Dave and Erica Harrig stayed true to their values once they received a lottery jackpot of greater than $61 million in 2013. It made all of the distinction.
The couple from Gretna, Nebraska, a group at the outskirts of Omaha the place Dave Harrig now’s a volunteer firefighter, allowed themselves to shop for a brand new house, some antique cars and a couple of ocean cruises when they each hand over their jobs.
However 9 years later, they nonetheless are living a lot as they at all times did, last of their group, maintaining with church, friends and family, and instructing their kids to paintings arduous to make a dwelling regardless of any monetary providence that may come their method.
Many different winners haven’t been as fortunate, struggling private setbacks and complaints or turning into the sufferers of scams. The most recent winner of a large jackpot got here Friday, when a unmarried price ticket offered in Illinois matched the numbers for a $1.337 billion Mega Tens of millions prize. Illinois is one of the states the place winners of greater than $250,000 can select not to divulge their names.
Dave Harrig, an Air Power veteran who labored in airplane repairs, says protecting issues easy almost definitely stored him and his circle of relatives from the type of hassles and tragedies that experience befallen different large winners.
Virtually in a single day, the Harrig circle of relatives mailbox was once stuffed with letters stuffed with arduous good fortune tales: unwell kids, misplaced jobs, burned out houses.
Dave Harrig mentioned they not noted all of them and fascinated about their very own circle of relatives and charities.
They didn’t even contact the primary on their winnings till only a few years in the past, once they tapped into it to fund a brand new museum of firefighting in Gretna that can open quickly.
“We now have nicer issues, a larger area, and greater than we ever had previously. However we’re the similar, and my spouse and I stay every different in take a look at,” Dave Harrig mentioned, encouraging long run lottery winners to take a position properly, select a countrywide funding adviser slightly than an area one, and to steer clear of advisers who attempt to promote monetary merchandise.
They’ve not noted false rumors that experience swirled about them, suggesting that his spouse at one level ran off with a health care provider and that he had a attorney female friend. Their 4 kids continued teasing in class.
“We’re nonetheless finding out, nevertheless it has helped to stick running in combination as a crew,” he mentioned of himself and his spouse.
He said the struggles of a few previous winners, pronouncing the revel in of successful a jackpot “can in point of fact intensify your persona and any addictions.”
The past due Andrew Whittaker Jr., of West Virginia, suffered complaints and private setbacks after he claimed a file $315 million Powerball jackpot on Christmas night time in 2002.
On the time, it was once the most important U.S. lottery jackpot received by way of a unmarried price ticket. Other folks careworn him such a lot with requests for cash he was once quoted a number of occasions pronouncing he needed he had torn up the price ticket.
Earlier than loss of life of herbal reasons in 2020 at age 72, he struggled with alcohol and playing issues and had a sequence of private tragedies, together with the loss of life of his granddaughter.
Profitable the lottery introduced different sorts of complications for Manuel Franco, of West Allis, Wisconsin, who claimed a $768 million lottery jackpot in April 2019.
Then simply 24, Franco excitedly held a information convention to speak about his win, however later reportedly went into hiding amid harassment by way of strangers and the scoop media.
The Higher Industry Bureau of Wisconsin started caution other folks in 2021 about messages from scammers who claimed to be the multimillion-dollar winner.
The use of Franco’s identify, the scammers despatched textual content messages, social media messages, telephone calls and emails phishing for private knowledge, telling recipients they’d been selected to obtain cash.
The BBB mentioned scammers were given greater than $13,000 from other folks they tricked, together with other folks in Alabama and Colorado.
In spite of the issues encountered by way of the winners, lottery officers prefer publicly figuring out winners to instill public agree with within the video games.
That’s largely as a result of some previous drawings were rigged. Former Multi-State Lottery Affiliation knowledge safety director Eddie Tipton pleaded responsible in 2017 to manipulating tool so he may just are expecting successful numbers on positive days of the 12 months. He and his brother rigged jackpots in a lot of states for a blended payout of a few $24 million.
AP researcher Jennifer Farrar contributed to this record.
