17 Sep
(Photo: Dailymail.co.uk)
A £17.9 million windfall in the National Lottery in 1994 allowed Mukhtar Mohidin to enjoy a fast lifestyle as a gambler and playboy for more than two decades, but that extravagance and recklessness eventually led to his demise.
The factory worker living modestly instantly morphed into a jet-setting playboy after his numbers came up in the lottery just one month after the launch of the new game. Three weeks of rollovers caused the prize to balloon to £17.9 million and Mohidin became an overnight celebrity and the envy of many when his ticket hit it big.
Good Living Or Bad?
Depending on your point of view, Mohidin’s life thereafter was either one of fun and frolic punctuated by excessive drinking, gambling, and womanizing, or a life spun out of control that destroyed his marriage and ruined his relationship with the church where drinking and gambling are frowned upon.
He quit his job and purchased a new, opulent home, enjoyed the companionship of an escort with whom he fathered a child, and spent much of his time in casinos. The escort described Mohidin as abusive and controlling when drunk, while his wife blames the lottery jackpot for shattering their marriage.
Mohidin’s relatives told the Daily Mail that it was “good living” and wild spending that led to the 64-year-old’s death. That good living apparently contributed to heart disease, liver disease, and a fatal urinary tract infection.
His fortune gone after 20-plus years of decadence, reports indicate that Mohidin’s final days were spent residing in a £35 bed and breakfast in Berkshire. His final resting place after a small and private ceremony – an unmarked grave – was far removed from his lavish excesses of days gone by.
The National Lottery’s first ever winner is also no longer of this world. Ken Southwell, who won £839,000 a few weeks prior to Mohidin, died in 2006 at age 46 from a brain tumor.
