What a compelling invention it is; the whole concept of the lottery. Have you ever tried your luck in lottery tickets? We all know the probability of winning a lottery, its almost zero. Still, these lottery tickets attract us every now and then. Some of us never buy these tempting tickets but everyone has wondered at least once about winning them. How incredibly it can change one's life within a blink of eyes. But everything comes with a cost that most of us won't understand what it might take unless we've experienced it.
A story of luck, fate, good, bad, consequences, threats and more. The story of Marie Holmes has all in it. Like most of us, her life too was filled with ups and downs. Sadly for her, life was mostly about hard times and very rarely she had good days in her life. But the way her life changed has always been a dream for millions of people.
Marie Holmes, a 27-year-old single mother was on her daily job routine. Working hard to fulfill her four kids' daily needs. She was trying to save as much as she can for their future. No matter how hard she tried to bring things in the right place, Marie was never able to cop up with the rapid speed life actually demanded out of her. At this time she was completely unaware of the fact that her life was about to change forever. Only time would tell how long Marie's life is actually going to be on track.
In 2015, Marie's life changed in no time when she won the North Carolina's Powerball lottery. She didn't win any ordinary amount rather a huge amount of $188 million. It wasn't just a simple win and settled life from there on as this lottery took Marie to an episode of “Iyanla: Fix My Life.” What happened to her that after winning such a huge amount also she ended up on a show that is all about guiding people about their choices and mistakes?
Marie was working at different jobs to earn. Although we all know the easier way to earn money is to give a lottery ticket a try. That day when she went to buy a ticket, she knew the chances were zero for her to win the lottery yet she went on to give it a try. Isn't that the case with most of the people who spend money on the lottery tickets? Well, this one ticket that Marie bought one day was her biggest gift and nightmare to herself.
Marie is a strong believer in Christianity. She followed the words of pastor Kevin Matthews who worked as a leader of his community at Shallotte, North Carolina. Marie has been attending his meetings since childhood. Kevin has been giving Marie advice at every other stage of her life. He has always been a savior to Marie and the fact that whenever she was in trouble or a doubtful situation she ran to Kevin for help. But Marie's winning of the lottery was the start of bitterness in their relationship.
The day she bought this state lottery ticket from a nearby convenience store, she prayed before entering the shop. When the time to announce the winner was here, she patiently waited for the announcement of the winning numbers and try her luck on the state lottery. When the lucky numbers were announced, Marie couldn't believe the ticket she was holding in her hands read exact numbers as the anchor said. It was February of 2015 when she felt as if she's at the top of the world. Who knew that the real challenges and criticization were still on the way.
Marie couldn't really believe that she won the lottery and she stood there in shock, not saying one single word. All she knew that she had around 6 months for claiming the big amount of money. She had two different methods of claiming this money. The first one was to get the $188 million in yearly installments for the next 30 years, ie, $530,000 each year, the second option was to get all at once but in that case, she'll be getting $127 million all in all after deducting the taxes. Marie made the obvious choice.
Marie made the choice of getting it all at once. She was assuming that this will make her and her kids' lives better. Just as the grass always looks greener on the other side, Marie was looking on the other side as a doorway to the perfect future that she has been longing for throughout her life. Keeping her hopes high she was having all these great ideas of what she'll be doing with this money.
Marie, who lived in poverty since her birth was now one step away from becoming a millionaire. Life has been so tough on her that she knew what it was like living in a trailer, that was her home for the most of her life. Her excitement was on the ninth cloud and obviously, she couldn't hide it anyway. “I thought I was going to have a heart attack when I saw the ticket and checked it,’’ she told how she felt that life was offering a second chance which rarely anyone gets.
Mostly lotteries give an option to the winners to keep their names hidden as anonymous, however, telling everyone and becoming the center of everyone's attention, who doesn't want that? Not only this once the lottery winner starts spending the amount lavishly eventually everyone gets to know about it. So, why not tell it to them aloud? The winners don't see what comes up with this overnight achievement and fame can easily get trapped under the dense clouds of danger.
Well, most people think of what will they do of this money even when they are buying the ticket and as Marie won the lottery everyone wanted to know what was her plans. Although the most advisable thing to do is to get a financial planner as well as a lawyer who can save and prepare you for the unforeseen consequences of so much money. Like almost every lottery winner Marie too wasn't interested in doing any of this. This is normal to think that one can handle her money by herself and that she doesn't need any help. Her first big mistake.
Marie was so overwhelmed that she told in an interview, "everything is all for them…All the struggle that I ever went through, it was all for them. I want them to understand that money doesn’t change you, but it can help you. So they don’t have to worry about debt, none of that. They can go to college, all on me."
Marie was about to climb the ladder of her dreams. Her first step was to donate a large amount to her community church. The church has been by her side in rough times. Especially Kevin Matthews, the savior who helped her both emotionally and financially at times. It was in return of the community's favor towards Marie and her family. According to Kevin, he would stand by her side no matter what. The pastor was actually about to bring her into the biggest problematic situation of her entire life.
Marie discussed with Pastor Matthews about her willingness to give at least 10% of her total in hand amount. She wanted this money to go towards the building of a retreat. As per her, the agreement was of donating $1.5 million to the church which was quite a good amount to give. And being generous towards those who stood on her side is the best thing one can do, right?
This happens a lot where a lotto winner decides to donate a large amount of their prize to the place or community they believe in. However, Marie's donation was one of the biggest ever given to a particular house of worship. Many people promised and gave huge amounts to monks, fathers or priests but Marie was appreciated everywhere for her work.
Marie’s life is a perfect example of the statement, “more money more problems.” Marie was hoping it to be the biggest day but in reality, this money was about to cause her great troubles. She obviously never lived or felt what richness is like.
Marie settled on $1.5 million dollars to be given to the community in two installments. It was a direct verbal agreement with Kevin. Marie paid the first installment, ie, $700,000 on time soon after she won the lottery money. Meanwhile, Marie was preparing to give her second and final installment, pastor Kevin's demand suddenly raise.
Marie was in shock to see pastor Kevin's changed behavior. He didn't want a few more bucks rather he was looking for more millions of dollars. The man didn't say a word to Marie rather decided to sue her for $10 million. Till this point of time, Marie couldn't understand why he did that.
Kevin Matthews stated in front of the press, that Marie had denied their agreement of giving the second installment. Hence, Kevin said that he'll sue Marie for $9.3 millions more. Although there wasn't any written contract about this Kevin was determined to go ahead with the case. The pastor said that he already made arrangements with the dealers and other financial commitments were made too. He could no longer take a step back as he had already given his words.
According to Kevin, he “didn’t see this coming and I think it was a third party that came along and told her not to do this. Because of the emotional distress and mental stress they put me through, I had to start taking more medicine for anxiety and depression due to this situation.” He wanted Marie to pay it all back to him. How an understanding relationship became a controversial one in no time just because of one thing, money!
"The bottom line, I just want her to do what she said she was going to do. I want peace and to do what God told me to do. I want her to do what she said she was going to do. I really feel like a warrior for Christ and people need to be accountable,’’ stated Kevin who was criticized everywhere for his actions. Unknowingly he was spoiling his own reputation all over.
Everyone knows Kevin Matthews in Shallotte, North Carolina. Kevin was a respectable personality, known for his help whenever anyone was in need. People admired him for his goodness and act of kindness. People's perspective about him changed when they got to know how he treated Marie, a single mother with 4 kids to raise. The number of people who criticized him on Facebook was increasing as everybody wanted to know the reason behind the pastor's immature behavior.
After winning the lottery, Marie moved out of the trailer where she lived for most of her life. She could now bring her dream to the reality of owning a grand-old house. As the time was in her favor she got the right house for herself. A place with a vast backyard where her kids can play all day long. The house had its own creepy secret though.
Her home was previously a plantation home. She even got the house checked by a psychic. The psychic said that Marie's new home was surrounded by bad spirits of slaves who used to work and live there. This was another big concern for Marie but the biggest was yet to be revealed.
Later on, it was told that Fontella, Marie’s mother, was the one who gave Marie the money to buy the lottery ticket that day. Fontella told that on the same morning when Marie purchased the ticket, she gave her $15 when they were heading towards the church. When Fontella told everyone why the numbers were specifically picked the whole family was emotional to know the reality.
Fontella gave it a lot of thought before picking up those numbers. In an interview, she recalled, “I kept dreaming about your brother that we lost. His birthday, he was the third child, he’d have been 25 that year. Those were the numbers.” Marie also shared her feelings that she would have been equally happy if her mom would have won instead of her. Fontella too was happy about Marie's winning.
Many people forget the main point which is to sign the ticket. Many people don't even care about keeping the lottery ticket safe. Even if they win, they don't get the prize. The signatures are the most important part it is the proof about who is the real owner of the ticket.
Marie's first few choices were wise which made people assume that she can take care of herself and her newly found richness too. However, she was smart, too much money was a new thing for her. A lot of emotional ups and downs were going in her lif and now she was about to resolve them with the help of money.
The problems just started after the Pastor’s lawsuit was settled. Although, Marie kept all her money in a foundation. Marie always had a soft heart towards her first love, Lamarr McDow, the father of her youngest daughter. Lamarr's status was lower than Marie's. He was always going in and out of jail for his drug dealing business.
Lamarr's nickname is "hot sauce" and he is Ebony's father. When Hot sauce got arrested after the birth of Ebony for drug trafficking charges. Yes, he did come out of the jail on parole but soon he was arrested as he broke the parole conditions also. And later he was caught for street racing. Surprisingly, Marie paid more than $21 million to bail him out. She even gifted him a $15,000 Rolex and a new car.
During the couple’s first interview, hot sauce defended his girlfriend by saying that she was just being loyal to her man. “We are a couple, and I am the father of her youngest child. This is what people do for each other. She has the money and she can do what she wants with it…If I had that money then I would do the same for her. People are just jealous because of how much she won and people want to see me locked in jail,” said Mr. Hot Sauce.
Marie's boyfriend, Hot Sauce was pretending to be quite loyal to her. He never agreed to the part that he is been using Marie for her money. Rather he said that they have been together for more than 2 years before Marie won the lottery. He claims he is not with her for the sake of money but love.
One fine day, an unknown lady came to meet Marie. Her name was Lorna Marlowe and according to her, she was one of Lamarr's girlfriends. She tried to warn Marie about Lamarr's unfaithfulness towards her and all the other girls. Instead of understanding the situation, Marie started to frighten Lorna, and even tried to give her money to stay away from her boyfriend.
The worse happened to Marie when LaMarr “Hot Sauce” Mcdow was arrested and this time it seemed he'll be going in for a long time. This was Marie's nightmare especially when her father was serving the prison sentence too. Now money looked like nothing as it cannot help her to get her boyfriend out of the jail. It seemed like she was trapped in never-ending troubles.
Marie stood there helpless and LaMarr “Hot Sauce” McDow was sent to prison for seven years. Marie, on the other hand, couldn't do anything about it but wait for her love to return. After all the unfaithfulness and troubles that Lamarr had caused to her, she still wants to marry him once he is out of the prison. But is it ever going to happen? Will she be able to make her kids understand her love for Lamarr?
Psychologists have shown by several studies that the number of people buying lotto tickets is too high. Even after knowing the fact of probability, most of the people who purchase the lottery are the ones who are from lower income. The hopes to get rid of the miserable life led them to this.
Right after Marie won the lottery ticket, many people accused her of not being the actual owner of the ticket. Even her own family members said that the ticket belonged to the 90-year-old matriarch grandmother. These rumors were understood to be Marie's cousins' jealousy towards her sudden richness. It seemed like all of them wanted a share of the money.
A YouTube video was watched for more than thousands of times, where Marie’s cousins tell that how Marie is not the owner of the ticket. She stole it and not only that. She accused Marie of having an affair with one of the cousin's husband. As the video went on, it is said that Marie tried to pay her cousin to divorce him.
Marie's life was completely messed up. The lottery seemed to be of less good and more troubles. Previously, she used to work at McDonald’s and Wal-Mart to raise her kids. Brayden, Charisma, Andrea, and Ebony, were all between the age of 10 and two at the time. Sadly, Brayden suffered from cerebral palsy. Marie never got time for herself.
Marie raised her kids all by herself. Four children brought up by 2 different men, one of them is in jail and another one never talks with her. He stays away from all the family. Marie had 3 children with him but he stays away in a different city and Marie too is unknown to his whereabouts.
As a study states, approximately one in three people who win a lotto gets bankrupt soon. The money that is a heavenly gift at first gets wasted and without any good advice, there is no way to repay it. many winners maintain a distance from their closed ones and family members. At the end of the day, the person finds himself all alone and unable to get back on track.
After all the scene that was created, only two good things happened with Marie. It was her kids' secured future and her relationship with her mother. Her childhood was rough and her memories related to her mom were bad. Her mother never treated Marie and her siblings nicely. Still, Marie sent her children to her mother's home in vacations all the way to Seattle.
A huge population believes that the lottery industry is nothing but a sin. It is nothing but a new type of gambling. Christians said that this money should be given to the church authorities worldwide, who could use it for a good cause. As the chances are almost null lottery is nothing but “throwing Lord's money out the window.”
Marie was invited on a TV show named "Fix My Life" that is hosted by famous Iyanla Vanzant. The host was quite interested in Marie's life after she got to know what the pastor did to her. On the show, Iyanla first asked about Marie's journey from roads to richness. She could sense that Marie is financially strong now but her peace of mind is gone. She helped Marie with a lot of tips about how to deal with all.
As we already told you how lotto winners are usually get trapped and lose all the money with the speed as they got it, the idea of an advisor always help. It is always recommended to keep it a secret rather showing it off. A lawyer and a financial advisor is a mandatory thing to do. In case you are lucky to win, Marie's story will be a lesson for you.