In today’s article, we will present you 5 most successful lottery winners and their good stories. These lottery winners didn’t let the money get the best of them and managed to do something good with it.
Money changes people, and that change can be for good or for worse. Most of the times, you’ll be reading about lottery winners who won the big money, and it changed their life for the worse. They didn’t manage to cope with the huge amounts of money that was given to them out of the blue and that destroyed their life. Just take Evelyn Adams for example, women who won $5.4 million. She took all the money and went on a gambling spree just to end up with no money after. Most of those stories are true, but you shouldn’t believe everything you read. Just look at our list of 11 biggest fake news stories that sound real and you’ll see what we are talking about.
On the other hand, the good stories about lottery winners are often disregarded. Unfortunately, it is always more popular to cover the story about a lottery winner who threw away the money on expensive purchases or substance abuse than to cover a story about people who have done something meaningful with the money. We are here to change that.
To get our list of 5 most successful lottery winners and their good stories, first, we checked the biggest lottery winners in the history using sources like CNN, and Biggest Lottery Winners. After that, we looked for the winners on the list who had the story with a happy ending. Let’s not waste more time, check out the good stories.
5. Les Robins
Lottery Winnings: $111 million
When he won the $111 million on Powerball in 1993, a lottery record at the time, Les Robins didn’t have much doubt on how to spend his money. He decided to build and run a day camp for children called Camp Winnegator. The camp runs successfully to date with Les being involved in the day to day operations of the camp.
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4. Harold and Elaine Messner
Lottery Winnings: $166,5 million
They have done the best thing a lottery winner can do, and with doing so, they had to be included on our list of 5 most successful lottery winners and their good stories. After winning half of Mega Millions $390 million jackpot in 2007, the couple hired a lawyer to represent them. They opted for an early retirement and didn’t give any interviews later, wanting to enjoy their money in quiet.
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3. Ed Nabors
Lottery Winnings: $116.5 million
The other half of Mega Millions $390 million jackpot went to truck driver Ed Nabors. He wasn’t about to do the uncontrolled spending. Since he is an avid fisherman, he decided to buy himself a new boat and spend his days fishing. He also took upon himself to pay home mortgages for his family members and relatives.
2. Colin and Christine Weir
Lottery Winnings: £161million ($250 million in 2011)
This lucky couple from Scotland managed to pair humanity with a good living. Although they have made some big spending like buying a £3 million mansion, they also were not reluctant to share the money with others in need. Among many donations to the local community and setting up The Weir Charitable Trust, they have made a four-year-old Skye Swinton really happy by funding her spinal operation. Another £3 million of their winnings went to the “Yes!” campaign that supported the independence of Scotland from the UK.
1. Mark and Cindy Hill
Lottery Winnings: $293,7 million
The biggest winners on our list of 5 most successful lottery winners and their good stories. The couple was one of two winners, who won the Powerball jackpot of $587.5 million in November 2012. Mark and Cindy Hill decided to give back to their community and buy something for themselves as well. Many donations the couple has made, including a new fire station and ball field to Mark’s hometown Camden Point as well as a $50,000 donation aimed towards the sewage treatment plant. North Platte High School, where Mark and Cindy graduate, also received a generous scholarship fund contribution from the couple.
