Black People Who Won Millions Playing the Lottery

A trip to the gas station was pretty profitable for Coral Springs, Florida resident, Miguel Pilgram. Back in 2010, he bought a ticket with the winning numbers at a Shell station. Pilgram chose to take the lump sum payout, which was a hefty $29 million.

Everything changed for The Smith family of New Jersey with when they won a nearly $430 million Powerball jackpot in 2016. Mom Perlie and her seven children split the payout, the sixth largest in Powerball’s history at the time.

For single mom and corrections officer Garina Fearon, purchasing the winning lottery ticket was a mistake. She was trying to buy a Powerball ticket at her local deli in New York City, but bought a Mega Millions ticket instead. That little mixup won her $54 million back in 2010.

Florida’s Abraham Shakespeare struck it rich winning a $30 million jackpot in 2006. A then-40-year-old Shakespeare wanted to use his winnings to help his friends and family. But just two years after winning, Shakespeare went missing and was eventually found shot to death. Dee Dee Moore was convicted in 2012 of killing Shakespeare and stealing his winnings.

Solomon Jackson Jr.’s life changed forever in 2009 when the retired South Carolina state employee won a $260 million Powerball jackpot. Jackson bought the only ticket with the winning numbers at Columbia gas station.

Doris Murray won a $5 million jackpot on her 41st birthday back in 2007. The mother of four opted to receive her winnings in payments spread out over 20 years. But unfortunately, she did not live to see her entire fortune. One year after winning, Murray was found stabbed to death in her home, according to CBS News. Her former boyfriend was charged with her murder.

Back in 2015, Marie Holmes won the $188 million Powerball jackpot in North Carolina’s lottery. But rather than take an exotic vacation or a luxurious spa day, Holmes uses a big chunk of her winnings to get her boyfriend Lamarr “Hotsauce” McDow out of jail three times. According to The Daily Mail, Holmes spent a total of $21 million to stand by her man. If that wasn’t bad enough, in an episode of Iyanla Fix My Life, Holmes was in some legal trouble of her own, when she was charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

Curtis Sharp Jr. was a maintenance man when he won a $5 million prize in the New York State Lottery. Sharp, who came to collect his prize with his wife and his girlfriend, admitted to the New York Post that he spent most of his winnings on drugs, alcohol and gambling. He also made a $15,000 donation to victims of famine in Ethiopia. “It came in, it went out,” Sharp said.

Gaston, SC’s Jonathan Vargas was 19 when he matched all six numbers to win over $35 million in 2008. “I heard voices telling me which numbers to pick,” Vargas told WIS News 10 in South Carolina. The young man told reporters at the time that he would probably use his winnings to buy a new house and car for himself and possibly go to college.

After spending up to $30 weekly on lottery tickets, Woods cashed in on his habit when he won $49 million in the Texas lottery. Ironically, his wife, who tried to convince him to curb his habit, ultimately sold him the winning ticket at the convenience store where she worked.

Cynthia Stafford won a $112 million Mega Millions jackpot in May of 2007. In an essay for Marie Claire, the California native, who says she played a couple of times per month, visualized herself winning the prize down to the exact amount. And after buying a new house and car, Stafford fulfilled another one of her visions – launching her own film production company, Queen Nefertari Productions. She also serves on the Board of Directors of The Geffen Theatre in Los Angeles.

Hicks won $1 million in the Illinois State Lottery in 2008. And while his jackpot wasn’t huge, Hicks invested his winnings wisely and bought his own Subway franchise.

Willis Willis (yes, that’s his name) won a $1 million jackpot in the Texas lottery in 2010. But Pankaj Joshi, the clerk who sold him his ticket, made Willis believe his ticket wasn’t worth anything and ran off with the prize himself. The Texas Lottery Commission eventually caught up with Joshi, and a county judge ultimately awarded Willis $395,000 that was recovered from the shady clerk.