairs on the ranch.
One time, when he was in a local town, he decided to buy a lottery ticket. He spent $5 and selected the numbers from the birth dates of his family members. Turns out that taking a risk was worth it, as he won around $90 million.
He continued to work on the ranch and decided to devote part of his prize to people in his community. As he said in one of the interviews: “My family has been helped by the community, and I intend to repay it back many times over.”
Conclusion
The stories of Abraham Shakespeare and Jack Whittaker might make you think that there is nothing worse than winning in a lottery. However, both of them share something that made them become the victims – they didn’t know how to manage their money correctly.
Whether you will be the victim of the lottery curse or not depends mainly on how well you’ll manage your prize. Many people won and managed their money in a way that made it possible for them to quit their job and live somewhere in the Bahamas. However, you don’t hear about them in the media. It’s because the media love tragic stories, as they bring them the most views or the most issues sold.
So is winning lottery luck or a fail? Honestly, everything depends on how you look at it.
