How big lotto winners became bigger losers

Lotto busts: Unfortunate decisions of the fortunate ones

There's nothing like winning a big fat sum of money in a lottery. Overnight, the transition from rags to riches has had many winners often bemused. A sudden shock can lead to great lifestyle changes, but how far will a lotto winner go to sustain that lifestyle?
Here are a few fortunate ones who made some unfortunate choices after winning the lottery:
An airline mechanic, Arnim Ramdass made headlines when he and few other mechanics won $10.2 million, leaving each of the 17 winners with about $600,000.

Arnim Ramdass and Donna Campbell on their wedding day. Image: teinteresa.es
While most people would assume he will have shared his big win with his wife, Ramdass hid it from her.
Initially everything seemed normal. Soon his wife Donna Campbell became suspicious of her husband he would keep the television turned off and even disconnected the phone line. One day while surfing Google she stumbled upon her husband's name and lottery number.
When he was confronted, he disappeared, leaving no traces of himself or his money. 
Latest: Winners of $1.6 billion US Powerball jackpot still officially unknown

Stephanie Bigbee Fleming, right, and her mother, Patty Bigbee, left. (Manatee Sheriff's Office/Volusia County Sheriff) Image: cbsnews.com
This Florida grandmother got so accustomed to her high life after the lottery she found herself struggling to keep up when the money racks got closer to the floor.
Patty Bigbee won a $1 million in the Missouri Powerball. Immediately she moved to Florida, got a car, and a whole lot of fancy things.
When she started running out of cash, she decided to sell her 8-week-old grandson for $75,000. After a bargain with a stranger she settled for $30,000. Bigbee met the strangerin Daytona Beach and after the child and money changed hands in a parking lot near the Daytona Speedway, police arrested the woman, according to a report by ABC News.
The 45-year-old was charged with illegal sale of a child and communication fraud. 

Image: Corbis
Dubbed by local media as the 'lotto lout', 19-year-old Michael Carroll (above) won a whopping £10m.
Britain's notorious jackpot winner blew every penny of fortune in less than 10 years. He made news soon after the win for spending it all on parties. His lifestyle got so out-of-hand that officials in Carroll's neighbourhood set up an actual Michael Carroll Damage Hotline, to report his trail of destruction. 
A decade after throwing away all his winning, Carroll took up a £204-a-week job in biscuit factory.
"When you give nine million pounds to a 19-year-old what do you think is going to happen?" he told BBC.

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Another winner who didn't inform her spouse was Denise Rossi. She won $1.3m on the California Lottery. What did she do next? Instead of sharing her 'happiness' with her husband, she applied for divorce after being married for 25 years. She didn't utter a word about the win during the legal proceedings.
It wasn't long before, three years to be exact, that the truth came to light. She had violated state asset disclosure law and was ordered to pay every single penny of her winnings to her ex-husband.