So let's begin.

All over the world, lotteries are creating new millionaires every week. But what does it really mean to wake up one day with as much money as you can imagine?

Almost all of us have dreamed of winning a big prize in the lottery. We dreamed about what we would do with this money, but we never thought that this money could do something to us!

The lives of most of us are very much determined by the following circle of events - work, home, friends, hobbies and sports, which make up our world. This world belongs to us, and we feel at home in it. Money that suddenly falls on us dramatically changes everything in our lives.

For example, many people like the idea of ​​not working. But lottery winners find life without a job devoid of purpose for each day, and no reason to wake up early in the morning. Of course, it is tempting to buy a cottage in a prestigious area, but if this happens, you immediately lose old friends and your usual way of life.

Usually, lottery winners receive advice not to publish their addresses and telephone numbers, but they are still found by letters and requests from charitable organizations and simply wanting to get other people's money. The carelessness of the winners forces them to then spend serious money on lawyers to protect themselves from demanding relatives, on security guards to protect their home and swimming pool, and on a psychoanalyst to protect their sanity.

Winners who lost everything

There are many stories about people who didn't learn how to be rich. In 1999, Abbie Wilson from Brixton (London) won £7,000,000, but it brought her nothing but misery. It only took her four years to spend all this money thoughtlessly. During this time she changed five husbands. Now she is alone and without a penny of money. “I’m a miserable person,” she says. “Winning that money was the worst experience of my life.”

Then there was the story of William Church, a 37-year-old chef from Blackpool. He won in national lottery£3,600,000, but his bet was unlucky. Three weeks after winning, he died of a heart attack, unable to withstand the continuous persecution from annoying journalists, the public and relatives, who drove him to his grave with their requests to borrow money.

Winners who survived

For some people, the easiest task is to get rid of the wealth that has washed over them as quickly as possible. Jim Taylor, a sailor from Scotland who won £2,000,000, spent the money in 77 days. Every day he withdrew thousands of pounds from the bank and distributed them right on the street to his former colleagues and just strangers. One day he gave away £150,000 to homeless people in a Glasgow city park. Later he will say that he does not regret the money given out one bit.

Anita Cotton was, at one time, the biggest lottery winner with her £12,000,000 winnings. It took her many years to get used to her new life. “Without the support of my family, I would not have been able to cope with this wealth,” she says. “There have been a lot of lies about me in the press. They said that I left my husband and children, bought an island in the Indian Ocean and was taking drugs. All this is a lie." She shared her winnings with her relatives.

Conclusion

When is the next time you buy lottery ticket, stop for a minute and ask yourself: why are you doing this? Do you really want to win? Or do you want to feel the excitement of the thought of winning?

A resident of Krasnodar won more than 31 million rubles in the lottery. And last year, a lucky person from the Voronezh region won 506 million rubles, which became the largest sum in the history of Russia.

Here's what we know. This is a resident of the Voronezh region. He bought his ticket at one of the local retail outlets sales Just imagine how it could have been: he came and bought a ticket for the 1204th draw,” the message says.

Psychologists are already advising the newly-made millionaire to be careful.

A huge unexpected win is a serious test for the human psyche. A resident of the Voronezh region, who hit the jackpot of 506 million rubles, is better off laying low, say experts.

In their opinion, there will be a lot of people who want to share the triumph with the winner, and most importantly, the amount won.

He will have to fend off all sorts of relatives, petitioners, acquaintances, friends and those simply wanting to get their share of the pie. And this requires, of course, some kind of psychological stability, and, perhaps, even for some period of time it will be necessary to somehow lie low, disappear, so that people do not torture him with requests, phone calls and so on,” psychologists note.

It is unknown what the fate of the newly made millionaire will be, but many previous “lucky ones” quickly found themselves broke after winning.

In 2001, the winner of the Bingo Show draw was an Ufa family - they received 29 million rubles. The winning Ufa residents chose alcohol as the main item of their expenses. They also constantly lent large sums of money and helped their friends repay their loans. As a result, the winnings evaporated in just five years. The “lucky ones” themselves admitted that big money did not bring them happiness.

In 2009, 36-year-old Albert Begrakyan, a resident, won 100 million rubles in Gosloto. Leningrad region. He quickly spent all the money: he bought several apartments in the center of St. Petersburg, a Lexus car, a plot of land in Krasnodar region. The winner shared twelve million with his family. The entire amount was not only completely wasted in two years, but the “lucky one” also ended up owing the state 4.5 million rubles, since he did not pay the full amount of tax for his big win. Therefore, now part of Albert’s property has been arrested, and he himself is prohibited from traveling abroad.

Many foreign lottery winners could not resist spending wildly. In 1988, Pennsylvania resident William Post won $16.2 million in the lottery and squandered the entire amount within a few months, buying cars and speedboats. After that, he admitted to reporters that he liked being bankrupt much more than being a lottery multimillionaire.

In 1993, an emigrant from South Korea Janit Lee, who moved to the US, won $18 million, and eight years later, having given most of her money to political parties, public organizations And educational programs, also declared bankruptcy.

"There is no limit to human greed"

West Virginia businessman Andrew Whittaker won $315 million on Christmas Day 2002. After taxes, he received $114 million. However, just four years later he was effectively penniless. His generosity, claims from claimants for his money, as well as alcoholism are to blame for this. But this is not even the main thing: his daughter, who also faced the test of money, was found dead in her father’s house. The cause of death was a drug overdose. This happened just two years after the win, and in 2009, another daughter of the winner was found dead.

Since I won the lottery, I realized that there is no limit to human greed,” the winner himself said years later. - Now I know: if a person has something, then there will definitely be someone who wants to take it away. It’s a pity that I didn’t tear up this ticket then.

Everywhere I went, these people were everywhere,” Andrew recalled. “For example, I go to a basketball game, and during the game a hundred people, one after another, come up to me to ask for money, trying to pity me by saying that they are poor or have sick relatives.”

Never give money to anyone just like that,” Andrew shared his experience. - Because the more you give, the more they want to get from you. If you give money once, that’s all, those around you will consider you a wuss and will pounce on you like a pack of jackals.

Breaking Bad

Billy Bob Harrell Jr. from Texas hit the $31 million jackpot in 1997. He bought houses and cars for all his relatives with his winnings and made charitable donations. But in the following months the shopping process grew into bad habit. Billy bought another house, then an even bigger house, two more cars. The lucky one was left without money in less than two years. The lottery win caused financial stress for Billy. And ultimately the man committed suicide.

American 55-year-old businessman Jack Whittaker won $315 million. He was offered to take the jackpot with the entire amount that would be paid to him over many years, or an amount three times less, but with the opportunity to spend it immediately. Jack chose the second option. He spent almost 10% of the money on building churches, opened his charitable foundation, which helped low-income families. The man even thanked the woman from whom he bought winning ticket: gave her a mansion, a car and gave her 50 thousand dollars.

Then he became interested in gambling, and one day a large casino filed a lawsuit against him because he owed a large sum. He started drinking the bottle and left the family. Many wanted to profit from him, so Jack was constantly accused of either sexual harassment or attempted murder.

As a result, his business failed, the fund closed, he spent or gave away all the money he won, and his beloved granddaughter was found dead.

Three lottery stories March 19th, 2018

The text below is taken from the Zen channel “Don’t Boil the Pot” (original article “ Who wins the lottery in Russia"). I don’t know whether what is being said there is true or not, but in general this is not important. Another nuance of the article is more interesting:

Lottery organizers usually do not interact directly with their target audience. Well, that is - there is a turnover, millirads are spinning, but how and from whom they are collected - history is silent about this. Meanwhile, most of the participants Russian lottery- these are poor pensioners and others like them. So the advertising picture: a happy family who buys a ticket for 100 rubles and wins an apartment is extremely far from reality. And behind this discrepancy there is a lot going on: the motives for the purchase, the size of the winnings, the frequency of the draws. All these parameters, in the form they are presented by Stoloto, are not particularly interesting to people with above-average income. That's why the number of players is not increasing

There is another version, more cynical. Lottery operators know very well the audience that is with them now. And they just squeeze it to the maximum. By at least those who are poor are more receptive and greedy for those stale buns that Gosloto offers

My colleague Lisa works as a copywriter for the state lottery. He says terrible things - people win huge amounts of money.

Grandmother

A hunched old woman from a Ural village arrived at the Moscow office state lottery for the win. She is entitled to almost two million rubles, but she does not believe that she will receive any. She came to the office with a small cart, to which an old bag was tied with ropes. In the bag is the most valuable and expensive thing that was in her crumbling hut - an old icon from tsarist times that she inherited from her grandmother. And also pies from the oven, which she carried for several days. The pies, of course, were stale, but no one in the office refused to try them.

The postman, an elderly woman, advised my grandmother to buy the winning ticket. My grandmother has a pension of nine thousand, no relatives, and a whole sea of ​​everyday problems. But the main thing is that the roof is leaking so much that the ceiling has already begun to rot. It's scary that it will fall. There won’t be enough money from your pension for repairs, and you can’t take out a loan because you’re too old and you’ll suddenly die. So I bought a ticket, although I never believed in the state, lotteries, or luck. I warned the postman - I’ll try it only once, don’t offer it again.

The postman also told her that she had won. And she helped me get ready for Moscow.

Grandma doesn't know what to do with the money. At first she didn’t believe that she had won, but now she doesn’t want the money. She says that she would take very little, just to repair the roof, and leave the rest here. Divide among yourselves, he says.

Grandma doesn't want to go back. Everyone in the village probably already knows that she became a millionaire - the postwoman is disheveled. Grandma wanted a new roof, but now she will have no peace.

Lisa:Our job is to tell the stories of those who won on the lottery website. Writing people There are two people in the department, and there are five people a day who take away big winnings. Many people cry, they don’t believe that they won, like this grandmother. To somehow calm them down, get them talking and give festive mood, we pour champagne. In any case, you need to talk to everyone, even if they don’t want to be written about. It happens that a person drinks, changes his mind and gives an interview. Most often, those who did not want to talk, but decided to drink after drinking, speak more and longer than others. They are the hardest to interrupt.

There are more elderly people. They realize that they are entitled large sum, only when we convince them of this. And it seems to them that we are involved in this winning, so many offer part of the money or some gifts. Naturally, we cannot agree.

Max

I have two or three interviews a day. They need to be written down, comprehended, deciphered, and made into a story. Moreover, our editor has a knack for literature; she calls these texts “stories” and wants us to give them the appropriate form. So that there is drama, plot, plot, denouement, climax.

I'm writing for a long time because it's hard for me to get over it at first. real story person, and then tell your own, fictional version. So it turns out that in one day I took two interviews, wrote one text, and received edits for the story the day before yesterday. And I always have a lot of unfinished work and the feeling that there is still a lot of work in the queue. This feeling does not go away even on weekends. I'm always on edge.

Ryabinins

The Ryabinins were given a lucky ticket for their wedding. She is in her early forties, he is nine years older. She’s on her second marriage, he’s on his third. Have no children.

They signed modestly, without fanfare, and celebrated in the apartment with close friends, of whom there are very few at this age. His colleague from work read the congratulations in verse, and then handed over an envelope with a small amount and a separate lottery slip. Once she joked about the fact that there wasn’t much money, but if the ticket turned out to be a winner, then there was no need to share it with her. They laughed and forgot. The next day, during cleaning, the ticket was shoved somewhere in a long drawer and was never remembered again.

The marriage didn't work out. Within a couple of months, the Ryabinins realized that their union, like the previous ones, turned out to be defective. They twitched for another month, and then quietly and peacefully decided to separate. No scandals, no screams, no broken dishes. She went on vacation for a week, and during this time he promised to pack his things and return to his place.

The ticket was found on a bookshelf where no one had ever looked. It lay at the very top, where they didn’t even wipe off the dust. Why he looked there and what he was looking for, he did not know. And when he discovered the donated piece of cardboard, he smiled and decided to check it out. I still didn’t want to leave; I needed an excuse for myself to stall for time.

It turned out that the ticket was winning. Four million rubles.

He decided to wait for her to decide what to do with the money. The amount is not big for them, especially if you divide it in half - they seem to have everything, they don’t seem to need anything.

When she saw him at home upon his return, she was surprised. Outwardly she remained indifferent to the win, but after thinking a little, she said that this was probably a sign. That they shouldn't break up. That they should try to fix everything. He didn't mind.

The Ryabinins will put the winnings into a savings account and try to have a child. And when they succeed, they will buy a spacious apartment and make the best nursery in the world.

Lisa:I want to quit. I seem to understand everything - one in a million wins, and these people can actually be helped by this money. But this is unbearable. Every day I see people coming for huge amounts of money. Their lives change overnight. Someone will be able to no longer work, but live for their own pleasure. Have fun, travel, study, do what you’ve wanted all your life. I can't help but think about how I would spend that kind of money. And that’s how we all live and work here. Staff turnover—people can’t handle it. This puts a lot of pressure on my nerves.

At work everyone plays these lotteries. And me too. And no one wins. Statistically this is unlikely. But we buy tickets time after time, sometimes every day: online, in a store, at kiosks, anywhere at all. We spend several thousand a month on them and only become poorer. And before our eyes every day ordinary people become millionaires.

There is probably not a person who has never tried his luck by playing the lottery in his life. By purchasing a ticket for a hundred rubles, everyone becomes a potential millionaire. But luck is a capricious thing, and not everyone has had the opportunity to win, but to win big prizes- the lot of units.

Lotteries are played all over the world. In Russia, only 1-2% of the population participates in lotteries, for comparison: the share of players in France is 70% of the total population of the country, in the USA - 63%. Such a small percentage of players in Russia is explained by Russians’ distrust of lotteries. But among these percentages there are also winners who large jackpots.

Most lucky winners try to remain anonymous and do not tell anyone about their winnings. And this, of course, is correct, because big money attracts many ill-wishers, as well as new and old friends, new relatives. Below are the 7 biggest lottery wins in Russia.

Seventh place. A chidhood dream

On May 29, 2015, a 37-year-old resident played in the “6 out of 45” lottery Kaliningrad region won 126 million rubles. The winner became interested in lotteries as a child; ever since he and his grandfather bought his first tickets, he dreamed of becoming a famous lottery winner. According to him, his grandfather was very fond of lotteries, and when the prize drawing began on TV, everyone in the house fell silent.

The lucky one promised to spend his winnings on building a playground for all the children in the area and, of course, for himself - a big house.

Sixth place. Shock of victory

184 million rubles won in draw 735 of 02/10/2014 of the “6 out of 45” lottery changed the life of one employee construction company from Omsk. I spent 800 rubles. He did not leave the house for three days, the shock of winning affected him so much. The dream of the winner and father of three children was to buy big house by the sea in warm regions.

Fifth place. The winner is anonymous

August 2014 and the Gosloto 6 out of 45 lottery brought a win of 202 million rubles to a 45-year-old resident Nizhny Novgorod, who was shocked by the victory for a month. The victory cost him 700 rubles. In his interviews, he asked to remain anonymous, since at first he did not want to tell anyone about his winnings. All that is known about him is that he is married and has two children.

Fourth place. One hundred ruble ticket

300 million rubles - such a win awaited a resident of Novosibirsk in the Gosloto 4 out of 20 lottery on May 30, 2017. His lucky ticket cost only 100 rubles on the Stoloto website. What is noteworthy is that the winnings of more than 300 million rubles in this lottery were played for the first time.

Third place. Doctor who doesn't believe in his luck

On February 27, 2016, in the “State Lottery 6 out of 45,” a doctor from Novosibirsk was lucky and won just over 358 million rubles. The bet cost him 1,800 rubles. For three weeks the winner was going to Moscow to claim his winnings; all this time it seemed like a dream to him. According to the doctor himself, he checked the ticket six times and could not believe his luck; only by calling the call center of the lottery organizer could he verify his victory. The winner himself is not new to lotteries; he has been playing for about 2 years, using his winning formula. In an interview with Stoloto, the Novosibirsk resident said that he would spend part of the money on charity, as well as on developing his business and on real estate in Moscow.

Second place. Excitement around victory

On May 21, 2017, 364 million rubles were drawn in the “6 out of 45” lottery. The winner was a resident of Sochi, who spent 700 rubles on a bet in mobile application. The newly made millionaire is a cultural worker. Due to the huge excitement that arose around the winnings, at the family council it was decided to go for the money all together, but they did not have enough money for tickets, so the winner did not collect the winnings for a long time. According to her, she wanted to contribute a third of the money to the election fund of the political party Communist Party of the Russian Federation.

Until recently, it was considered the last major lottery win in Russia. But 2017 is rich in records.

First place. Modest pensioner millionaire

The largest lottery win in Russia belongs to a resident of the Voronezh region, who won a fabulous sum of 506 million rubles in the lottery “ Russian lotto" So large sum was drawn on November 5, 2017 in a draw of 1204, and to date is the largest lottery win in Russian history.

The lottery organizers searched for the 63-year-old winner for 2 weeks, as the lucky girl could not believe her luck. "Russian Lotto" for a family is best gift for the holidays,” notes the new millionaire. The Voronezh pensioner said that she would spend this money to help her children and grandchildren, and also donate part of the money to charity.

Money can not buy happiness

Large winnings in lotteries in Russia and abroad have not brought only happiness to everyone; there are those for whom the winnings turned out differently.

In 2001, unemployed spouses from Ufa became winners in the Bingo Show lottery and won 29 million rubles. However, winning did not bring happiness. The couple spent the entire prize within 5 years. But the main misfortune was the death of one of the winners due to alcohol abuse. According to one version, everything was facilitated by new relatives and friends who appeared from nowhere, asking for money for their needs and getting the spouses drunk.

The winner of the “6 out of 45” lottery, a resident of the Leningrad region, Albert Begrakyan, who won 100 million rubles, after 2 years was left with debts to the state. Albert invested in real estate, expensive cars, land for building a hotel, but ended up with a debt of 4 and a half million rubles to the state.

In 2006, an incident worthy of any crime drama happened to a US resident, Abraham Shakespeare. No sooner had he won $30 million than he had many relatives. But the scammers did not stand aside either. One lady approached Shakespeare and promised to help him manage his money correctly. And she gave orders: she transferred all the money to her own account, and soon Shakespeare himself was found dead with two bullets in his chest.

Jack Whittaker was a successful businessman, family man, and philanthropist until he won a major jackpot in 2002. Whittaker became addicted to drinking alcohol gambling, abandoned his family. Within a few years, his entire fortune was spent and his business collapsed.

Jackpots in world lotteries

But even the largest lottery winnings in Russia cannot be compared with the main prizes in lotteries around the world. Residents of the United States are big fans of lotteries, because the largest jackpots are played on American lotteries such as Powerball and Mega Millions. So, the largest lottery winnings in the world belong to:

1. On August 24, 2017, an American won more than 758 million US dollars in the Powerball lottery. This is the largest win in this lottery and lotteries in the world, which came from one ticket. Interesting feature The lottery is that the prize can be received in parts over 29 years or taken immediately, but then the winning amount will be significantly less (about 2 times).

2. On January 16, 2016, three Americans shared an unprecedented winnings in the Powerball lottery - $1.5 billion. The chance of winning was only 1 in 290 million.

3. In May 2014, a resident of the US state of Florida won the jackpot of the same Powerball lottery, which amounted to 590 million US dollars.

How to win the lottery?

The question of how to win the lottery arises for all players. There is no set way to win. Every winner has his own secret of success, but not everyone is ready to share it. Most argue that it is just luck and luck, others follow certain rules:

• They play with an expanded bet, i.e. choose more numbers than possible at the regular rate. Of course, an expanded bet involves more investments, but the chance of winning increases.
• They regularly participate in lotteries and constantly use the same combination. They are waiting for the chosen combination to bring the long-awaited prize.
• They play with friends, the so-called lottery syndicate. In this case, a group of people buys as much as possible more tickets one lottery, and if you win, they divide everything in half.
• Various mathematical formulas are used.

There are also those who believe in happy Days, numbers, clothes, talismans. They buy tickets, choose the numbers on the ticket that are meaningful to them, and use various spells to win.

Statistics of large lottery winnings in Russia indicate that every year the number of participants is growing, and so are the winnings. The probability of hitting the jackpot is negligible and depends on the specific lottery. For example, the opportunity to win in the Gosloto 5 out of 36 lottery is approximately 1 in 367 thousand, in the Gosloto 6 out of 45 lottery - 1 in 8 million, in the Russian Lotto - 1 in 7 million.

If this article has inspired someone to buy a ticket, remember that the winning percentage is very small, play for fun, and maybe you’ll get lucky.