We all have a ‘plan’ for when we win the lottery.
Even if we don’t play the lotto, we have an idea of what we would do with the winnings.
Some of us will buy a house or new car or go on holiday, while others of us will pay off our debts and save the rest for a rainy day.
A 2020 UNISA study, however, showed that, despite what South African non-winners planned to do with their winnings, in reality, 67,7% of winners bought household necessities, 41,8% purchased more lotto tickets, and 26,10% gave the winnings to their partner or someone in their family.
Other ways they spent their money include:
- Paying debt/loan/bond/account – 8,10%
- Entertainment/leisure – 7,8%
- Luxury items like cars and jewellery – 6,6%
- Study fees – 5,2%
- Buying land or a house – 4,3%
- Gambling (excluding lotteries) – 2,9%
- Investing/Saving – 2,9%
- Donating to charity – 1,2%
- Starting a business – 1,2%
- Travelling/holiday – 0,8%
But what are some of the crazy things that big lottery winners around the world spent their millions – or billions on? Here are just seven of them:
1. Football teams
The UK’s biggest lottery winner, Colin Weir, scooped a whopping £161 million (R3,8bn) jackpot in 2011, and bought controlling shares in his favourite football club, Scottish Championship side Partick Thistle, nine years later. He paid £2,5m (R59m).
Weir only managed to spend £40m (R943m) of his winnings before he died in 2019 from sepsis and an acute kidney injury. He also bought cars, property, and artwork, and shared money widely among his family. Some was donated to charity and political campaigns. Before his death, he secured a majority share of the football club so that he could put it back in the hands of the local community and fans.
Another lottery winner, John McGuinness, who won the UK lottery in 1997 and was left with around R307m after taxes, also bought a football club in Scotland – Livingston FC. He paid £4m (R94m) for it. The lower division team eventually went into administration and he was liable for its debts.
McGuinness also purchased a £140,000 (R3,2m) Ferrari Modena Spyder, £500,000 (R11,7m) seafront apartment in Majorca, and £1.3m (R31m) mansion in South Lanarkshire. He has now lost all of it.
2. Land on the moon, Mars, and Venus
Also from the UK, David Copeland spent £120 (R2,800) of his £1m (R23,5m) winnings to buy an acre of land on the moon, Venus, and Mars. Although the land is useless, he says it is a great talking point at parties.
He also purchased a new car, and went on a few cruises and many exotic vacations.
3. A whisky company
An Irishman, Peter Lavery won more than £10m (R236m) in the UK lottery and spent £5m (R118m) on a whiskey distillery housed in a disused jail in Belfast, Ireland. The company was profitable as are the rental properties he invested in.
The former bus driver also bought cars, property, and high-end holidays.
However, he started investing in property and now owns more than 30 across Northern Ireland. He employs 70 to 80 people and is said to have tripled his wealth through his investments.
4. A zoo
Matt Topham, the youngest winner of the EuroMillions jackpot bought a £600 000 (R14m) petting zoo in 2020 for his mother-in-law after winning £45m (R1bn) in 2012. Although the zoo was a popular attraction, with llamas, pygmy goats, ducks, pigs, and horses, it closed its doors in 2022, apparently due to financial stress.
He and his wife also spent some of the winnings on a helicopter, mansions, and race cars.
In 2020, Topham was charged with the death of a 75-year-old woman as a result of a car crash he caused while driving his BMW. He was found not guilty in 2021 but admitted to a lesser charge of causing death by careless driving. He was sentenced to 16 weeks in jail, suspended for two years.
5. A water park
John Kutey and his wife Linda won the Mega Millions in 2011 as a syndicate with other co-workers, and shared a collective $319m (R5,7bn). Of the couple’s $28.7m (R517m) share, they built a water park in honour of their parents for $200,000 (R3,6m).
6. Crystal Meth
Not an example of a good way to spend lottery winnings, Ronnie Music Jr won $3m (R54m) in 2015 and started a drug business. He purchased and distributed the drugs, with crystal meth being his main brand.
His drug syndicate operated across states and he was even found to have been running a drug ring from a Georgia prison that was fronted with lottery winnings. When police eventually arrested him, he was also found with several firearms, multiple cars, and $600,000 (R10,8m) in cash.
In 2017, Music was sentenced to 21 years in prison.
7. A NASCAR( National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) team
Using numbers of his favourite four NASCAR drivers, Joe Denette won $75.6m (R1,3bn) in the Mega Millions lottery back in 2009 and bought a NASCAR team. He started Joe Denette Motorsports and then created a Camping World Truck Series team.
In December 2012, JDM merged with NTS Motorsports. The team closed in 2016.
8. A production company and TV show
In 2008, 19-year-old Jonathan ‘Jay’ Vargas won $35m (R630m) playing the Powerball and used a portion of his winnings to create Wrestlicious, a production company and TV show based in Florida, US. Wrestlicious, based on his two loves – wrestling and women – went into syndication in 2010 and debuted in Great Britain in 2013. The show has since closed.