# Lotto winner found guilty of welfare fraud dies of drug overdose **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 1, 2012, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotto-winner-found-guilty-of-welfare-fraud-dies-of-drug-overdose/636385 "2012-10-01T14:05:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotto-winner-found-guilty-of-welfare-fraud-dies-of-drug-overdose/636385/1 "2012-10-01T14:05:32Z")
[Story here](http://wtvr.com/2012/10/01/michigan-lotto-winner-found-dead/) So Amanda Clayton was on welfare, won a million dollar lottery, continued to collect welfare benefits because she wasn’t working, got convicted of fraud, was put on probation, and OD while in bed with her one and a half year old daughter? I cannot begin to tell you what’s wrong with that. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotto-winner-found-guilty-of-welfare-fraud-dies-of-drug-overdose/636385/2 "2012-10-01T15:15:55Z")
Personal demons are not soothed by windfalls, unfortunately. Damaged people are still damaged. But with a ton of cash what restraints are there? Like pouring gasoline on flames. Reminds me of high school aged professional athletes, 18mnths later, dead behind the wheel of an outrageously priced car, wrapped around a tree, blood full of junk, millions in the bank. So sad, truly. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotto-winner-found-guilty-of-welfare-fraud-dies-of-drug-overdose/636385/3 "2012-10-01T15:20:52Z")
Yeah, getting access to that amount of cash when you’re an untreated addict is pretty much equivalent to ordering your death certificate ahead of time. Her poor little daughter. I hope she’s got some sane relatives to raise her without running through the remaining estate. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotto-winner-found-guilty-of-welfare-fraud-dies-of-drug-overdose/636385/4 "2012-10-01T15:28:15Z")
> [@the linked article](#): > > When she went to a home in Ecorse on Friday night to see her kids, 25-year-old Amanda Clayton appeared confused said her friend’s boyfriend. > > “She was already in a bad stage. Her legs were shaking,” said the friend’s boyfriend who did not want to be identified. ”She was going through her prayers. She was eating food with the kids.” Forgive me if I appear confused also… ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotto-winner-found-guilty-of-welfare-fraud-dies-of-drug-overdose/636385/5 "2012-10-01T15:45:56Z")
There are lots of sad stories about people who win lottery or get other sudden, unexpected big windfalls of cash. Money doesn’t change people - they are still the same idiot asshole/sane nice person they were before, just with more cash to continue being who they were. This is of course especially true for addicts - alcoholics will buy more, better booze, drug addicts will have more stash on hand. But the same goes for the car fan who will then buy 30 cars, or the fashion freak who will get 987 pairs of shoes…you just remain the same person, with same tastes and interests, except now you can go nuts with your passion/addictions. Oh, and now you get 1000’s of people suddenly popping up out of nowhere who claim to be your best friend. I like to think I could handle winning a huge amount of money - I know I would go into hiding until it calms down and my SO and I like to travel so we would just disappear and head off on a world trip first. But once again, I am sure we would return and just buy a bigger house perhaps, a new car, some techno toys…but pretty much remain the same people we are now. Granted, this woman “only” won a million, but considering she had nothing and was on welfare, well that would have seemed like more money than she could ever spend at the time…until you read that article and find out she only had $67,000 left when she died. She must have been burning through that cash quickly, and I think it is safe to say she wasn’t clever enough to get an accountant who might have been able to invest some and given her a generous, but more sane amount of money to spend weekly/monthly. Sad story, but if you Google stories about lottery winners, you will find many other really sad stories mixed in as well. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotto-winner-found-guilty-of-welfare-fraud-dies-of-drug-overdose/636385/6 "2012-10-01T19:04:32Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Forgive me if I appear confused also… I forgive you. I’m having trouble making sense of that statement myself. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotto-winner-found-guilty-of-welfare-fraud-dies-of-drug-overdose/636385/7 "2012-10-01T19:44:28Z")
A fool and thier money are some party! ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotto-winner-found-guilty-of-welfare-fraud-dies-of-drug-overdose/636385/8 "2012-10-06T04:49:49Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > I forgive you. I’m having trouble making sense of that statement myself. Sounds to me like he’s saying she knew she wasn’t going to be alive much longer. And that eating with her kids and saying prayers were unusual for her. Otherwise, it sounds like he was trying to say the exact opposite: there was nothing wrong with her except her legs were shaking, so we didn’t expect anything. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotto-winner-found-guilty-of-welfare-fraud-dies-of-drug-overdose/636385/9 "2012-10-06T04:55:12Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > A fool and thier money are some party! I see you know my cousin… ---
**Author:** ![Tad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@Tad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tad)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotto-winner-found-guilty-of-welfare-fraud-dies-of-drug-overdose/636385/10 "2012-10-06T05:03:31Z")
Her tombstone will read: “Things went better than expected.”