I think I'm too old for those silly situations of unrequited love!
Why winning the lotto should carry a health warning
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By Ed Power
Tuesday Jul 28 2009
You might think that hitting the jackpot is a dream come true, but Ed Power discovers for some it can quickly become a nightmare
Could winning the lottery be bad for you? If you find it hard to resist temptation, the answer, it seems, is a definite "yes". In a survey of jackpot scoopers, researchers have found overnight wealth can lead to long-term health problems -- largely as a consequence of reckless over-partying as the new minted millionaires embrace a champagne and cigars lifestyle.
So common is the phenomenon of Lottery winners cavorting their way to an early grave, economists have even coined a term for it: "positive income shock".
In simple English this means that, with an unlimited fortune suddenly at their disposal, people have a tendency to kick back and live the good life -- no matter that the good life may actually exact a costly toll on their health.
"Lottery wins might not be good for your physical health because you party too much," said Andrew Clark, of the Paris School of Economics, one of the researchers behind the new study.
"Winning big does indeed improve mental health; however, we uncovered counteracting health effects with respect to risky behaviours. Those who win more, smoke more and engage in more social drinking."
This may sound like a text book case of academics being paid to state the obvious -- nonetheless, the data collected by Clark and his team makes for stark reading. In an analysis of 8,000 people who scored big on the British lottery between 1994 and 2005, it was found that, far from seeing their quality of life improving, many actually ended up worse off.
Consider the case of infamous 'Lotto Lout' Michael Carroll. Former bin-man Carroll won the equivalent of €12m in 2002 and immediately embarked on a two-year binge -- a life of wanton over-indulgence that quickly turned self-destructive.
Writing in his autobiography, Carroll describes scenes of all-night partying that would have made an attendee at a Roman orgy blush.
"Almost every night and most afternoons we had the wildest parties," he recalled. "It was full of my mates, women, drink and drugs. We would act like Roman generals. We had sword fights with real swords and drank ourselves into a stupor. The girls would be bed-hopping round the house. We would treat them like servants and they loved it. They served us cocaine on silver platters."
The wheels finally came off in 2004 when he was sent to prison having failed to comply with a drug treatment order. He was jailed a second time after going on the rampage with a baseball bat at a music festival. Clearly Carroll was an unstable personality -- which raises the question of whether he would have ended up behind bars regardless of his financial status?
We'll never know. One thing's for sure, however: wealth didn't solve his problems, but merely exacerbated them.
Another cautionary tale is provided by unemployed carpenter Phil Kitchen, who won the equivalent of €10m in 1999 and managed to drink himself into an early grave in three years. He was found dead at the age of 58 in a £500,000 country house in Worcestershire. The official cause of death was "self neglect". In his darkest days, he was believed to be knocking back three bottles of whiskey a day.
A €150,000 lotto win, meanwhile, saw Wayne Thompson increase his drinking three-fold -- sometimes polishing off 24 pints in a single session. Down to his last €50,000 he had a wake-up moment and decided to dry out. Alas, a spell of rehab at London's exclusive Priory ended up costing him the rest of his shrinking fortune.
"Most of the money has gone -- but it was fun while it lasted," he said in 2001. "Anyway, there are more important things than money."
And just last week, it was reported that a UK couple have been declared bankrupt -- less than four years after a €400,000 Lottery win. "We have done nothing to be ashamed of, said Pauline Parkes, who, along with her husband Allen, had thrown a €12,000 party at their local pub to celebrate their jackpot.
"I am holding my head high and do not want people's sympathy. It is easy to just give up but as far as we are concerned the only way forward is to carry on. We want to prove to ourselves and everybody else that we can still be successful. I do not regret the lottery win. It brought good things as well as bad. At least we have got a roof over our head and are doing a job we love."
Closer to home, 2005 Euromillions winner Dolores McNamara has reportedly had to deal with multiple threats of abduction since claiming her €115m jackpot. She lives in a luxury house in Killaloe, Co Clare, reputed to be crammed with the latest security systems.
Dr Dorothy Rowe, a psychologist and author of The Real Meaning of Money, believes a windfall can actually make life worse for those with addictive personalities.
"When you win a big prize, you don't change as a person," she said." Also, you might think that if you get health problems you will be able to pay your way out by going to the best doctors."
Not to be outdone, there is a long, sorry history of Lottery-winning Americans coming to wrack and ruin. Bagging $20m didn't do much for Jeffrey Dampier -- soon afterwards he was kidnapped and murdered by his own sister-in-law.
In 2002, meanwhile, Jack Whittaker had cause to rue winning $314m, the biggest jackpot in US lottery history. In the years that followed, a drug overdose claimed his granddaughter and his marriage disintegrated.
'If I knew what was going to transpire, honestly, I would have torn the ticket up," said Jewell Whittaker, Jack Whittaker's ex-wife.
"The dream you have about winning may be better than the actuality of winning," said American psychologist Steve Danish. "There have been families that have just been torn apart by this process."
In general, Irish Lottery winners resisted embarking on ruinous crash and burn sprees. Or at least they are careful to do so firmly out of public sight. We may like to party as much as the next nation -- but our millionaires, overnight or otherwise, generally like to stay away from the prying gaze of the wider world.
"True happiness can only come from within," says David O'Regan, of Newbridge-based Irish Therapy. "Many of us want the big house and the big car. But these alone cannot make us happy."
Still, even blowing all your money can have an upside. Interviewed recently Michael Carroll admitted that, while he might have been more prudent with his cash, "I can't say I regret the women".
- Ed Power
