$55 million Lottery Winner Didn’t Tell Family of Success

When a big lottery win comes along, one of the first things someone does is start telling their family about their amazing luck. Not so for a $55 million California Lottery winner from 2011, who didn’t tell anyone about their success.

Now aged 67, the lottery millionaire wrote a letter to ‘The Moneyist.’ That’s Quentin Fottrell, who writes a financial agony uncle column. This was one of his more unusual letters received. It told how not the lottery winner had both kept his win a secret and hadn’t made any charitable donations.

Family Feud

His letter revealed that the lottery winner believes if he had told people, he “would be broke” now. It’s a sad story in many ways with his sister being one reason for his secrecy. He hasn’t spoken to her for a decade and doesn’t like her husband either. It’s believed that if she had been told of his win, she would have suggesting donating half of it to the church.

He did give some details of how his lottery winnings have been spent. A new house and a truck were on his spending list. His family was told that they were being rented not bought because he’s a lottery millionaire. His letter included the sentence, “Was I wrong to not tell anyone?”

California lottery laws enabled him to stay anonymous and that was ideal for him. He’s not a believer in loaning people money, even if they are relatives. Nor has he made any charitable donations as many lottery winners do. He signed his letter “Low-Key Lottery Winner’ and says that he’s “comfortable” with his life.

Leaving a Legacy

How did Quentin Fottrell reply to this letter? He saw nothing wrong in “living your life the way you want to live it.” One suggestion to the writer was to leave charities some money in his will. That will see the remainder of his winnings put to good use and not wasted. Leaving something to his sister does not look on the cards.

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