William 'Bud' Post won $US16.2 million in the Pennsylvania lottery in 1988 but was $US1 million in debt within a year. 'I wish it never happened,' Post said. 'It was totally a nightmare.' A former girlfriend successfully sued him for a share of his winnings and his brother was arrested for hiring a hit man to kill him in the hopes he's inherit a share of the winnings. After sinking money into very family businesses, Post sank into debt and spent time in jail for firing a gun over the head of a bill collector. Bud now lives quietly on $US450 a month and food stamps.

Martyn Tott, 33, and his 24-year-old wife of the UK missed out on a $US5 million lottery fortune after losing their ticket. They were able to convince officials but since there is a 30-day time limit on reporting lost tickets, the jackpot became the the largest unclaimed amount since the lottery began in 1994. 'Thinking you're going to have all that money is really liberating. Having it taken away has the opposite effect,' Kay Tott told The Daily Mail. 'It drains the life from you and puts a terrible strain on your marriage. It was the cruellest torture imaginable.'

In 2004, Sharon Tirabassi, a single mother who had been on welfare, cashed a check from the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. for $US10,569,00.10 (Canadian). She subsequently spent her winnings on a 'big house, fancy cars, designer clothes, lavish parties, exotic trips, handouts to family, loans to friends' and in less than a decade she's back riding the bus, working part-time, and living in a rented house. Luckily Tirabassi put some of her windfall in trusts for her six children, who can claim the money when they turn 26.

Against all odds, in the mid-1980s Adams won the lottery twice, once in 1985 and again in 1986. The New Jersey native won a cool $US5.4 million, but AskMen.com reports she gambled it away at Atlantic City. Today she resides in a trailer park.

A former Waffle House waitress named Tonda Lynn Dickerson got served a big plate of karma when she refused to split her winnings with ex-colleagues and was forced to pay the tax man $US1,119,347.90. How did it happen? Dickerson placed her winnings in a corporation and granted her family 51 per cent of the stock -- qualifying her for the tax.

In 1998, Gerald Muswagon won the $US10 million Super 7 jackpot in Canada, reports BigLotteryWinners.com. But he blew it all on drinking and partying in only seven years. Filled with remorse, Muswagon hanged himself in his parents' garage in 2005.

When Mullins won the U.S. lotto in 1993, she opted for yearly payouts instead of a lump sum, reports MSN. She quickly found herself in debt, using future payouts as collateral for a $US200,000 loan. Mullins later switched to a lump sum payout, but never paid back the debt. The loan company filed suit and won a $US154,000,000 settlement that was all but worthless -- Mullins had no assets.

Construction worker Americo Lopes won the New Jersey lottery, quit his job and then lied about it, claiming he needed foot surgery. After coming clean to an ex-colleague, he and a few others ganged up on Lopes for not splitting the winnings as promised. Sadly, the court ordered Lopes to split the prize.

Ontario resident Ibi Roncailoli walked away with $US5 million in a 1991 Lotto 649 drawing, but she didn't tell her husband how she decided to spend it. When Joseph Roncailoli, a gynecologist, found out Ibi gave $US2 million of her fortune to a secret child she'd had with another man, he poisoned her with painkillers, the Toronto Star reports. He was found guilty of manslaughter and reportedly asked Ibi's family to help foot the bill for her funeral.

Before they won a $US2.76 million lottery jackpot, Lara and Robert Griffith hardly ever argued. They bought a million-dollar house and a Porsche. But 18 months ago, six years after their win, Robert drove away in the Porsche after Lara confronted him over emails suggesting he was interested in another woman. Their 14-year marriage was over, a freak fire gutted their house, and every penny of their fortune was gone.