They Won $61 Million And Now Their Mansion Is Infested With Gangs, Addicts And Rats

What is it about winning large sums of money at complete random, usually for a price that’s a minuscule fraction of the prize sum, and spending it lavishly on often unnecessary extravagances that also happens to be accompanied by ill luck, loss, bankruptcy, and even death? Because the curse of the lotto is a notorious phenomenon, often casting winners to lower socioeconomic statuses than they were at before they started. Well, Matt and Cassey Topham don’t really fit this mold. They got all the riches, and none of the class. Here’s what went down.

In 2012, Matt and Cassey scored big when they won the Irish lottery, raking in a whopping £45million, which is roughly 60 million greenbacks, US. style. After giving family and friends a cut of the winnings, the couple wanted to do something for themselves. How about a home? A humble cottage, nothing ostentatious, just something for the two of them — childless, young, some place for tea, perhaps…a gazebo and…

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OH MY GOD! Is that there house? Those two kids? What the…what the hell are they going to put in it? The London Zoo? Come on, people! The mansion has seven bedrooms, and cost a little over a million pounds. They better love the hell out of this place, or I swear to —

YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! This is what their house looks like now. Turns out, they didn’t even move into the place, and it’s become consumed by the set for Jumanji 2. The neighbors are understandably up-in-arms, as it’s presumed the Tophams have been jet-setting around New York and Spain without the slightest intention of fixing this pile of GARBAGE!

Before their millions, the couple lived in a house just over $100,000. Matt was a decorator and painter, and Casey worked in a shop. Upon winning their fortune, Matt remarked that he used to paint houses like the one the couple bought. Now they were going to live in one.

The expansive mansion is in Nottingham, which, if it sounds familiar, is the home of the apocryphal, legendary Robin Hood. But, aside from its illustrious past, Nottingham is “quickly becoming one of the UK’s most thriving and creative cities,” according to the Nottingham tourism website. Not only that, but the scenery is to die for. I mean, this place has got some upward mobility to it.

But the Tophams never even moved into the mansion. NEVER EVEN MOVED IN. Ungrateful patricians! Instead, they had unsavory houseguests. Neighbors and police say that gangs have absolutely infested the home, dubbed Rainbow House — yeah right. They’ve vandalized the facade, “done drugs” in the rooms, and completely trashed the place. They’ve managed to scale the fence put in place and wreak complete havoc on what could have been a fantastic home.

But wait. It get so much worse. Those in the know have said that the youths started fires in and outside the home, smashed windows, and broke toilets. The plumbing was so bad that it attracted rats. It’s, literally,  a complete s**t show.

Furthermore, there’s an empty swimming pool inside. Neighbors are surprised it hasn’t attracted injuries of the most fatal kind. I’m surprised it hasn’t attracted Nottingham’s most adventurous skateboarders — this dome is just itching for a thrashing!

The Tophams had submitted plans to the city council to make developments on their house before they completely turned their backs on it. They wanted to create a little eco-friendly annex with solar panels galore. It also kind of looks like a school of stingrays getting it on with the ground. But so cool. Unfortunately, they never did anything with the plans.

Rainbow House’s shadow has casted long and wide over the growing city of Nottingham. In the popular social medium Snapchat, the derelict mansion is listed in one group chat as The Scariest Place to Take a Picture in Nottingham. What an accolade!

As if things couldn’t get any worse, the “blight on the neighborhood” abuts the Wollaton House, a huge mansion that was used for the Dark Knight Rises filming. Wayne Manor, people. The Tophams took a dump on the Wayne legacy. Is that even legal?

Rainbow House was built in the 1930s, the interwar period in England. Some history of Nottingham at this time; the city experienced a kind of development. City council was building council houses and estates. Things were really starting to thrive!

In fact, in 1935 — so before Hitler invaded Poland — Nottingham, specifically Nottinghamshire, hosted something called an historical pageant at Wollaton House. The city council wanted to promote Nottingham to the rest of England, while also raising money for the unemployed. What a rich history Nottingham has
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If you want to see how the other half live and discard, look no further than Rainbow House. Oh, there was so much promise. So much possibility! But no, the Tophams just couldn’t keep it together. Instead, they bought and moved to a quarter-of-a-million pound house in Nottinghamshire — a mere shoebox by comparison. 

Maybe it’s true: class isn’t something that’s bred, it’s inborn. And the Tophams just couldn’t run in those circles. And maybe that’s for the best.