"Money for Nothing" Published

Edward Ugel has recently published his book entitled Money for Nothing.  This book describes a topic often discussed on this blog of how lottery winners are unable to cope with their new found wealth.

Here is an excerpt from the author's description of his book:

* * * Edward Ugel tells the story of America’s addiction to the lottery from an astonishing angle.

At age twenty-six, Ed found himself broke, knee-deep in debt, and moving back into his parents’ basement. It all changed, however, when he serendipitously landed a job as a salesman for a company that offered up-front cash to lottery winners in exchange for their prize money, often paid in agonizingly small annual payments, some lasting up to twenty-five years. For the better part of the ensuing decade, Ed spent his time closing deals with lottery winners, making a lucrative and legitimate—if sometimes not-so-nice—living by playing to their weaknesses…weaknesses he knew all too well.

Ed met hundreds of lottery winners and saw up-close the often hilarious, sometime sad outcome when great wealth is dropped on ordinary people. Once lottery winners realized their “dream-come-true” multimillion jackpots were not all that they were cracked up to be, Ed's job was to sell them the cash they wanted—and often needed. * * * As Ed learned, few of them had the financial savvy to keep up with the lottery-winner lifestyle. In fact, some just wanted their old lives back. * * *

Ed Ugel takes readers inside the captivating world of lottery winners and shows us how lotteries and gambling have become deeply inscribed in every aspect of American life shaping our image of success and good fortune.