Powerball Winner • KY • 2000
Jackpot (2024$)
$120,000,000
lump sum
Age at Win
42
Forklift operator
Mack Metcalf, a 42-year-old forklift operator, won $65.4M with estranged wife Virginia Merida in July 2000. Pre-existing alcoholism accelerated catastrophically. Within 3 years he was dead at 45 from cirrhosis. Merida died in 2005 from suspected overdose.
Powerball drawing - estranged couple wins $65.4M
Claim prize, take cash option (~$34M), split 50/50
Mack buys Mount Vernon replica estate in Northern KY
Virginia buys home overlooking Ohio River
Mack has multiple run-ins with law: DUI, child support
Mack Metcalf dies at age 45, 3 years after win
Man dies of drug overdose inside Virginia home
Virginia sued by tenant in eviction dispute
Virginia found dead at 51, body undiscovered for days
"Go their separate ways to fulfill their dreams"
"The greatest danger to a lottery winner is not the poverty they leave behind, but the vacuum they enter"
Ticket purchased at truck stop in Florence, KY by forklift operator Mack Metcalf. Couple was already estranged at time of win.