- [Narrator] Anyone can win the lottery but some people need the
money more than others. Imagine being homeless, at one the of the lowest points of your
life, living on the street, only to be blessed with a lottery win. That's the story of the
people in this video. Whilst buying lottery tickets definitely isn't the best way to
get rich, the story of these homeless people will
make you glad they won. - [Animated Voice] Amazing! - Number 10, Michael Engfors. Sixty-one year old Michael
Engfors of Aspen, Colorado was homeless for six years after losing his business and going through a divorce. But he never let his
misfortune dampen his spirit. He was described by gas
station clerk, Gabby Garcia, as a regular lottery
player who only usually won a dollar or two. Some
might say that there were more important things to be spending his money on but Michael's bet paid off. Beating the astronomical odds of 840,000-to-one, he won $500,000 on a $10 ticket. $500,000, that's half a million. Imagine dropping that chunk
of change into your wallet. What did Michael plan to do
with all that cold, hard cash? Where most people would
have built a mini-mansion, or at least restarted their business, Michael only wanted to do one thing, to find his daughter, who he
hadn't seen for over 20 years. Number nine, Emily Reyes. Just off the infamous Route
66 doesn't exactly sound like the most likely place
to catch a lucky break. But that's precisely
what happened to the next person on this list. When
Texan Emily Reyes found herself part of the
growing homeless population in her hometown, desperate
and addicted to drugs and alcohol, Emily hit rock bottom. When she ended up in prison after stealing to support her habit. When she was released
from the Amarillo jail, Emily surprised more
than a few people, but perhaps herself most
of all by buckling down and accomplishing the
truly momentous task of pulling her life back together with a minimal support system. She promptly checked
herself into a woman's homeless shelter and, craving by craving, clawed her way to sobriety. She was celebrating six
months of being sober when she bought a Texas
Two Step lottery ticket. In a stroke of good
luck, Emily won $200,000, matching all four numbers
in the Thursday drawing. She planned to use the
money to get a fresh start on life, but made
sure to pay it forward by sharing some of her winnings with some of the women at the shelter. Number eight, Grant Freeman. By all accounts, Grant
Freeman shouldn't have been able to win the
lottery, considering that there is no actual lottery in Nevada. An avid gambler, Freeman
made his way to Las Vegas with high hopes of hitting
it big along the strip. Unfortunately, as so
often happens, he instead lost everything and was
forced to live on the streets, begging spare change
off of tourists only to spend it all in the slot
machines that very same night. But he could only go
so long before such an unhealthy lifestyle took its toll on him. Freeman got himself the heck out of Dodge, hitchhiking forty miles
to Nipton, California. It was there that he spent
$2 on two Mega Millions tickets-which he paid for in pennies. I bet that cashier was
amused. The lucky stars must've been shining
on him that day because Freeman won on both tickets. Eight dollars on one and on the second he won an enormous $180,000! He has since reportedly
turned his life around and has learned his lesson about gambling, though he is known to buy a
ticket or two once and a while. Number seven, Victor Herrera. There is no denying that
while Miami, Florida is considered a beautiful
place, it also has some of the most brutally hot summers. Victor Herrara found
himself face to face with that heat when he became
homeless following a divorce. He and his son were,
thankfully, able to move in with his sister, but her
apartment was cramped before they got there and
lacked air conditioning. One night it was particularly hot, so hot, in fact, that Herrara
found he couldn't sleep. Hoping for relief, he got up and walked down to the store to
purchase a bag of ice. Instead, he came out with a
five dollar lottery ticket. That particular ticket beat the 15 million-to-one odds and earned Herrara an astounding $250,000. That very night he,
his son, and his sister checked into a hotel and
turned the AC on full blast. Herrara has since used his winnings to buy an actual house for his
child to grow up in, with air conditioning, of course. Number six, Eric from Magic of Rahat The next person in this list didn't even officially win the lottery,
but a homeless man, named Eric earned internet
stardom after being featured on the hit YouTube
channel, Magic of Rahat. In this particular
video, Rahat gave Eric a lottery ticket and handed the clerk $1,000 so that Eric could experience what it was like to win the lottery. Millions of hearts across the globe melted when Eric burst into tears of relief and even offered to share
his winnings with Rahat. Touched by his selfless
gesture, the people of the internet banded together to raise enough money to give the
young man a fresh start. $20,000 seemed like a lofty goal, but this goal was not simply
met. It was exceeded. A total amount of $44,000 was raised to help get Eric back on his feet. The majority of the money was used to rent and furnish a house whilst the rest was put into a monitored bank account. Talk about getting lucky. Great job Rahat and the
people of the internet. Number five, Steve Borik. Imagine if you got the win of a lifetime. You buy that ticket, because hey why not? It's fun, but you're
not expecting that much. After all how many of us even know someone who's won more than ten
bucks in the lottery? But imagine if you won $25,000. What would you do with that money? Would you buy a car? Maybe
you could finally pay some of the bills you're behind on? Steve Borik couldn't
even get a hotel room, because this homeless lottery winner was not allowed to claim his prize. Due to a situation in
his life two years prior, he lacked the ID required to
collect such a large winning. When he tried to get
a new one, he was told he needed a birth certificate or passport. The real catch twenty-two
was that both these documents required a form of identification to get them in the first place. After five months of trying,
Steve could only hope he'd be inside by Christmas time. Thankfully some amazing
individuals at CBC News volunteered their time to make a few calls and track down the
proper paperwork for him to receive his birth certificate. While Steve did indeed miss
his Christmas deadline, a little more than eight
months after he hit it big, he was finally allowed
to collect his money. Number four, László Andraschek. This person won one of the largest amounts in this video, but its
what he intends to do with the money is really
what earns him his spot. In 2013, László Andraschek
was a recovering alcoholic who was in debt up to his eyeballs. He'd been homeless for seven
years and described his life as him always trying to plug
holes by making new ones. Facing yet another year of homelessness, László made a choice that most would've considered foolish when he stopped at a train station on his way
to Budapest and spent the last few coins to his
name on a lottery ticket. He recalled picking six
numbers only to have the cashier remind him
it needed to be seven. He told her to just make it 24. It wasn't like it ever matters. Oh, but it did. László's
stunningly 636 million forint-that's the equivalent to nearly 2.5 million American dollars in 2017- obviously, this changed his life forever. What's equally amazing was that his win wasn't even noticed until 2014, when he made a significant donation to the homeless shelter he
and his wife had lived at. This guy was a careful spender! With his and his family's debts paid off, this amazingly unique
man turned his attention towards creating a foundation for addicts and battered women, hoping to offer them refuge in a world that so often tries to deny their very existence. Number three, Crystal Nelson, Crystal Nelson was
living in a cramped truck with a friend for five whole months, delivering papers for The Daily Journal in Illinois when she found
out she'd won $50,000 on a Powerball ticket in July of 2017. Despite this shocking
win, Nelson maintained that her life would not change. No big spending or impulse purchases for this gem of a human being. She didn't even seem to be in a hurry to find an apartment, though she thought she might get a new car
and was going to help her brother in Arizona pay off his house. Think about it. You're living in a car for five months with another person and the first thing you think of doing when you win the lottery
isn't getting a new place to stay yourself, it's helping
your family keep theirs. She's certainly set the
bar high for selflessness. Though she did admit
that she would like to possibly take a vacation to
Arizona or Kentucky some time and, that it might be nice
to find some place to live that was more permanent
than a parking lot. Number two, Dennis Mahuran. Dennis had been homeless since 1978, approximately twenty-five years before he won $50,000 in the
Michigan lottery in 2013. Did he use this money
to buy a flat screen TV or a shiny new truck? Maybe just a house? Nope. Dennis bought himself a new tent. No one would've faulted him if he'd used that money to help get
his life back together, but apparently as far as he
was concerned, it already was. He used the rest of the money to help out his fellow members of
the homeless community. As someone who knew what
it was to hit rock bottom, he decided to pay it
forward and share $100 with just shy of 500
other homeless people. He had his critics, some people who stated that if he couldn't even
take care of himself, he had no business helping others, but I think that most of us can agree that this man is incredible and one heck of a decent human being. Number one, Emily Leach
gives ticket to homeless man. This one isn't exactly
about someone so generous. Emily Leach struck pay
dirt in January of 2011, winning a whopping one million dollars in Mountain View, California. She used this much needed money to pay off a substantial medical debt, buy yet more tickets, and to pass out random acts of kindness. One such act was to hand $100 to a homeless man behind her in line at the very same gas station where she purchased her original winning ticket. In the process of this transaction, Emily claims she accidentally handed the man one of her scratch tickets, an act of generosity that turned out to be far grander than either
of them could've imagined. When she learned the same
homeless man won $260,000 on her ticket and was, according to her, even claiming that some of her luck had rubbed off on him, she complained to the California Lottery Commission. Investigations into
her claims seem only to prove that Leach gave that man the ticket. Footage even reportedly
shows her giving tickets to several other people in the store. The Lottery Commission maintained that it could not comment
on who owned the ticket until it was claimed,
but they did say that the chances of winning one
million in the previous January's jackpot were 1 in 1.2 million, but to win that $260,000 was a whopping 1 in 3.9 million
odds. So there you have it. What would you do if you won the jackpot? Let me know in the comment
section down below. And if you enjoyed this
video, make sure to subscribe and click that bell icon to stay updated. Thanks for watching.
