$314 million jackpot winner reveals how the prize ruined his life after he made major mistake
Emily Brown
Featured Image Credit: Susan Watts/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images / Michael Appleton/NY Daily News via Getty Images
The winner of a $314 million jackpot opened up about how the prize many would kill for actually ended up ruining his life.
Jack Whittaker, from West Virginia, was out buying some biscuits when he decided to pick up a Powerball lottery ticket just before Christmas in 2002.
He didn't usually play the lottery, but would sometimes take part when the jackpot got big - and with $314 million up for grabs, this was a ticket worth buying.
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Still, Whittaker was caught completely by surprise when, the day after Christmas, he saw the winning numbers on TV and realized he'd matched all five of them, making him the winner of the largest undivided lottery jackpot in history at the time.
Rather than getting the full amount over a period of time, Whittaker opted to take his prize as a one-time payout of $113,386,407.77, after taxes.
Just hours after his win, Whittaker began making the most of his newfound wealth as he tipped a worker in a shop he visited often.
She asked if he'd won the lottery, and he grinned and nodded.
As he claimed his check, Jack assured he'd be charitable with his winnings by donating millions to his family's favorite pastors, to helping build new churches and to starting a foundation for those in need.
"I just want to thank God for letting me pick the right numbers . . . or letting the machine pick the right numbers," he said, according to The Washington Post.
Whittaker handed over $15 million for the construction of two churches, but the publicity surrounding his win and his decision to be so charitable soon came back to haunt him.
Members of the public knew Whittaker was handing out money, and as a result he found himself overcome by requests for help.
"Any place that I would go they would come up," he told ABC News. "I mean, we went to a ballgame, a basketball game … and we must have had 150 people come up to us … and it would be going right back to asking for money."
Whittaker found his company being plagued by lawsuits as people attempted to take advantage of him, and he began drinking to console himself.
He had half a million dollars stolen from his car just months after the win, after which two people working at a strip club in West Virginia were arrested and charged with a plan to steal Whittaker's money after drugging his drink.
A year after the initial robbery, another $200,000 was stolen from his car.
In 2004, Whittaker's granddaughter, Brandi, was found dead. Friends had wanted her 'for her money and not for her good personality', Whittaker told The Washington Post, and she later began using drugs.
In 2007, Whittaker expressed his regret over winning the jackpot, saying: "Since I won the lottery, I think there is no control for greed.
"I think if you have something, there's always someone else that wants it. I wish I'd torn that ticket up."