Bunky reflects on mistakes (and successes) since winning $32.6 million
A Tarot card might have foretold that Ellwood "Bunky" Bartlett would win $32.6 million in the 2007 lottery.
Unfortunately, the spirit world provided no omens that might have helped the 45-year-old practicing Wiccan better manage his good fortune.
This week, as much of the East Coast is waiting for the winners of the record $656 million jackpot to step forward, Bartlett of Westminster agreed to talk about the things that have gone wrong — and right — in his life during the past three years.
To help Maryland's newest mega-millionaires avoid repeating his mistakes, Bartlett offered the following tips:
Remain anonymous. Take the winnings in the form of an annuity parceled out over 26 years, instead of in a lump sum. Curb impulse spending by stashing the winnings in a trust fund that requires several signatures to authorize major purchases.
"Otherwise, everybody and their brother will find you and try to get money from you," Bartlett said.
Bartlett was by all accounts a soft touch who gave away millions to friends and strangers. He hired his buddies, bought them first-class plane tickets, officiated at their weddings and helped them buy homes — only to watch helplessly as long-standing relationships disintegrated.
The former accountant readily admits to making bad business decisions. Plans that were widely publicized at the time, such as expanding the New Age bookshop near White Marsh that he considered his "spiritual home," failed spectacularly. (Wicca is a nature-based religion based on ancient traditions of witchcraft and white magic.)
A record label that Bartlett started at the request of his wife, Denise, released just two albums before it folded, including one featuring former reality show contestant Dilana Robichaux.
"People always said that I was too kind-hearted and wore my heart on my sleeve," he said. "One of the mistakes I made was giving money to help other people realize their dreams instead of my own. Then, when the businesses crashed, I looked like the bad guy."
When Robichaux first met Bartlett, he impressed her as a man adrift, a man in search of a focus.
"To me, Bunky was kind of a lost soul," said the singer, who was runner-up during the second season of the CBS reality show "Rock Star: Supernova."
"You could kind of tell he was a bit fearful of what he was going to do with all this money."
But not everything was a bust for Bunky.
The lottery winner estimates that, after paying 2010 taxes, he says he still has $15 million to $16 million left in the bank.
His children, Ryan, 26, and Ashley, 24, are doing well. He purchased his late mother her dream house on the water in Sparrows Point, and says she got a lot of pleasure during her final days from feeding the ducks each morning.
A pizza franchise that Bartlett bought with the sole purpose of ensuring that he could get delivery to his rural home has beaten the odds and is about to celebrate its second anniversary.
Here's how he tells the story of how he came to own Westminster's Mustang Pizza & Subs:
"Basically, we're out in the boonies and no one would deliver to us, so I said, 'Honey, do you mind if I open a Mustang's in Westminster?' Now, we have a 10-mile delivery radius, which is unheard of in the business."
The Bartletts also own investment property consisting of four houses and four commercial spaces.
And he is finally using his lottery winnings to finance a dream of his own — creating the ultimate video game. True, Bartlett is being criticized for asking the public for contributions instead of bankrolling the project entirely himself. But that hasn't deterred him.
"I'm never bothered by criticism that I shouldn't do something because I don't have the experience," he said. "I'm an idea man, and I can hire the people who can make my ideas reality."
Even before he entered the public eye in a big way, Bartlett, who at the time lived in Dundalk, was perhaps the world's most colorful accountant.
Within days of winning one-fourth of the $330 million prize, in September 2007, he told news outlets in the U.S., Britain, Finland and Russia that his win had been preceded by a Tarot card reading that told him to slow down and focus on his spirituality.
So Bartlett told the "powers that be" that if he won the lottery, he would focus on teaching completely.
"And a month later, here I am," he said in a 2007 article in The Sun. "I thank the gods for this gift. I don't know which one granted me this wish, but whichever one did, thanks!"
Maryland Lottery spokeswoman Carole Everett described Bartlett as the rare lottery winner who went public immediately with his good luck. "He was out in front of the media, even before he contacted us," she said. We usually hear from a lawyer first."
Bartlett announced plans to expand Mystickal Voyage, the store owned by Lori and Mick Perdue where the new lottery winner kept the books and taught classes on moon magic and psychic healing. The store, which had opened the previous year, had already been enlarged once to include a coffee shop.
Bartlett financed a $750,000 renovation that spread out to 6,500 square feet, including a yoga center. For the grand reopening, Bartlett booked radio personality Steve Rouse and other special guests, including Azrael Arynn K, one of his favorite pagan authors.
It's not clear why the once-healthy business foundered, though it didn't help that the reopening occurred just a few months before the U.S. financial markets collapsed in December 2008.
He said he made a key mistake by investing heavily in the bookstore and then stepping away.
"Basically, I did one of the things any good business person tells you not to do," Bartlett said.
While he and his wife were enjoying a second honeymoon in Paris, he said, they learned from Facebook that Mystickal Voyage had announced that it was closing as of Oct. 31, 2010.
Now the store sits vacant, its walls and shelves stripped bare.
The owner of the shopping center, Dunfield Commercial LLC, filed suit in January, 2011 against the Perdues and Bartlett's PanGaia investment company.
Reached by email, Lori Perdue said she couldn't comment because she had signed a non-disclosure agreement with Bartlett. But according to court records, the monthly lease of $9,700 had ballooned to $13,000. In addition, the Perdues were grappling with an undisclosed illness.
"We truly are financially devastated by the closing of the business," Lori Perdue wrote in a March, 2011 letter included as part of the court documents, "and have no assets or means to pay the amount in question, or even offer any settlement."
Even while the bookstore was still open, Bartlett had made a foray into the music business. As he tells it, he and his wife were huge fans of Robichaux. They decided to found their own label, called KaBunk Records, so they could produce her album, "InsideOut," which was released in 2009.
They parted ways after disagreeing about who would make creative decisions. Bartlett said that Robichaux was insisting on rights that are rarely granted to up-and-coming singers. She said that Bartlett sought total control not just of her songs, but also of her brand.
"Bunky was inexperienced with the music business and demanded stuff from me that I will never give up," she said. "His money couldn't buy me."
Despite the falling-out, Robichaux said Bartlett "has a great heart" and added: "He really cares about his friends."
Because he is so generous, Bartlett can't help being bewildered by what he terms as the "haters" who have excoriated him for creating a crowd-funding campaign on Kickstarter. He's seeking $1.1 million to create a test-ready version of the project he's tentatively calling "Your World."
With 29 days to go, 63 backers have pledged just $20,774. Detractors, meanwhile, are wondering loudly why a multimillionaire is asking them for money.
"My budget for this game is at minimum $5 million, so I'm going to be investing a lot of my own money," Bartlett said.
"I have no problem if 1.1 million people each give $1. In fact, I'd prefer it, because I'm trying to find out if there's a market for the type of game I want to create."
If "Your World" doesn't reach its May 3 goal, he said, he will continue to seek private investors for the project. He's been playing video games for 35 years, so he has a good sense of what will set his venture apart. He's been assured by experts in the field that his goal, while difficult to reach, will be obtainable.
He'd like to release the game in 2014, but he'll wait as long as he needs to get the details right. And luckily, he has that option.
"Winning the lottery buys you time," he said.
"Before I won the lottery, I had to go to work, I had to do this, I had to do that, I had to, had to, had to. Now, if friends call up and ask if we want to go on a cruise, we don't have to plan years in advance. We can just go."
(Click to display full-size in gallery)
Thanks to four4me for the tip.
I saw him on the lottery changed my life and he was trying to sign a female artist from a short lived reality show. He was investing in so many things like a seafood restaurant.
Spread his resources too thin too fast but thankfully he hasn't exhausted all of his resources and a few investments are starting to pan out as well as the fact that he has real estate holdings. With 15m in the bank, if he cointues to sober up and tread cautiously, he should do fine!
isnt there LLC for crazy idea companies? well he still has 15 mill, nothing to be too sad with, he blew half, its time to smaerten up.
Just because the guy is a moron, is no reason to take the annuity ............ you can overspend on a yearly basis and have liens placed onto you annuity!
It is all in what you make of the good fortune that comes your way .......
"Bunky" is the last person on earth that I would listen to for financial advice!
Excellent point DP, those future annuities are not guaranteed to you with outstanding liens or lawsuits.
A FOOL AND HIS MONEY.This man should be more THRIFTY with his money, but it is his choice to do as he pleases.
Excellent point. and if he had 32+M$ to start with, that is before his additional fed tax burden, so he went through 7 mill or so in 3 years (is my math close to right?)
Probably a great friend and neighbor. I won't criticize him for chasing his dream, however, he could/might consult with experts in the endeavors, he chooses, ahead of time......Common sense is not part of the lottery jackpot that you win
Stay Focused My Friends
I agree - probably a great friend and neighbor, but a horrible financial "advisor". Instead of "playing" with his money, he should have talked to the professionals and gotten their advice.
I actually read a fiction book once where the woman won the lottery. She did get a financial advisor, accountant, and a lawyer to form her "board". It was great because when her family started asking for money to start businesses, she had to say "My board has to look over the business plan. You do have a business plan, right?" This way her family knew she meant business and would not just look for business payouts. And yes, this is fiction and not real, but I did get some good information/advice from this book. The author obviously did their homework (and I secretly wondered is she was a member here). And no, I don't remember what it's called. Sorry!
Agreed, he'd probably be a real hoot posting with us here on LP forums!
Of course even with all the good advice being thrown around on this
site, we truly will never know precisely how we would react, until that one fine day when our ship finally comes in.
"Remain anonymous"
Many states don't allow this do they?
In Florida, if the media requests your information, lottery officials are required to provide it and we all know the media WILL request it.
People should be looking at the positives here, he bought his mother her dream home before she passed away. He opened a "successful" business, he still has 16 million left and he is happy - which is priceless!!
Lottery winners should read stories of these past winners who threw it all away and learn what not to do.
The name Bunky is funny to say and hard to take advice from BUT at least he is doing okay with his riches. I thought this was going to be another one of those tragic stories.
GOOD FOR YOU BUNKY!
There are very few states that do not require that your name be release. MD, Kansas, and that new england state that takes their photo with a smiley face over their face do not. Always loved the smiley face over the face of the winner!
well am happy hes still alive and doing fairly well inspite of initial mistakes ......
I wish him continued luck
Anyone else think of this when they see the picture?
And I really don't think you need to take the annuity... just be smart and think about every major purchase for a few days.
Actually his cut of the $330 million jackpot that he split 4-ways was almost $83 million. He took the cash option and after State and Federal taxes he took home $32 million. He may have been an accountant but I highly doubt he had any business sense.
I don't think the annuity would have curbed his spending as he most likely would have borrowed against it or even cashed it in so he could fulfill his dreams.
I always liked this guy, he seemed very nice even though he had some crazy ideas. The good part is he learned his lesson and still has more than enough money left to live a great life so it all worked out in the end and he got to have a little crazy fun and live out some dreams in the meantime.
actually when I first heard about his win this is how I pictured him turning out...after blowing it all
but well let him have whats left of his windfall and be able to enjoy it
Detractors, meanwhile, are wondering loudly why a multimillionaire is asking them for money.
... while crawling over each other trying to get in on the latest Wall Street IPO.
Like Max said in The Producers, "Never put your own money in the show!"
I agree with Bunky that taking the annuity would have been better for him because it doesn't seem like he is living off the interest that the money could produce. He seems to be spending the capital.
I predict in 5 years he will be be broke. He's willing to put in $5M of his own money to develop this video game? That would leave him $10M in the bank.
If he just lived off the interest of the $16M it could produce about $480K/yr. Isn't that good enough for him? It would be good enough for me.
I don't have any ambitious dreams of owning my own business. I just want to live off the interest, play golf and tennis, and rehab rundown homes. I guess I'm not ambitious enough but that is all I want to do.
As far is giving to relatives and friends, I would have a hard time saying no too so the $480K would at least limit my gift giving but I don't have the entrepenurial mind to try to own or invest in everything.
I heard that you can only give $13K/yr as a gift to a person or you'll have to pay a severe tax penalty (gift tax). That right there should save you from giving out too much to people (i hope), but that would be my biggest worry too. I'm too sympathetic to peoples stories. I could not be stingy with that amount of money but I like the idea of having a financial team who has to approve expenditures. That sounds good.
Every winner also has stories of strangers sending them request for money with hard luck stories. That would cause me to want to set up a foundation account (funded by interest only income) to help people who needed help but I wouldn't want them to know that it was me who set up the foundation.
Some of the stuff he did was stupid, but he tried. Its tough to get something going in this economy. I've seen successful peeps fail in business. Just to piss everyone off i would'nt spend a dime. I would wait for the zombies to stop begging then go on a spending spree.
So playing video games makes him an expert? um.. yeah he'll be broke in a few years.
Every winner also has stories of strangers sending them request for money with hard luck stories. That would cause me to want to set up a foundation account
... invest in a heater that burns envelopes & paper.
Bunky needs to shut the hell up. He's advising people to not take the lump sum, just because he's incapable of controlling his impulses & spends money like a drunken sailor? Obviously, ol' Bunky knows nothing about the estate tax trap he's advising people to potentially fall into (where, if the lottery winner dies after a few years, his/her will beneficiaries will have to sell of the majority of the annuity future payments just to pay the estate taxes on the present value of future earnings of the estate). If he was a financial adivsor, I'd not only fire him, but I'd make sure he was forced out of the financial advisory industry.
Hey Time, you're right on time.
At least with all that mail you wont ever have to worry about fire wood for all those cold winter nights
hence the reason to invest in a good wood burning stove in which you cook your meals and heat yer home
LOL nice pic.
This idiot wants people to send him more money for his own personal business ventures so that he doesn't go broke? 
Yeah Ok...I will get right on that. No wonder he lost so much money, that is what he gets for jumping right into the limelight, which has zero benefits. I do agree with the annuity though, especially for large jackpots, way less to worry about and less that you can lose all at once.
Ellwood "Bunky" Bartlett, Another "NUT CASE".
I read comments on him on somethingawful forums (yes, I am a goon) and there were so many hurtful comment on bunky, mostly about his physical looks.
I was sitting here feeling silly as I licked the envelope to mail him the check, but now that I know that someone of your caliber is on board----lol!
The annuity is not guaranteed. The government can default on it. I doubt it will cause people will still buy lottery tickets as longas there is one.
Never go into business with others . Never give money to people . Learn from Lottery winners , the mistakes they did. Learn the Do's / Don'ts ....There's positive stories , media doesn't want to write about them .
Forget the "Bunky's"
of the world ........... it is time win some money on Powerball tonite!
Cash ........ I can purchase an annuity if I really want one!
1 ticket ...... 1 winner
Will the Powerball Lottery break trend tonight? Since the revised game begun the jackpot has not exceeded $70m! Is Florida ready to collect or will it roll into a $100m Easter Basket???
The "new" Powerball was to supposed to produce the biggest jackpots, so far it has produced smaller jackpots but more winners!
The law of unintended consequences, not understood by the Government!
I only play PB and MM, they offer the most fun for me .......... moving to a red state when I win .............
It's ripe for the picking DP, pick those PB cherries, before I do. NH is overdue, and I'm getting impatient.
We had quite a few discussions about Bunky on LP when he won his jackpot. The guy was everywhere in the news promising things to lots of people. All he had to do was collect his check, answer a few dumb questions, and he would have been quickly forgotten. But he relished in the fame his jackpot brought him and many LP members predicted he'd be broke in 5 years because of it.
I'm happy to see he didn't waste it all, but he still has the time to spend the last dime.
He may as well spend the last dime; he can't take any of it with him, and at least half of what he leaves behind would be stolen for "estate taxes".
in part "i thank the gods that granted the gift, i don't know which one granted it but thanks"
maybe the particular god that granted the gift is not happy w/ the fact that he does not recognize which one it it,
this is a problem when you have more than one, gods can be very jelous.
In 4 states you can remain anonmous. The rest your name and home town is given. You can claim as an enitity. A trust , LLC , partnership. I think this is legal for all states.
I concur.
Smaller jackpots but more winners... I'm all for that.
1 ticket ...... 1 winner!
Bigger jackpots!
I remember watching this dude's video on Youtube way back when the jackpot was real big.
that good to note.
I seen him on TLCML, but I don't remember too much about the episode. I do remember him saying he came home and there was safe on his doorstep with a letter saying, "Put all your money into this safe." He said he and his family moved right away.
Take the lump sum. Don't hand out money like bottles of water! Don't make bad business decisions. We hear stories like this all the time. When will people learn? I know I probably should not compare personal items to millions, but here it goes. I don't let people borrow my stuff left and right, so you want get too much of my money either. You're barking up the wrong tree. Yes, there are family members and close friends I'm going to help, but it won't get out of hand. I know things are easier said than done, but <snip>.
Take it one step farther , called a confidentiality agreement , to family , friends or whoever you
give money too . "LLC" another way for others, not to know who you're through your lawyer.
If you've a "good lawyer who's really looking after you " he will do whatever possible to protect
you .
This is why , Lottery Winners needs to take there time and make sure everything is completed.
Winning any amount of money should keep quiet . Why Illinois doesn't have it like MD , Delware,
Kansas , to protect there privacy is beyond me .
There's families in Oregon , New Mexico , and many other states who won Million of Dollars , and
they aren't in the media , as much as the others . One lottery winner , said they only spent $4
million , brought land , had a home built , that's about it , still driving the same ole vehicles .
One older couple lives in a new home and still clip coupons . There's many other winners keeping
a low profile .....
That's another way to look at it. The ticket cost $1 and if he still has $2, he is still ahead.