David Beresford
IF the British lottery is not exactly immoral, as many churchmen would have it, the story of “Cheeky” Lee Ryan offers convincing evidence that Lady Luck is utterly amoral.
Ryan, a used-car salesman, would have made even Richard Nixon look virtuous. Last year he was sentenced to 18 months for handling stolen vehicles – with an extra week for shouting at the judge and jumping out of the witness box.
When he came out of Stafford jail in June, “Cheeky” – as he had been dubbed by the press – was picked up by his wife in a turbo Bentley (registration “Lee 4”) and whisked off to his mansion set on 40 acres of land.
Other presents he had bought himself with a R45,5-million lottery pay-out included his own helicopter, a Ferrari Testarossa, a Porsche, a Jaguar and a classic Ducatti motorbike.
Ryan, at least, seems to have found happiness with his fortune. Other winners did not. One of the biggest winners, Mukhtar Mohidin, a Blackburn factory worker who collected R124-million, was denounced by fellow Muslims for gambling, sued by his wife for half the money and, when he tried to organise a family reunion, the squabbling over the money landed them all at the local police station. “I don’t like people now,” he said afterwards. He now lives under an assumed identity.
Sometimes the lottery brings real tragedy – as in the case of Tim O’Brien, who religiously used the same numbers each week until one week he forgot – the week, of course, that the numbers won. He shot himself dead.