Mega Millions can add up to mega stress, worries
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — J.R. Triplett, a retired truck driver, and his wife, Peggy, tried to keep their jubilation to a minimum after publicly coming forward to claim a $239 million Mega Millions jackpot.
“It didn’t upset me too much or excite me,” Triplett said Thursday as he recounted the moments after realizing he had the winning ticket — the second largest single-winner ticket in history.
The Tripletts are living the ultimate dream of becoming overnight millionaires, but hitting the jackpot doesn’t always add up to happiness.
“It’s easier to dream about winning than it is to live it,” said Dr. Steven J. Danish, a psychology professor who has counseled past lottery winners and athletes who have suddenly found themselves with unimaginable riches.
“We can all think about what we will do with the money, but when we have it, that makes it more difficult to cope with.”
Winners are bombarded with requests from family, friends and people they hardly know, and find themselves feeling guilty because they can’t make everyone happy, Danish said. Their privacy is invaded, and they can feel threatened by others. Ultimately, they can end up being frustrated and confused.
Danish, director of the Life Skills Center at Virginia Commonwealth University, said it’s important for people to know who they are and what their goals are. If they are confused about these two things, “winning the lottery can be harmful.”
“It’s almost as if you got X million on your shoulders. One dollar isn’t very heavy, but if you had millions of $1 bills on your shoulders, it would weigh you down.”
The Tripletts, who opted for full payment instead of annual pay outs, received an initial payment of $6.5 million after taxes Thursday and are expected to receive the remaining $94 million after taxes next week.
“Everybody who dreams about winning the lottery, dreams of the significant changes that will happen in their lives,” said Virginia Lottery spokesman Ed Scarborough.
Lottery officials say most lottery winners generally live a happy lives.
However, some past lottery winners have found more misery in their money than happiness.
Jody Lee Taylor of Axton, who won $4.4 million in the lottery in 1992, has had numerous brushes with the law and is in prison.
“I think it’s very unfortunate what happened to him,” said Nora O’Neal, validations manager for the Virginia Lottery, who works closely with lottery winners and keeps track of them.
O’Neal said Taylor had a self-professed wild streak before winning the lottery. “I don’t feel the lottery changed him … I don’t think the money had anything to do with the changes in Jody. “
Jack Whittaker of West Virginia, who won the largest single jackpot lottery in history, has also had numerous problems since winning a $314.9 million Powerball jackpot on Christmas 2002. In January, he was charged with threatening to kill the manager of a bar and with drunken driving. Three women are also suing Whittaker for assaulting them. Whittaker has also been robbed several times.
“We equate the lack of money with unhappiness,” Scarborough said. “As humans, we tend to equate a lot of money with happiness. There are elements of that that is true, but it’s not that broad of a stroke.”