Infamous Lottery Winner Wins Again !

Depending on your viewpoint Jack Whittaker is either the most famous, or infamous, lottery winner in the nation. In 2002 Whittaker won a record $315 million Powerball jackpot and took a lump sum payout of about $93 million after taxes. Whittaker's life quickly spiraled out of control; he was robbed at a local strip club, was sued by Caesar's in Atlantic City for bouncing $1.5 million worth of checks to cover his huge gambling losses and lost his granddaughter to a drug overdose. In addition to all that Whittaker was arrested for drunk driving, was robbed of $200,000 and said that thieves had taken all of his money by cashing bogus checks. Whittaker says he has been the subject of over 400 various legal actions since he won the huge jackpot. One of Whittaker's attorneys said that he has spent over $3 million dollars fighting various lawsuits and legal claims against him.

Whittaker's story is not that unusual and many other big Powerball and Mega Millions winners have found themselves in serious financial and legal troubles after hitting it big playing lotteries. What makes Whittaker's story even more troubling is the fact that before the big Powerball win he ran a highly successful contracting firm in West Virginia and had a net worth of about $17 million dollars. Whittaker was obviously used to handling large sums of money responsibly so it is very puzzling why he behaved as he did. Studies by psychologists have shown that most people treat money with more respect when they have earned it rather than winning it. The fact that Whittaker started drinking heavily after his win could account for some of his bizarre behavior.

Whittaker has not stopped playing the lottery though. Earlier in the year Whittaker won a $10,000 lottery prize after he purchased a Powerball ticket at a convenience store. West Virginia Lottery Spokeswoman Nancy Bulla said, "He matched four numbers plus the Powerball number for a $10,000 prize. It was a $5 Easy Pick ticket for the Jan. 9, drawing." Whittaker was only one number away from winning another multimillion dollar Powerball jackpot. Once again Whittaker's past was brought up. Last year Whittaker told the Associated Press, "I don't have any friends. Every friend that I've had, practically, has wanted to borrow money or something and of course, once they borrow money from you, you can't be friends anymore."Maybe it was just as well that Whittaker didn't hit it big a second time!