Let’s face it, winning a lottery is a big thing! It becomes even bigger if you win a major cash prize or hit the jackpot. You’ll never know how sweet it is to win a lottery prize not unless you start playing the game and stand a chance of winning.
However, you can hear stories of people who’ve won the lottery to motivate you and give you a sneak preview of how interesting the lottery is. Today, we’ve gathered five stories from past lottery winners, which we will share with you to show how the lottery has transformed people’s lives.
1. How Powerball Jackpot Kept a Cowbow Ranching
One of the most instrumental stories of lottery winners is that of a 23-year-old Neal Wanless who was struggling to keep his property afloat in 2009. Neal was always behind on taxes and he could not afford basic repairs in his ranch. He even opted to start selling scrap metal to earn him some extra cash that he could try to repair his ranch.
One day, it dawned on him that he could try his luck on the lottery, given that he had tried everything but nothing seems to be going right for him. Just like any other lottery player, he took the risk and invested $5 he had earned from selling scrap metals. Neal selected his lucky numbers based on the birthdays of his family members.
His risk proved worthy when he won one of the biggest Powerball jackpots. After paying taxes, he was left with about $88.5 million. This money was more than enough to keep his ranch back in shape. He also used some part of the money to help his community, truly living by the spirit of the lottery, which is helping the community.
2. Life-changing moments for a single mother of five
The story of Cynthia P. Stafford is also an interesting one from a lottery winner. Cynthia’s brother was hit by a drunk driver and died, forcing her to take in her brother’s five children. The burden of raising the five children and also supporting her father financially was too much a burden for her.
In January 2007, her situation got worse as she struggled to pay her bills; however, she couldn’t stop thinking of how a lottery win could transform her life. She had a figure in her mind, $112 million, a figure she had started thinking about since 2004, and she focused her life on winning that amount. She tried using several methods that attracted luck, one of which included meditating on becoming a winner of $112 million.
Unbelievably, Cynthia won the exact amount after buying jackpot tickets a couple of times every month. She credited her consistent prayers and the law of attraction for guiding her to her desired major win. Just like that, her life and that of her brother’s children changed for good.
3. A lottery winner spends her life giving it away
Every lottery winner always has an interesting story of how they won the money and how they spent it; however, the story of Sheelah Ryan is rather fascinating. She won $52 million after playing the Florida State Lottery. Her win was the biggest an individual had gotten at the time.
Soon after winning, she started giving out the money back to society. Sheelah spent her final years of life helping her community using the money she won from the lottery. Many people believed that she had won the money for the sole reason of giving it away to help people who needed it the most.
She starter a charitable organization that helped the poor and the underprivileged. After winning, she lived for six years before succumbing to cancer. However, the Ryan Foundation that she left behind has been carrying on the good work of helping the needy in Florida.
4. Powerball winners use their winnings to fight a disease that killed their granddaughter
The story of Paul and Sue is also an interesting one to hear. It is that of Powerball winners who dedicated their winnings to help find the solution to a disease that had killed their granddaughter five years earlier.
So, when they won $181.2 million in 2008, they decided that they will start a foundation that will help raise awareness of the rare disease that killed their granddaughter. Krabbe Disease is a rare and incurable disease that affects 1/100,000 newborns. An affected child often dies within the first two years as the lining of their nerves is attacked. The rareness of the disease makes it less likely to receive funding from donors.
The two jackpot winners founded an organization, The Legacy of Angels, which raised awareness of Krabbe Disease and funded future research that would lead to treatment.
5. Man gives away his winnings to fight the disease that killed his wife
Tom Crist’s story is also an inspirational one. While many lottery winners plan to quit their jobs and take a vacation exploring life out there, he dedicated all his $40 million winnings to fighting the disease that had killed his wife.
Tom had lost his wife two years earlier to cancer. Since he was already retired with his adult children doing well, he decided to use all the money to help fight cancer. He donated his winnings to an organization that fights cancer, and his children were extremely happy with the idea.
Three Takeaways from Lottery Winners’ Stories
The five stories are extremely interesting and motivational. These are the three things that we can learn from the stories of the past winners of the lottery.
- The lottery is a game of chance. You never know when you can win and anybody can be a winner, regardless of the socioeconomic background.
- Persistence and the law of attraction are useful tools that can help you win the lottery. You have to believe in yourself to win the lottery.
- Lottery winnings mustn’t be spent holidaying! You can invest the money in a charity of your choice and still enjoy your winning.
Remember, you have a chance of becoming a lottery winner if you start playing today. If you want to join the exclusive club of the lottery winners – check LottoNigeria.com and play GG World Lotto.