Have you ever known anyone who's won a big prize in the lottery?

[Janejanejaneagain]

daydreaming...would love to hear stories!

I have a very tenuous link to someone who, won several million on the national lottery
It was probably about 20 years ago now
I ts all gone now I believe.

Yes, I know someone who has won twice. Over £200k each time.

I knew someone who won the big massive house thing, but was down on his arse and took the cash instead. The house was worth around £2m but he took the cash - think it was about £500k

TBH it was probably a good decision, he’d be unlikely to have been able to have worked out what to do with the house etc

What did they do with the money?

My first husband’s father was in a syndicate that won a good chunk of money - I think several hundred thousand and by the time they divided it all up there was money for them to buy a caravan, have an anniversary party and give us all a few hundred. Very sweet really.

£4 last Friday. I won't let it change me.

2 people, one moved locally after being very famous for his big win and blowing it all on crap, works in a factory now and seems pretty content with his life.

Another won many years ago, ended up buggering off with a relative of his wife, the relative screwed him over for all of his money and he's just a lonely old man with no contact with his kids or family at all now.

I worked in a shop that once sold a 50,000euro ticket, the lady did a lot of overdue work to her home, was very cool! So weird you’re asking this now, someone in our town won recently and I just read a romance book about a lottery winner (Pushing her luck for any fans of small town books) ! Must do it this week!!!

A local couple won big in the lottery here. They retired a couple of years later, bought a modest site and built a modest home. They travel a bit but all in all live a quiet life.

I won 21 grand back in 1999 so very early days of the lottery. It was for matching 5 balls if I recall correctly. And amazing though it was, it didn’t change my life 😜

Yes - a former colleague who won about £5m in the very early days of the lottery starting, and a friend of my brother's won whilst at uni (and never declared how much) but enough to have never worked, have a large farm with lots of horses and 3 kids in private school.....not jealous at all 😉

I don’t know them personally, but a friend at work was telling me she knows she will never win the lottery because she lives in a small town and knows 2 people from that town who have won the lottery! One of them worked at the company we both work for - apparently they checked their account on the Monday morning and were sat there shell shocked! Their manager was brilliant and talked them through what they needed to do, made sure he got home safely in his shocked state, etc. I’m not sure how much he won, but I think it was a few million.

The other person was a customer of the pub she worked in as well.

I know I’m unlikely to ever win, but I do love a daydream every now and then of how I would spend the money. In my head I know exactly how my dream house will be built. I also have a business idea if I win BIG. I want to build a huge complex on the outskirts of our town because we have NOTHING for kids/teenagers/families. At the complex, I want to have 2 or even 3 cinema screens. Likely upstairs. Downstairs there will be a bowling alley (6-10 lanes). There will be a small bar and then a family friendly cafe too. There will be a good sized soft play there. I want a pool and darts room too. There will be party rooms available to book for birthdays etc. A small amusement arcade. Outside will be a big adventure play area. I might even put in a laser quest too (indoor as there’s an outdoor one fairly locally). I’d also like some sort of space that we could hold discos in, live music or people could hire it for events. I’ve considered adding a gym too, but a new gym has gone in very close to where I want to locate this, so I might leave that off now.

I would hire local teenagers and young adults ideally. Paying them a decent wage. There would be a free shuttle bus to get there and back to town on a Friday & Saturday night. It would be run purely to cover costs, no profit, as a way to keep the prices down. The building and equipment would be fully paid off, so it would be day to day running costs, wages, etc. I would invest some of my winnings that could be used to pay for things that need repairing/replacing.

I know that’s not what you asked at all, but I never get to share my idea because I know it’s never going to happen! Would love to hear other people’s BIG dreams - the ones for if you win the £180m type of money!

I work for a financial planning firm & we've got two clients who have won reasonable sums. One was just over a million - hence why they became clients. Another has won twice, although smaller amounts. Both doing fine, but invested it carefully.

Yes, I worked for an independent furniture retailer, very high end.

We had a customer who moved from a 2 bed terrace to a very substantial Georgian Hall.

He came into the showroom and asked a lot of questions, I made him a coffee and gave him a tour explaining how all furniture was made to order and he could choose, fabrics, wood finish etc.
He told me our competitors had been very dismissive and not helpful.

He spent many thousands of pounds with us, his dining table alone was £20,000.

He then explained he had won the jackpot and had no idea so our guidance had been invaluable.

This is over 20 years ago, I hope it brought him happiness.

I won £1,250 back in the day on 5 numbers. When they checked the ticket at the local supermarket, the till made a really loud ‘ching-ching’ noise. We thought it was the big one but sadly not! Still, it was a very nice surprise and went towards a car repair and a holiday. I had to go to a special post office to cash it in if I remember rightly. It wasn’t online in those days.

If I won a massive euromillions. Apart from making family secure and buying a lovely house and taking a year off to travel the world, I would open a really lovely bookshop/cafe/wine bar to keep myself busy. And someone great to manage it so I can go on holiday at least once a month.

I used to know someone whose dad won hundreds of millions in the lottery (not in UK). (Ex) friend gave up their job and moved to be closer to their dad. They are now supported by their dad and, based on their social media posts, seem to be having a fine time doing all kinds of luxury activities. No idea if it made them happy but they certainly look good!

If I won big, like 150 million big, aside from charitable work, and sorting my family out, I would set aside a fund solely for pissing off my ex husband, buy his neighbours houses and put awful tenants in them, buy his workplace and fuck about with his work hours and wages, buy the local pub he frequents and ban him from it.... the possibilities are endless.

Went to my best friends wedding in 2011 , before it got started she said she needed to speak to me - I immediately thought pregnant but the reality was she had won £101k the night before on the lottery ! Not the top prize but the timing was wonderful for her.

5.5 million but it’s a really sad story..

DH’s elderly aunt won a million and couple of years ago, she bought a new little car and gave the rest to her adult daughters. Never told anyone else. DH never saw a penny. I was a bit miffed because the daughters are all well off already and DH regularly does more for his aunt than they do, I feel it would have been a nice gesture to bung a bit his way as we are genuinely struggling but it’s her money, her choice.

I used to work with someone whose husband was in a syndicate at his work, and they each got several hundred thousand on a National Lottery win.

I run a lot of everyday errands for a disabled neighbour who's housebound. She likes to play the lottery and scratchcards. Our little treat to ourselves once the shopping's been put away, the washing machine emptied and the kettle boiled is to sit down and do a £2 scratchcard each.

My neighbour's very particular about which scratchcards she wants me to buy, and earlier this week I had to walk an extra mile each way to the only shop in our town that sold the one she fancied this time round. We sat there scratching away, and her ticket won £40 - far and away the largest prize this year.

I looked up the odds of her ticket winning that particular amount and it was 1 chance in 32,005!

She's promised not to let her riches go to her head.

My mums work friend in the 90s won the jackpot but lost the ticket, they had the cctv from the shop of her buying the ticket and the card transaction number but as she couldn’t find the ticket didn’t get the money. It was in the news at the time.

I know someone who won the football pools 40 years ago.. an old school friend won just over a million ( worth more now) her and husband bought an house n car each..had holidays etc and invested.. we are 67 now so she was 27.