Lottery Winner Brad Duke

Young Lottery Winner Brad Duke of Idaho, wants to turn his $85 million lottery winnings into $1 billion.

The Gambler with Responsible Tendencies

In a game with long odds, 1 jackpot winner in every 120 million to be exact, Brad Duke kept playing, banking on the fact that his numbers would eventually come up. And on May 28, 2005, Duke hit. Big. And unlike others who went before him, he's not on a financial backslide even though he has all that cash.

Powerball is a multi-state American lotto, played in 27 out of 50 states and other U.S. territories. To play, one must choose five numbers between 1 and 53 which are drawn from one bin. It's namesake (the Powerball), is drawn from a separate bin and is a number between 1 and 42. While the odds aren't bad to win a cash prize (1 in 36), the Powerball makes it much harder to hit the big one, but the payout is unbeatable.

But the real story isn't the game itself. Lottery Winner Brad Duke developed his own system based on the last six months of winning Powerball numbers. By choosing the most common 15 numbers and rearranging them as he saw fit, this Gold's Gym franchise manger from Idaho eventually managed to bring home $220 million U.S. dollars.

Duke waited about a month to go public about his winnings in order to determine his next best move. He immediately hired a publicist, lawyer and financial adviser and researched mistakes and good advice from other lottery winners. By getting a good team in place he was able to get some sound direction on how to turn his millions into billions. And on the day he showed himself to the world, he did it on CNN.

In February 2007, Fortune Magazine reported how Lottery Winner Brad Duke had spent his money so far:

* $45 million in low-risk investments, i.e. municipal bonds * $35 million in aggressive investments, i.e. utilities and real estate * $1.3 million set up a family foundation * $63,000 bought him a Tahitian adventure with 17 buddies * $125,000 paid off his mortgage * $18,000 went to eliminating student loans * $65,000 went to bicycles, and $12,000 was spent on the bike of his dreams * $14,500 paid for a used car in full * $12,000 buys yearly gifts for his family without tax penalties to them

One of the most inspiring aspects about Duke's story is that he didn't forget about those who helped him over the years. He has started a consulting firm and is employing people that gave him jobs when he was moving up the ladder in his career. Lottery Winner Brad Duke gave away his 2005 Jetta to his nephew and bought an older model for himself. Even though he wants to use his money to become a billionaire, he still has found a way to give back without compromising his goal.

His story of stability and responsibility even when he woke up a millionaire is something the world needs more of.

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