Here's what happened to lottery winners in Russia. Dangerous jackpot: how big lottery winners become hostages of millions

In the US, the largest jackpot in the world was drawn in the popular Powerball lottery - the amount was 1.5 billion dollars! The name of the winner is not yet known, but officials from the organizers of the lottery said that the winning ticket was purchased in a suburb of Los Angeles, California.

The lottery is held in 44 states of the country, and winning Powerball always becomes a sensation. The coveted prize goes to the one who correctly indicates the numbers of five white balls and one red one, which is called the Powerball.

In the meantime, let's take a look at the other lucky ones who have won the biggest Powerball jackpots, how much money they've won and what they've spent it on.

(Total 12 photos)

In 2014, 75-year-old Emma Duvall won $2 million. She chose numbers she found in a fortune cookie in a New York City store.

A 19-year-old builder named Jonathan Vargas won $35 million in 2008. Jonathan chose the numbers using his family's dates of birth and ages. He later created the women's wrestling channel Wrestlicious.

In 2001, ex-convict David Edwards (who was convicted of armed robbery) won $41 million. David bought a mansion in Florida and a private jet. In just five years, he spent all his winnings and died at the age of 58 in a hospice.

In 2009, 27-year-old Jeffrey Wilson won $88 million. Jeffrey says that little has changed in his life since winning, except that he began to live in a bigger house. He donated part of the money to the children's hospital.

In 2005, 34-year-old Brad Duke won $220 million. However, after winning, Brad continued to ride his old car and work for another two and a half years. The fitness center instructor used his money wisely by hiring a team of financial advisors and investing his winnings.

In 2009, retired civil servant Solomon Jackson won $259 million. Mr. Jackson donated generous sums of money to a variety of educational causes, including Morris College, from which he graduated.

The Hill family won $293 million. The modest and pious family plans to spend the money on the education of their children (three sons and one adopted girl), grandchildren and nephews.

In 2002, 55-year-old contracting firm president Andrew Whittaker won $314 million. Andrew donated 10% of his winnings to Christian charities, he spent the other 14 million to open a fund to help families in need in West Virginia. Unfortunately, life after winning the former businessman did not work out - he was pursued by people who wanted to cash in on his luck, and two daughters died of a drug overdose.

In 2013, New Jersey's Pedro Quesada won $338 million. The former owner of the store used part of his winnings to pay child support to his family.

ConAgra Foods employees won $365 million. The lucky ones managed their money in different ways - someone built a house in Vietnam, someone quit their job and lives on the percentage of their investments, someone just enjoys life and does what they love, and two winners even got married.

In 2013, 16 employees of the company engaged in maintenance machines, shared the winnings of $448 million. The reaction of the winners was different - someone was insanely happy with the money, especially after the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy, and some expressed dissatisfaction with the increased attention from the media.

In 2013, 84-year-old Gloria McKenzie of Florida, a retired teacher, won $590 million. We can say that it was the will of fate: an elderly woman was let through the line for lottery tickets and she bought a ticket with numbers already selected.

Why do I believe in the possibility of winning a multi-million dollar lottery jackpot? Because very unlikely things happen! Here, for example, is such a case (Excel spreadsheet, task No. 7), when I did calculations on the discipline "Risk Management" and turned out to be equal two quantities calculated from two perfectly different formulas using by chance taken, respectively, 12 and 72 values! I came up with 84 numbers, and if only I took at least one even 0.01% excellent, then this equality would not exist!

What is the probability of this coincidence? If we assume that each of the 8 parameters changed within 10 units, then the probability of coincidence is 1 in 10 8 , i.e. 1 in 100 million! And you never know what these almost incredible events are happening: random meetings, coincidences of numbers, and so on, but they do happen!

We take a sports tote, namely "Toto" (jackpot 608 circulation 39,207,345 rubles). To win, you need to guess 15 outcomes of matches (or periods in a match) with 3 options: victory of the 1st team (1); draw (X); victory of the 2nd team (2). Outcomes are equally probable, because are specially selected on this basis, so sports knowledge is not needed in "Toto" (but it is needed for "Line" and "Live" bets).

Probability of winning: 1 in 3 15 (1 in 14,348,907 or 0.000007%). Few? Yes. But there are wins!

For myself, I solve it like this: to win, you only need to the randomness of the outcomes of the games coincided with the randomness of my choice. I managed to guess 10 outcomes twice ( cash prizes start by guessing 9 outcomes).

And here are some near-mathematical thoughts about the sweepstakes.

1) The coefficients (K) in the totalizator are related to the probability (B) of the event inverse relationship: K=1/B. For a complete event (all possible outcomes) the sum of the probabilities turns out to be slightly more than 1 (the bookmaker’s office pledges 10–15% of the profit and underestimates the odds by this percentage):

1/K 1 + 1/K X + 1/K 2 = 1.15

2) In mathematical statistics and probability theory, as I remember now, for risk analysis it is calculated expected value and dispersion.

We take a table of coefficients for some match:

So, if you bet €100 on the victory of the first team, then checkmate. the expectation of winning will be: 100 (1.5 - 1) 0.5926 + (-100) 0.1852 + (-100) 0.2222 = -€11.11! Horror! How can it be? Really loss is mathematically determined?..

Yes, that is right. Even if we take equiprobable outcomes with an unreduced coefficient of 3 (i.e. with a probability of 1/3), then with a bet of €100 on any one outcome, it turns out that mate. the expectation is: 100 (3 - 1) 0.33 - 0.33 100 - 0.33 100 = 0. Zero! And since the coefficients are underestimated, then the mat. the expectation of a loss is exactly equal to that percentage of the bet underestimated. So, from a mathematical point of view, it is unprofitable to play!

3) But if you expect that you are still lucky (that you can guess the outcomes with a higher probability than it is included in the coefficients) or if you are well versed in sports, then which strategy is better: A) to bet big money on more probable events (t .ie low odds: 1.1 or 1.05) or B) bet small money on unlikely events (ie high odds: 100, 200 or all 500)?

There are people who bet 1,000,000 rubles on such small odds, i.e. games with clear favorite. With a coefficient of 1.05, they receive a win of 50,000 rubles. But still they risk losing this million!

And there are those who bet 100, 200 or 500 rubles. for very unlikely events. The probability of their winning is small, but these 100 rubles with a coefficient of 200 turn into 20,000, and losses are limited to 100 rubles.

Which is better: to risk one million for the sake of 50 thousand or almost guaranteed to lose 100 rubles, but if you are lucky, get 20 thousand - everyone decides for himself. And if you do not have this million, then strategy A disappears by itself.

4) A large coefficient can be obtained from small ones by combining several matches into one "express": betting on 10 independent matches on outcomes with a coefficient of 1.5, as a result, the coefficient will be 1.5 10 = 58, and if from 10 games with a coefficient of 2, then already 1024.

Of course, the probability that all events will play also decreases, and if at least one is guessed incorrectly, then the entire "express" will be losing. But on the other hand, you can implement strategy B (small bets), and the drop in probability can be considered not so large (not by a factor of 10), if you bet not by chance, but with knowledge of the matter (sports experience).

That's why I no-no, yes, I play. Moreover, I think that the totalizator is more transparent and honest and depends more on your choice than different lotteries there. But if you are gambling, I do not advise you to play: it is harmful to your and family well-being.

Who does not hope for a miracle that one day he will be lucky and become incredibly rich by winning several million in the lottery? That is why every day thousands of people buy Stoloto tickets, sometimes spending half their salary on it, or even all of it. hope for good luck and happy ticket- a good thing. However, where there is fraud, it is a priori impossible to win. At least, a large sum. Yes and with small wins Stoloto is also in recent times cheats too often, deceiving its participants even with such money as 120-180 rubles. As they say, with the world on a thread, but on your caviar. Don't believe? And in vain ...

The whole truth about Stoloto

Stoloto is the official state organizer of lotteries in the Russian Federation. It holds 16 different lotteries, among which the most popular are Gosloto, Sportloto and Russian loto". Tickets can be purchased both online on the website and at various points of sale. It is the monopolist of lotteries in Russia.

The most favorite game of most players is Gosloto, when you have to guess several numbers from a number of possible ones. For example, 4 out of 20, 5 out of 36, 6 out of 45, 6 out of 49. On the ticket, the participant indicates his " lucky numbers”, and later a draw is held, during which the drum randomly throws out balls with numbers. The more matches, the more win. Jackpots are absolutely crazy - 8-80 million rubles!

But if you look for reviews about the Stoloto lottery, you will see that most of them are negative. And not because people were just unlucky to win and their hopes of becoming millionaires crumbled, but because the organizers are constantly convicted of fraud. Even with small amounts, they are deceived here, what can we say about large ones!

Evidence of Stoloto's deception

Win millions? And cookie to you!

Occasionally, Stoloto pleases with a message that there such and such won the jackpot or just big prize a couple of million rubles. The news spreads instantly. In the hearts of lottery participants, the hope flashes that since someone has won such a huge amount, then they will certainly be lucky. You just have to keep buying tickets and hope for a miracle. And here again the crowds run for tickets.

Yeah... maybe sometimes someone managed to accidentally become one of those lucky ones, but apart from the sum with a few zeros on the screen, they never saw anything else. Scandals have flared up more than once with those who won millions in Stoloto, but remained with nothing.

History 1.

In November 2016, a resident of Transbaikalia won 6 million rubles in Stoloto. But when trying to pick them up, he was told that there had been a technical failure, an error had occurred, so his ticket was declared unwinnable. What 6 million?!

History 2.

Pensioner Nina Koryagina from Dzerzhinsk Stoloto "broke off" even more. The woman won 54 million rubles in new year's eve 2017 in "Russian Lotto". The organizers of the lottery confirmed the win and promised that they would later contact her regarding the issuance of money. However, no one wanted to deal with the winner anymore - the phone was either constantly busy or unavailable for months. Interesting, isn't it?

Yes, you always want to believe that someday you will be able to win the lottery and solve all your problems. financial difficulties. However, if the lottery is dishonest, cheats and does everything to prevent people from winning or getting the minimum amount, then the probability of a big win tends to zero. I hope the above evidence of fraud facts will make you think about whether it is possible to win at Stoloto or is it all a scam. Are you ready to give your money to scammers for the sake of an illusory hope that simply does not come true? But some get so excited that they spend their entire salary and even get into loans to buy packs of tickets.

Who has not dreamed of getting a cash trophy without much effort? But someone, as in that anecdote, asks God to win without bothering to buy a lottery ticket, and someone takes a risk with the hope of good luck and, as a result, becomes the owner of a large amount.

As a rule, the newly-minted rich prefer to remain anonymous, and the money is spent on the implementation own desires or to help loved ones (most often to buy cars, apartments, business promotion). Money makes some happy, others are upset that they could not sensibly use their chance.

How to spend 29 million rubles in 5 years?

As an example of the fact that big money is an obvious way to quickly get poor (the idea belongs to Veselin Georgiev), a family from Ufa can be cited. Luck smiled at the unemployed spouses of the Mukhametzyanovs.

Having made a spontaneous bet in the Bingo Show lottery in 2001, Nadezhda and Rustem became millionaires in an instant. It seemed that here it is - a chance to make life better. However, the editorial office of find out.rf sadly reports that in 5 years from 29 million, except for the purchased apartment, nothing remains. Hope fell ill and died. The tragedy was preceded by a long-term alcohol abuse.

Money "catch" invested in fish

Muscovite Yevgeny Sidorov decided to spend 35 million rubles won at Gosloto on fish farming - carp breeding. In 2009, the former locksmith went with his family to implement plans. countryside. The happy transformation of a locksmith into a producer of "goldfish" took place thanks to a rate of 560 rubles.

47 million - for the dreams of loved ones

The 42-year-old from Voronezh, whose bet of 120 rubles at Stoloto made him a millionaire, for the most part He shared the winnings with his relatives, and spent the rest on home repairs and other household issues. The man hopes that he will be lucky again.

Instead of moving overseas - debts

In 2009, fortune on a "golden platter" brought a 36-year-old resident Leningrad region 100 million rubles. Having successfully guessed 6 numbers out of 45 in the Gosloto game, Albert Begrakyan began to change his life. I bought several apartments in St. Petersburg, expensive cars, bought a plot for the construction of a hotel.

An impressive amount - 12 million - was lent to acquaintances, who, however, were in no hurry to return what they had taken. As a result, after two years, the money won evaporated, and the debt to the state in the amount of 4.5 million rubles. for unpaid tax on the winnings remained. According to Albert, if he had another chance, he would spend the money on a trip overseas.

Housing in the Mediterranean

The super prize - 121.8 million rubles - was shared in June 2013 by Olga, a resident of Volgograd, who received 61.5 million rubles, the rest went to Valery from Perm. Both lucky people decided to spend the money to buy real estate.

Childhood dream come true

In May 2015, the fortune of a 37-year-old resident of the Kaliningrad region increased by 126.9 million rubles. A rich engineer by profession made a ticket for 800 rubles purchased in the cabin mobile communications. The winner said that since childhood he played the lottery and dreamed of becoming famous thanks to a "lucky" ticket.

To warm climes

184 million rubles - such a lottery prize went to a builder from Omsk. winning ticket cost the 48-year-old father of three children 810 rubles. The editors of the site clarifies that a man named Valery decided to spend the acquired capital on buying a home by the sea.

Months of shock

A 45-year-old resident got rich by 202.4 million rubles in August 2014 Nizhny Novgorod Mikhail F. The father of two children received the money prize a month after the drawing, because he was in a state of shock all this time. Its owner decided not to share his plans for spending a millionth fortune with the public.

To build a business in Moscow

A resident of Novosibirsk, who took the second place in the ranking of the site in terms of the amount of the cash prize, guessed 6 numbers out of 45 in Gosloto. It happened in February 2016. The lucky man did not immediately apply for his 358 million rubles. After reading the news about the super prize, the man at first did not understand that he himself had become the hero of these messages.

He compared the number combination on his ticket with the winning one several times before making sure that fortune was on his side. A 47-year-old medic got a lucky bet from a local retail outlet, cost 1800 rubles. He took part in the lottery for two years in a row. The winner said that the money will be used to buy a house in the capital and develop the business.

Contribution to the party treasury

The "palm" for the amount of lottery winnings is held by a resident of Sochi named Asmik. She became the lucky owner of the record prize in May 2017. A fabulous 364 million rubles was brought to her by a rate of 700 rubles, paid with the help of mobile application, in the Gosloto lottery. The newly-made millionaire, who worked in the field of culture, planned to contribute a third of the winnings to the election fund of one of the Russian political parties.

Biggest lottery win in Russian history

Registered in autumn 2017 biggest win in the Stoloto lottery in Russia - in the amount of 506 million rubles. It is noteworthy that the winner is a 63-year-old resident Voronezh region named Natalya Petrovna - at first she did not believe in her luck, and the organizers of the draw had to look for the owner huge money in two weeks. After the lucky woman nevertheless came to Moscow for a certificate, she said that she was going to give part of the money to charity.

In any case, money is a temptation, but a very pleasant and desirable one. And, probably, it is worth agreeing with the opinion of Robert Orben, who believed that the phrase “money cannot buy happiness” is most often pronounced by those who have neither happiness nor money. Often at the same time, rich people - especially the children of businessmen who inherited luxury by birthright - believe that everything is permitted to them and the law is not written. We invite you to read stories about rich young criminals.
Subscribe to our channel in Yandex.Zen

Many popular lotteries in our country, when compared with foreign counterparts, have a number of disadvantages, the main of which is a relatively small jackpot. This is because it takes time to accumulate a huge amount of money.

Besides, economic development and indicators in the world market directly depend on the amount of lottery jackpots. Russians and Americans when buying lottery ticket think completely differently. And if for a foreign player the lottery is a small investment, and the winnings are pleasant money surprise, then for our citizens, the purchase of a treasured ticket is a chance to change lives, change or leave work after big win.

The price of a EuroMillions ticket is $7.1.

The EuroJackpot ticket price is $5.65.

The ticket price of the American MegaMillions lottery is $2.5.

Advantages of foreign lotteries

Foreign lotteries are very popular, and all because their draws are held openly, the results are not falsified and no one can even think that the results can be bought.

However, this does not mean at all that domestic lotteries- a complete lie and deception of the players. It's just that in foreign games there is not the slightest reason to think that this can happen. Moreover, it will be contrary to all moral and ethical criteria. And if such an event were to occur even in small town, then the media and the public would not ignore such an incident. Therefore, the organizers and representatives are forced to control the observance of all the rules and the honesty of the draw.

Lottery organizers regularly pay taxes and comply with all prescribed laws, and citizens trust honest lotteries and the state. Special attention deserves the fact that foreign lotteries strictly keep the names of the winners secret, and this, of course, is an indisputable advantage.

Some refuse to advertise the victory, because they do not want to catch envious looks on themselves. Sometimes lottery organizers even offer the winners to take a short psychological course that will teach them how to properly respond to people's reactions and accept the situation.

Another important advantage that distinguishes world lotteries is the currency. It's not surprising, because famous lotteries must be backed by a stable currency that leads the world market. And it does not matter in what currency the winner wants to receive his prize: dollars, euros, yen, pounds. This directly proves that the jackpot is not afraid of defaults and inflation, and players will not lose their funds. Participating in foreign lotteries, you can always count on a reliable win with a stable currency.

And, probably, the most important advantage is the size of the jackpot. Multi-million currency prizes are always on the lookout for their winners. There is not a single lottery, neither in Russia, nor in Ukraine, nor in neighboring states, that had at least half the amount in prize fund, as in American or European lotteries. And it is unlikely that this will ever happen. Thus, in order to win a huge fortune, you need to take part in foreign lotteries.

It is worth noting one important point, which lies in the fact that in order to participate in lotteries held in Europe, America and other countries, the main criterion is age, it must not be less than 18 years old. Otherwise, anyone can take part in an exciting action, while not breaking the law and getting a chance for a huge super prize that can turn your whole life around.