Lotto Winners Refused Benefits After Spending All Their Winnings In One Year

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Jamie and Abbie Hort from Guernsey won £50,000 on the lottery in December 2014 — not the jackpot by any means but still a sizeable amount of cash that most people have to work for years to save up.

Instead of saving it or investing it or doing anything remotely useful with it whatsoever, they moved into a nicer flat at £700 a month rent, sorted themselves out with some nice new furniture and a massive TV, and then spunked the rest on takeaways, designer clothes and holidays.

By December 2015 the money was long gone, and they’re now having a hard time getting back on income support and housing benefit.

Jamie and Abbie Hort from Guernsey who are facing eviction after being refused benefits - 12 months after they won a £50,000 lottery prize. See SWNS story SWLOTTO; A couple who spent their £50,000 Channel Islands Lottery winnings in a year say they are facing a second eviction from their home after struggling to get financial help from Social Security. Jamie and Abbie Hort won the money, which was second prize in the Christmas lottery, in 2014. But they said that after living off the cash all year, the money ran out just before Christmas. It meant they were unable to pay their rent but when they asked Social Security for help, the department refused and they were evicted. In order to get a roof over their heads for Christmas, they had to raid savings they had put aside for their children to pay for a deposit on a new flat but, with their next amount of rent due on Thursday and no means of paying it, they could be evicted once again.

They admit they were “silly” with their winnings but also say they “deserved to buy nice stuff”, and the fact officials are refusing to let them sign on again led to them having the “worst Christmas ever”.

Jamie says:

When we first won the money, we were very excited and we helped sort our family out with some money and went shopping.

We had no other income source so the money was going on things like food. Sometimes we were spending £70 a day on food.

We were a bit silly with it, it could have lasted a lot longer, I’ll admit that. But all we want now is some help.

Abbie explains:

They want to see receipts from the statements as they don’t believe all the money has gone. The £50,000 went in eight months but they don’t believe us.

We moved in to a one bedroom flat but it had nothing in it. When we won the lottery we had to start from scratch. We bought a sofa, wardrobe, chest of drawers, fridge, televisions and cutlery.

We bought a few bits of clothing — my husband likes designer clothing so bought some Diesel, Ralph Lauren and Franklin & Marshall items.

But we won the lottery so we deserved to buy nice stuff.

Jamie and Abbie Hort from Guernsey who are facing eviction after being refused benefits - 12 months after they won a £50,000 lottery prize. See SWNS story SWLOTTO; A couple who spent their £50,000 Channel Islands Lottery winnings in a year say they are facing a second eviction from their home after struggling to get financial help from Social Security. Jamie and Abbie Hort won the money, which was second prize in the Christmas lottery, in 2014. But they said that after living off the cash all year, the money ran out just before Christmas. It meant they were unable to pay their rent but when they asked Social Security for help, the department refused and they were evicted. In order to get a roof over their heads for Christmas, they had to raid savings they had put aside for their children to pay for a deposit on a new flat but, with their next amount of rent due on Thursday and no means of paying it, they could be evicted once again.

Images VIA

And that right there is why you should always keep hold of your receipts. They do still have a massive telly though, so it’s not all bad news, is it?

Jamie is an unemployed scaffolder, and Abbie looks after their children.

Could be worse though — they’re not the most wasteful lottery winners in history, not by a long shot.

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