9. William Post III
Why there isn’t already a movie or book about William “Bud” Post, beats us! The story number 9 on our list of worst lottery winner horror stories starts with an orphan who would grow up to be an unsuccessful man. With less than $2.50 in his bank account, Bud pawned off a ring and gave the $40 he got for it to his landlady—with which he was pretty well acquainted (bow-chicka-wow-wow!)—in exchange for an equal amount in lottery tickets. Among those tickets would be one that would turn the indigent man’s life around. That ticket was worth $16.2 million!
And boy, oh BOY did that ticket change his life! It took his already troublesome existence and turned it upside down! Within three months of receiving his first annual installment of just under $498,000, he had accumulated $500,000 in debt. His irresponsible spending spiraled out of control from there and led him back to where he started on disability only receiving $450 a month.
But that’s not all! Aside from losing it all, he was arrested for shooting at his sixth ex-wife AND a bill collector, the landlady who got him the tickets sued him for half of his winnings [and won], and to top it all off—his own brother hires a hitman to try to kill him!
The movie would have everything from the unfortunate character who gets lucky, to the woman (or women!—the dude did end up with six failed marriages and one successful one), and even a bit of action! The only thing one of the worst lottery winner horror stories is missing is a “happy ending”.
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