Be careful what you wish for.
The New Hampshire woman who won the $559.7 million Powerball jackpot last month is refusing to claim her prize until she’s assured anonymity. And she may have a compelling reason to seek the guarantee.
It turns out winning a jackpot of millions or even thousands of dollars can lead to financial ruin — or even death. Several recent lottery winners have turned up dead in communities across the country.
Abraham Shakespeare, who won $30 million in Florida’s lottery in 2009, was found buried in a makeshift grave under a concrete slab less than three years later. A woman who befriended him and offered to help manage what remained of his winnings instead murdered him; she was sentenced to life in prison.