In 2002, American man Jackson Whitaker won a $314 million jackpot for a $2 lottery ticket.
Everyone thought that Whitaker would never worry about food and clothing, but only 8 years later, Whitaker said with remorse in an interview:
"If only I had torn up the lottery ticket in the first place!"
Why did the huge prize money that should have taken Whitaker to the pinnacle of his life become his nightmare?
The source of this article comes from official media (Sina.com "American man won 314 million for $2 and regretted it for 8 years: just tear up the lottery ticket", Sohu "Why were Americans who spent $2 to buy lottery tickets and won the jackpot of 314 million were arrested and put in jail?"), but in order to improve the readability of the article, the details may be polished, please read sensibly, for reference only!
A grand prize of 100 million yuan for a happy event from heaven
On Christmas Day 2002, in West Virginia, Whitaker and his family gathered in front of the television just after dinner. Today is the day of the announcement of the Mighty Stick lottery, and the family of five silently prays in their hearts that the ticket that Whitaker bought for two dollars will bring good luck.
Whitaker, who is in his fifties, is the owner of a sewer construction company that is small but earns millions a year. Despite this, Whitaker still keeps a tight lid on his family's expenses, never spending money except for one lottery ticket a month. However, Whitaker's luck has not been smooth, and he has bought lottery tickets several times in a row, but none of them have actually won the lottery.
Whitaker and his family claim the prize
On Christmas Day, Whitaker used the two dollars left over from his granddaughter's shopping to buy a Powerstick lottery ticket at the supermarket. His wife, daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter were all full of anticipation, and Whitaker was also in a rare interest, waiting with them for the announcement of the results. When the host read the first Whitaker's lottery numbers, the whole family was excited and cheered, Whitaker really won the lottery!
The prize money won by Whitaker is 590 million US dollars (equivalent to 3.714 billion yuan), and the winning ratio of the prize is 1:175 million. Even if the taxes were paid, the money that ended up in Whitaker was as high as $314 million, which means that the Whitaker family will never have to worry about making ends meet for the rest of their lives.
Scenario simulation
Whitaker is proud of his good fortune, and it is the best Christmas gift he has ever received! According to Powerball headquarters, there are two ways to claim the prize, either publicly or anonymously. Whitaker chose the former because he wanted to share the joy with everyone and satisfy his sense of accomplishment by the way.
As a result, the "nouveau riche" Whitaker and his family stood on the podium and said in front of the media that they would invest 10% of the prize money in public welfare and charity to improve the lives of poor people. He did not break his promise, and after winning the lottery, he donated $14 million to establish the Whitaker Charitable Foundation and spent $7 million to help restore two churches. Overnight, Whitaker became a well-known man.
Wanton enjoyment Desire swells
But even so, Whitaker's money is still not spent, and charity does not make up a large proportion of expenses. Recalling the hard days of the past when he was frugal, Whitaker waved his hand and fulfilled all the wishes of his family. For example, taking his wife on a trip to Israel, owning a luxury car, and giving his granddaughter $2,000 a month in pocket money. But whatever his family wanted, Whitaker would not refuse.
In order to make good use of the money to enjoy life, Whitaker chose to resign from the company and lead the whole family to eat, drink and be merry all day. Those things that were unthinkable in the past can now be done with only money, who still wants to work hard as a worker? "Money can make ghosts grind", the Whitaker family unknowingly fell into a strange circle of money supremacy, so that in the later stage, nothing can be separated from money.
Whitaker and wife
The biggest fear of winning the jackpot is the thief, but Whitaker has a way and spends a lot of money to hire a large group of bodyguards; In order to show off his wealth, Whitaker would drive his car around the streets and alleys every once in a while, who would dare to imagine that this person was the "iron rooster" who found a dime a dime?
Not only did Whitaker know how to use money to care for his family, but he was also "good at studying" his personal material pursuits. Nightclubs and casinos are the places that Whitaker frequents the most, whether it is dating beautiful women or gambling money, Whitaker will generously throw out a lot of tips every time. Even if someone takes advantage of the opportunity to fabricate charges to extort money, Whitaker will pay a lot of money to hire a lawyer to help him get away with the crime in order to avoid trouble.
Whitaker's temperament changed dramatically due to his excessive addiction to money, and he became a prodigal who indulged in extravagance and disregard for the law, and he took possession of all the bad habits of pornography, gambling and drugs. In 2007, his wife chose to divorce him, but this still did not seem to wake Whitaker, who was addicted to drunken money. Whitaker is still falling all day long, but he doesn't know that retribution has quietly come......
The extremes of things will regret not being at the beginning
The nightmare began with Whitaker's daughter's son-in-law's family, who became a breadwinner for his daughter and granddaughter after his son-in-law's death from lymphatic. Whitaker already loved his granddaughter, and after experiencing this, he took great care of his granddaughter and almost responded to her needs. No matter what his granddaughter wanted to buy, Whitaker would be generous, which invisibly made his granddaughter follow in his footsteps.
Whitaker's granddaughter was still in school, but since her grandfather "became rich overnight", skipping school has become a common occurrence for this young girl. To make matters worse, Whitaker's granddaughter also became addicted to drugs as a result of a long period of fooling around with idle youths in society. In December 2004, at the age of 17, she died of a heroin and cocaine overdose in the grass in the countryside after being lost for several days.
The first on the right is Whitaker's granddaughter
There is nothing more painful in the world than "a white-haired man sending a black-haired man", but for Whitaker, God's punishment is far from over. In 2009, five years after his granddaughter's accidental death, Whitaker's daughter also died of cancer, leaving him completely alone. The loss of his relatives devastated Whitaker and left him farther and farther down the road of depravity.
Since then, Whitaker has been drinking and gambling every day in addition to taking drugs with a gang of addicts. Due to frequent gambling losses, he lost $314 million in 2010, leaving him with countless bills from all directions. In 2016, a thief set fire to Whitaker's home, leaving Whitaker with nothing to lose.
Without his family and house, without his inexhaustible wealth, the current situation of poverty finally made Whitaker sober. At the age of 60, he had to go out to work, doing hard work to pay off his debts so that he could continue to live. On Christmas Day 2010, when the media asked Whitaker for his true views on the matter, Whitaker looked sad and sighed:
"If only I had torn up the lottery ticket in the first place!"
The huge wealth that fell from the sky made Whitaker from a small boss to a master, giving him the wealthy life he dreamed of. However, the excessive addiction to money also pushed Whitaker into the abyss of desire, and finally ended up with a bleak ending of family ruin. "If virtue is not matched, there will be disaster", money is something outside the body after all, and too much belief in poor thinking will only lead to the destruction of people's lives.
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Resources
[1] Sina.com, "American man won 314 million in 2 US dollars, regretted it for 8 years: just tear up the lottery ticket https://k.sina.com.cn/article_5392517485_1416b496d020010ndd.html";
Sohu "Why were Americans who spent $2 on lottery tickets and won the 314 million jackpot arrested and put in jail?" https://www.sohu.com/a/763542126_121159368