Sharing Stories

You may have noticed that we have a box of shared items along the sidebar.  We use Google Reader to aggregate stories that may be of interest to you.  That includes everything from big wins in other states, to lottery insider news and happenings in related industries. 
One of the recent stories to surface was the death of the daughter of Jack Whittaker.  This sad development is another in a long list of tragedies that beset Whittaker after his record setting win in 2002.  The West Virginian became sort of the poster boy of bad luck that follows Lottery wins.  We regret that his woes continue and offer condolences on his loss.
It's important to point out, however, that his problems are not the norm.  Instant, and in his case enormous, wealth can be a burden to some people.  There are stories of winners who have spent their winnings frivolously or lost it all.  On the flip side, the majority of winners go on to enjoy their new wealth, leading happier lives without any problems.  I believe it comes down to the character of the winner.  If you were sensible with your money before the win, you're not likely to suffer ill-effects from a large windfall. 
We had the opportunity to meet with some former Missouri Lottery winners recently, and I can attest to the fact that a big win does not always change the person.  One winner famously declared that she still uses coupons.  The old saying goes, "you can take the boy out of the woods, but you can't take the woods out of the boy." 

Comments

[richard lewis]

u really can tell where most of the people r from who work 4 the lottery u can see it in the prizes and where they win.southwest, middle of state and kansas city, and around st louis.anytime one person can win 8 times and 5 of them r 500 dollar winners in one community in a short period yea favoritisim seems alive and well

[Captain Lotto]

Actually, Richard, the spread of winners is related to population and the rate of play. Winners are clustered around population centers because there are more people to buy more tickets. There are also some players who play frequently, and thus win multiple prizes.
There are no rules about how much someone can play the Lottery, but we recommend that everyone play only for fun and always within their means.