Guest Post From lottery Winner Sandra Hayes

Pictured here is Sandra Hayes. I've always been fascinated by how people react the moment they first realize that they won the lottery. Sandra won the lottery and she was kind enough to write a guest post to give us a glimpse into that moment. The following are her words:

On April 11, 2006, 13 social workers pooled their money together to play Powerball from tickets purchased at a local QuickTrip in St. Louis, Missouri. Less than 24-hours later, on April 12, 2006, they won $224 Million dollars from the Missouri Powerball, myself included (That's $17,230,769 each).

I believe out of the 13 winners, I was the last to find out the good news, and probably the last one to fully grasp that this situation was indeed real and was really happening to me!

I usually watch the morning news while dressing for work, but that day I didn't even have time to turn the TV on because I was running late. So as I prepared to head out the door, I had no idea that I won the lottery. I had no idea that anybody won the lottery, for that matter. But I suddenly started to receive telephone calls at home while I dressed. My supervisor called me twice. The first time she called I thought I was getting fired because I was running late for work, but that was not the case. She simply wanted to know what time I would get to the office. Strange, I thought to myself as I reassured her that I would be on my way in just a few minutes.

I guess I took too long to finish getting ready, because about fifteen minutes later, she called my house again. When she called me the second time, a lump grew in my throat. When she asked me if I was sitting down, I told her yes, but I lied - the truth was that I was combing my hair.

It was then that she delivered the news that made me want to sit down as I felt my knees grew week. She told I won the lottery!

As soon as I hung up with my boss, the telephone rang yet again. This time it was my daughter. She asked me if I heard about the group of social workers in my office that won the lottery that morning. Still feeling foggy and confused I told her no, I hadn't heard that. "Well, did you play the lottery with them, too?" she pressed anxiously. I paused for a few seconds and considered her question. I did play the lottery. So I guess I did win? My daughter almost dropped the phone as she began screaming, "We're rich! We’re rich! I mean you're rich!" I thought she was kidding. The truth still hadn't set in.

As I finally started to walk out the door and head to work, I heard my telephone ring for what felt like the hundredth time that morning. When I answered, a co-worker asked me if I knew I had won the lottery. Again, I answered "no" because there was no way that such a momentous thing could be happening to me.

I believe most people would consider my reaction a state of shock. When your supervisor, daughter and a friend call you on your home telephone to tell you that you won the lottery and you don't believe them, you are in trouble. I thought it was a joke and even worse, I thought I was still in bed dreaming. A few hours later, the reality finally sunk in and I found out I was not dreaming, my life was changing forever.

Nearly six years later, I have become an author. My first book titled How Winning the Lottery Changed My Life chronicles my life before winning big and how dramatically different it became after I became a millionaire.

*** Here's a link to Sandra's book.

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Sheila Davidson - Lottery Winner In Denial

Last Sunday, Sheila Davidson walked into her local store and told the owner she needed to talk to him. The owner of the store was worried that she wanted to complain about something. See, the store delivers her Sunday newspaper and he thought it would be a complaint along those lines.

So Sheila walked around the counter and confronted the owner. She then proceeded to give him a big hug. What? A big hug? No complaints? Nope, no complaints! Sheila won the lottery with a ticket purchased at the store. The ticket won her a jackpot of £4,520,120 ($7,135,939 USD) in the UK National Lottery. She was just so happy that she had to hug him. I love it!

Just the night before the store incident, though, Sheila Davidson was in denial... In denial because she won the lottery. I mean, winning the lottery is huge; it always happens to other people, not Sheila Davidson. It couldn't be!

Sheila was checking her lottery tickets on her computer late Saturday night, when something strange happened - She matched all of her numbers. Sheila thought that she was going mad. She thought her computer must have been broken. So she re-started her computer and then checked the numbers again. They still matched. But she was still in denial.

Sheila's husband, Duncan, was asleep at the time. She woke him up so that he could check the ticket. He checked it, but even he couldn't believe it.

It was now 2am, and Sheila and Duncan Davidson, still in denial, wanted a second opinion on the winning lottery ticket. So they got into their car and drove around town looking for their daughter. They wanted her to check the ticket too. They found her at a friend's house. She checked the ticket and confirmed the unbelievable news - THEY WON THE LOTTERY!

There's something about winning the lottery that's just so unbelievable. In a split second, you realize your life has just radically changed and it's just not that easy to fathom. I think that's just great!

So Sheila and Duncan Davidson are new lottery winners. They got their money and now they finally believe it. I'm sure it'll still take some time to sink in, though.

Sheila and Duncan Davidson, who are from Scotland, seem to be simple people. They're rich but all they really want for the moment is a new car for Sheila and some soccer tickets for Duncan to watch Manchester United.

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Lucky April Burnside Joins Arkansas Millionaires Club

This is April Burnside, but I'm gonna call her Lucky April Burnside. Why lucky? Well, Arkansas Lottery just launched a new scratch game called Arkansas Millionaires Club. It launched on February the 7th, 2012. The game was just freshly shipped to the stores when April managed to pick out a winner. Yep, she won the game's top prize of $1 million... And she won it fast! How lucky is that?

With her big win, Lucky April Burnside joins the Arkansas Millionaire's club. It must feel great to be a newly minted millionaire!

As great as it must feel to be a millionaire, April's kids are possibly even more excited than she is. I can just see them salivating now... "Mommy's rich... That means presents for us!" Haha, that's awesome!

Lucky April Burnside doesn't buy lottery tickets often, only occasionally. But this time, she really splurged. The Arkansas Millionaires Club ticket costs $20. That's quite an expensive lottery ticket. She must feel great about splurging on that ticket now, though.

At the time of her win, April Burnside worked at J&C Discount Tobacco store, the same store where she bought the winning ticket, and lived in Hamburg, Arkansas, which is south of Little Rock.

Lucky April's got big plans for the money. She already bought a new car. She's also building a home, will be helping out her kids, and will put some of it in the bank.

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Al Yager - Canadians Can't Count

Al Yager just won $1 million. That's awesome! But when he first went to check his ticket at the ticket checker and saw that he won a big prize, he didn't realize just how big it was. Then he started counting all of the zeroes and got confused. Winning large amounts of money tends to do that to people; it's probably just because of the shock of it all.

"At first I was confused, I thought the computer crashed," Al said. "There were so many zeroes. I had trouble counting them all, so I asked the retailer to check it for me."

This phenomenon is nothing new. I've recently wrote about other big lottery winners that had the same problem - They didn't realize just how much they had won. So I went back and had a look at those stories. Then something hit me - I realized that all of these winners that had problems reading all of the zeroes had one thing in common - They were all Canadian. There was Athilee Woodward, there was Mary Favel, there was Tim Elliot, and there were the clerks that tried to read Rodney Henman's winning ticket. Does that mean that it's just Canadians that can't count? Hmm...

Perhaps Joe Canadian, in the video below, should add this to the end of his diatribe - "I am Canadian... And I can't count!"



I'm just having some fun here. Canadians really do know how to count. Maybe it's just when they're wearing their tuques too tight and they try to read large numbers that they get confused.

Anyway, congratulations to Al Yager, an awesome Canadian from Calgary, Alberta, on his nice win!

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Hung Tran - Humble Lottery Winner

Hung Tran is a humble man. He's humble, but happy. That's because he just won $1 million.

Hung is an immigrant from Vietnam that now lives in Utica, New York. He enjoys playing the lottery and always buys a ticket when he's out shopping. Last month, on Friday the 13th, he was doing just that - Shopping. That's when he decided to play New York Lottery's instant scratch game called 20X The Money. He chose that game because it was new, so he figured he'd give it a shot. He bought the $5 ticket and his hunch was right on the money - He won the game's top prize of $1 million.

"Every day I go to the store and I buy something, and then I buy one ticket," Hung said. "I'm lucky. That's it. I scratched the ticket right there in the store and was shocked. I had the cashier scan it to be sure, and then I went straight home."

For a hard working immigrant, $1 million is a lot of money. But there were no big celebrations. Hung Tran just went home. What do you expect from a humble man?

What does $1 million mean to Hung Tran? It means that this hard working man will be able to send some money to his family back home in Vietnam. And that's just awesome!

Even with the $1 million win, Hung Tran plans to continue working. Oh ya, he also plans to keep playing the lottery. He won it once... You never know, he might just win it again!

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Benjamin Ramos Sr - Big Minnesota Gopher 5 Winner

Benjamin Ramos Sr's ex-wife is awesome! Why is she so awesome? Well, Benjamin won the lottery because of her and that makes her a whole bunch of awesomeness!

Benjamin Ramos Sr won $1,285,013 on Minnesota Lottery's Gopher 5 game. That's a big jackpot, relatively speaking. Sure, it doesn't compare to Powerball jackpots that often run into the 100's of millions of dollars, but they're two completely different games. Powerball's a big jackpot, big odds game, while Gopher 5 has relatively good odds of winning a smaller-sized jackpot.

Gopher 5 jackpots start at $100,000 and continue to grow if nobody wins it. That's why, at $1,285,013, it's considered quite a big jackpot for the game. The odds of winning the Gopher 5 jackpot are approximately 1-in-1.5-million. The odds of winning Powerball, by the way are approximately 1-in-175-million. That makes Gopher 5 about 115 times easier to win. That's pretty good!

Benjamin Ramos Sr doesn't often play the Gopher 5 game. But his ex-wife called him up and urged him to do so because the jackpot was getting high. So Benjamin listened to his ex-wife and bought a ticket. He won! Thanks, ex-wifey!

Just for that I think Benjamin should give his ex-wife a piece of the prize. Come on Benjy, do it, give her some money, buddy... She deserves it for being so awesome!

At the time of his win, Benjamin Ramos Sr was a disabled vet and living in Wells, Minnesota, which is south of Minneapolis. Congratulations on your lucky win, Benjamin!

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Julie - Be Careful Who You Cut-Off

This is Julie. She's trying her best to be sexy. About six years ago, she divorced her husband, Brian Topham. At that time, being freshly single and probably ready to play, she posted this picture online with the tag, "I'm single again and totally happy." Thanks for the cleavage shot. va-va-voom!

Being freshly single, Julie had big plans. She wanted to make some home improvements and go on a nice vacation to Mallorca. She joked that she needed to win the lottery to make it happen. Win the lottery, eh? It's a long-shot, but it can happen.

It's been six years, but Julie has yet to win the lottery. However, her son just hit it big, and I mean BIG! Her son is Matt Topham. Matt's fiancee is Cassey Carrington; she just won a massive $71.5 million EuroMillions jackpot.

$71.5 million is a lot of money. There's a lot of it to go around. Matt and Cassey did mention that they planned on taking care of friends and family. Surely, Matt's mother, Julie, will get a piece of the money too, right? Wrong!

When Julie divorced her husband, she also cut her son off. Matt hasn't spoken to his mother in six years. Matt isn't the only family member that Julie cut-off either. At that time she also stopped speaking to a few more family members. Perhaps they didn't fit into her newly sing lifestyle. Perhaps it was something else. Either way, they were cut-off. Julie had since remarried. Matt wasn't invited to the wedding.

Now Julie's son, Matt, is rich. Wouldn't it be nice to get a piece of that money? I'm sure Julie would be more than happy to reconcile with Matt now. I mean, after all, she suddenly decided to reach out to him through the media. Perfect timing, don't you think? When asked if she would like to reunite with Matt, Julie replied, "It's his choice at the end of the day. He knows where I am."

Fat chance of a reunion. Julie's own mother describes Julie as being selfish. She added, "Julie has hurt my grandson too much. If she thinks she's getting anything out of this she's mistaken."

I think it's safe to say, now, that you should be careful who you decide to cut-off, don't you think?

I feel bad for Matt Topham, though. His fiancee won the lottery and now his whole family story is being broadcast through the media.

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Juan Tobar - I'm So Lucky - It's Nice to Be A Winner Again

"I'm so lucky!" That's what Juan Tobar had to say about winning $100,000 in Iowa Lottery's $100,000 Cash Game. Uhh... Ya... Damn right you're lucky, you just won $100,000. That's awesome!

Then Juan went on to say, "It's nice to be a winner again." Wait, hold up... What? Again?

Oh ya, I forgot to mention... Juan Tobar has just joined the ranks of multiple lottery winners. He won $100,000 a few months ago playing the same game. Yep, that's why it feels nice to be a winner again. You probably think it would be nice to be a winner just once (So do I!). But, folks, some people do get double-lucky and win it twice.

Juan Tobar enjoys playing Iowa Lottery's $100,000 Cash Game. He's a regular player. He always chooses his own numbers and never repeats them. Every time he plays, he chooses different numbers. And, he always buys his tickets at the same store.

The $100,000 Cash Game draws six times a week, Monday through Saturday. To win the $100,000 jackpot, you have to match 5-out-of-35 numbers. The odds of doing so are about 1-in-325,000. Oh, but those are the odds of winning just once. Wanna know the odds of winning it twice? I'll tell you, it's about 1-in-10.5-billion. Crazy, eh?

So Juan Tobar beat the odds and won the lottery twice. $200,000 in total. The first $100,000 that he won a few months ago is still sitting in his bank account. Now he has $200,000 worth of money to decide what to do with. So what does he plan to do with the money? He'll be paying off his mortgage and using the rest to help others. Sounds like a really nice guy!

Congratulations to Juan Tobar, the man that's so lucky!

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Bridget Fraser - Heart & Stroke Calendar Lottery Winner

The Heart & Stroke Calendar Lottery... Win a prize every calendar day and the proceeds go to heart and stroke research. Cool concept for a lottery, eh?

The Heart & Stroke Calendar Lottery is a Canadian charitable lottery. To enter the lottery, you buy a calendar for $25. Most people buy calendars every year, so why not buy a calendar where the proceeds go to a good cause and one that also offers you the opportunity to win money? I'm in for next year!

This lottery isn't about dorky prizes, either. Every single day of the calendar year, there are three prizes of $5000 drawn. Every week, there is a $10,000 prize drawn. Every month, there is a $100,000 prize drawn. That's the gist of it, but there's even more prizes, like the early bird prize of $250,000. All this for a $25 calendar... Nice!

The Heart & Stroke Calendar Lottery has winners galore. Pictured above is Bridget Fraser. She's one of the big winners; she won $100,000, the monthly prize for December of 2011. That's $100,000 tax-free, by the way. Canadian lotteries are always tax-free.

The $100,000 means a lot to Bridget Fraser. To her, it means that 2012 will be a financially stress-free year. "Now I can breathe for a year and not have to work every day," she said. "I can actually take a couple of days off every week. Now I will concentrate on my health. I am giving myself this next year to get into the best shape that I have ever been in."

Bridget knows the value of money. I love it! $100,000 isn't a big enough amount of money to last a lifetime, but it is big enough to enjoy and have a really good year. She's gonna pay off some debts with the money and also use some of it to have fun. She sounds like a hard worker and now will be able to enjoy some relaxing days off. Ahh, relaxation... That's what life's all about!

At the time of her win, Bridget Fraser lived in Sudbury, Ontario. She said that her parents have been giving her calendars as gifts for many years, but this is the first time she has won a big prize. She also predicts that she will win the lottery again. And, when she does, she will use the money to build a huge hostel to take homeless people off the streets. Bridget's got a big heart!

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Brendan Riordan - New Yorker Has Luck Of The Irish

Brendan Riordan is a New Yorker. He immigrated to the United States from his native Ireland in 2003. It's been about nine years, but it seems like this New Yorker still has the luck of the Irish running through his veins.

Brendan Riordan won the lottery. He won $10,000 a week for life from a New York Lottery instant scratch game called Win For Life Spectacular. How lucky is that? $10,000 a week means $520,000 a year. And, he really will receive the money for the rest of his life. Brendan is 28-years-old right now and I just have a funny feeling that he will live a long long life and continue to collect his money; he's just that lucky!

How lucky is Brendan Riordan, really? Well, a whole chain of events had to have unfolded for him to win the lottery. First, he had to have come to America in search of a new life. Secondly, he had to have quit smoking. You see, his mother gave him some money for his 28th birthday. Had he not quit smoking, he would have spend that money on cigarettes. But he quit, so he spent that money on another guilty pleasure of his - lottery tickets. Lastly in the chain of events, that fateful lottery ticket that he happened to have chosen had to have been there at that store, waiting for him to choose it.

"When you walk into a store and you buy a ticket that may be sitting there for two hours before you got there, and nobody else bought it and you bought it and it's the one handed, it's luck," Brendan said. That's a pretty cool way to look at it - Absolutely anybody could have bought that ticket. It could have been anybody else. But it wasn't. It was Brendan. The luck of the Irish!

Oh ya, I almost forgot to mention... Guess where Brendan Riordan bought his winning ticket? At the Irish Mini Market in Yonkers. Man, I wish I was Irish (I also wish I could quit smoking)!

So what does this New Yorker plan to do with his money? Well, he'd love to buy a house in New York. He lives with his parents right now, so he'll be moving into his own place very soon. Oh ya, one more thing - He'd also love to buy a place in Ireland. Two houses - That's awesome!

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