Craziest winner 1: Jonathan Vargas created his own wrestling TV show

Jonathan Vargas was only 19 when his numbers came up in the US Powerball. His winnings totalled a staggering $35.3 million, and his initial plans for the money were surprisingly modest: invest most of it, buy a new house and generally just secure his future. 

Jonathan ended up taking a different path. Combining his twin passions in life, wrestling and scantily-clad women, he created his own television show, “Wrestlicious Takedown”. The show was a strange mixture of all-female wrestling and comedy sketches.

With Vargas himself frequently making appearances under his rapper alias “JV Rich”. Far from being a wild success, the TV network decided to cancel Wrestlicious after one series. We must commend Jonathan, though – no one can say he didn’t follow his dreams!  

“I just retired at the end of September, so I was fortunate enough in my career to set myself up and my kids anyway, and there was no doubt in my mind where that money was going to go, it was going to go to charity.” – Tom Christ.

Craziest winner 3: Gloria Mackenzie fixed her childhood school’s roof

84-year-old Gloria MacKenzie won a jaw-dropping $590.5 million in the US Powerball. She chose to take the lump-sum payout of $278 million. She then wasted no time upgrading the small trailer she lived in to a 6000-odd foot luxury home.

Her next step was a little less conventional. Gloria made a $2m donation to Schenck High School, her local high school, which she attended as a child, and that her daughter was teaching at. She set the money aside to repair the school’s roof. It seems plenty of people are willing to give generously to others with no expectation of anything in return! 

Craziest winner 4: Michael Carroll blew it all in spectacular fashion

Carroll, who goes by the nickname the “King of Chavs”, was only 19 when he won £9.7 million on the National Lottery in 2002. He did not even have a bank account set up at the time of his lottery win. In the 10 years that followed, Carroll managed to spend all of his winnings on lavish new purchases.

His national reputation as a “Lotto Lout” was stoked by the numerous occasions he ran into trouble with the law, receiving an ASBO and serving jail time in the years following his win. In 2010 he applied for his old job as a binman but didn’t get it. 

He spoke about his current job at a biscuit factory: “I get £204 every week for ­packing and stacking shortbread and cookies, and I love it. I treasure those wages more than any £9 million fortune.” This cautionary tale shows that, for some, a massive lottery win can be more of a curse than a blessing! 

Craziest winner 5: John Kutey build a water park

John Kutey won a $28.7 million share of $319 million as part of a syndicate with work colleagues. Intending to give something back to his home city, he went to the village hall with his wife to work out how best to do just that. That’s how Kutey ended up donating $200,000 towards constructing a “Spray park” in Green Island, New York. 

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