The High Cost of Winning（在线收听）

The High Cost of Winning

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Denise Rossi, 53, Won: $1.3 million, Outcome: Stripped of her winnings

Blind-sided—that’s how Thomas Rossi felt when Denise, his wife of 26 years, hit him with divorce papers in 1997. “I thought we got along well,” says Rossi, “I couldn’t understand it. She wanted me to move out of the house very fast. It wasn’t like her to act this way.”

Two years later it all made sense. Rossi learned Denise had scored $1.3 million in a lottery on December 28, 1996—11 days before she filed for divorce. He took her to court for not disclosing the money, and the judge awarded Thomas Rossi the entire haul. According to her lawyer Connolly Oyler, Denise could have kept half and perhaps all of her loot had she been honest, but the court ruled that “her failure to disclose was a fraud.”

Billie Bob Harrell Jr., 50, Won: $31 million, Outcome: Lost his marriage—and his life

Billie Bob Harrell Jr. was just about broke when he won $31 million in June 1997. He quit his hardware store job and took his family to Hawaii. He gave tens of thousands to his church, and lavished cars and houses on friends and family. He even bought 480 turkeys for the poor.

Suddenly, strangers were calling, demanding donations. Harrell had to change his phone number several times. The strain of it all damaged his marriage, and less than a year after winning Harrell split from his wife.

Harrell’s reckless spending and lending vaporized the rest of the money. In the end, all he wanted was to have his family back. One night in 1999, his oldest son found him dead of a self-inflicted shotgun wound. “Winning the lottery,” Harrell had earlier told a friend, “was the worst thing that ever happened to me.”