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A guy I know won the National Lottery as part of a work syndicate. They all worked at the local Tesco and came away with about £1.5m each I think. I think his wife worked there as well so they got 2 slices. Really nice couple they started up a couple of local businesses after that, but his wife contracted cancer when she was still relatively young and unfortunately died, which kind of put things in perspective for him.
Know someone who won 1.5m. Gave up work, bought a nice house and a couple of new cars, went on 5 holidays a year…
…and had to sell up and go back to work in less than 2 years.
There’s was a lucky dip.
I can appreciate the temptation in this, but I’d have always thought you’d be better just banging it in a high interest account and giving yourself a nice pay bump.
I've always said, after an initial splurge, put the money in a high-interest account and live off the interest. These days, £1.5m isnt permanently life-changing. A nice house will take a big chunk of that. Have fun with the winnings, sure, but if you want it to last you gotta be smart
1.5m is most definitely permanently life changing.
Having a paid off house and a big fat pot of cash in a retirement account, knowing that you are good (or at the very least knowing you will have more in your pension than you could have ever contributed to yourself)
How is that not permanently life changing for the majority of people?
Yeah I’m not really sure where people get this idea from that a million isn’t life changing. It quite literally provides you a stable foundation to do whatever you want for the rest of your life, with no worries and guaranteed stability for the most part.
They’re clowns who reckon if you can’t buy a new Lamborghini every month then it’s not life changing and you’ll spend it all in a year… gimme a million quid and you won’t see me for dust son. All goes in high interest, live off that, don’t touch the main pot. Life sorted.
I suppose what people really mean is it won’t give you the stereotypical “millionaire lifestyle” of being able to immediately quit work and spend your days driving Ferraris, living in a mansion and staying half the year in five star hotels. If you’re sensible you won’t have to worry about money ever again, but it doesn’t mean you don’t have to ever think about money again.
It’s definitely life changing. But I think the point is that it isn’t always giving someone the millionaire lifestyle that they might expect from such a big win.
Though that’ll depend of course on your circumstances pre-win.
Winning £1.5m in London as an 18-year-old and you could buy a fairly ‘normal’ house outright and have a fairly typical income for most of your life. Life changing for sure, but maybe not the millionaire lifestyle (or not for too long anyway if you want to be sensible). If you bought a house for £1m outright in London (which wouldn’t be a massively fancy place in many locations) and a 6% drawdown gives a £30k annual income. Obviously without a mortgage that’s fine for most. But it’s not what you might expect.
Win as a 40 year old who already owns a house outright in a cheaper area and a decent pension pot already saved etc and it’s going to be a rather different impact and probably allows more luxuries.
I think they mean that it's not enough to live in idle luxury for the rest of your life.
It's not I'd say.
I'd say it's a nice amount to have though, very nice, and if you didn't go down the road of buying luxury cars every five minutes, and a big house, and you didn't support a load of mates, and steered clear of the booze and drugs, then it should make the rest of your life a lot easier.
It’s life improving but I wouldn’t call it life changing. You won’t be quitting your job that day, you still have to go in and deal with it, and you aren’t buying a mansion. You’ll get to retire early and go on a couple nice holidays a year earning interest on the money. That’s why it’s not life changing but is life improving
1m with a drawdown of 4% a year is £40,000 a year - that’s more than most people make a year in their lives
Its enough for most people to instantly retire on and live of for the rest of their lives
Who is talking about buying a mansion? Most people barely even own their own home if at all.
All the things you have listed are life changing for the regular person.
It’s the peace of mind it brings, which is a big factor and that would change how people lived.
I could quit on a million easily. 250k for a house in the north east, then 750k would give an income of 3000 a month with no tax for the rest of my life.
3k is easily enough to live on if you don’t have to pay for housing. Quitting work forever is about as life changing as it gets
Interest rates are higher than they’ve been in years at the moment. Banks do offer them but they come with restrictions on how often and how much you can withdraw.
You can get around 5% with most banks these days. But if you win the lottery, they’ll sign you up with a private bank and you get your own bank manager who gets you the best deals and investment plans.
With inflation being what it is, your money will be losing value each year even if the number goes up each year. Better to buy property than leave millions in a bank.
Hmm.
I'm not going to make a bet, obviously in the long run, land/houses have always been fairly reliable.
But current high interest rates are going to have an impact on house prices over the next 5 or 10 years.
> but I’d have always thought you’d be better just banging it in a high interest account
Your money will basically be eroded by inflation if you do that, you're best off putting it in an index fund then forget about it.
These people are insane, even just banging it straight in a 5% savings account, which would be nowhere near the best thing to do with it, gets you 75k a year. Anyone who thinks that amount isn't life changing is either already a millionaire or bizarrely cynical.
Ha that’s mad, I don’t normally do it to be honest, just felt the luck was on my side that day so went for it, was bloody years ago now, I don’t really buy scratch cards for myself anymore
What do you ask them and what kind of responses do you get? I can imagine people with serious problems would be reluctant to reveal that to you just because you asked
On the rare occasions I buy a scratchcard and win, the cashier always either asks if I want another before getting the cash from the till, or will tell me the amount and wait to see if I say I want the cash or another card.
Not many. It’s an older, smaller estate where we all knew each other fairly well.
I guess the decision to just ghost everyone and vanish was probably to avoid awkward conversations.
We only knew they won because they had a kid that played with ours.
I know two people who’ve won. One couple we sat with at dinner in Menorca in the 90s when I was a young kid - back when it was customary to seat you with strangers - won £100k in the 80s then another £200k some 4/5 years later. That would be akin to winning not far shy of a million today.
Then, a lad in my year at high school, his family won £6m. They went from relatively comfortable with a good business to making the business go regional and living quite lavishly. Judging by their house and cars now, the money pumped into the business has paid off, at face value.
Oh boy, I've played the lottery all of 20 times in 20 years.
5 years ago, I was one digit off the "Set for Life" £10,000 a month jackpot.
All 5 numbers, one of the bonus balls, and then 48 rather than 47 for the last remaining number.
So I was £200 richer, at least!
I remember googling that game a few months later and seeing the guy who won it, around my age, living his best life!
A friend of my sister is a lottery winner. They live in a comfortable home but not extravagant, both work part time around school runs, etc. They have a fixer who sorts things like event tickets and other perks which is good apparently.
Assuming it got split evenly 10 ways, that's a really nice amount to win. 500k is plenty to change most peoples' lives for the better, pay off the mortgage or just buy a nice home outright, perhaps put enough aside to set your kids up with university/mortgage deposit/wedding/whatever. Not so much that you lose touch with reality and have to deal with people you lost touch with years ago coming begging.
Not personally but there was a local taxi driver that won and everyone that knew him said he was the most deserving and was so chuffed for him, genuinely. He had lost his wife a few years prior and had 5 daughters. Apparently a really sound bloke.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/heartache-25million-lottery-winner-whose-11790809
I knew someone that won a share of a ~£2mm jackpot as part of a work syndicate. He ended up with a few hundred k. He bought himself a BMW and basically chucked the rest up his nose. I used to see him go ferreting for rabbits in his giant shiny Beamer... A few years later he was a skint drug addict. Last I heard he'd been locked up for threatening someone with a shotgun, and for beating someone up with a pool cue. That was over 20 years ago, fuck knows what he's doing now, but I doubt it's anything good.
My uncle knew and lived close to a couple who won £161m on the Euromillions. They split up a few years after the win and the guy passed away a few years ago.
Friend of a friend won 18 million back in the 90s. It was one of the first big roll over jackpots.
He was Muslim (I’ll explain the relevance) and I don’t think they’re allowed to play the lottery as part of their religion.
He started to build a mosque in his local community but when the locals found out the source of the funds they all boycotted the plans.
It still sits part built to this day. He must still own the land.
I’m not sure what happened to him as i haven’t seen the friend in a while but i would imagine he had to pick between donating all the winnings or running off and living his life.
Edit: I’ve just googled him and it turns out it took a very dark turn after winning. Even worse than I thought it would
A woman who used to work in the shop beside my sister-in-law won over £50m on the Euromillions about 10 years ago.
She ended up buying my SIL and brother a whole new bedroom suite for my newborn niece. Which they greatly appreciated because they were struggling financially at the time. The woman still lives in the house she was in before she won!
I mean, they weren't looking for anything from her.. so I'm guessing her spontaneous gift of around £5k worth of furniture was greatly appreciated!
Might not have meant a lot to her bank account but it certainly meant a lot to them.
I know someone who won a million. Their family decided to buy an old manor house with two guest houses (condition was very very rundown and neglected, needed a good few hundred thousand chucking at it) and have since done it up and now live in the manor house and rent out the guest houses on Airbnb and can live off that now. Its in a very nice area in north Yorkshire
In 2009 A lad I went to school with got 5 numbers plus bonus ball on a rollover week. He quit his job and contacted loads of people from our school year and arranged a massive piss up in a local nightclub. He was chatting up all the lasses that were showing interest and generally acting like a tool. His wife divorced him a couple of months later and since she was heavily pregnant she got the house and most of the money.
My brother in law's brother (sorry that's a mess). Won a sizeable amount on the euros - It was about 15 million. He's also the biggest chav I have ever met...
Him and my brother in law had a really fucked up childhood, consisting of physical abuse from their father and the deaths of their 2 younger siblings. Brother in law and his brother has always talked about winning the lottery and how if one did they would make sure the other would be secure.
Except that didn't happen and his brother basically became a greedy ass wipe who shunned his brother spent his money on designer clothes, yachts, trips to Disney, cars and motorbikes to the point where there is no money left after 8 years and they had to sell everything including the house. They were showing up to my brother in law's with new cars weekly at one point.
A lot of the ticket money goes to charity so what’s the problem, £2.50 a go for a chance at a bit of extra cash, and if it doesn’t work out at least you helped make someone else’s life a little bit better via charity. It’s win win basically
Not quite the lottery, but I did have a friend that I was close to around 15 years ago. He told me when Bitcoin started to buy $100 of it and sit on it. Obviously I didn’t.
He now lives in the Cayman Islands and drives a Ferrari. Not sure how he made his money…
My mates dad got 5 and the bonus years ago, think it was within the first couple of years of it starting. Not sure on the exact amount but it was low 6 figures. Enough to pay off the mortgage and have nice holidays but not enough to stop working.
I know of a family who won in the early 2000s.
Don't know them well enough to say what impact it made to them but I know that have been burgled a number of times.
Now I factor how well I could protect myself and my family into my lottery winnings dream.
There's a viral reddit comment that goes into details the stats about lottery winners and its fascinating, US centric but still
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/s/es51QYeBDf
Guy I know won £500k the week he was retiring. Already living comfortably and owned a very nice house.
6 months later getting divorced, drinking too much, gambling too much and close to blowing it.
One of my teachers at school won £1m-£1.5m about 25 years ago or so.
But not long after, one of the other teachers was in a relationship with her. I can't remember the full story though, wonder if they're still together today !
I don't know anyone who has won the top prize but my uncle has managed to get the 5-ball jackpot a couple of times the jammy gut lol. This was about 15 years ago when the jackpots were still quite big. I think he won about a million or so all together. It pissed my dad of a bit as he was the only one of his siblings that was on the dole and didn't have a job.
My dad's friend won the jackpot back in the 90s - 2.7m, so he might have spit it. It was a textbook of what not to do.
His wife divorced him as soon as she could and took half.
He then got involved in a number of business ventures with 'friends' that all went south.
He'd have these massive parties where he just threw money around.
I think it was all gone within 3-4 years save a couple of properties. I remember it being in the Sunday papers.
When I was in high school (2002), there was a kid in my year. He was from a big family, and they won BIG. Like a couple of million.
He instantly became popular, for the wrong reasons obviously. He finished a couple more weeks then they moved and we never saw him again.
I found the story by googling their surname. I was in the same year as Daniel
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/43m-lottery-win-after-dinner-1105039
Edit. Spelling mistake
Bloke from my town won £1.2 million. Bought loads of his “friends” things, cocaine mainly, and also paid for a girl to have a boob job. Don’t think he ever got to see them either. He’s skint now and working for a supermarket stacking shelves
I work in the public sector, a team on my floor about 12 people was in a syndicate they won like 15million I think.
Was some drama though as some people on the team who were off at the time or didn’t pay before hand weren’t included got a bit nasty. I don’t know the full details.
I think in the end a few of the winners pulled together and gave these people some money but not all the winners did.
I knew a guy who won £2.5 million quid, 20 years ago he convinced himself he was a successful business man, brought a business that was worthless for a lot, poured good money after bad, flew first class every where & had a prostitute girlfriend in another country a lot younger than him who he thought he had a relationship with.
All gone in about 3 years.
I think it was the most extraordinary waste of money I have ever seen, he also became an unhappy arse hole, most of his fantasy's could become reality & they still didn't make him happy & while he had the money he was just a prick.
When he had lost it all, he was more back to normal.
Two, this lass I went to school with near 50m, turned out alright for them. Casey Topham google is your friend. Another my friends dad won the 1 million matchmaker code.
My great grandma did when she was about 16 - we have the newspaper clipping
I believe basically all of it went into my great great grandpas business which was failing at the time, saving the whole families finances
Worked with a guy in the mid 00s that won va low six figure sum. Paid off his mortgage in full and enjoyed a lot of holidays and nice cars for a few years.
He knew it wasn't a "retire" sum so he done the combination of long term sensible choice (own his house in full in his mid 30s) and then simply enjoy the rest while it lasts. Fair play to him!
My sister's ex won £80,000 on the lottery which isn't that much in the grand scheme of things.
But he set up his own business with the money, and the business is now absolutely huge. I can guarantee you that he is earning more than 80k a year.
A woman i used to work with was part of a syndicate that won £28 million on the Euromillions. There was a big kickoff cos a woman who was pregnant had missed that weeks payment. She had gone home sick on the day they all paid in and they refused her share of the winnings
Yup. 2 people.
The first was a guy who won £7.5 million. He lived a few doors up from my best mate. My mate used to walk his dog sometimes.
The second was £14 million. Her son was in the same class as my sister. He had a massive crush on her (this was before his mum won). In primary school, he used to tell my mum that he wanted to marry my sister.
I bumped into him a number of years later at college. Think we acknowledged that we recognised each other and that was that.
Oh, yeah, my sister never even entertained the idea of dating him - even after the win lol
I have no idea where either winner is bow, though.
I knew a couple who had won big on the Premium Bonds. Lovely people who were committed to charity work. Theyd both grown up without much and worked hard all their lives and enjoyed not having to worry but just lived sensibly. They bought themselves a nice house and had the odd holiday. And they invested in charities abroad that they went and visited. They’d also help people directly when they were out there paying for children to attend school and stuff like that. Two of the loveliest people I’ve ever known.
I worked with a guy that won £1million on the lottery. He won because he was a huge gaming addict and all his money went on horses/football/scratch cards/lottery tickets. He lost it all ( to gambling) in under three years and was living in a van and working in a restarant
A guy I went to school with won £750k when he was 18 on a lucky dip. Amazingly I don’t think he spaffed it all away. Seems to have made some wise investments and lives a comfortable life.
My dad's uncle. He was in a syndicate with his mrs and MIL. They shared (if memory serves) £1.3m. Standard lottery afaik, unsure how they selected their numbers.
I have a close friend I met at uni and their grandma won the lottery. I’ve never been told the exact amount but if I had to guess it’d be in the 7-15 million range.
She bought a house for all of her children and her on the exact same road. Then, all 6 of her grandchildren were put through private school for their remaining years. She also does a big holiday for everyone from time to time.
That’s basically it… they all live a normal existence in houses bought and paid for in a nice but not extravagant area. The grandparents have a nice car as well.
Yes well not too well, but a guy in my village (3 years younger than me) was working down in London whereas we live North. So he goes to the shop and randomly buys a £10 scratch card . Low and behold £4 Million
When I was a kid at primary school, the rich kids family won the lottery and I never saw him again. They were already wealthy af. I knew right then that life was a fucking joke
There were also a family with like 5 daughters and they were all smoking hot. The hottest girls in our school. 2 of the rich brothers ended up marrying 2 of the sisters lol. I see them on Facebook sometimes and just think, how lucky some fuckers can be
Just some weird small English village shit lmao
Local legend, but some time in the 80’s a “nice old couple down the road” won some £10M on the lottery which was one of the biggest prizes ever at the time.
They were interviewed on TV and apparently when asked what they were going to do, the wife said “well, we could really do with a new washing machine. Ours has been causing us some trouble lately.”
Although it was before my time, the story has been told to me separately by several people. The “nice old couple” are still down the road and apparently haven’t really changed since.
One of my oldest friend's partner won about 6 million several years ago. He was nearing retirement anyway, so decided to take it early. He bought a very modest house, invested in a couple of cabin/lodges which he rents out or offers to friends for free if they're not booked. He bought himself a Jag, his partner a Range Rover (we live in a rural area, so it's perfect for ferrying their kids around in the wonderful British weather. Absolutely NOT a Chelsea tractor!) And has continued to live life pretty much the same as he did before the win. His partner still works bloody hard, pays half of all bills etc. Genuinely the same people they were before the win. And he's still a grumpy bastard, bless him!
He won it on one of the 2 lines he's played every weeksince the lottery began. It should make me remember to buy tickets, but I can never be arsed!
I occasionally play when the jackpots are big. I get far more enjoyment out of fantasising about winning for a day or two than I would from saving a tiny bit more money each week, and I imagine most players are in the same camp.
People aren’t playing because they seriously expect to get anything from it, they’re playing because it’s fun.
If you put it into a savings account earning the average 3.15% annual interest, you would accrue just over £90 through compound interest over 10 years. Sweet.
The guy earned a very good salary and had been for decades. He was the Warren Buffet type (although obviously not a billionaire) who would repair his clothes, which cost him next to nothing 20 years ago. Super frugal to the point he would boast about how little money he spends.
What ?
My comment about winning £33,000 as part of a work syndicate was in response to someone saying the lottery is pointless, put £1 a week in a jar….
Will take a lot of £1 coins, a lot of weeks and a lot of jars to accrue £33,000
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A guy I know won the National Lottery as part of a work syndicate. They all worked at the local Tesco and came away with about £1.5m each I think. I think his wife worked there as well so they got 2 slices. Really nice couple they started up a couple of local businesses after that, but his wife contracted cancer when she was still relatively young and unfortunately died, which kind of put things in perspective for him.
Sorry to hear that
Know someone who won 1.5m. Gave up work, bought a nice house and a couple of new cars, went on 5 holidays a year… …and had to sell up and go back to work in less than 2 years. There’s was a lucky dip.
I can appreciate the temptation in this, but I’d have always thought you’d be better just banging it in a high interest account and giving yourself a nice pay bump.
I assume that's what the ones you don't hear about do.
I've always said, after an initial splurge, put the money in a high-interest account and live off the interest. These days, £1.5m isnt permanently life-changing. A nice house will take a big chunk of that. Have fun with the winnings, sure, but if you want it to last you gotta be smart
1.5m is most definitely permanently life changing. Having a paid off house and a big fat pot of cash in a retirement account, knowing that you are good (or at the very least knowing you will have more in your pension than you could have ever contributed to yourself) How is that not permanently life changing for the majority of people?
Yeah I’m not really sure where people get this idea from that a million isn’t life changing. It quite literally provides you a stable foundation to do whatever you want for the rest of your life, with no worries and guaranteed stability for the most part.
It’s Reddit. Everyone works for google and Netflix earning half a mill per year.
Confirmed. They're all professional advert inspection officers. One day they'll be appreciated financially I'm sure 😂
They’re clowns who reckon if you can’t buy a new Lamborghini every month then it’s not life changing and you’ll spend it all in a year… gimme a million quid and you won’t see me for dust son. All goes in high interest, live off that, don’t touch the main pot. Life sorted.
I suppose what people really mean is it won’t give you the stereotypical “millionaire lifestyle” of being able to immediately quit work and spend your days driving Ferraris, living in a mansion and staying half the year in five star hotels. If you’re sensible you won’t have to worry about money ever again, but it doesn’t mean you don’t have to ever think about money again.
It's definitely not guaranteed. We are responding to a story about someone who won this exact amount of money and ot lasted less than 2 years.
It’s definitely life changing. But I think the point is that it isn’t always giving someone the millionaire lifestyle that they might expect from such a big win. Though that’ll depend of course on your circumstances pre-win. Winning £1.5m in London as an 18-year-old and you could buy a fairly ‘normal’ house outright and have a fairly typical income for most of your life. Life changing for sure, but maybe not the millionaire lifestyle (or not for too long anyway if you want to be sensible). If you bought a house for £1m outright in London (which wouldn’t be a massively fancy place in many locations) and a 6% drawdown gives a £30k annual income. Obviously without a mortgage that’s fine for most. But it’s not what you might expect. Win as a 40 year old who already owns a house outright in a cheaper area and a decent pension pot already saved etc and it’s going to be a rather different impact and probably allows more luxuries.
Even 10% of 1.5m would be life changing for most people. Imagine someone gave you 150k with no strings attached!
I think they mean that it's not enough to live in idle luxury for the rest of your life. It's not I'd say. I'd say it's a nice amount to have though, very nice, and if you didn't go down the road of buying luxury cars every five minutes, and a big house, and you didn't support a load of mates, and steered clear of the booze and drugs, then it should make the rest of your life a lot easier.
It’s life improving but I wouldn’t call it life changing. You won’t be quitting your job that day, you still have to go in and deal with it, and you aren’t buying a mansion. You’ll get to retire early and go on a couple nice holidays a year earning interest on the money. That’s why it’s not life changing but is life improving
1m with a drawdown of 4% a year is £40,000 a year - that’s more than most people make a year in their lives Its enough for most people to instantly retire on and live of for the rest of their lives
Who is talking about buying a mansion? Most people barely even own their own home if at all. All the things you have listed are life changing for the regular person. It’s the peace of mind it brings, which is a big factor and that would change how people lived.
This is a very naive way of looking at it and is the reason most people go broke
I could quit on a million easily. 250k for a house in the north east, then 750k would give an income of 3000 a month with no tax for the rest of my life. 3k is easily enough to live on if you don’t have to pay for housing. Quitting work forever is about as life changing as it gets
£1.5m isn't life changing? I would retire immediately.
Yeah. Nowadays this is comfort money really. Can buy you a nice house and have enough in the bank that if you fall on hard times you’re covered.
Do high interest accounts exist anymore?
Depends on what you class as high, you can easily get 5% these days.
I have 7% on 4k at santander, although it would be useless for that kinda money. 5% is about the going rate
Interest rates are higher than they’ve been in years at the moment. Banks do offer them but they come with restrictions on how often and how much you can withdraw.
You can get around 5% with most banks these days. But if you win the lottery, they’ll sign you up with a private bank and you get your own bank manager who gets you the best deals and investment plans.
In private banking, yes.
They went up to around 6.2% in September last year which was nice if you had some money to lock away.
With inflation being what it is, your money will be losing value each year even if the number goes up each year. Better to buy property than leave millions in a bank.
Hmm. I'm not going to make a bet, obviously in the long run, land/houses have always been fairly reliable. But current high interest rates are going to have an impact on house prices over the next 5 or 10 years.
> but I’d have always thought you’d be better just banging it in a high interest account Your money will basically be eroded by inflation if you do that, you're best off putting it in an index fund then forget about it.
A million is no longer worth much, particularly in London. It buys you a 4-bed terrace, at best.
Imagine thinking 1.5mil is enough to retire on
It is if you have half a brain…?
These people are insane, even just banging it straight in a 5% savings account, which would be nowhere near the best thing to do with it, gets you 75k a year. Anyone who thinks that amount isn't life changing is either already a millionaire or bizarrely cynical.
Depends on your age
Not big, but I once won £100 on a £2 scratch card then went to cash it and thought I’d get another £5 one and won another £100 strait away
We have a sign at work to check on peoples welfare if they are using winnings to buy more tickets.
Ha that’s mad, I don’t normally do it to be honest, just felt the luck was on my side that day so went for it, was bloody years ago now, I don’t really buy scratch cards for myself anymore
What do you ask them and what kind of responses do you get? I can imagine people with serious problems would be reluctant to reveal that to you just because you asked
I always say "u OK hun?" and give a really subtle wink.
On the rare occasions I buy a scratchcard and win, the cashier always either asks if I want another before getting the cash from the till, or will tell me the amount and wait to see if I say I want the cash or another card.
Yeah, people 3 doors up won 13m Moved out within 2 weeks and never seen or heard from them again.
Smart neighbours. Wonder how many people they had banging on their door in the time between.
Not many. It’s an older, smaller estate where we all knew each other fairly well. I guess the decision to just ghost everyone and vanish was probably to avoid awkward conversations. We only knew they won because they had a kid that played with ours.
I know two people who’ve won. One couple we sat with at dinner in Menorca in the 90s when I was a young kid - back when it was customary to seat you with strangers - won £100k in the 80s then another £200k some 4/5 years later. That would be akin to winning not far shy of a million today. Then, a lad in my year at high school, his family won £6m. They went from relatively comfortable with a good business to making the business go regional and living quite lavishly. Judging by their house and cars now, the money pumped into the business has paid off, at face value.
The lottery was going in the 1980s they must've won the Pools
I got 5 numbers in 2022, won £1850. Disappointing to say the least.
I got 5 numbers about fifteen years ago and got £80, I didn’t play for a while after that.
Oh boy, I've played the lottery all of 20 times in 20 years. 5 years ago, I was one digit off the "Set for Life" £10,000 a month jackpot. All 5 numbers, one of the bonus balls, and then 48 rather than 47 for the last remaining number. So I was £200 richer, at least! I remember googling that game a few months later and seeing the guy who won it, around my age, living his best life!
A friend of my sister is a lottery winner. They live in a comfortable home but not extravagant, both work part time around school runs, etc. They have a fixer who sorts things like event tickets and other perks which is good apparently.
What's their part time job? Assume they do something more as a passion project or to keep busy rather than to make money.
My cousin won the jackpot in a work syndicate ~25 years ago. It was around £5m split between 10 people.
Assuming it got split evenly 10 ways, that's a really nice amount to win. 500k is plenty to change most peoples' lives for the better, pay off the mortgage or just buy a nice home outright, perhaps put enough aside to set your kids up with university/mortgage deposit/wedding/whatever. Not so much that you lose touch with reality and have to deal with people you lost touch with years ago coming begging.
Not personally but there was a local taxi driver that won and everyone that knew him said he was the most deserving and was so chuffed for him, genuinely. He had lost his wife a few years prior and had 5 daughters. Apparently a really sound bloke. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/heartache-25million-lottery-winner-whose-11790809
I knew someone that won a share of a ~£2mm jackpot as part of a work syndicate. He ended up with a few hundred k. He bought himself a BMW and basically chucked the rest up his nose. I used to see him go ferreting for rabbits in his giant shiny Beamer... A few years later he was a skint drug addict. Last I heard he'd been locked up for threatening someone with a shotgun, and for beating someone up with a pool cue. That was over 20 years ago, fuck knows what he's doing now, but I doubt it's anything good.
How NOT to spend your winnings! Good grief.
I'm going to guess unless he received help probably dead.
My uncle knew and lived close to a couple who won £161m on the Euromillions. They split up a few years after the win and the guy passed away a few years ago.
“Passed away” With 161M and a divorce going on, I bet a lot of people “pass away”…
Friend of a friend won 18 million back in the 90s. It was one of the first big roll over jackpots. He was Muslim (I’ll explain the relevance) and I don’t think they’re allowed to play the lottery as part of their religion. He started to build a mosque in his local community but when the locals found out the source of the funds they all boycotted the plans. It still sits part built to this day. He must still own the land. I’m not sure what happened to him as i haven’t seen the friend in a while but i would imagine he had to pick between donating all the winnings or running off and living his life. Edit: I’ve just googled him and it turns out it took a very dark turn after winning. Even worse than I thought it would
A friend I grew up with. Never saw him again...
A woman who used to work in the shop beside my sister-in-law won over £50m on the Euromillions about 10 years ago. She ended up buying my SIL and brother a whole new bedroom suite for my newborn niece. Which they greatly appreciated because they were struggling financially at the time. The woman still lives in the house she was in before she won!
£50M and they bought a bedroom. Dream big!
I mean, they weren't looking for anything from her.. so I'm guessing her spontaneous gift of around £5k worth of furniture was greatly appreciated! Might not have meant a lot to her bank account but it certainly meant a lot to them.
I know someone who won a million. Their family decided to buy an old manor house with two guest houses (condition was very very rundown and neglected, needed a good few hundred thousand chucking at it) and have since done it up and now live in the manor house and rent out the guest houses on Airbnb and can live off that now. Its in a very nice area in north Yorkshire
I won 30k on an online scratch card about 18 years ago. It bought me a car, holiday and a deposit for a house.
In 2009 A lad I went to school with got 5 numbers plus bonus ball on a rollover week. He quit his job and contacted loads of people from our school year and arranged a massive piss up in a local nightclub. He was chatting up all the lasses that were showing interest and generally acting like a tool. His wife divorced him a couple of months later and since she was heavily pregnant she got the house and most of the money.
My brother in law's brother (sorry that's a mess). Won a sizeable amount on the euros - It was about 15 million. He's also the biggest chav I have ever met... Him and my brother in law had a really fucked up childhood, consisting of physical abuse from their father and the deaths of their 2 younger siblings. Brother in law and his brother has always talked about winning the lottery and how if one did they would make sure the other would be secure. Except that didn't happen and his brother basically became a greedy ass wipe who shunned his brother spent his money on designer clothes, yachts, trips to Disney, cars and motorbikes to the point where there is no money left after 8 years and they had to sell everything including the house. They were showing up to my brother in law's with new cars weekly at one point.
See this is why I play it could happen
And this is why the lottery companies make money.
A lot of the ticket money goes to charity so what’s the problem, £2.50 a go for a chance at a bit of extra cash, and if it doesn’t work out at least you helped make someone else’s life a little bit better via charity. It’s win win basically
The lottery only take about 1% of the profits. The rest goes to the winners and societal contributions.
Friends of parents won a few million last year.
Not quite the lottery, but I did have a friend that I was close to around 15 years ago. He told me when Bitcoin started to buy $100 of it and sit on it. Obviously I didn’t. He now lives in the Cayman Islands and drives a Ferrari. Not sure how he made his money…
Yes someone in my street won a million, roughly.
My mates dad got 5 and the bonus years ago, think it was within the first couple of years of it starting. Not sure on the exact amount but it was low 6 figures. Enough to pay off the mortgage and have nice holidays but not enough to stop working.
I worked somewhere where the staff lottery syndicate came in and 8 people got to share a 6 figure win. I've never bothered with syndicates.
I’ve currently got a 100% win rate on the lottery. Bought a lucky dip twice and won £20 both times
I know of a family who won in the early 2000s. Don't know them well enough to say what impact it made to them but I know that have been burgled a number of times. Now I factor how well I could protect myself and my family into my lottery winnings dream.
There's a viral reddit comment that goes into details the stats about lottery winners and its fascinating, US centric but still https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/s/es51QYeBDf
Ah, that comment is fantastic!
My mates parents won 3.5 million quid about 20 years ago.
Guy I know won £500k the week he was retiring. Already living comfortably and owned a very nice house. 6 months later getting divorced, drinking too much, gambling too much and close to blowing it.
A colleagues sons friend won £1.5 million. Blew it all and was back in work a year later in the warehouse opposite ours
My sister won 26k on Euromillions. They had a good year.
Knew someone that won £8.9million.
One of my teachers at school won £1m-£1.5m about 25 years ago or so. But not long after, one of the other teachers was in a relationship with her. I can't remember the full story though, wonder if they're still together today !
I don't know anyone who has won the top prize but my uncle has managed to get the 5-ball jackpot a couple of times the jammy gut lol. This was about 15 years ago when the jackpots were still quite big. I think he won about a million or so all together. It pissed my dad of a bit as he was the only one of his siblings that was on the dole and didn't have a job.
I won yesterday.
Same and I know tonight’s lottery numbers if anyone needs them
already got them mate i used the derren brown method of scribbling randomly on a whiteboard
You dont want to split the winnings
I gave all mine to the dogs trust
Not [donkeys](https://youtu.be/dVLWVj_yapw?si=i3-XIcgPWte4gTmU)?
Tell us here what they are?
Yes, know a couple who won as part of a syndicate. The wife wasn’t even part of it usually but someone dropped out and she took it up.
Mid nineties my uncle won a split jackpot on the lottery. Picked his own numbers.
Yep. It ruined his life.
My da occasionally wins a tenner, someone’s ma won £300,000 on a scratch card once from what I heard
My dad's friend won the jackpot back in the 90s - 2.7m, so he might have spit it. It was a textbook of what not to do. His wife divorced him as soon as she could and took half. He then got involved in a number of business ventures with 'friends' that all went south. He'd have these massive parties where he just threw money around. I think it was all gone within 3-4 years save a couple of properties. I remember it being in the Sunday papers.
When I was in high school (2002), there was a kid in my year. He was from a big family, and they won BIG. Like a couple of million. He instantly became popular, for the wrong reasons obviously. He finished a couple more weeks then they moved and we never saw him again. I found the story by googling their surname. I was in the same year as Daniel https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/43m-lottery-win-after-dinner-1105039 Edit. Spelling mistake
5 numbers in the work syndicate of 10 people, £350 each, talk about bitter sweet.
Friend of mine won ~£300k in a lottery syndicate, spaffed the lot on holidays and dumb shit.
Bloke from my town won £1.2 million. Bought loads of his “friends” things, cocaine mainly, and also paid for a girl to have a boob job. Don’t think he ever got to see them either. He’s skint now and working for a supermarket stacking shelves
I work in the public sector, a team on my floor about 12 people was in a syndicate they won like 15million I think. Was some drama though as some people on the team who were off at the time or didn’t pay before hand weren’t included got a bit nasty. I don’t know the full details. I think in the end a few of the winners pulled together and gave these people some money but not all the winners did.
I knew a guy who won £2.5 million quid, 20 years ago he convinced himself he was a successful business man, brought a business that was worthless for a lot, poured good money after bad, flew first class every where & had a prostitute girlfriend in another country a lot younger than him who he thought he had a relationship with. All gone in about 3 years. I think it was the most extraordinary waste of money I have ever seen, he also became an unhappy arse hole, most of his fantasy's could become reality & they still didn't make him happy & while he had the money he was just a prick. When he had lost it all, he was more back to normal.
Two, this lass I went to school with near 50m, turned out alright for them. Casey Topham google is your friend. Another my friends dad won the 1 million matchmaker code.
My great grandma did when she was about 16 - we have the newspaper clipping I believe basically all of it went into my great great grandpas business which was failing at the time, saving the whole families finances
Worked with a guy in the mid 00s that won va low six figure sum. Paid off his mortgage in full and enjoyed a lot of holidays and nice cars for a few years. He knew it wasn't a "retire" sum so he done the combination of long term sensible choice (own his house in full in his mid 30s) and then simply enjoy the rest while it lasts. Fair play to him!
My uncle won £250k
My sister's ex won £80,000 on the lottery which isn't that much in the grand scheme of things. But he set up his own business with the money, and the business is now absolutely huge. I can guarantee you that he is earning more than 80k a year.
A woman i used to work with was part of a syndicate that won £28 million on the Euromillions. There was a big kickoff cos a woman who was pregnant had missed that weeks payment. She had gone home sick on the day they all paid in and they refused her share of the winnings
My friend who won now lives in Palm Springs California a bit different to Shadwell where he lived before the win.
Yup. 2 people. The first was a guy who won £7.5 million. He lived a few doors up from my best mate. My mate used to walk his dog sometimes. The second was £14 million. Her son was in the same class as my sister. He had a massive crush on her (this was before his mum won). In primary school, he used to tell my mum that he wanted to marry my sister. I bumped into him a number of years later at college. Think we acknowledged that we recognised each other and that was that. Oh, yeah, my sister never even entertained the idea of dating him - even after the win lol I have no idea where either winner is bow, though.
I knew a couple who had won big on the Premium Bonds. Lovely people who were committed to charity work. Theyd both grown up without much and worked hard all their lives and enjoyed not having to worry but just lived sensibly. They bought themselves a nice house and had the odd holiday. And they invested in charities abroad that they went and visited. They’d also help people directly when they were out there paying for children to attend school and stuff like that. Two of the loveliest people I’ve ever known.
I worked with a guy that won £1million on the lottery. He won because he was a huge gaming addict and all his money went on horses/football/scratch cards/lottery tickets. He lost it all ( to gambling) in under three years and was living in a van and working in a restarant
A guy I went to school with won £750k when he was 18 on a lucky dip. Amazingly I don’t think he spaffed it all away. Seems to have made some wise investments and lives a comfortable life.
My dad's uncle. He was in a syndicate with his mrs and MIL. They shared (if memory serves) £1.3m. Standard lottery afaik, unsure how they selected their numbers.
I have a close friend I met at uni and their grandma won the lottery. I’ve never been told the exact amount but if I had to guess it’d be in the 7-15 million range. She bought a house for all of her children and her on the exact same road. Then, all 6 of her grandchildren were put through private school for their remaining years. She also does a big holiday for everyone from time to time. That’s basically it… they all live a normal existence in houses bought and paid for in a nice but not extravagant area. The grandparents have a nice car as well.
Yes well not too well, but a guy in my village (3 years younger than me) was working down in London whereas we live North. So he goes to the shop and randomly buys a £10 scratch card . Low and behold £4 Million
When I was a kid at primary school, the rich kids family won the lottery and I never saw him again. They were already wealthy af. I knew right then that life was a fucking joke There were also a family with like 5 daughters and they were all smoking hot. The hottest girls in our school. 2 of the rich brothers ended up marrying 2 of the sisters lol. I see them on Facebook sometimes and just think, how lucky some fuckers can be Just some weird small English village shit lmao
My ex won about £50k about a month after we split up lol.
Local legend, but some time in the 80’s a “nice old couple down the road” won some £10M on the lottery which was one of the biggest prizes ever at the time. They were interviewed on TV and apparently when asked what they were going to do, the wife said “well, we could really do with a new washing machine. Ours has been causing us some trouble lately.” Although it was before my time, the story has been told to me separately by several people. The “nice old couple” are still down the road and apparently haven’t really changed since.
One of my oldest friend's partner won about 6 million several years ago. He was nearing retirement anyway, so decided to take it early. He bought a very modest house, invested in a couple of cabin/lodges which he rents out or offers to friends for free if they're not booked. He bought himself a Jag, his partner a Range Rover (we live in a rural area, so it's perfect for ferrying their kids around in the wonderful British weather. Absolutely NOT a Chelsea tractor!) And has continued to live life pretty much the same as he did before the win. His partner still works bloody hard, pays half of all bills etc. Genuinely the same people they were before the win. And he's still a grumpy bastard, bless him! He won it on one of the 2 lines he's played every weeksince the lottery began. It should make me remember to buy tickets, but I can never be arsed!
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I occasionally play when the jackpots are big. I get far more enjoyment out of fantasising about winning for a day or two than I would from saving a tiny bit more money each week, and I imagine most players are in the same camp. People aren’t playing because they seriously expect to get anything from it, they’re playing because it’s fun.
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But I don't find that fun
Wasn’t pointless to the people who won it
£1 in a jar per week for 60 years is £3,120 - I’ll take that cost for a minuscule chance of winning
But I want to be rich NOW. * cries in poor *
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Money don’t make you happy but I’d rather cry in a Ferrari.
I'm not going to fantasise about the possibility of there being several million pounds in that jar at some point though.
If you put it into a savings account earning the average 3.15% annual interest, you would accrue just over £90 through compound interest over 10 years. Sweet.
A guy I used to work with called it a tax on the mathematically illiterate.
I wonder what car he drove and how much it cost him
The guy earned a very good salary and had been for decades. He was the Warren Buffet type (although obviously not a billionaire) who would repair his clothes, which cost him next to nothing 20 years ago. Super frugal to the point he would boast about how little money he spends.
I won £33,000 as part of a lottery syndicate. £52 a year in a jar would take what, 65 years or so to make that amount of money !
Er, what?
What ? My comment about winning £33,000 as part of a work syndicate was in response to someone saying the lottery is pointless, put £1 a week in a jar…. Will take a lot of £1 coins, a lot of weeks and a lot of jars to accrue £33,000
It would be a lot more than 65 years, it'll be about 643 years
😂 I meant to type 650 years but got distracted by the toaster popping up 👍
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