Would you go public with a big lottery win?

[Limeseverywhere]

The winners of the £184 million lotto win have gone public, a couple in their 40’s with small children. They say they went public as they want to help so many friends and family and it would have been difficult for them to keep it a secret.
Good luck to them, I say, I hope they have a great adventure on it but I don’t think I would ever want to go public, I would give lots away to family, friends and charities then slink off somewhere away from the hubbub of life.
Would you ever go public like them?

No!

Okay you might not be able to conceal the news from your circle of friends, or even your circle of friends of friends, but going public is idiotic.

'Hello, world, we've suddenly found ourselves to be richer than Croesus so here are our names, photos, and the name of the town we live in. Please do get in touch.'

Nope. Just saw the news, the couple are actually a friend of a close friend!

No way would I go public, you can help friends/family/charities out without doing that, imagine the begging letters, they won't be left alone now!

I wouldn’t go public - I just oils be giving 95% away to charity & couldn’t be bothered with anyone trying to change my mind!

*I would

No chance, they are crazy!

No. I'd just regard everyone as a potential scam artist. I wouldnt tell my daughter in case she blabbed at school.

Definitely not! I don't know if it's still the case that you only get additional support if you go public with the win, but if that is true I think it's highly unfair and pretty manipulative.

Why on earth would you go public with such a big win?! You know that instantly every chancer that has ever crossed your path will attempt to get in touch asking for handouts and surely you also put your own security at risk?

I wouldn’t be able to handle the begging letters, I am in pieces looking at the Just Giving pages and the awful struggle some poor people go through, I would end up giving it all away. I would worry about the safety of my kids too.

No way. Things are really tough for so many people at the moment. I’d be terrified of my DC being kidnapped or something horrible like that.

I wouldn’t bother but it would undoubtedly become news and spread like wildfire. £184m would likely draw some unwanted attention but I’d be surprised at friends and family giving us the hard sell. We’re very comfortable now and nobody has overstepped so far.

😂

That was my thought.

I imagine they'll get a lot of messages saying "Hi, how are you? Remember me. We were at school together in 1988, let's catch up"

It's a real tough one, if I won 5m no as that is easy to hide.

But 184m is an extraordinary amount of money & I don't see the point of not enjoying it & taking your friends & family on the journey.

If you didn't go public & hid the money so people didn't guess what would be the point. If I won 5m I would keep my job & go on lavish holidays. 185m I would want to travel the world in style.

Isn’t their story so lovely? I’m so happy for them.

I probably wouldn’t go public but I will let you know when I win

I certainly wouldn't go public but there's a fear that it would get out anyway which I'll bet Camelot emphasise - after all it's great publicity for them.

I have a family member who is a bit of a blabbermouth - I don't think they could help themselves.

Oh crikey …such a difficult one.

I think I would sneak a few close friends/family a few thousand each and tell them we had won some money without divulging the amount. They don’t need to know that. Donate loads to different charities and gradually, over the next 2-3 years, buy a few nice things (a slightly better car, a few nice holidays, a slightly bigger house) without alerting people that it was millions! HAHA difficult though …

I'd still have the kidnap fear if I didn't go public though as people would notice & talk

No chance I'd go public. I wouldn't hide it from friends and family but I would want my name and picture in the paper / online with the giant cheque - just asking for begging letters

No, no way.

As soon as it came up as a breaking news this morning I called them absolutely stark raving bonkers to do this. Absolutely insanity to go public, made even worse that they have young children.

We have always had a plan that if we won big we would wait until a 10 or 20 million pound jackpot was won and say we won that to our friends and family. That way we can help them out but not have that pressure of them all knowing about a massive win.

Those poor children and what will be said to them at school etc....... the risk of kidnapping etc.... would be too great for me.

I wouldn't want to but it would be unfair to expect friends/family to lie on my behalf as they would obviously know the truth and rumours would spread like wildfire

God no. And I wouldn't tell friends and family either.

buy a few nice things (a slightly better car, a few nice holidays, a slightly bigger house) without alerting people that it was millions! HAHA difficult though …

But that's the thing if I had this sort of money I'd buy myself a 10m plus house in Wimbledon village & a few holiday homes. How can you hide that?

A couple local to me won a huge amount a couple of years ago , went public saying they would use a lot of it to help local and ntional charites and wanted to stay in their home village . Cue never ending begging letters , really nasty poison pen letters and greed and resentment from people theyd known for years . They've packed up and moved away and hidden their identities...no good deed goes unpunished.

No definitely not.
I think you might find it difficult to explain some of your new found wealth, but I wouldn't want the world to know.