Sorry, I find no sympathy for him. You reap what you sow and he has obviously had a huge crop failure. With a little common sense, getting in touch with a decent financial counselor like Dave Ramsey, he would be a whole lot better off today and so would many others. He tried to do it on his own and fell flat on his face.
No sour grapes here, just pure facts and oh-by-the-way I do NOT throw my money into lottery tickets.
I’ll buy maybe two a year when the Powerball jackpot gets really high. The folks that get into real trouble are the ones addicted to the scratch tickets. I was at a convenience store the other day and the guy in front of me bought about $50 dollars worth.
Sure, a lot of his problems are his own fault, but I don't fault him entirely. He was a hardworking man who pulled himself up by the bootstraps. He had a generous heart and wanted to share his good fortune. Unfortunately, I think he also wanted to go on with his life - like the business he started, and found that his life had changed too much.
"By the time Whittaker won the lottery, he said, he was doing $16 million to $17 million worth of work. He enjoyed years of success with few complaints, but less than a year after winning the lottery things began to change.
Rob Dunlap, one of Whittaker's many attorneys, said Whittaker has spent at least $3 million dollars fending off lawsuits.
"I've had over 400 legal claims made on me or one of my companies since I've won the lottery, " said Whittaker.
When asked why that might happen, Whittaker said it's because "everybody wants something for nothing."
Can you imagine having over 400 claims against your hard-earned business? Yuck. It's hard enough having to defend yourself against one lawsuit, even if it is frivolous.