Jack Whittaker, who won a $315m (£235m) Powerball jackpot in 2002, later said he wished he had torn up the ticket after his life spiraled into tragedy, divorce, and addiction.
Whittaker purchased the ticket at a supermarket in Hurricane, West Virginia, on Christmas Eve 2002. He was not a regular player. At the time, it was the largest single winning ticket in US lottery history.
Whittaker was already a wealthy businessman worth $17m (£12.7m) and ran a successful construction company. He took a lump sum of $113m (£84m) after tax.
Life after the win
Whittaker spent $15m building two churches and launched the Jack Whittaker Foundation, sending money to people for car payments and other expenses. However, he was regarded as an unpopular winner. Bob Rufus, a divorce accountant, recalled a row between Whittaker and his wife's divorce lawyer, saying: 'Jack was ready to start throwing punches. He was very volatile.'
Whittaker initially told Fox News he was 'doing God's work with all this money' and 'helping a lot of people.' But he soon began frequenting a strip club, Pink Pony, where he put $50,000 (£37,500) in cash behind the bar. The bar manager told the Washington Post: 'My worst nightmare was waking up in the morning and reading in the paper that Jack Whittaker got rolled at the Pink Pony. I said, “Please put that money away.”'
Later, Whittaker bragged he had over a million in cash in his Lincoln outside the venue. Two people allegedly spiked him and broke into the car to retrieve the cash; both were charged but escaped prison, and the money was found by a rubbish bin. Five months later, $200,000 (£150,000) was stolen from the same car outside the same strip club.
Family tragedy and downfall
Whittaker bought a Lamborghini and became known for throwing cash out of the window. When asked why he carried large sums, he replied: 'Because I can.'
In 2004, his 17-year-old granddaughter, Brandi Bragg, was found dead in a plastic tarp behind an abandoned van. Whittaker had been giving her $2,000 (£1,500) per week and bought her four cars. Bob Rufus said: 'He gave a crazy stipend to his 17-year-old granddaughter and that attracted some bad characters: nothing good came of it.'
Whittaker was sued by Caesars Atlantic City casino after bouncing a $1.5m (£1.2m) check for gambling losses. In 2008, after 42 years of marriage, Jewell Whittaker filed for divorce; in 2011, the Supreme Court ruled his ex-wife could access some of his company holdings.
In 2009, Whittaker's daughter, Ginger Whittaker Bragg (Brandi's mother), died at age 42. He told ABC News: 'I pretty much lost everything I had and held dear in my life. Money has never meant anything to me. You have to have money to exist in this world, but money doesn’t rule the world. Money is not what makes people happy.'
Regret and death
Whittaker's house burned down in 2016. He added: 'My wife said she wished she’d torn the ticket up and I wish I had torn the ticket up too. I just don’t like what I’ve become.'
According to the Washington Post, he once offered a female bartender cash for sex and offered another woman $10,000 (£7,500) to pose in her underwear. He was also accused of sexual assault in a case that was settled before he claimed in 2007 he was too broke to pay out.
Whittaker told the Associated Press: 'I’m only going to be remembered as the lunatic who won the lottery.' He died of natural causes at age 72 in June 2020.
