When I win the lottery...

Everyone wants to win the lottery. Many plan their lives around their future winnings. But what has really happened to the big winners. At the encouragement of a friend, I have engaged in an non- scientific Internet study of lottery winners.

• Evelyn Adams, who won the New Jersey lottery twice (1985, 1986), to the tune of $5.4 million. Today the money is all gone, and Adams lives in a trailer.

• William "Bud" Post won $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania lottery in 1988. His girlfriend successfully sued him for a share of his winnings. His brother hired a hit man to kill him, hoping to inherit a share of the winnings. Post spent time in jail for firing a gun over the head of a bill collector. Within a year, he was $1 million in debt. He now lives on his Social Security and food stamps.

• Suzanne Mullins won $4.2 million in the Virginia lottery in 1993. Now she's deeply in debt to a company that lent her money using the winnings as collateral.

• Ken Proxmire, a machinis, won $1 million in the Michigan lottery. He moved to California and went into the car business with his brothers. Within five years, he had filed for bankruptcy.

• Willie Hurt of Lansing, Mich. won $3.1 million in 1989. Two years later he was broke and charged with murder. He spent his fortune on a divorce and crack cocaine.

• Charles Riddle of Belleville, Mich. won $1 million in 1975. He has gotten divorced, faced several lawsuits, and was indicted for selling cocaine.

• Janite Lee of Missouri won $18 million in 1993. Lee was generous to a variety of causes, giving to politics, education, and the community. Eight years after winning, Lee had filed for bankruptcy with no cash on hand.

• One Southeastern family won $4.2 million in the early '90s. They bought a huge house and succumbed to repeated family requests for help in paying off debts. The house, cars, and relatives ate the whole pot. Eleven years later, the couple is divorcing, the house is sold, and they have to split what is left of the lottery proceeds.

• Evelyn Adams, the N.J. lottery double- winner, went broke in a few years.

• Andrew Jackson "Jack" Whittaker Jr., a West Virginia businessman, became fabled after he won $315 million in the Powerball multi- state lottery, the largest jackpot ever won by a single winning ticket in the history of American lottery. He had a net worth of over $17 million before his win. He chose the cash option and received a check for approximately $114 million after tax withholdings.

Whittaker tipped the woman at the convenience store where he bought the winning ticket by buying her a $123,000 house, a new Jeep, and giving her $44,000 cash. He pledged 10% of his winnings to Christian charities, donated $14 million to establish the Jack Whittaker Foundation, a non- profit organization that provides food and clothing to low- income families in rural West Virginia.

Then things tanked. He was arrested for drunk driving January 16, 2003. On August 5, 2003, thieves broke into his car at a strip club and got away with $545,000 in cash. On January 25, 2004, thieves once again broke into his car, making off with $200,000.

On January 6, 2004, Whittaker was arrested for misdemeanor assault after allegedly threatening the life of a bar manager in St. Albans, West Virginia. His wife filed for divorce on May 27, 2005, in Raleigh County, West Virginia.

On January 11, 2007, a legal complaint against Whittaker alleged that he claimed on September 11, 2006, that thieves took all of his money. The robbers, according to the account, went to 12 branches of the City National Bank and cashed 12 checks.

The big PowerBall winners from South Carolina and their winnings have been

• Jonathan Vargas, May 17, 2008, Cash, $35,300,000 annuity, $17,175,336.18 cash

• Dick Sandlin, April 4, 2007, Cash, $15,000,000 annuity, $7,122,507.12 cash

• Anonymous, June 26, 2004, Cash, $34,231,030.83

• Norman and DeAnna Shue, December 31, 2003, Cash, $60,149,751.49

• Anthony & Monica Wilson, May 7, 2003, Cash, $48,779,827.18

If you know of their whereabouts, please let me know, and we'll check out their situation. I am now very suspicious of my friend who asked me to research this because in July 2004 he bought a home in the mountains and a put a new boat at the Charleston Marina.