Who does not dream of winning a lottery in a lot of money? For this, surely you need a great luck. But there are examples in the history of such lucky people who managed to get directly the untold wealth.
So, on May 9, 2000, two American citizens "tore off" about $ 363 million. Moreover, each of the idea was to get about $ 180 million, but after deducting all taxes, lucky people received $ 90 million. As one of them later admitted( Larry Ross), his winnings became absolutely random: the American himself never took a great interest in lotteries, considering them as an empty business. But one day it happened that Larry wanted to buy a hot dog from a street vendor. He had no small money with him, and the seller did not accept large sums( Larry had only $ 100).Not far from the hot dog dealer there was a place where you could buy lottery tickets. In order to exchange money, the American approached and bought 98 treasured lottery tickets, among which was a lucky ticket. The lottery was called "Big Game";"Big game".
In 2002, a certain Jack Whittaker won an amazing amount of money - $ 315 million. True, money did not bring them to the owner of happiness: after winning such a large sum of money, a whole series of misfortunes fell on the American: thefts, arrests, and so on. And the misfortunes grew like a snowball. Very little time has passed since winning, as in the house found the corpse of a friend of the granddaughter who died from a drug overdose. In the end, even on top of everything he was sued by the famous gambling institution of Atlantic City.
In 2004, another American from Massachusetts was lucky enough to win $ 290 million. But after all the tax deductions and the procedures provided by the laws of the United States, the lucky person received only a third of the total amount due to him. Although, in truth, it's not such a small money.
All in the same 2004 was lucky and one more "darling of fate".True, this time he was not an American, but an immigrant from Colombia. His life before the win was quite poor, and the unemployed wife always "sawed" the poor fellow, calling him a loser, worthless, etc. In the end, when only $ 1 was left in his pocket, Juan Rodriguez( that's the name of the future millionaire) decided to try "to catch his luck by the tail."And he won $ 149 million! True, the wife had already filed a divorce in a week with a demand to divide the amount of the win, and her argument for divorce was argued by the fact that her unsuccessful husband could win significantly more.
In 2005, Steve West of the US state of Oregon won $ 340 million. The American himself played the lottery regularly, but luck did not come. And only in 2005 he managed to guess all six numbers that fell during the run of "Powerball".
In 2006, again, an American, however, this time from the state of Virginia, won $ 230 million. The treasured ticket was purchased at the gas station. The administration of the gas station did not offend: it received about 25 thousand dollars.
Again in 2006, another American "broke the jackpot" in the amount of $ 365 million. This time, lucky for eight workers meat factory Lincoln( Nebraska).They decided to "play for good luck" and bought a ticket "Powerball"( Powerball).However, as enterprising Americans decided to take the entire amount of money at once, they got only half of the winnings.
And in 2007 the lottery "Mega Millions" played the world's largest jackpot equal to $ 390 million.wishing to "catch luck" was a huge amount. But only two Americans were lucky - from the states of Georgia and New Jersey. Each got $ 190 million.
And in 2008, James Wilson from Missouri won $ 254 million. True, money was not needed for an 84-year veteran of the Second World War, and he divided the sum of the win between his two unemployed sons.
And finally, an example from the history of domestic lotteries: in 2008 Albert Begrakyan, owner of an auto service in St. Petersburg, a native of Armenia, won about 100 million rubles in the All-Russian State Lottery.
