Lottery Success Stories You’ve Never Heard

Lottery Stories That Will Motivate You to Buy a Ticket

There are lots of success stories out there of people who have changed their lives thanks to one small lottery ticket. The world has been reinvented as we know it, and each day there news and stories of lives been changed for the better thanks to amazing lotteries like Powerball. 

If you’ve come across these stories, you will be pleased to find out that they are true. Persons have genuinely had their lives changed thanks to their winnings. 

Many persons have had different fortunes with their winnings. While some have had some glorious moments, others have squandered their winnings. This article will be focusing on the former. There are lots of Powerball lottery winners that have used their winnings to change their lives positively, and that of their community as well. Below are some of the lottery success stories that will motivate you and spur you to buy a ticket. Who knows, you might just be the next winner. 

1. Powerball Winnings Helps Cowboy Keep Ranch 

Back in 2009, Neal Wanless was in a hopeless situation. The 23-year-old was lagging on his property taxes, and his ranch was in a shambolic state. With zero cash to make adequate repairs, he resulted in selling scrap metals to survive. In all of Todd County, South Dakota, Neal was easily one of the poorest ranchers in the business. But as luck would have it, his life turned around thanks to a $5 lottery ticket. 

On a routine feed run to the local town, Neal made up his mind to spend his hard-earned $5 on a Powerball ticket. The amount bought him five plays, and in turn, he selected numbers from his family birth dates. 

The ultimate risk paid off for him when he emerged as one of the biggest Powerball jackpots winners in the history of the game. In the end, he ended up winning $88.5 million after-tax.  

With the winnings, one would think Neal might choose a different life. However, he insists that he will work on his ranch, and use part of the money to help the community. “That’s the way we are over here, and it is the best way to live. People helping people any way they can,” said Mayor of the town, Timothy Grablander. 

2. Single Mom of Five Wins Powerball Jackpot 

Cynthia P. Stafford’s life changed forever after her brother was killed by a drunk driver. The result of the accident meant she had to take in his five kids, thus raising them as alone as a single mom. In addition that, she had to take care of her ailing father. 

At the start of January of 2007, things took a downturn. Money was hard to come by, and she had a pile of bills on her neck. But nevertheless, Cynthia was still optimistic that things would turn around.

Back in 2004, she had a premonition that she would win $112 million PowerBall jackpot, and since that time, she had been focusing on the result. To boost her luck, she wrote down the number in a piece of paper and kept it under her pillow. She made it a habit of saying she would win the $112 million. She even visualized how she would react when she won the cash.

As if by magic and some stroke of luck, she got her reward. In 2010, Cynthia emerged as the winner of the $112 million jackpot she had envisaged all these years. 

She credits her winnings to the law of attraction and her strong belief that everything will work out just fine. She says she has been praying for a miracle to help her tackle her family’s issues, and this winning is the answer to her prayer. 

Cynthia was quite consistent in her pursuit of success. She regularly bought tickets several times a month, and she picked any number that pooped into her head. Despite the fact that she is a winner, she still buys lottery tickets every month just so she can strike gold again. 

3. Lottery Winners Give Back To Parents And Community With a Splash Park  

One thing a number of these success stories show is that people genuinely want to give back to their community when they win. When John and Linda Kutey’s office lottery pool emerged winners of one of the Mega Millions jackpot, they knew immediately that they had to do something for their parents, and by extension, the community. They went to their community and asked the leaders on how they could help. The answer they got was to renovate the local park and turn the wading pool to a modern spray park. 

The idea of the spray park was something welcomed by all. The park would give kids a place to cool off and relax during the summer heat, and it won’t cost the locals any penny. The Kuteys took it upon themselves to take care of all the payments needed to buy and install the new equipment. 

In addition to helping their community, the Kuteys were able to make dramatic changes to their lives. John Kutey quit his job and bought a house in Florida. This allowed him and his wife to afford the life they wanted. 

Although the value of the prize money of the Powerball was around $20 million after-tax, the Kutey’s were able to make some personal improvements and help their community. 

4. Jackpot Winners Give City A Makeover 

Pearlie Mae Smith has always believed in helping those around her, and that’s the message she tried to instill in her children while bringing them up. Raising seven kids, was not an easy feat, but nevertheless, she still persevered and did her best. The children grew up giving back to the community in one way or the other, primarily through volunteering. On a regular day, you will see her kids working in community gardens or in soup kitchens. 

It was no surprise that when the family won the $429 million Powerball jackpot, the first thing they did was to spread the love across the community. 

Although the entire winnings were split evenly among each family member, some of them still stayed with their regular job. One of the children continued her work in mentoring women and using a part of the winnings to fast track her program. 

The family created the Smith Family Foundation to help local organizations working on improving lives in Trenton, New Jersey. The family has always had a soft spot for the community, and this show of love reinforced that notion. A bulk of the foundation’s objective was to help with community development, educational development, Christian education, and lots more. 

5. School Teacher Spreads Love With Jackpot Money 

What do when you win the Powerball $111 million jackpot? Well, Les Robins had the perfect answer. The high school teacher decided to put a smile on the faces of the kids he taught. Over the years, Robins has always thought it was a shame that the kids he tutored didn’t have access to some of the activities he enjoyed as a kid, such as camping, sports, swimming, and so on. 

So when the high school teacher came into possession of the $111 million Powerball jackpot, he decided to make his own camp and spread love to children in the area. 

Robins bought 226 acres of land in which he built his Camp Winnegator. The camp has been in operation for more than a decade now. It offers a pocket-friendly place for kids of various ages to have fun in the summer. Kids can engage in swimming, horseback riding, and so on. In addition, kids have an alternative to video games and mobile phones. It gives them a chance to connect with nature and other kids. 

6. Florida Lottery Winner Gives All Away

Back when Sheelah Ryan won the $52 million Florida State Lottery, it was regarded as the most prominent individual lottery jackpot won in the world. Rather than spend it on herself, she did the unthinkable by giving it all away. 

She always insisted that the money came to her for a reason, and that reason was simply to help the people around her. She made sure, every one penny she won was put into her charitable group to help underprivileged people. She worked with various organizations to ensure she was able to reach as many people as possible. 

In hindsight, Ryan was diagnosed with cancer, and she only had a couple of years to live. Despite her absence, her money is still changing lives thanks to her foundation, The Ryan Foundation. The foundation is helping children in need, building low-cost housing, aiding seniors, and so on. 

7. Using Powerball Winnings To Fight A Fatal Disease 

For Paul and Sue Rosenau, they already knew what they would do when they won the Powerball 2008 lottery prize of 181.2 million. The fact that they bought the winning ticket 5 years to the anniversary of their granddaughter’s death was more than enough sign for them to invest their winnings on finding a cure to the cause of the death. 

You see, their granddaughter, Makayla had died of a rare and incurable disease. The disease in question is Krabbe Disease. The disease affects 1 out of every 100,000 newborns. Since its discovery, research on the disease has lacked funding. But the Rosenau fund has helped a lot. The degenerative illness attacks the lining of nerves and results in the death of kids aged 0-2 years. 

Paul and Sue Rosenau Started The Legacy of Angels to create awareness and help fund research for the treatment of the disease. Paul and Sue have done a tremendous job of saving lives and helping families. The objective of the foundation is to save families from the sorry they experienced when they lost their granddaughter. 

8. Man Uses Lottery Winnings To Combat Disease That Killed His Wife 

For most people winning the lottery is a chance to change their lives. Some end up traveling the world, others quit the job, while some end up buying new clothes, cars, houses, and so on. 

However, when Tom Crist won $40 million in the Lotto, he had the perfect idea of what to do with the money. He donated every penny to combat the disease that took the life of his wife. 

12 months earlier, Tom lost his wife, Jan, to cancer. By the time he won the lottery, he was already living well, and his children were having a good life. So, Tom gave out all his winnings to cancer research. 

The fact that he won the lottery in Canada meant his winnings were not taxed. So he donated the entire $40 million to a cancer charity. Everyone around him was in total support of the idea, including his kids. 

Final Words

One thing we can get from these success stories is that winners don’t just keep their winnings, they try to spread it around as much as they can. For these people, they found a just cause and stuck with it. 

Now, we are not saying you have to spend your winnings the way each and every one of these folks did. We are just trying to let you know that there are lots of people that have changed their lives thanks to lotteries like Powerball. 

You miss all the shots you don’t take. While winning the lottery might be like catching lightning in a bottle, you increase your chances of winning when you play. Remember, play it for fun, and not as a job. Who knows, you might just be the next person to walk away with millions. 

Remember, you can always try your luck and maybe become the next millionaire. Click here to check out the next PowerBall Lottry.