In March 1995, a used car trader named Lee Ryan won the lottery for £6,527,880. At the time, he lived in public housing built by local authorities in Braunston, England with his girlfriend and their three children. After getting married that summer, he spent £1 million on a country mansion and a variety of cars including a Bentley, Ferrari, Porsche, and BMW. He also bought two Ducati superbikes, a £125,000 plane, and a £235,000 Bell JetRanger helicopter. His entire life had been turned around. He had “prayed to God to make him a millionaire” while he had been serving a prison sentence for stealing cars, and it seemed that his desires had come to fruition. However, his life of joyful lavishness later faded as he and his wife split in 2003, and he lost about £2 million in failed business ventures and property investments. After countless losses, he eventually chose to reside in a rented flat in South London with homeless lodgers. In regards to the lottery, he claimed “the money was cursed” (Charlton 2014).
