Water parks and wrestling shows: unusual ways lottery winners spent their prizes
What people do with their lottery winnings, for the most part, can be quite predictable. To that end, it’s always great to hear of unusual expenditure of prize money. South Africa and other parts of the world have a few good examples of this.
Beyond the boring norm of buying pretty properties, purchasing Porsches and going on great holidays, there are insightful instances of creative splurging.
Wrestling the winnings
As far back as 2008, Jonathan Vargas started a television show, centred around female wrestlers, on the back of winning 35 million US dollars (about R525 million in today’s rates) in the US Powerball. ‘Wrestlicious TakeDown’ lasted just one season, but was arguably worth the spend for the 19-year-old Vargas.
Setting up camp
When Les Robins won 111 US million dollars, he founded Camp Winnegator. He used his winnings to build plenty of fun activities across 220-plus acres of land. It was a place where children could leave their electronic devices behind and get into nature by riding horses, swimming in the lake and doing other fun activities, much like Robins had done in his younger years.
Selfless in South Africa
South African lottery winners have been relatively conservative compared to other triumphant ticket holders around the world. Their selflessness, though, has been exemplary. From citizens of Mzansi keeping their lucky tickets in a shoe or a bible, stories of SA lottery winners are always interesting. Let’s not forget about the unnamed, loyal public servant in Limpopo who took care of his family financially, donated to charity and did other selfless deeds after winning R87 million in 2016. He had chosen the right lotto winning numbers a mere 15 minutes before the draw.
Dressing up the ranch
And then there was Neal Wanless, a cowboy from South Dakota in the United States. His winning lump sum neared 100 million US dollars (that’s well into the billions for South Africans). What did he do with the cash? Wanless ploughed it into his ranch and helping the community around him. "That's just the way it is in this part of the state, people help people, we know one another," said Timothy Grablander – the mayor of the town where Wanless' ranch is hosted.
Water park whims
Lottery winners John and Linda Kutey effectively honoured their parents by funding a water park with their some of their winnings of 319 US million in 2011. "We demolished the wading pool and put the spray pool in. It cost the taxpayers nothing,” said a local Green Island, New York, official of how some of the Kutey’s money was used.
For a cause
In 2012, Bob Erb from Canada finally won big after buying lottery tickets for more than four decades. "I just went in, checked the lottery ticket - 25 and a whole bunch of zeroes," Erb was quoted as saying by CBC News. "I pulled the ticket out and I said, ‘Oh my. I think I won 25 million.'" He didn’t quit his job and, instead, continued working in the construction industry. He also put a significant amount of his winnings toward support the legalisation of marijuana.