4 ms·

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Whittaker_(lottery_winner)#Legal_and_personal_problems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Whittaker_(lottery_winner... https

by 77pt77 4y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Whittaker_(lottery_winner)#Legal_and_personal_problems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Whittaker_(lottery_winner... https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-12-13/lottery-winner-jack-whittakers-losing-ticket https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-12-13/lottery-w... This man had his entire life destroyed after winning the lottery. Apart from divorce, other men sued him for ruining their marriages by making them look like losers and actually won!

kif 4y ago
> other men sued him for ruining their marriages by making them look like losers and actually won Wait, what?!
- 77pt77 4y ago
  I'm having trouble finding a primary source, but you can find people claiming that. I would not be surprised because, trial by jury.
  - robopsychology 4y ago
    There aren’t juries in Sweden from what I understand
    - mekkkkkk 4y ago
      This was in the US though.
  - kif 4y ago
    Couldn't find a primary source either, but that would be one of the first cases where the phrase "suffering from success" applies unironically.
warner25 4y ago
What's interesting to me is that all this happened after he already had a $17M net worth (20 years ago, so worth almost double that now with inflation, and in a low-cost-of-living area), per the Wikipedia article. That's far more money than I'll ever see. How does more money materially change the life of someone like that? It sounds like his troubles were the effect of publicity after winning the lottery, not wealth.
- 77pt77 4y ago
  According to him, no one really knew he had that much money. I find that highly dubious because in my experience bank clerks talk a lot and there is effectively no banking secrecy.
watwut 4y ago
Whittaker sounds to have had a lot of issues that had nothing to do with lottery. To me it sounds like one of those cases that likely got widely distorted in media. I have seen it multiple times where when you dig into the case, it turned out to be something else entirely.

by 77pt77 4y ago

kif 4y ago

> other men sued him for ruining their marriages by making them look like losers and actually won Wait, what?!

77pt77 4y ago
I'm having trouble finding a primary source, but you can find people claiming that. I would not be surprised because, trial by jury.
- robopsychology 4y ago
  There aren’t juries in Sweden from what I understand
  - mekkkkkk 4y ago
    This was in the US though.
- kif 4y ago
  Couldn't find a primary source either, but that would be one of the first cases where the phrase "suffering from success" applies unironically.

warner25 4y ago

What's interesting to me is that all this happened after he already had a $17M net worth (20 years ago, so worth almost double that now with inflation, and in a low-cost-of-living area), per the Wikipedia article. That's far more money than I'll ever see. How does more money materially change the life of someone like that? It sounds like his troubles were the effect of publicity after winning the lottery, not wealth.

77pt77 4y ago
According to him, no one really knew he had that much money. I find that highly dubious because in my experience bank clerks talk a lot and there is effectively no banking secrecy.

watwut 4y ago

Whittaker sounds to have had a lot of issues that had nothing to do with lottery. To me it sounds like one of those cases that likely got widely distorted in media. I have seen it multiple times where when you dig into the case, it turned out to be something else entirely.