Money For Nothing: One Man's Journey through the Dark Side of Lottery Mi llions

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At age twenty-six, Ed found himself broke, knee-deep in gambling debt, and moving back into his parents' basement. It all changed, however, when he serendipitously landed a job as a salesman for The Firm - 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 taking advantage of their 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 would knock on their door, offering them the cash they wanted - and often desperately need. This cash sometimes came at a high price, but winners were rarely in a position to walk the other way. 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.

Reviews

"For anyone who's ever dreamed of winning the lottery, this is a terrifying look at what really happens when someone hands you that huge cardboard check. Ugel's writing style is terrific." -- Ben Mezrich, New York Times bestselling author of Bringing Down the House and Busting Vegas

"A jackpot of sleaze and hilarity" -- The Oregonian (Portland)

"A breezy, funny writer.... Maybe this eye-opening book will galvanize a movement.... By turns amusing and alarming." -- Kirkus Reviews

"His tale is a colorfully written account by a self-proclaimed overweight, chain-smoking, Krispy Kreme doughnut-eating, fanatical gambler....You will lick your chops, eager to hear the sordid woes of winners gone broke from spending sprees." -- USA Today

"Ugel's natural showmanship makes for entertaining reading. He does little to pretty up his misdeeds (heck, they were legal) and offers comical vignettes of his rendezvous and run-ins with prospective clients while delivering a well-deserved scathing indictment of the government-backed lottery system." -- Library Journal

Ugel, a gambler since age 19, tells a sordid tale of gambling addiction, and we all have much to learn from the author's important perspective on the proliferation of gambling opportunities. Written in an informal, sometimes humorous manner, this book contains excellent information for library patrons. -- Booklist

"[A] sordid--and highly engaging--tale" -- Wall Street Journal

Author Bio

Sales and marketing expert Edward Ugel, a graduate of the University of Colorado, Boulder, spent his late twenties and early thirties working among the nations most infamous lottery winners and gamblers in the high-stakes lump sum industry. He has also written for The New York Times and contributed to PRIs This American Life. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland with his wife and daughter.