Winning the lottery - stroke of luck or a curse?

In 2011, Colin Weir, a citizen of Scotland. rose to fame as one of the biggest Euromillions lottery winners scoring a jackpot of over 257 million USD. Between that time and his death 8 years later, in 2019, at the age of 72, Weir had spent some 50 million USD, divorced his wife, purchased a stake in the local football team, bought many luxury items, bought some purebred horses and overall seemingly lived his life to the max.

From the ethical perspective, I see nothing wrong with this. Life can not be perfectly fair. So what that Mr Weir seemingly wasted more money than many people in this world would make in ten lives? All of that money went into the economy, providing resources to many and spurning further economic activity. And, while this may be silly on some level, if he was happy doing it - what's the issue?

There is none, except I have feeling he may have had some insecurity to have acted that way. I hope this win made him happier - but that is not a given. Research indicates that many a big time lottery winner do get happier thanks to the win - but only if they keep their footing, keep being productive and maintain a lifestyle similar to what they had gotten accustomed to prior to the windfall. So weathering all that newly-found wealth is a challenge.

It is a challenge for an individual. It also can be for a society. Plenty of people out there are lucky if they make a million dollars in a lifetime. Colin Weir got 250 times that in one day. He had parted with over 20 percent of his wealth in a mere 8 years and likely would have spent more had he lived longer. So is it any surprise so many individuals and groups who come into wealth - and that includes whole nations - so often lose so much of that wealth through mismanagement or impulsive behavior?

I think that is an important lesson of this story and so many likewise stories. Gaining wealth is only part of entering the paradigm of sustained prosperity. Sustaining wealth is a harder - and, perhaps, a far more important piece of that paradigm.

References

Non-cents! Scottish lottery winner Colin Weir blew record-breaking $50M in 8 years before death
Natalie O'Neill, New York Post, 26 January 2023

Riches to Rags, and Other Lottery Winning Myths
Wendy L. Patrick, J.D., Ph.D., Psychology Today, 22 October 2018

Long-Run Effects of Lottery Wealth on Psychological Well-Being
Erik Lindqvist, Robert Östling and David Cesarini, The Review of Economic Studies, Volume 87, Issue 6, November 2020

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