5. Billie Harrell Jr.

June 1997 brought Billie Harrell Jr. $31 million in lottery winnings after struggling working multiple jobs for years supporting his wife and three children. He was given his first payment of $1.24 million and thought that he had seen the end of his financial troubles. The beginning was jovial as always, he donated tens of thousands of dollars to his church, bought cars for friends and family, and took his family to Hawaii. Strangers began calling him randomly for donations and Harrell Jr. had to go into hiding. His lavish spending alongside a bad deal made with a lump sum lottery deal left him with much less money that he had originally won. Shortly after making that bad deal Harrell. Jr. split from his wife, the final straw for the struggling Texan. In 1999 his son found him dead, he had shot himself in the head. Shortly before he committed suicide Billie Harrell Jr. told his accountant that winning the lottery was the worst thing that had ever happened to him.

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