# Man Who Won $1.3 Million Lottery Then Immediately Lost It In Stock Market Is Now Living In His Mom’s Basement, Says He’d Do It All Again
Look, I’m not saying the universe has a personal vendetta against Carl Rinsch, but if you told me he kicked a puppy and offended a witch on the same day, I’d believe you. This 47-year-old former writer just pulled off the most galaxy-brain financial disaster since that guy traded a paperclip for a house and then set it on fire.
You remember Carl, right? He’s the guy who won $1.3 million in the Oregon Lottery back in 2022, immediately went “I’m built different,” and then proceeded to YOLO the entire bag into GameStop options like he was the main character in a cautionary tale written by a vengeful god. Now, two years later, Carl is back where he started: living in his mother’s basement in Portland, eating Hot Pockets, and telling anyone who’ll listen that he “has no regrets.”
And honestly? That’s the part that’s sending me.
I interviewed Carl last week, and the guy is either the most delusional optimist on the planet or he’s been huffing the fumes from his mom’s dryer sheets. Probably both. He sat there, surrounded by bins of Funko Pops and a mattress that’s seen better decades, sipping a Monster Energy like he was a hedge fund manager on a coffee break.
“I’d do it all again,” he told me, dead serious. “People don’t understand. You can’t take it with you, bro. I experienced things most people never will. I was *in the room* when the dopamine hit.”
Bro, the room is your mom’s basement. The dopamine hit was watching a number go down on a screen. You’re not a day trader, you’re a cautionary statistic they teach in high school economics.
Let’s break down the timeline of Carl’s absolute faceplant into the sun, because it’s genuinely wilder than most fiction.
Phase 1: The Win
January 2022. Carl buys a $10 scratch-off at a 7-Eleven. Wins $1.3 million. After taxes, he walks away with about $900,000. Normal people would pay off debt, buy a house, maybe get a sensible Toyota Camry. Carl bought a 2019 Tesla Model S Plaid and a gold chain that says “BALLER” on it.
“I wanted people to see me coming,” he said.
They did, Carl. They saw you coming from a mile away. Specifically, they saw you coming with a car that immediately required $12,000 in repair costs because you drove it through a puddle.
Phase 2: The Stock Market Gambit
February 2022. Carl discovers Reddit. Specifically, r/wallstreetbets. If you don’t know what that is, imagine a casino run by raccoons on Adderall. Carl saw a post about GameStop options and thought, “This is my moment.”
He dumped $700,000 into deep out-of-the-money call options expiring in two weeks. The thesis? “GameStop was going to the moon, and I was gonna be Neil Armstrong.”
The rocket ship never launched. In fact, it fell into the ocean and caught fire. Carl lost $650,000 in 11 days. The remaining $50,000 he tried to “recover” by betting on Bed Bath & Beyond, which was basically lighting money on fire to stay warm while your house burns down.
Phase 3: The Descent
By March 2022, Carl had about $80,000 left. Any sane person would take that, buy a used Honda, and start over. Carl bought a boat. A 26-foot cabin cruiser he named “The Tendie.”
“I figured I could live on it,” he explained. “Cheaper than rent, right?”
Wrong. Mooring fees, maintenance, and the fact that he didn’t know how to operate a boat led to him crashing it into a dock three weeks later. The insurance didn’t cover “I thought the red button was the horn.”
Phase 4: The Present
Now, Carl lives with his 68-year-old mother, Brenda, who works part-time at a dental office. He sleeps on a futon that smells like regret and Mountain Dew Code Red. His Tesla was repossessed. His gold chain is at a pawn shop. The only thing he has left is the story, which he tells like a war veteran recounting a battle he definitely lost.
“My girlfriend left me, my car’s gone, I had to sell my PS5,” he said. “But I still have my freedom. And my dreams.”
Bro, your freedom is limited to the hours between when your mom goes to work and when she comes back and asks if you’ve applied for jobs. Your dreams are about as real as my will to live after reading your story.
The internet, predictably, has been brutal. Reddit threads calling Carl a “cautionary tale for the ages” and “the stupidest man alive” have racked up thousands of upvotes. Twitter/X users have turned him into a meme, with the phrase “Pulling a Carl” now meaning “making a series of catastrophic financial decisions that end with you crying into a bowl of cereal.”
But here’s the thing that actually pisses me off. Carl doesn’t learn. He doesn’t grow. He’s sitting there, in his mom’s basement, telling me he’d do it again. That’s not bravery. That’s not “living life to the fullest.” That’s a mental illness masquerading as a life philosophy.
“Money comes and goes,” he said, shrugging. “But experiences? Those last forever.”
Really, Carl? What experience are you talking about? The experience of watching your bank account go from seven figures to zero? The experience of having your girlfriend dump you because you spent the security deposit on AMC stock? The experience of asking your mom for gas money so you can
Final Thoughts
Based on the article, Carl Rinsch’s trajectory reads less like a cautionary tale about creative ambition and more like a masterclass in unchecked delusion fueled by unearned capital. The grotesque irony here is that Netflix’s massive bet on an untested vision didn’t just fail to produce a show; it financed a private empire of luxury cars, watches, and a deeply troubling personal spiral, proving that in Hollywood, "artistic freedom" can be just another word for a billion-dollar blank check with no oversight. Ultimately, this saga isn't about a broken filmmaker, but a broken system that conflates hype with talent and confidence with capability, leaving a trail of wreckage that the industry seems destined to repeat.