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 neighborhood on the outskirts of Omaha the place Dave Harrig now's a volunteer firefighter, allowed themselves to purchase a brand new house, some classic vehicles and some ocean cruises after they each stop their jobs.
However 9 years later, they nonetheless stay a lot as they at all times did, remaining of their neighborhood, maintaining with church, household and mates, and instructing their youngsters to work arduous to make a dwelling regardless of any monetary windfall that may come their approach.
Many different winners haven’t been as fortunate, struggling private setbacks and lawsuits or changing into the victims of scams. The newest winner of an enormous jackpot got here Friday, when a single ticket offered in Illinois matched the numbers for a $1.337 billion Mega Hundreds of thousands prize. Illinois is among the many states the place winners of greater than $250,000 can select to not reveal their names.
Dave Harrig, an Air Drive veteran who labored in plane upkeep, says protecting issues easy in all probability saved him and his household from the form of hassles and tragedies which have befallen different large winners.
Nearly in a single day, the Harrig household mailbox was crammed with letters stuffed with arduous luck tales: sick youngsters, misplaced jobs, burned out houses.
Dave Harrig stated they ignored all of them and centered on their very own household and charities.
They didn’t even contact the principal on their winnings till just some years in the past, once they tapped into it to fund a brand new museum of firefighting in Gretna that may open quickly.
“We have now nicer issues, a much bigger home, and greater than we ever had prior to now. However we're the identical, and my spouse and I maintain one another in examine,” Dave Harrig stated, encouraging future lottery winners to speculate correctly, select a nationwide funding adviser slightly than an area one, and to keep away from advisers who attempt to promote monetary merchandise.
They’ve ignored false rumors which have swirled about them, suggesting that his spouse at one level ran off with a physician and that he had a lawyer girlfriend. Their 4 youngsters endured teasing at college.
“We’re nonetheless studying, but it surely has helped to remain working collectively as a workforce,” he stated of himself and his spouse.
He acknowledged the struggles of some previous winners, saying the expertise of successful a jackpot “can actually intensify your character and any addictions.”
The late Andrew Whittaker Jr., of West Virginia, suffered lawsuits and private setbacks after he claimed a report $315 million Powerball jackpot on Christmas evening in 2002.
On the time, it was the biggest U.S. lottery jackpot received by a single ticket. Individuals harassed him a lot with requests for cash he was quoted a number of occasions saying he wished he had torn up the ticket.
Earlier than dying of pure causes in 2020 at age 72, he struggled with alcohol and playing issues and had a collection of non-public tragedies, together with the demise of his granddaughter.
Profitable the lottery introduced different kinds 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 debate his win, however later reportedly went into hiding amid harassment by strangers and the information media.
The Higher Enterprise Bureau of Wisconsin started warning individuals in 2021 about messages from scammers who claimed to be the multimillion-dollar winner.
Utilizing Franco’s title, the scammers despatched textual content messages, social media messages, cellphone calls and emails phishing for private data, telling recipients they'd been chosen to obtain cash.
The BBB stated scammers bought greater than $13,000 from individuals they tricked, together with individuals in Alabama and Colorado.
Regardless of the issues encountered by the winners, lottery officers favor publicly figuring out winners to instill public belief within the video games.
That’s largely as a result of some previous drawings have been rigged. Former Multi-State Lottery Affiliation data safety director Eddie Tipton pleaded responsible in 2017 to manipulating software program so he may predict successful numbers on sure days of the yr. He and his brother rigged jackpots in quite a few states for a mixed payout of some $24 million.
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AP researcher Jennifer Farrar contributed to this report.
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