Bankrupt Man Wins Lottery

from the how-long-will-it-take-to-get-back-there? dept

There's a history of people who have won the lottery who later went bankrupt, mainly because they had no idea how to manage their money. So, you have to wonder what's going to happen to Juan Rodriguez, a man with $0.78 in his bank account, $44,000 in debts, and a bankruptcy declaration made last month. This past weekend, though, he won a $149 million lottery prize (paid out in one lump sum, so it will be much smaller). What's most unfortunate about this story is that it's going to convince many people who are in money trouble that playing the lottery is a legitimate way to solve their money problems.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    Anonymous user, 23 Nov 2004 @ 9:42pm

    Why this article?

    This article is interesting for a verity of reasons, but I'm wondering - why put it on this site? I don't see any relation to technology...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    xman, 24 Nov 2004 @ 3:42am

    tax

    Lotteries are a tax on stupidity

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 24 Nov 2004 @ 10:35am

    Re: tax

    Shouldn't Mr. Can't-manage-his-money have to relinquish his prize money to the courts in order to settle his obligations first ?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 24 Nov 2004 @ 10:35am

    Re: tax

    Amen brother !

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    thecaptain, 25 Nov 2004 @ 7:12am

    Re: tax

    I guess he got a major tax refund then :)

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.