--- title: After a $3 Million Lottery Win, This Man Decided to Invest in Meth description: A Georgia man invested in meth after winning $3 million on a scratch off ticket. authors: - name: Ethan Wolff-Mann url: https://money.com/author/ethan-wolff-mann/ at_money_since: 2015 articles: 160 covers: - Personal Finance - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Professional Services - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://x.com/ewolffmann former_staff: true published: '2016-07-28T16:10:17.000Z' modified: '2024-04-17T03:05:17.000Z' section: Personal Finance word_count: 331 canonical: https://money.com/3-million-lottery-georgia-meth-invest/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Record Powerball Lottery Jackpot](https://img.money.com/2016/07/gettyimages-504649546.jpg) The question of whether to take the [annuity or the lump sum](https://money.com/powerball-lottery-annuity-or-lump-sum/) for a lottery winner is an important one. Each has its advantages: the annuity guarantees moderation and the lump sum can maximize total windfall thanks to investing. But one man in Georgia has gone down a unique path that involved neither squandering on toys or success in the stock market. Instead, Ronnie Music Jr. took his $3 million dollar check from the Georgia Lottery and decided to invest in methamphetamine, federal prosecutors say. In terms of an investment, the *New York Times* [called](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/28/us/lottery-crystal-meth.html?_r=1) his business "thriving," but after being caught with over $1 million worth of guns, drugs, and vehicles, Mr. Music is now facing amused contempt and jail time from justice department. "Defendant Music decided to test his luck by sinking millions of dollars of lottery winnings into the purchase and sale of crystal meth," US Attorney Ed Tarver [said in a statement](https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdga/pr/georgia-lottery-winner-pleads-guilty-federal-drug-and-gun-charges). "As a result of his unsound investment strategy, Music now faces decades in a federal prison.” ***Read More: [The One Time It’s Mathematically Advantageous to Play Powerball](https://money.com/powerball-math-odds-advantage/)*** This cautionary tale may provide more evidence that the annuity is the best option, given that the moderation it provides prevents losing it all due to mismanagement, because there's always future payments. We humans may not always make the most rational investing decisions, especially if we're people who enjoy the lottery, literally a game of chance and luck. And if luck brought the riches, why not use it again? For Mr. Music, who has pleaded guilty, there's no reason to think it would have been any different with the annuity. It seems likely that a smaller payout would have simply reduced the scale of the operation. In fact, the relative paucity of the annuity could have resulted in a greater lust for return on his illegal investment. Though it's impossible to say for sure, the lump sum may have been one of the few correct decisions he made. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/3-million-lottery-georgia-meth-invest/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Personal Finance", "item": "https://money.com/personal-finance/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Making Money", "item": "https://money.com/making-money/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "After a $3 Million Lottery Win, This Man Decided to Invest in Meth" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/3-million-lottery-georgia-meth-invest/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/3-million-lottery-georgia-meth-invest/", "name": "After a $3 Million Lottery Win, This Man Decided to Invest in Meth", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-07-28T16:10:17.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/3-million-lottery-georgia-meth-invest/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/3-million-lottery-georgia-meth-invest/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-17T03:05:17.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "After a $3 Million Lottery Win, This Man Decided to Invest in Meth", "articleSection": "Personal Finance", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/07/gettyimages-504649546.jpg", "width": 3000, "height": 2000, "caption": "Record Powerball Lottery Jackpot" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ethan Wolff-Mann", "url": "https://money.com/author/ethan-wolff-mann/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/ethan-wolff-mann/#author", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/ewolffmann" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2016-07-28T16:10:17.000Z", "description": "A Georgia man invested in meth after winning $3 million on a scratch off ticket.", "abstract": "A Georgia man invested in meth after winning $3 million on a scratch off ticket.", "@id": "https://money.com/3-million-lottery-georgia-meth-invest/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-04-17T03:05:17.000Z", "wordCount": 331, "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Personal finance", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_finance" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Income", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income" ] } ] } ] } ```