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Original poster

I won the lottery !

252 replies

CetteBoiteEstVerte · 20/01/2024 11:39

Sadly, only around a fiver and not 5 million - that darned decimal point is always in the wrong place for me.

Has anyone you know won anything substantial?

Many moons ago, one of the receptionists at work one a cool £1M and came into work to hand in her notice with immediate effect. We were all really happy for her as she'd had a bit of a rough run in luck - our manager however tried to insist she work her notice!

She didn't 🙃

OP posts:
rustlerwaiter · 21/01/2024 22:02

I know there are a lot of people who say they wouldn't give up work or they'd need to keep busy but I'd be quitting my job on the absolute bare minimum I could get away with. 😂

IDontHateRainbows · 21/01/2024 22:02

Not substantial but I recently won £100 on premium bonds.

I went to waitrose and just put whatever I fancied in my basket for once. It was soon gone!

Wintersgirl · 21/01/2024 22:06

I went to waitrose and just put whatever I fancied in my basket for once. It was soon gone!

I bet £100 didn't go far in Waitrose! Maybe a loaf of bread and some milk?!😆

pinkstripeycat · 21/01/2024 22:07

My friend won £76k on postcode lottery with 5 of her neighbours in November last year. You can tell the winners as they are all having extensions built and have skips and scaffolding outside

43ontherocksporfavor · 21/01/2024 22:10

@pinkstripeycat been doing the postcode lottery for years. Did they win that between them or each?

Echobelly · 21/01/2024 22:23

My guess is those winners who run out of cash do so because they ignore advice, and I can understand that, especially if you have no experience of having money to spare - who wants to do ' boring' things with your money when you could have fun with it?

Then they buy homes they won't be able to afford to insure and run when the money runs out and sadly often develop expensive addictions because they've gone from having very few choices in life to almost infinite ones and I can see that'd be hard to cope with - also not being able to trust people I imagine. No wonder some turn to drugs, drink etc.

I don't do the lottery but my husband is nearly ready to start selling a software product he's been working on for ages and I'd be lying if I said I haven't daydreamed a bit about what we'd do if a big software firm came along and bought it for ££££! I know that's just as unlikely as winning the lottery.

Wintersgirl · 21/01/2024 22:31

Yes, I watched a tv programe about big winners and Camelot said the first mistake big winners make is quit the job and buy massive houses/cars etc, you need time to adjust, they're advice was to hold fire for a bit, take a holiday and have a serious think about what you're going to do with the money, it's the massive change in peoples lives so suddenly, overnight almost, that causes the problems and some people are better at coping than others.

TheDevilGun · 21/01/2024 22:33

I got 4 numbers on EuroMilions on Friday, thought it'd be a couple of hundred. It was £36

FairlySane · 21/01/2024 22:40

My 5 month old puppy ate a winning ticket - £63.
He's 17 years old now.
Forgiven but never forgotten.

MiniPumpkin · 21/01/2024 22:40

Yes. Know someone who won 2million ish. Was about 20 years ago now. She bought her house and several other holiday homes, homes for family. Continues to work a few days a week. She’s a lovely lady but not many people know, although I guess they might with having a few holiday homes 😂

Wintersgirl · 21/01/2024 22:46

their not they're ffs...

Kickstartplease · 21/01/2024 23:22

I won £50 on the premium bonds in August didnt feel like it though as i automatically reinvest it, but I just try & think long term - it doesn't always work though.
If i did win, I wouldn't move (special needs teenager) but I would buy a 2nd home somewhere warm & I would stop work if I could. I was widowed in my early 40's & do have some income in addition to my salary due to this.
I know a few people who have won - one family a lot & they purchased new build house for themselves & their children 2/3 houses apart - the grandchildren were so badly behaved it was unreal. I know someone else who won as part of a syndicate, they got about £20k each, for some reason she thought that was enough to quit her job & then proceeded to drink it

pinkdish · 21/01/2024 23:30

A woman I worked with won 1m. She immediately bought several properties, went on lots of holidays, gave her children large sums and bought holiday caravans for several family members to enjoy weekend breaks with her. She gave all nieces and nephews lump sums and threw large family parties every month (food and drink paid for and easily ran into thousands). Family then began falling out with her as they felt her and her children's attitudes had changed since winning and she felt they were not showing her enough gratitude for everything she had given them. The money gifts that were given were being held over people and the winner enjoyed the status throwing her parties gave her within the family. Within a few years the caravans and properties were being sold at a loss. Her DC gave 50k to a cowboy builder for an extension, was ripped off and sold her story to the local papers while begging local builders to fix it for free. The whole thing was just a shambles and, 10 years on, she is back to working in a cafe.

BarbieDangerous · 21/01/2024 23:55

This thread prompted me to go and play an instant win game on TNL app. Won £15 off of a £2.50 game. I’m well happy with that😂

I won the lottery !
savethatkitty · 22/01/2024 00:03

My mam won the lottery in a group of 10. They all got $165k apiece. Not enough to retire on but certainly a nice little buffer. She's also won 15k on a pokie machine. She's genuinely quite lucky & wins a lot so I'm expecting her to win another jackpot

Hipnotised · 22/01/2024 00:25

@BarbieDangerous I think as we all supported you, that you should split it with us...😆

BarbieDangerous · 22/01/2024 04:02

Hipnotised · 22/01/2024 00:25

@BarbieDangerous I think as we all supported you, that you should split it with us...😆

Haha🤣 I’d love too but I’m sure you wouldn’t want to give a stranger your full name, sort code and bank account number now would ya😉 I guess I have to keep it all for myself!

BabeRuthless · 22/01/2024 07:36

Yeah I’ve heard this. The advice is to even take a year out before making any substantial life changes. I’ve often thought I’d keep working but now I’m nudging 50 I think it’d be an early retirement for me!

FeralNun · 22/01/2024 07:40

@Footprintsinthesand no, it wasn’t, but isn’t it lovely when schools win?

angela1952 · 22/01/2024 09:52

CurlyhairedAssassin · 21/01/2024 18:50

No, £150k is nowhere NEAR enough. Wouldn't buy you a 3 bed house on a decent road round here. A flat maybe. You'd have nothing to put towards a pension.

Show quote history

No, that's true if you're very young and/or are not on the housing ladder already. It depends what stage of life you're at, I think it shouldn't be enough to actually persuade you to give up work as keeping working (even if part time) seems to be what keeps peoples' life together.
I've seen people who've come into money completely disintegrate, spend all their money on very expensive property, fancy cars and holidays etc. In most cases they give up work, can't or won't maintain their property, and eventually run out of money.

hevs03 · 22/01/2024 10:50

Knew a couple who won £6.5 million on the lottery this was about 15 yrs ago. He gave up work, became an alcoholic and after a year or so went back to working as a plasterer. She gave her family a fair amount (over a million) and they kept wanting more and more, she ended up falling out with them and they haven't spoken since (her Mum/Aunts) which I find really sad. They had a big wedding, built their own house, but they didn't invest, and went through a lot of their winnings.

Emotionalsupportviper · 22/01/2024 11:08

DreamTheMoors · 21/01/2024 21:21

The lotteries in the U.S. can reach over $Billion.
Your odds of winning are like a zillion to one, but my friend and I still play.
Somebody has to win - right?
Every day I read about people whose houses have burned down or who’ve gotten in terrible accidents or other catastrophes.
I think to myself, “if I had the money…”
If I had the money, I could do so much good. I couldn’t help everyone but I sure could help a lot of people and still live quite nicely.
But I need to win that elusive lottery.

If I had the money, I could do so much good. I couldn’t help everyone but I sure could help a lot of people and still live quite nicely.

I think that, too, but then I think of the people I know who have come into money (bequests etc) and they seem to become much tighter than they were previously, so I wonder, Would I?

Or would I just sit on my pile of dosh like Smaug, eyeing everybody suspiciously . . .

Emotionalsupportviper · 22/01/2024 11:14

FairlySane · 21/01/2024 22:40

My 5 month old puppy ate a winning ticket - £63.
He's 17 years old now.
Forgiven but never forgotten.

I had about 80 quid "emergency" money in an envelope in a cupboard in the TV unit.

Our bull terrier got in and ate the bliddy lot! I could have cried. She was a terrible chewer, and destroyed anything and everything she could get her teeth on. The rest of the stuff in there was replaceable and cheap (just bits of stationery). That wasn't.

Still don't know how she clawed the door open.

GnomeDePlume · 22/01/2024 11:14

I read a study which said that lottery winners return to their previous level of happiness after a couple of years.

Basically if you were happy before then you return to that. If you were miserable before then you will go back to being miserable.

If you have an addictive personality and the only thing constraining you is budget then you will be able to indulge that addiction on a much bigger budget.

I would end up with an awful lot of gadgets and fabric for sewing projects.

I'm of an age where retirement is normal. Even a £1m lottery win would be enough to allow me to retire and live comfortably and also gift significant sums to DCs.

Emotionalsupportviper · 22/01/2024 11:20

GnomeDePlume · 22/01/2024 11:14

I read a study which said that lottery winners return to their previous level of happiness after a couple of years.

Basically if you were happy before then you return to that. If you were miserable before then you will go back to being miserable.

If you have an addictive personality and the only thing constraining you is budget then you will be able to indulge that addiction on a much bigger budget.

I would end up with an awful lot of gadgets and fabric for sewing projects.

I'm of an age where retirement is normal. Even a £1m lottery win would be enough to allow me to retire and live comfortably and also gift significant sums to DCs.

If you have an addictive personality and the only thing constraining you is budget then you will be able to indulge that addiction on a much bigger budget.

I would end up with an awful lot of gadgets and fabric for sewing projects.

And I would begin my ambition to acquire Every Dog In The World. Grin