Lottery winner turns thief after blowing cash

[underpants]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050614/od_nm/germany_thief_dc

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German lottery winner who blew all his winnings decided he was better off supplementing his income as a thief than claiming welfare benefits, a court in the central town of Meiningen said on Tuesday.

The court said shortly after the man had frittered away the last of his prize worth around 760,000 euros ($921,000) by autumn 2003, he turned to robbery, looting cars and houses for sums as small as one euro.

"He's confessed to about 60 offences," said a spokesman for the court. "He would break in to see how much money they had -- I guess you could say it was a kind of lottery too."

The spokesman added the 49-year-old, who stopped working after his cash bonanza in 1997, had said he was too ashamed to go to the welfare office after the money ran out.

[DrGonzoLives]

1. The hell?

How do you blow $921,000 that quickly? I can't even think of spending half of that on the stuff I want, and that includes a 1972 Stingray convertible with leather seats and a huge, powerful, gas-guzzling engine.

[tk2kewl]

2. ~153G a year?

I could spend that without a problem. Of course I wouldn't, but if I wanted to...