Penniless Millionaire

On April 10, 2004, 26-year-old Sharon Mentore (now Tirabassi) won half the Super 7 $21-million jackpot. For the financially pinched single mother of three in Hamilton, it was time to party. In fact, she partied so hard, giving away hundreds of thousands to family and friends, that she ended up where she began: poor. In her lively eBook Penniless Millionaire: How Sharon Tirabassi Lost Her Jackpot, and Other Tales of Lottery Woe, Hamilton Spectator reporter Molly Hayes sensitively relates Sharon’s story while looking at the downside of winning the lottery or compulsively buying tickets. Tellingly, Sharon suggests life has more purpose now that she has to work again.

Star Dispatches is a weekly series of quality journalism in ebook form from the newsroom of the Toronto Star, Canada's largest newspaper.