Posted on 11/27/2004 4:07:31 AM PST by DirtyHarryY2K
A Sad but True Texas Lottery Winner Story
Originally Posted: Nov 24, 2004 Revised:
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Less than two years after Billie Bob Harrell Jr. took the $31 million lottery jackpot, he took his own life Harrell, a former Pentecostal preacher, was a Home Depot stocker when he hit the jackpot.
Billie Bob's (Mis) Fortune
BY STEVE MCVICKER
Houston Press
From the Week of Thursday, February 10, 2000
Many have the same dream: finding the six magical numbers that unlock the treasure known as the Texas Lottery. Then life would be good. Problems would vanish. There are even the collective fantasies of what to buy and with whom to share this new, instant wealth.
Billie Bob Harrell Jr. shared those common visions by common souls seeking the salvation of sudden fortune.
And in June 1997, he found it.
He sat in his easy chair one evening and looked at his Quick Pick and then at the Sunday newspaper. Harrell studied the sequence of numbers again and began to realize the wildest of notions. He and wife Barbara Jean held the only winning ticket to a Lotto Texas jackpot of $31 million.
Harrell, a deeply religious man, knew he had a godsend from heaven. After being laid off from a couple of jobs in the past few years, Billie Bob had been reduced to stocking the electrical-supply shelves of a Home Depot in northeast Harris County. He was having a damn hard time providing for himself and Barbara Jean, much less for their three teenage children.
Every Wednesday and Saturday those kids were on his mind when he'd scrape together a few spare dollars to purchase a couple or so lottery tickets. Sometimes he'd use the sequence of his children's birth dates to choose his numbers. Other times he'd let the state's computer do his choosing for him. That random selection finally paid off, transforming Harrell into a millionaire overnight on a warm evening in June.
The hard times were history when he arrived in Austin about a month later, with an entourage that included his family, his minister and his attorneys, to collect the first of 25 annual checks for $1.24 million.
Life had been tough, he said at the formal lottery ceremony, but he had persevered through the worst of it.
"I wasn't going to give up," said Harrell, then 47. "Everyone kept telling me it would get better. I didn't realize it would get this much better."
In fact, it was great. At least for a while. Harrell purchased a ranch. He bought a half-dozen homes for himself and other family members. He, his wife and all the kids got new automobiles. He made large contributions to his church. If members of the congregation needed help, Billie Bob was there with cash.
Then suddenly Harrell discovered that his life was unraveling almost as quickly as it had come together. He relished the role of being an easy touch. But everyone, it seemed -- family, friends, fellow worshipers and strangers -- was putting the touch on him. His spending and his lending spiraled out of control. In February those tensions splintered his already strained marriage.
And on May 22, 1999, 20 months after hitting lottery pay dirt, Harrell locked himself inside an upstairs bedroom of his fashionable Kingwood home and stood at the point of no return. Investigators say he stripped away his clothes, pressed a shotgun barrel against his chest and fired.
Billie Bob Harrell was gone forever. So was the fortune, and even the family that had rejoiced with him when the shower of riches had first rained upon them. A schism has widened between the children and grandparents, who cannot even agree on whether Billie Bob took his own life. And an intrafamily war looms over the remnants of the fortune, which may not even be enough to pay estate taxes.
Perhaps the only thing not in dispute about his life and death is the jarring impact of money: It may not have caused his problems, but it certainly didn't solve them.
Shortly before his death, Harrell confided to a financial adviser: "Winning the lottery is the worst thing that ever happened to me."
Although I find it interesting, why is this 5 year old story just now appearing?
The rich man is not he who has the most but he who needs the least.
I've never bought a lotter ticket nor will I ever purchase vanity license plates just for that reason. Gambling and bumper stickers belong in the private sector - not in the State Governments.
You hit the nail right on the head! I am in the exact same situation as you. My husband and I have learned to say "no" to the handouts and to stick together...it is amazing how much back stabbing there is. Nothing is said to our faces, of course, because they are still hoping that we will change our minds and begin handing out the money!
I think we spend lottery money on education here also and many of the school systems are still a shambles. Parents are not held accountable and money keeps being poured in.
Parents who don't have time to help their child learn their letter sounds have more than enough time and money to buy lottery tickets! I'm talking about the easy mark for the lottery system - poor and uneducated people.
Perhaps the secret would be to give generously to charities, but *never* to any individual.
...and then those that win, namely those that play, are the ones that don't know how to handle that kind of money and all of the ramifications of it when they win.
Anybody having similar problems, please send the money to me.
My guess would be he went to one of these outfits that pay you cash up front for future guaranteed benefits. They decide what level of return they want on their money then they pay you the current value of the future benefits. A simple example would be that you are going to get $1 million dollars over the next few years. If they want to earn 10% of their money they give you $900,000 cash now and collect your money over the term of your windfall. It's a great deal more complicated that than, but that's the basis of how it's done. It's a pretty common practice, and if done fairly a good deal for both parties, but it's seldom done fairly because the golden rule comes into play, "He who has the gold makes the rules", and the person that can't or doesn't want to wait for the payout over time usually is pretty desperate to get their hands on the cash.
Just let me win one dang million from a lottery and I won't blow it the way this guy did. Not that I ever play the lottery ........ but .....
This guy's problem he got addicted to the ego boost of having people fawning over him to get some of his money, get a "loan", get a house etc...
" Wealth hastily gotten will dwindle, but he who gathers little by little will increase it." proverbs 13:11
Totally agree with you about the "no new friends".
I sell the Virginia Lottery & Mega Million here in my store. The people who participate are the least able to. The sad thing is that they put "playing their number" before groceries and other necessities.
Winner anonymity is not an option in Virginia, even with the multi-state Mega-Million. Used to be you could have an attorney, as your agent, pick up your winnings and remain anonymous. Not so anymore.
If I were to win (I do play occasionally)the big one, I would keep it as quiet as I could for as long as I could while I made arrangements to relocate. Once relocated (Charleston, SC is 1st choice), I would tell no one of my circumstances other than I was fortunate enough to retire early because of telecom boom stock options or some such other white lie.
I would make massive donations to the Boy Scouts, local volunteer fire dept/rescue squad, NRA, animal welfare league, RNC, and such. Fortunately, those "could" remain anonymous.
A multimillion $ house, $200K automobile, and a trophy wife with a "rack by Dupont" are not necessary. Quiet comfort would be all that I require.
As far as my family; they can all go to hell. They have jobs and make their own money.......
Shame what money can do to people.
When I read this I get the feeling it could be written by my sister! She married into a family of very hard workers who used their money wisely. She became the favorite target of every member of our family who fell on hard times because of their grasshopper approach to life. She finally divorced, getting a very fair shake in the deal, but now she is living no better than she did before, a minimum wage job and barely making it from paycheck to paycheck. You have summed it up very well. Thank you!
When I read this I get the feeling it could be written by my sister! She married into a family of very hard workers who used their money wisely. She became the favorite target of every member of our family who fell on hard times because of their grasshopper approach to life. She finally divorced, getting a very fair shake in the deal, but now she is living no better than she did before, a minimum wage job and barely making it from paycheck to paycheck. You have summed it up very well. Thank you!
I like gravy.
Wow, can I relate to you're narrative.
I couldn't believe the expectations of my first wife toward better-off members of her family.
She figured that anyone in her family who, "made it", had a duty to share it!?!
(Maybe this is an unwritten hillbilly code.)
Needless to say, after I had worked my butt off to get my immediate family on our feet, she expected me to bank role her lazy brothers, (which included their drug habits).
Best defense for the concept of DIVORCE!!!!
I buy a $3 lottery ticket every week. My sister buys a $4.50 latte at Starbucks every day. A lot of you would apparently consider me stupid and my sister an "average Yuppie". That is because she spends money on what you like and I spend mine on what you don't like.
In my opinion, if I earned the money by honest work, I am entitled to spend it on anything I want, and I don't need Nanny to slap my lottery ticket out of my hand and tell me "No, no!"
As for the people who blow all their money and then kill themselves, they generally think that all their problems would be over if only they had enough money. Money only changes your problems, it does not eliminate them. The first thing he ought to have done is gone to his bank and hired a financial adviser and then paid attention to what he was told. Don't buy a dog and then do your own barking.
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