The Lottery Curse: Winners Who Lost Everything

The lottery curse is the name people give to a pattern that shows up again and again in news reports and court records: someone wins a life-changing jackpot, and within a few years the money, the family, or the winner is gone. It is not a supernatural thing. It is a collection of documented cases — lawsuits, robberies, addiction, bankruptcy filings, and in a few instances homicide — that happened to real people whose names and dates are part of the public record.

If you have ever wondered what actually happens after the check clears, this is the honest version. The stories below come from Associated Press reporting, CBS News, The Washington Post, Florida court records, and a peer-reviewed economics study. Every name, date, and dollar figure here is drawn from those sources.

What ties the lottery curse cases together is not bad luck. It is what happens when a large amount of money lands on a person who suddenly becomes the most visible name in their county — and when everyone around them knows exactly how much they have.

What people mean by the lottery curse

The phrase describes winners whose lives got measurably worse after a jackpot. Sometimes that means bankruptcy. Sometimes it means theft, litigation, or estrangement from family. In the most severe cases documented by police and prosecutors, it meant a winner was killed.

Reporters use the term loosely, and it is worth saying plainly: most lottery winners do not end up in the news. The lottery curse is a label applied after the fact to the cases that did. Still, those cases are real, they are documented, and the details are specific enough to be worth reading.

Jack Whittaker: $314.9 million and seventeen years of loss

Andrew “Jack” Whittaker Jr. of West Virginia won a $314.9 million Powerball jackpot on the Christmas Day 2002 drawing. As reported by The Washington Post, he took a lump sum and walked away with roughly $113 million after taxes. He was already a successful contractor before he won.

He gave a great deal away. According to reporting compiled after his death, Whittaker donated millions toward church construction and set up a foundation to handle the requests for help that poured in from strangers.

Then came the losses. In August 2003, CBS News reported he was robbed of $545,000 in cash at a Cross Lanes strip club; two managers there were later arrested, and investigators said his drink had been spiked. A second theft from his vehicle followed in 2004.

In December 2004, his 17-year-old granddaughter Brandi Bragg was found dead. NBC News reported her body was discovered on December 20, 2004, and that drugs were found in her system. Whittaker also faced drunken-driving charges and a flood of civil lawsuits.

His wife Jewel filed for divorce in 2008 after 42 years of marriage. Whittaker told ABC News five years after the win, “I wish I’d torn that ticket up.” He died on June 27, 2020, at age 72. His case is the one most often cited when people talk about the lottery curse.

Abraham Shakespeare: a $30 million win that ended in a murder conviction

Abraham Shakespeare, a truck driver’s helper from Lakeland, Florida, won a $30 million Florida Lottery prize in 2006 and took a reduced lump sum. He disappeared in April 2009.

Prosecutors said Dorice “Dee Dee” Moore befriended Shakespeare in late 2008, telling him she was writing a book about people taking advantage of him, and eventually gained control of his remaining assets. His body was found in January 2010, buried under a concrete slab behind a home connected to Moore, with two gunshot wounds to the chest.

As reported by CBS News, a jury convicted Moore of first-degree murder in December 2012. She received a mandatory life sentence without parole, plus 25 years for use of a firearm. The judge described her conduct as “cold, calculating and cruel.” Moore has appealed unsuccessfully and continues to maintain her innocence.

Billie Bob Harrell Jr. and Bud Post: two names behind the lottery curse

Billie Bob Harrell Jr. won a $31 million Texas Lotto jackpot in June 1997, paid out in annual installments. He quit his job at Home Depot, bought homes and vehicles for family, and gave heavily to his church. Reporting by the Houston Press documented the pressure that followed: repeated phone number changes after strangers demanded money, and a costly deal trading future annual payments for cash up front.

Harrell separated from his wife within about two years. He told a financial adviser that winning the lottery was the worst thing that ever happened to him. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on May 22, 1999.

William “Bud” Post III won a $16.2 million Pennsylvania Lottery jackpot in 1988. His obituary in The Washington Post recorded what came next: a brother later convicted in a plot to have him killed, a successful lawsuit by a former girlfriend over a share of the prize, and roughly $1 million in debt. Post died in January 2006 at 66, living on Social Security and food assistance.

Urooj Khan: a $1 million ticket he never cashed

Urooj Khan, a Chicago dry-cleaning business owner, won a $1 million scratch-off prize in 2012. After taxes and his choice of a single payment, the check due to him was about $425,000.

He died on July 20, 2012, days before the check was issued. The Cook County Medical Examiner initially recorded natural causes. After a relative raised concerns, testing found lethal cyanide, and the office reclassified the death as a homicide in 2013. An exhumation and full autopsy followed.

No one has been charged. The Cook County case remains open. Khan’s estate was later divided between his widow and his daughter under a court settlement reported by NBC News. His case is often cited in lottery curse coverage precisely because it was nearly missed.

What the research actually says about the lottery curse

There is real data behind the anecdotes. Economists Scott Hankins, Mark Hoekstra, and Paige Marta Skiba studied Florida Lottery winners and published their findings in The Review of Economics and Statistics in 2011.

They compared people who won $50,000 to $150,000 against people who won small prizes. Large winners were about 50% less likely to file for bankruptcy in the first two years. By years three through five, they were more likely to file. Those who did file had roughly the same net assets and unsecured debt as the small winners.

The authors’ conclusion was that a large one-time cash transfer postponed bankruptcy rather than prevented it. That is a narrower claim than “lottery curse,” but it points at the same thing: the win alone did not change the trajectory.

What winners can learn from these lottery curse stories

These are patterns visible in the record, not predictions about anyone. In several cases, publicity came first and everything else followed — Whittaker’s robberies and Shakespeare’s fatal association both began after their names were public. Some states allow anonymity or trust claims; the rules vary by state lottery.

Taxes were a factor in every case. The IRS requires payers to withhold 24% for federal income tax on lottery winnings above $5,000, reported on Form W-2G, and that withholding is not the same as a final tax bill. State treatment varies.

Structured payouts drew third parties. Both Harrell and Shakespeare entered arrangements that converted future payments into less money now. And in the Florida study, financial distress that existed before the win reappeared after it. That, more than any curse, is the through-line.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the lottery curse real?

There is no evidence of anything supernatural. What exists is a documented set of cases — Whittaker, Shakespeare, Harrell, Post, Khan — plus the Florida bankruptcy research showing large winners were more likely to file in years three through five than small winners.

Do most lottery winners go broke?

No verified figure supports the commonly repeated claim that most winners lose everything. The Hankins, Hoekstra, and Skiba study found large winners postponed bankruptcy rather than avoided it. It did not find that a majority went bankrupt.

How much tax is withheld from a lottery jackpot?

The IRS requires 24% federal withholding on lottery winnings over $5,000, reported on Form W-2G. That is withholding, not your final liability, and states set their own rules. Check irs.gov and your state revenue agency for your situation.

Can a winner stay anonymous?

It depends entirely on the state. Some state lotteries permit anonymity or claims through a trust; others publish winner names. Contact your state lottery before claiming, since the rules differ and several of the lottery curse cases followed publicity.

Know the Rules Where You Live

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Sources & How to Verify

The facts on this page are drawn from official government and primary sources. Rules and figures change, so always confirm the current details with the official agency or the promotion’s own published rules.

• FTC Consumer Advice: consumer.ftc.gov — prize, sweepstakes, and lottery scam guidance
• IRS: irs.gov — how prizes and winnings are treated as income
• Social Security Administration: ssa.gov — what SSI recipients must report
• The promotion’s official rules: every legitimate sweepstakes publishes them — the rules page is always the final word

Content last reviewed August 2026. If you notice outdated information, please contact us.

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