# Lotteries, one year later: How many have crashed and burned?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotteries-one-year-later-how-many-have-crashed-and-burned/145353>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 28, 2002, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotteries-one-year-later-how-many-have-crashed-and-burned/145353 "2002-12-28T12:13:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Doc\_Nickel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5fc32e/32.png) [@Doc\_Nickel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doc_Nickel)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotteries-one-year-later-how-many-have-crashed-and-burned/145353/1 "2002-12-28T12:13:17Z")

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Interestingly enough, I was discussing lotteries and other windfalls with some colleagues recently, and then this [Pit](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=152790) Rant about the recent Powerball winner reminded me.

How many lottery winners actually make a valid go of the winnings? As in, say, a year, or two years down the road, they still have significant percentages of the winnings, healthy investments, etc?

Over the years, I’ve read articles about various winners several months or a year down the road, who, after winning, say, $10 Million, are now working at a Dennys and living in a small apartment. The reasons are, it seems, legion- bad investments, drug/alcohol addictions, divorces, friends, family and even con-men leeching off vast amounts, ad nauseum.

Naturally one hears the “after” stories that are worth reporting- those who now have settled down into a comfortable life of semi-luxury aren’t newsworthy.

Does anyone keep stats, however formal or informal? Lists of winners and how they held up financially over six months, twelve months? Is there a site out there somewhere that details some of the ‘after the fact’ stories? Or what do do and what not to do?

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**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotteries-one-year-later-how-many-have-crashed-and-burned/145353/2 "2002-12-28T12:40:58Z")

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You don’t hear about the good investors, because that story’s not interesting.

The first $1,000,000 winner in Maryland’s lottery was cleaning toilets in Florida rest stops 20 years later because his annuity check was eaten up by creditors as soon as it’s issued.

_“And they lived happily ever after”_ just doesn’t sell newspapers.