The Biggest Powerball Winners & Where They Are Today

they say that money can't buy happiness and yet many people play the lottery on a regular basis hoping for a life-changing win but even though winning a multi-million dollar jackpot usually changes people's lives quite a bit it isn't always in the way they expected while some winners managed to make the best of their windfall others end up in dire straits so stay tuned as we check in on ten Powerball winners to see where they are today Raymond Buxton had been playing the lottery for about two decades when he finally got lucky in 2014 he bought two Powerball Quick Pick tickets and ended up winning the jackpot of four hundred and twenty five million dollars which was not only the biggest jackpot in California but also one of the biggest wins in the history of the US Buxton opted for the lump sum payoff of two hundred and forty two point two million dollars before taxes for his Powerball jackpot and stated that he wanted to maintain his privacy while he didn't reveal any personal details he did explain that he waited a couple of months to come forward and claim his win because he wanted a team of lawyers and financial advisors behind him to help him manage his incredible fortune and deal with everything that goes with suddenly becoming a multi-millionaire Buxton decided to put most of his winnings towards charity saying that he was looking forward to his new job setting up a charitable foundation focused on the areas of pediatric health child hunger and education back in February 2015 Mary Holmes won one-third of the 560 4.1 million dollar Powerball jackpot and the lump sum she took home was about a hundred and twenty-seven million dollars before taxes the lottery winner who used to work at supermarkets and fast-food joints to support her children one of which had cerebral palsy planned to spend a lot of the money on her kids but also stated that she wanted to finish college support charities and buy her own family as well as her mom new houses in addition to that the lucky jackpot winner donated ten percent of her winnings to Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church which after taxes amounted to about 1.5 million dollars the largest ever donation made to a church from a lottery win most people would have been very grateful to receive that much money the pastor of this church had a slightly different reaction to the donation he actually decided to sue Mary Homes for more money claiming that she had pledged to donate up to ten million dollars to his church the lottery winner also spent several millions of dollars on bailing her boyfriend out of jail repeatedly something which she probably regretted later on as he reportedly took her money to give it to other women in exchange for sexual favors but while her private life may have been a mess Mary Holmes did successfully help others in need and is still doing so through her foundation she made an initial investment of nine point seven million dollars in the foundation and much of this money has gone to help underprivileged children after Cynthia P Stafford's brother was killed by a drunk driver she took in his five children and raised them as a single mother while helping out her father financially as well as you can imagine money was tight so the family of six was living in a house of just one thousand square feet and struggling to pay the bills that's why Stafford started dreaming of winning the lottery and not just any lottery either but actually a 112 million dollar jackpot and in January of 2007 that is exactly what she did the number a hundred and twelve million had popped into her head three years earlier and after that she had started focusing on winning that amount according to Stafford she actually wrote the number on a note and slept with it under her pillow meditated on winning a one hundred and twelve million dollar jackpot and also visualized how it would feel once she won in an amazing and inexplicable stroke of luck three years later the single mother of five won a life-changing Powerball jackpot which was the exact jackpot she had dreamed of winning for all those years Stafford had been buying tickets just a couple of times a month and always picked whichever numbers came into her head at the moment she attributes her prize which allowed her to not only solve for family's financial problems but also start a film company to fulfill her dream - the law of attraction as well as prayer in 2008 19 year-old construction worker jonathan vargas became one of the youngest lottery winners ever when he won the thirty five point three million dollar Powerball jackpot being the loving son the first then he did was by his mama brand-new house however he also showed that he was still a teenager when he decided to fulfill his dream and create his own wrestling TV show called wrestle Isha's takedown the show featured scantily dressed women and sketch-comedy but apparently that wasn't enough to make it successful this show was cancelled after just one season and reportedly left Vargas bankrupt les Robbins was a high school teacher who cared very much about the kids he was teaching and often thought it was a shame that kids today usually don't grow up doing the kinds of activities he himself had enjoyed as a child like going to camp swimming playing sports or exploring the outdoors so when he was lucky enough to win a 111 million dollar Powerball jackpot Robbins decided to use the money to create a camp of his own and bring some of the joys of his childhood to other children the teacher founded camp winnig a turd on 226 acres that he bought with his lottery money the camp operated for over a decade and gave parents the opportunity to send their children to camp at a low cost so they could spend their summer in a place where they could horseback ride crafts swim and play on the lake and this way the kids also had a chance to disconnect from video games and cell phones and get in touch with nature and their real-life friends after Gloria McKenzie had been the record holder for the largest jackpot ever won by just one person for about four years may this Elwin ciick of Chicopee Massachusetts set a new record when she claimed the winning ticket for the seven hundred and fifty eight point seven million dollar Powerball jackpot in August of 2017 she was the only one to beat the odds of one in two hundred and ninety two point two million which is about the same as flipping a coin and having it land on heads 28 times in a row according to mathematician professor cornelius Nealon and decided to take home the cash lump sum of a whopping 480 point five million dollars before taxes Mavis had only found out that she had won because a friend had noted the winning numbers and when she realized she had won she was so shocked that she couldn't do anything and the friend made her sign the ticket to ensure that it couldn't be stolen the friend also made sure she got home safely where Mavis spent the first night as a lottery jackpot winner hiding in her bed once she had wrapped her head around her new reality she decided to call up her employer at Mercy Medical Center where she had worked for 32 years and quit her job as a nurse retiring early while the store where Mavis had bought the winning ticket and which therefore earned the commission from the winning number generously donated all the money they received to charity David Lee Edwards was a convicted felon when he won 27 million dollars in the Kentucky Powerball back in 2001 and he quickly went on an insane shopping spree buying multiple cars a house a medieval armor and weapons collection a private jet racing horses that kept losing and a Hummer golf cart for his daughter among other things within one year Edwards had spent roughly 12 million dollars and contracted Hepatitis from repeated drug abuse by 2006 all of his lottery winnings were gone his wife had left him because he was broke and he was forced to sell all of his belongings Edwards ended up living in a storage unit where he died alone surrounded by his own feces owing thousands of dollars just 12 years after winning 27 million in the Powerball the world's largest jackpot in cash value and annuity was drawn on January 13th 2016 according to CNN Money and there were three winning tickets for history's biggest prize of an amazing 1.58 six billion dollars in the Powerball lottery the winners were John and Lisa Robinson in Tennessee Maureen Smith and David Koch MIT in Florida and Marvin and Mae Acosta in California who all had the option of receiving roughly five hundred and thirty three million dollars before taxes as an annuity or three hundred and twenty seven point eight million dollars as the lump sum payment and all went for the ever-popular one-time payment the Robinsons from Tennessee had bought their winning ticket as one of four they bought at a grocery store and then opted for the lump sum sang were not guaranteed tomorrow Smith and called Schmidt from Florida told NBC that they were planning to get massages upgrade their truck and retire with their newfound wealth while the Acosta's remained anonymous four months after winning and also took a full six months to claim their three twenty-seven point eight million dollar lump sum they chose to do the smart thing and lawyer up consult financial advisors and generally wrap their heads around the incredible amount of money they had won before picking up the check however the couple eventually released the statement saying they were thankful for the rare gift that has been placed in our care when Paul and Sue Roz now won a Powerball jackpot of a hundred and eighty 1.2 million dollars from a drawing in 2008 they immediately knew exactly what they wanted to do with all the money the couple had bought their winning ticket on the day of the fifth anniversary of their oldest granddaughter Mikayla's death from a rare and incurable disease in fact crab disease is so rare that only one out of about 100,000 newborns are affected which means that it is too rare to receive the kind of funding that many more common diseases do it is a devastating degenerative illness that attacks the lining of the nerves and usually results in death within the first two years but the Powerball winners decided to use their jackpot money to fight the disease that had killed their beloved granddaughter Paul and sue Roz now founded the legacy of angels to not only increase awareness of Krabbe disease as well as cystic fibrosis another disease that was discovered in their family but also to help fund promising research into treatment and possible cures when Brad Duke won 220 million dollars in 2005 he was already a successful businessman and director of gold's gyms in Idaho after electing for the lump sum and paying the necessary taxes Duke received 86 million dollars but decided to keep his job and work towards the slightly lofty goal of becoming a billionaire initially Duke was planning to achieve billionaire status within three years but his advisers steered him towards planning to reach his goal within 15 years instead the 15 years are up this year and even though Duke still hasn't achieved his goal he has more than doubled his net worth since winning the lottery and has stated that he is rather content with his current financial situation and is looking at achieving billionaire status as more of a lifelong journey these days thank you for checking this video out and don't forget to smash that like button and also subscribe for new videos every day turn that Bell notification on and comment down below that you subscribed and we'll make sure to reply and thank as many of you as we possibly can once again thank you for watching and see you next time [Music]

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Keywords: entertainment, movie, tv show, lottery, lottery stories, millionaire, billionaire, money, fianance, business, invest, top 10 lottery, top 5 lottery, education, most amazing, lottery money, rags to riches, best of, lottery winners, biggest lottery winners today, lottery before and after, documentary, smart lottery winners, yacht, jet, mansion, cars, supercars, luxury

Id: vfdXTzCL7po

Length: 11min 35sec (695 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 25 2020