LOL, what a story:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article … m-win.html

He clearly likes to give back to the community.

f--- me. I just woke up, this story was the first thing I read. How depressing. I can't believe that asshole's luck and subsequent stupidity.

A guy in my area did the same thing with his winnings, thought it was much less - just $1,000,000. And he was much older, in his 40s.

I forget where I read it, but I remember hearing that this is really common. Most people who win large sums of money blow the winnings irresponsibly and end up back where they were originally. Sometimes they even end up worse off. Just more proof that nothing good just "happens" to people; you've got to work for what you get or it's meaningless. That's one of many reasons I never mess with lotteries and whatnot. Not only will I never win, it would probably do me no good even if I did.

Anyway, what a waste. I sure hope he enjoyed himself. Life as a bin collector is going to seem really mundane after blowing all that money. I mean, if the guy had half a brain he could have used the money to go to a decent college and start a savings / retirement fund for himself. Hell, he could have used the money to invest in someone with a brain. Then he and his business partner could potentially benefit and do well.

What an idiot...

It is very common for people to who strike it rich to blow their money. These people think money = happiness... but it does not. In this particular case, the guy was just a total loser. Not even a partial loser, but total. Also, did you notice how quickly he became fat and ugly from all those drugs? I would like to think that someone who wins and has half a brain, would invest that money, and also give to charity. Instead of spending millions on parties, there are so many worthwhile charities in the world. It's sad how he could have made a difference in people's lives, but instead just squandered the opportunity.

Still, he probably had a great 8 years. I think I could get to like parties, drugs and hookers. Had he just gone a bit easier on the gambling, he probably could have sustained that lifestyle until he ended up drowning in his vomit or something. Go out on a high, I reckon.

Although I agree the guy is probably an idiot and a good-for-nothing bum, I still kind of like the story. Like Jay said, he probably had himself 8 crazy years that - for better or worse - will put their stamp on his life's destiny and single him out from the rest of the world's trash collectors. I like different life-paths like that, I like it when people move around and get to experience highs and lows in their lives rather than slavishly staying in the same line all their lives, whether that is picking up trash all their lives or going to college and then being ushered into some mind-numbing and soul-crushing office job.

None of that money would have gone to charity in any case. Let the idiot have his day, obviously a lot of people benefited financially from his spending-sprees and we got a funny story out of it.

In fact, when I think about it, these kinds of off-the-wall stories are the aspects of the capitalist order that I really like: in comparison to other socioeconomic systems, it leaves so much room for crazy, chaotic and hilarious shit like this to happen. Without specifically approving of his actions as such, I still salute the binman for exercising his free will by being a no-good and offensive douche-bag.

You never know if there'll be a tomorrow - might as well live like there won't be if you can afford to. Except for the throwing shit at cars bit. I'd be in jail now if it happened to my car.

How about a rule that lottery jackpot winners are disqualified from public assistance for life?  I think that's a sensible approach to a senseless scenario.

People aren't taught how to MANAGE money, we're only taught that the more money you get = the more you SPEND.  That's the only thing people learn to do with it.

As it was already pointed out, nearly EVERY winner of large sums quickly blows it all and ends up broke again, so this is to be expected, surely this doesn't surprise people anymore.

Yeah, definitely agreed. I think its actually very "human" to act like the aforementioned binman did if you find yourself in a bizarre and absurd situation like that. Its easy to condemn the lotto lout, but, honestly, wouldn't most of us (if not all of us) also go crazy and lose track of our spendings if we were in the same situation?

I know I would!

This is why I've been selling so much stuff recently; it's hard to keep up with the expense of four hookers a day. I've since had to cut back to two or three per day, and it sucks because I kind of feel like less of a man now. I have needs, dammit.

And to represent the flipside, people who have actually SAVED their money to get up to a million dollars reportedly aren't very "fun" to be around...  As they are stubbornly stingy as hell and won't spend a single penny on anything.

(they DON'T spend any money, which is why they still HAVE it).

If he would have put even a fraction of that into a simple interest-earning account he could have been set for life. Ah, but he made some great headlines.

Me, I would've done some traveling. Italy, Japan, Hawaii, New Zealand, Japan, Ireland, Japan.... Buy me some of that highfalutin bluefin tuna and bird nest soup.

What people are overlooking here is that lotto winners suffer from a selection effect. The people who play lotto the most are the poorest.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Re … ttery.aspx

"...studies show that the heaviest lottery players -- the 20% of players who contribute 82% of lottery revenue -- disproportionately are low-income, minority men who have less than a college education..."

Clearly, if you're uneducated, poor, don't know how to balance your life, yeah you're going to blow whatever money you get! However, an "average" person in my opinion (let's say middle-class earnings) is NOT going to go "crazy" and blow everything. That being said, it's true that many people simply don't know how to properly save... or for that matter, save at all!

cheers,

-avatar!

Same here, that's definitely one of the things I'd spend the money on.

That's your opinion, and my opinion differs from yours. I think an "average" "middle-class" person would go just as nuts as a poor person if he/she suddenly got millions dumped over them. All that money opens up so many possibilities and unavoidably creates an artificial state, the only people who wouldn't be much affected by it would be those few who already have so much that they wouldn't notice another 0 getting added at the end of their balance.

Yes. Bottom line: people just can't handle money. Money is generally better at handling people...