William “Bud” Post III’s 1988 Pennsylvania Lottery win is widely remembered as one of the most tumultuous downfalls in lottery history. Before hitting the $16.2 million jackpot, Post was a down-on-his-luck carnival worker and laborer with just $2.46 in his bank account. Desperate for a turn of fortune, he pawned a ring for $40 to buy 40 tickets. Within weeks of receiving his first annual payment of nearly $500,000, Post embarked on a reckless spending spree, purchasing a twin-engine airplane (despite not having a pilot’s license), a used-car lot, a Florida restaurant for his siblings, and a mansion in Oil City, Pennsylvania. Within three months, he was already $500,000 in debt.
The jackpot soon attracted immense greed and betrayal from those closest to him. In 1989, his landlord and former girlfriend sued him, claiming they had a verbal agreement to split any winnings; a judge ultimately ordered Post to turn over a third of his jackpot payouts. Even more shocking was a plot orchestrated by his estranged brother, who hired a hitman to assassinate Post and his sixth wife in an attempt to claim the lottery inheritance. Post and his wife survived the attempted hit, and his brother was subsequently arrested.
As financial pressure mounted, Post’s behavior grew increasingly volatile. He was arrested for assault after firing a shotgun over the head of a debt collector who arrived at his home, eventually serving time in prison after years of appeals. In a bid to clear his mountain of debt, Post auctioned off his remaining lottery payments in 1996 for a $2.65 million lump sum, but he quickly blew through the remaining cash on luxury cars, motorcycles, and a sailboat. He eventually filed for bankruptcy with over $1 million in debt and spent the final years of his life living on food stamps and a $450 monthly disability check before passing away from respiratory failure in January 2006 at age 66.