Inspiring Stories
Lottery winners in the news who have given away 50% or more of their winnings
Lottery couple's £6m charity gift
BBC NEWS, December 12, 2006. Read the full story.
A couple from Sheffield who won £7.6m on the lottery in 2000 have given away £6m of their fortune.
Ray and Barbara Wragg have made countless donations to charity and spent money on family and friends since scooping the jackpot six years ago.
Weston Park Hospital in Sheffield, which specialises in cancer treatment, and Sheffield Children's Hospital have been the main beneficiaries.
Mrs Wragg said: "We decided that £7.6m was too much for two people."
Tariq Chowdhury, from Weston Park Hospital, said the couple's donations to the hospital's teenage cancer unit had "made a good hospital a great hospital".
Mr Wragg said: "We still play the lottery because we would like to get some more scanners for Weston Park and the Sheffield Children's Hospital.
"If and when we do win again – get ready charities!"
German lottery winner gives winnings to charity
Onlypunjab.com Team, Septebmer 25, 2004
A German man who won 9.1 million euro on the lottery, has donated his entire winnings to charity.
The unnamed man from Dortmund was the only player to pick the six correct numbers in the draw earlier this year.
He now says he plans to donate the money (roughly 6 million dollars) to Germany's needy by setting up a charitable foundation.
Elmar Banfaste, spokesman for the West-Lotto company said: "He was simply afraid of the sudden wealth and now says he wants to use his good luck for a worthy purpose."
The man, said to be in his 50s, had the entire country waiting with baited breath earlier in the year when he failed to contact West-Lotto until just before the collection deadline.
The company had thought the winner was unaware of his luck and had launched a nationwide poster campaign to find the winning ticket holder.
Spokesman Banfaste described the new millionaire as "exceptionally cool".
Lottery winner to donate all 4m yuan
By Liu Li, China Daily, December 2, 2005
A 71-year-old man in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region who won a lottery jackpot of 5 million yuan (US$617,000) has donated all of the money to charity.
Surnamed Wang, the old man was a retired worker with the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps in Changji, sources with the Welfare Lottery Centre of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region told China Daily.
His pension was 600 yuan (US$74) per month, local media reported.
"My only wish to make use of the prize for myself is to buy a new radio," Wang, wearing an old cotton-wadded coat, was quoted by the Xinjiang Economic Daily as saying.
On November 21 when Wang arrived at the lottery complex in Urumqi to receive his prize, he donated the first batch of 500,000 yuan (US$61,600) to a charity project set up by the centre.
It aims to finance schooling of students in poverty.
The real income for Wang from the prize was 4 million yuan (US$493,000) after he paid personal income tax of 1 million yuan (US$123,000) according to law.
He donated the remaining 3.5 million yuan (US$437,000) to charity affairs through a Catholic organization, sources with the Xinjiang Welfare Lottery Centre said.
"I donated the money because I want to help others I am very happy to do something for society," he was quoted by the Xinjiang Economic Daily as saying.
"Too much money means nothing to me. But this money will be very helpful for those in need."
He said the monthly income of 600 yuan (US$74) from his pension was enough for him.
Staff at the lottery centre said Wang was unlike the normally extremely excited or nervous winners when he arrived to claim his prize.
Wang came to Xinjiang in 1956 from North China's Henan Province. He had been engaged in farming and stock raising before retirement.
His wife has passed away.
Wang revealed he did not tell his only daughter, who lived outside Changji, that he had won the prize.
"My daughter lives in a good condition," he was quoted as saying.
"I will not leave a single penny to her. Those people that urgently need help deserve the prize."
Although his pension is merely 600 yuan per month, Wang claimed he never said no to others who wanted to borrow money from him if he could afford it.
He began to buy welfare lottery tickets in 2003 when he learned that receipts would help those in need.
The biggest prize he received ahead of the 5 million (US$617,000) was less than 10 yuan (US$1.2), sources said.
Lotto winner gives away £3.5m
Jaya Narain, Daily Mail, May, 22 2006
FOR a man who won more than £3.5m on the lottery two months ago, Bob Bradley's bank balance is looking decidedly modest.
For the 83-year-old great grandfather, as well as giving a huge amount to children's charities, has blown his fortune helping to make the dreams of his family and friends come true.
The generous war hero has rejected flash cars, expensive holidays and a move to a luxury mansion in favour of splashing out his jackpot on others.
He said: 'I haven't kept any money myself. I can just give my family all they ever wanted. That is all I want – I have had my life more or less, so this win is for their benefit.'
Mr Bradley has bought a £70,000 Mercedes ML car for son Barry, 58 – but is happy to get lifts when he wants to go out.
He is leaving his modest council semi but only to move in with his grandson after buying him a £500,000 five-bedroom home.
The pensioner has also invested a big chunk of cash in an expansion of the hair salon which his grandson Chris Bradley, 35, runs with his wife Geraldine, 36.
He has given his 16-year-old great-grandson a £25,000 motorhome to transport his motocross bikes to races. His 14-year-old great grandaughter wanted only an £8.50 pet rabbit out of his winnings.
Mr Bradley, who took part in the D-Day landings, said: 'I want nothing for myself but everything for my family. I want to make sure their dreams come true This win means my family will never have to worry about money – I'll set them all up with what they want and just enjoy doing that.'
The retired factory worker said the joy of winning the money comes from watching his family enjoy themselves. 'I already feel like I had won the jackpot before it happened,' he said. 'I had good health and a wonderful family. No amount of money can buy that.'
The only holiday he is planning is to take all the family to Spain this summer. Mr Bradley of Llanelli, West Wales, who won £3,570,000 in March, has also donated a huge proportion of his lottery win to children's charities worldwide.
The widower, whose wife died two years ago, will not confirm which charities benefited but Oxfam and Save the Children are understood to have received donations.
Gwenllian Griffiths, of Oxfam Cymru, said: 'We are always grateful for large one-off donors such as pools or lottery winners. Their donations can make a huge difference to the plight of youngsters all over the world. Even an amount such as £100 can feed starving children in East Africa for a month.'
A spokesman for the Save the Children Fund said: 'We are always pleased to accept any donations including from people who have had big windfalls.'
Daughter-in-law Geraldine said: 'He has given generously to make sure the family is set up for life and the rest of the money has gone to charities. He's got a big heart and we all love him dearly. He is such a lovely and generous man and was determined to look after his charities.'
Giving Nation winner gives half her winnings to charity
By Howard Lake, July 5, 2004
Sixteen year-old Liz Frith from Sheffield has won Giving Nation's online charity competition 'Are you a Giver or a Taker?' She chose to keep half of the £500 and give the rest of it to charity.
Liz's name was picked at random from the most popular answer of the competition. She chose to donate half of the winnings to Cancer Research UK and the NSPCC.
The competition winner was announced at the launch of Giving Nation's main activity, G-Week, which has seen hundreds of schools taking part all week to celebrate their charity activities, from sponsored skips to talent competitions and dunk the teacher games.
Schools taking part in G-Week have the opportunity to enter the G-Nation Awards, entries for which will close mid-July. Pupils can win £1,000 for their school and/or an visit to a Save the Children charity project in India.
Plus a couple of bonuses!
Barry Greenstein, known as "The Robin Hood of Poker", is one of the most underrated players out there today. He donates 100% of his tournament earnings to charity, primarily Children Incorporated, an organization that sponsors some 15,000 kids in 21 countries. Born and raised in Chicago, he has a PhD in mathmatics and now lives in California. Greenstein, a former Symantec software, seems like a very low-key, shy person but he isn't shy about busting out other players. On one episode of the WPT, he went against Randy "Dream Crusher" Jensen. Jensen is a loud-mouth who likes to psych out other players but the veteran Greenstein was not shaken at all and came out on top.
Read Barry's story at HomePokerGames.com
Are you a Giver or a Taker?
Liz took part in online competition, 'Are you a Giver or a Taker?', which posed a moral dilemma to young people: "If you were given £500, what would you do with it?". It offered a £500 prize as an motivator to get involved.
Only 16% of the 8,000 young people surveyed online voted to keep it all with the most common response to give at least £200 away.
Learn more at g-nation.co.uk
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