Top 7 Lottery Winners’ Stories

Most lottery winners will tell you they never actually expected to win the jackpot despite buying a ticket or two or even multiple ones! But, some lottery winners have bizarre, heartwarming, or inspiring stories that make you realize how playing the game can change your fortunes overnight!

Keep reading as we share some of the amazing lottery winners’ stories and what they did with their winnings. These feel-good stories will inspire you to believe you could be the next multi-millionaire who can pick what to do with your fortunes while fulfilling your lifelong dreams!

1. The Luckiest Memory Lapse

It’s not every day someone’s memory lapse wins him a lucrative lottery prize but that’s what happened to this Michigan man who scored not one BUT two jackpots! The anonymous winner couldn’t remember whether he had bought a ticket for the Michigan Lottery so he purchased another one with the same numbers.

The Montcalm County winner had forgotten he had already bought a ticket for the Fantasy 5 drawing at Sheridan EZ Mart. His memory lapse led him to buy another ticket at a local Mobil gas station on the evening of the draw.

When checking the draw’s winning numbers, not only did he realize he matched the winning numbers but that both his tickets had won at different locations. He was in for more surprises when he discovered he had won $110,000 on each ticket! The winner used his winnings for home renovations and to take care of his family.

2. The Family Birthdays of Dion Davies

It’s one thing to win an incredible EuroMillions jackpot but quite another when you lose the ticket! This is what happened to Dion Davies who had used his family birthdays to pick the winning numbers for the EuroMillions draw on December 20, 2023.

Fortunately, a few weeks later, the 47-year-old Welsh winner was clearing out his car before having it valeted. It was then that he stumbled upon the winning ticket tucked safely away in his sun visor! Dion realized he was a lucky winner after calling the National Lottery office which confirmed his ticket’s winning numbers.

Davies had matched all five winning numbers plus the Lucky Star to score a cool £55,086 jackpot prize. The Welshman took his family for a trip to Italy and as an avid sci-fi fan, will be taking his 15-year-old son to the International Comic-Con Convention in the USA.

3. Single Mother of Five Children Wins Powerball Jackpot

We all love a heartwarming story and this one was all because a single mom with five children took a chance on a Powerball game. Cynthia Stafford was cash-strapped when she took in her brother’s five children after he died in a car accident.

While the new family tried to make it work, Cynthia was struggling financially and faced the prospect of handing the kids to the foster care system. However, Stafford had a dream about winning a jackpot, more specifically, $112 million and in 2004 the winning numbers popped into her head unexpectedly.

Using the law of attraction and consistency, Stafford played the numbers over and over again while visualizing herself winning $112 million. She never gave up meditating on her big win and in January 2007 entered a Powerball game which she won. The prize amount? Unsurprisingly for Stafford, it was $112 million!

4. Legacy of the Ryan Foundation

Sadly, many lottery winners lose it all but not Sheelah Ryan who is still making a difference many years after winning the Florida Lottery in 1988. The 69-year-old Florida woman scored over $55 million which, at that time, was the biggest payout to an individual lottery player in U.S. history!

Sheelagh opted to use her winnings to build a charity called the Ryan Foundation that focuses mostly on education. Many Seminole County public schools continue to benefit from this charity which also supports backpack programs, safehouses in the county, and women’s rights groups.

While Ryan died five years after winning the jackpot, loyal board members continue to ensure the Ryan Foundation supports its beneficiaries. The charity still survives off the winnings from 1988 making it financially viable to this day.

5. Tom Crist vs Cancer

When Tom Crist was informed by the western Canada lottery officials that he had won $40 million in May 2013, he knew what he wanted to do with the prize.  Every single dollar was to be donated to a charity in memory of his late wife who had died two years previously from cancer.

Tom placed the $40 million winnings into a trust that would donate funds to favorite charities chosen by Crist and his children. However, it took Crist seven months before telling his kids he had won the lottery and what his plans were for the jackpot prize! They fully supported his wishes to give the winnings to good causes.

Crist won the lottery by subscription and at the time didn’t know which game was played or which numbers had been chosen for the winning ticket! All he needed to know was that he had won and could now fulfill his dream of paying tribute to his wife of nearly 33 years before she passed on.

6. Crystal Dunn Pays for Strangers’ Groceries

Crystal Dunn took a chance and played $20 on the online Kentucky Lottery’s Bank Buster Instant Jackpot July 2022 game. She didn’t expect to win but was stunned when moments after the draw, a message popped up on her computer screen informing her that there had been a jackpot winner. She was the lucky winner of over $146 million!

The next day she opted for a lump sum payout and the Kentucky Lottery office handed her a check of $103, 909.73. Driving home, Crystal was wondering how to pay it forward and decided to visit her local Meiher supermarket. She spoke to the store manager who allowed her to purchase and hand out $100 gift cards to 20 random shoppers to pay for their groceries.

Dunn knew what it was like to struggle financially, having grown up in foster homes from the age of nine. Besides helping strangers on the first day of getting her winnings, Dunn used some of the winnings to put her through college so she could improve her career. She planned to do some home improvements and buy a car.

7. Green Island Spray Park

Who would have thought of donating their jackpot win to build a community water park? That’s exactly what a Mega Millions lottery couple did with their winnings after hitting the jackpot prize shared with other co-workers.

The couple, John and Linda Kutey, walked away with just over $28 million and decided they wanted to pay tribute to their late parents by helping the local community. After discussing their dreams with the mayor of Green Island, New York, the couple invested $200,000 towards a water park for local families to enjoy.

Known as the Green Island Spray Park which opened in the summer of June 2013, the winners’ second dream came true. The construction was built in honor of their late parents, Edmund and Gertrude Osrowksi, and Joseph and Mercedes Kutey.

Final Thoughts

Are you inspired to win millions and fulfill a dream? Playing lotto games is one way of doing this and you can do this by using one of the best online lottery sites for convenience and ease of use. Whether you have forgotten to purchase your lottery ticket and bought another or used visualization to win the jackpot, you never know when Lady Luck will smile down on you!

Play the lottery and be the next winner to share an amazing story to inspire other players to take a chance!

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