In 1995, Paul Maddison and his business partner Mark Gardiner struck it rich when they won a $28 million jackpot in the UK National Lottery.
The pair ran a double-glazing company in Hastings and decided to split the winnings evenly.
Maddison and Gardiner's life changed significantly after winning a $28 million lottery ticket.
Maddison, who was in his 40s at the time, soon decided to relocate to Perth, Scotland to be closer to his sister. However, Maddison's wife Ruth left him shortly after their big win.
After that, Maddison hired a housekeeper named Evelyn McGillivary, and the two eventually married in 1997.
Maddison seemed to prefer living a quiet, private life with his new wife, far away from the spotlight.
One of Paul's lavish purchases was a $947,000 castle in Dumfriesshire called Robgill Tower, which he bought on a whim after driving past it in a camper van with Evelyn. He later put the castle up for sale.
Maddison's business partner, Mark Gardiner, took a different approach with his $14 million share of the winnings.
He bought a home in Barbados, invested in several football clubs, and even purchased houses for five of his friends.
However, Gardiner later admitted that the money had strained those friendships, saying, "Do you think they are still my friends? Like hell. Not one speaks to me."
Tragically, Maddison's story took a dark turn in his later years.
His wife Evelyn passed away several months before Maddison himself was found dead in a Perthshire flat where he was living alone. He was 73 years old at the time.
The circumstances surrounding Maddison's death are still unclear.
A spokesperson for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in Scotland confirmed that a 73-year-old man had died in Perth on November 28th and that his family had been notified.
As for his business partner, Gardiner, he also struggled to find happiness after his lottery windfall.
Gardiner admitted there were days he would "curse my win", as he was inundated with requests from people asking him for money.
He even wondered if he might have been happier winning a smaller jackpot.
In a similar incident, a server's life turned into a dark turn after winning the $10 million lottery.
In 1999, Tonda, a server at a Waffle House restaurant in Alabama, was given lottery tickets by a regular customer named Edward.
On the day of the drawing, Tonda held the winning ticket worth up to $10 million.
However, this windfall brought Tonda a series of troubles.
Her Waffle House coworkers claimed they had a verbal agreement to split any winnings, but Tonda chose to take the $10 million prize for herself rather than share it.
Her coworkers sued her, but the court ruled there was no official contract between them.
Additionally, Edward, the customer who had given Tonda the winning ticket, also sued her, claiming that any Waffle House employee who won was obligated to buy him a new pickup truck.
However, this claim was dismissed by the judge before it went to trial.
Just days after the legal battles, Tonda's ex-husband, Stacy Martin, allegedly attempted to kidnap her at gunpoint, though no charges were ultimately filed.
On top of everything else, the IRS noticed that Tonda didn't share her winnings with her coworkers.
They sent her a bill for unpaid federal gift taxes, totaling over $1.1 million. However, she was allowed to keep the rest of her $10 million prize.
