[Magilla]

A teenage lottery winner in Britain has admitted to blowing her 1.9 million pound ($AU3.67 million) prize in less than seven years — $AU482,000 of it on cocaine.

Quote

Callie Rogers hit the jackpot in 2003 at the age of 16, but the now 22-year-old said she spent all but around $38,000 on drugs, holidays, designer clothes and fast cars.

In an interview with the News of the World newspaper, Ms Rogers said she wished she had "never won the lottery money".

"I was spending a fortune on cocaine, a nasty evil drug that tears your life apart," she said.

"I'll be honest, about a quarter of a million pounds of my win has been wasted on it."

http://news.ninemsn....ter-seven-years

Wow. Way to fail.

[shakey_snake]

Fail? Isn't that sort of thing basically expected of lotto winners?

[ShyShy]

I think part of the problem is allowing 16 year olds to participate in a lottery in the first place :rolleyes:

[cooky560]

Well that's true, although it's not entirely unbelievable, the lottery here is only around £1 million for the jackpot, which a modest family will spend in this country in around 15 years

[shakey_snake]

ShyShy, on 31 August 2009 - 06:50 PM, said:

I think part of the problem is allowing 16 year olds to participate in a lottery in the first place :rolleyes:

Meh, a middle-aged guy in Brittany's home town won the Powerball and managed to burn it all.

One of the caveats about being rich is that it changes absolutely everything in your life. And most lotto winners can't change themselves fast enough to keep up with their cash.

[Magilla]

What is it that tells people "ZOMG u haz a munny - quick, buy life destroying drugs!!!"?

[sttaffy]

I don't think it'd change me too much, other than relieving financial stress - I'd pay off my car, student loans, buy everyone in my family a house and go to every painting school I could find. An insane amount of money is just that - 400k is easy to wrap your head around, that's a decent sized house, but the 100 millions we hear about over here is almost too hard to think about trying to spend. I have most of what I want/need.

It might be difficult to draw generalized conclusions about what everyone does when they win the lottery when everybody doesn't play it. People who play the lottery may be more likely to engage in self destructive behavior if they win. I'm not proposing that's true, but we can't know.

I am a very, very stable person - I have quite an even keel and make rational decisions almost all of the time, I don't have an addictive personality, I'm fairly disciplined and have a good amount of willpower - I don't think I'd be damaged by a lottery win. That said, I don't play the lottery because the odds are too long for it to make financial sense :P

I don't think people play the lottery because they hope they win, I'm sure that might be at the back of their mind, but I think it might be more of a thrill, waiting all day for the drawing then following each number as it shows up.

I could definitely see someone that isn't already truly happy thinking that money will change it, and chasing that fake happiness down the drain. That's gotta suck.

[Ido2havegoats]

I'd purchase a mail order bride just because I could. :)

[aaronsen]

This had "inevitable" written all over it from the start. What else was a 16-year-old going to do with all that money, other than blow it?

sttaffy, on 02 September 2009 - 06:29 PM, said:

I am a very, very stable person - I have quite an even keel and make rational decisions almost all of the time, I don't have an addictive personality, I'm fairly disciplined and have a good amount of willpower - I don't think I'd be damaged by a lottery win. That said, I don't play the lottery because the odds are too long for it to make financial sense :P

Word, G. The odds on the high-jackpot Euromillions are around 76 million to one, which just isn't worth it.

I do occasionally have the odd punt if I'm feeling lucky. I swear there's a massive house on the Cote d'Azur with my name on it :alc:

[marvinbarcelona]

aaronsen, on 03 September 2009 - 10:07 PM, said:

I do occasionally have the odd punt if I'm feeling lucky. I swear there's a massive house on the Cote d'Azur with my name on it :alc:

That's my house, friend, and I'll ask you to stop trying to break in. :angry:

[aaronsen]

Sorry about that. And sorry about writing my name on your roof in white paint...