The Luck of the Draw: 15 Fascinating Facts About Lotteries

A woman named Denise Rossi had won a $1.3 million lottery, filed for divorce in hurry and at the end lost all of her lottery money to her ex-husband as a result of violating disclosure laws (he sued her after he learned about the money).

Lottery winners’ neighbors have a higher chance of going bankrupt because they try to keep up with the winners' increased rate of spending.

Roughly 114 prizes worth $1 million or more went unclaimed in 2015. In fact, about $2 billion in lottery prizes go unclaimed every year.

An Arab Israeli man named Jawdat Ibrahim won $22 million in the Illinois lottery in 1990 and used his winnings to develop his home village of Abu Ghosh. The hummus restaurant he opened there has been used to host Israel-Palestine peace talks and has also set the world record for largest Hummus.

In 2012, everyone in the town of Sodeto in Spain won the £600 million lottery jackpot except for a man named Costis Mistotakis because ticket sellers forgot to come to his door.

In 2011, a Chicago couple won $30 million in the state lottery and didn't tell anyone. Not even their kids.

A 19-year-old garbage man named Michael Carroll won $14.4 million in the British Lottery in 2002, spent it all on gambling drugs and prostitutes. He is now working in a cookie factory.

Lottery winners in the U.S. tend to move house immediately to areas of established privilege, whereas Canadians tend to renovate. Nearly 80% of winners from both countries quit their jobs (often to their regret), and many who kept working were alienated from co-workers.

A man named Willie Hurt won the lottery in 1989 for $3.1 million. He then spent all the money on crack, cocaine, and was later charged with murder.

An accountant named Peter Joseph Kelly murdered his client, a $5 million lottery winner, just because he was pushed over the edge by her continued wasteful spending.