Did A Powerball Jackpot Winner Overdose On Cocaine While Surrounded By Hookers?
Did a Powerball jackpot winner overdose on cocaine while surrounded by hookers? This question has been on many people’s minds as a report has circulated through social media networks such as Facebook sharing the unfortunate Powerball story.
According to reports, a man by the name of James Hugston bought a Powerball ticket in California for the $1.5 billion jackpot, and was one of the lucky three jackpot winners. The circulated report says the Powerball winner was 32-years-old and collected a lump sum of $327 million, then within days, overdosed on cocaine while surrounded by hookers, and tragically died.
Snopes reported about the Facebook report and Powerball winner James Hugston.
“1 of the 3 $1.5B Powerball jackpot winners was found in his new multi-million dollar home dead of an accidental cocaine overdose.
“32 Year-old James Hugston was 1 of the 3 lucky winners to hit the billion dollar jackpot. He received an estimated $327 million lump sum. Now most people are aware it takes 4-8 weeks to collect your money after you put in a claim. But Mr. Hugston couldn’t wait and took out a loan from a money lender to start blowing his millions immediately. His first purchase was a multi-million dollar furnished home.
“Rick Kingston a close friends of James said he was trying to keep his identity a secret and was doing it well by quickly moving out his 2 bedroom apartment where he lived with his girlfriend who he broke up with once he won.
“At the multi-million dollar home where James Hugston was found dead over a kilo of cocaine was found close friend Rick Kingston said ‘James went crazy fast! First he bought this huge house then cocaine and invited over 10 hookers from backpage’ a website know for prostitution.”
We’re happy to confirm that the report is false. First of all, there were three winning Powerball tickets sold for the Jan. 13, 2016, billion dollar jackpot. One ticket was sold in California, another in Tennessee, and one in Florida. Currently, only the Tennessee winners have come forward to claim their prize money. Powerball winners have 180 days from the time of the drawing to come forward and collect their winnings. As the California Powerball jackpot winner has not come forward yet, there is no possible way it would be a man named James Hugston.
Other problems with the report include the supposed amount of the person’s jackpot winnings. The amount won by the Powerball winners is not $327 million but will be $528 million split three ways. While it is true a winning Powerball ticket was sold in Chino Hills, California, and there was a California jackpot winner, the person has not been identified.
California Powerball Winner Died of Cocaine Overdose!???????? pic.twitter.com/35HtXionZH
— ????0331 (@Grunt0331Gunz) January 17, 2016
First Powerball jackpot winners claim prize https://t.co/Ex6mkOWoFg pic.twitter.com/0KNG0spbtF
— Yahoo (@Yahoo) January 16, 2016
On Jan. 12, 2016, a Fox news affiliate located in Nevada, interviewed a man and asked what he would do if he won the Powerball jackpot. The man stated he would use the winnings to buy cocaine and hookers. It’s possible that as his story went viral, and ultimately prompted a follow up story where he had to explain his statements that it morphed in the rumor mill into this false story about the jackpot Powerball winner’s unfortunate demise.
RT jokertpreloaded I liked a YouTube video from comedy_wizard https://t.co/7Erxw85ojL Powerball Winnings = Hookers and Cocaine
— John Harris (@winthenextlotto) January 22, 2016
The Powerball drawing occurs every Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. You can watch as the winning numbers and chance to win the jackpot takes place here in streaming, live video. Those who want to watch the Powerball drawing in live stream can download the Lottery App. The app is for multiple games including Powerball and Mega Millions. You can find information about the lottery app at the official Powerball website.
The Powerball jackpot always resets to $40 million while the Mega Millions jackpot resets to $15 million. Both the Mega Millions and Powerball jackpots have reached extremely large numbers. While there are many horror stories associated with various lottery winners, this story is not true. The California Powerball jackpot winner has yet to claim the ticket and it is unclear if it is a man, woman, or a pool of people.
What would you do if you won the Powerball jackpot? How would you spend millions?
[Photo by Pressmaster/Shutterstock]
