New Delhi: The lure of lottery is that it will change your life overnight. But what if winning made your life a living hell? As any of these winners-turned-losers would tell you, winning isn't everything. Especially when you don't have a clue what to do with that money. Need a little proof that money doesn't buy happiness? For these 10 lottery winners, cashing in turned out to have been the worst decision of their lives: 1. Urooj Khan Chicagoan Urooj Khan found out the hard way that the lottery isn't always a winning game. And he wouldn't need a single ticket more after he revealed a $1 million jackpot on the ticket. Khan chose to cash out the reward in one lump sum instead of installments, waiting for his $425,000 check from the state. The check was issued on July 19, but Khan wouldn't have the chance to cash it — he was pronounced dead the very next day. 2. Andrew 'Jack' Whittaker Jack Whittaker won a record $314.9m Powerball jackpot in 2002. But life since then has been a long list of arrests, lawsuits, broken relationships and even death. In 2007, his then wife, Jewell admitted she wished she had ‘torn up the ticket'. 3. Luke Pittard Luke Pittard from Wales won a ‘measly' £1.3m on the National Lottery. After the novelty had worn off and the obligatory lavish holiday, wedding and new home were done and dusted, he got bored and returned to work at MacDonalds. 4. William Post God was listening in 1988 when William "Bud" Post won Pennsylvania's $16.2 million jackpot, reports the Beaver County Times. But one bad thing started happening after another. An ex-girlfriend sued him for a share of the winnings and won, his brother hired a hit man hoping to inherit some winnings; and relatives incessantly bugged him for money, MSN reports.Within a year, Post was $1 million in debt and filing for bankruptcy. Now he lives on food stamps and a $450/month stipend. 5. Keith Gough After Gough's wife Louise hit the jackpot in 2005, the family spent their wealth normally: they bought a luxurious new home and Gough rented a $560,000 luxury box to watch his favorite soccer team, Aston Villa. But he began drinking “out of boredom” after quitting his job at a bakery and his wife left him in 2007. But his riches wouldn't be enjoyed for long: he died in March 2010 of a heart attack, believed to have been brought on by drinking and stress. At the time of his death he still had nearly $1.3 million in the bank. 6. Mark Gardiner Mark Gardiner from London won £11m in 1995. Thirteen miserable years later, he hasn't lost his money, but he has lost all his friends - even the ones he treated to new £100,000 homes – and lost touch with his family. 7. Janite Lee Janite Lee won $18 million in 1993. Her generosity in giving money to a variety of political, educational and community causes was commendable – but just eight years later she filed for bankruptcy. 8. Callie Rogers Callie Rogers was just 16 when she won £1.9 in the UK's lottery (about $3 million) in 2003, too young to know how to manage her money or where it would lead her (Via/Gawker). Rogers hooked up with a loser, had two of his kids, then blew the rest on partying, vacations and gifts for her friends. Now Rogers works as a cleaning woman and is reportedly facing bankruptcy. 9. Michael Carroll Michael Carroll won a £9.7m National Lottery jackpot in 2002. Since then he has appeared in court more than 30 times and been jailed for drug related offences. In 2008, he admitted that ‘just' £500,000 of his windfall remained. 10. Evelyn Basehore Evelyn Basehore hit a $3.9 million Pick Six jackpot in 1985 and then won $1.4 million in the same game just five months later, beating odds set at 1 in 15 trillion. But she couldn't rein in her spending habits. She gave away much of it to friends; much of the rest went to support her hefty gambling habit at the slot machines in Atlantic City.
