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Original poster

If you won the lottery, would you go public?

305 replies

Frosty6611 · 08/08/2018 11:15

If you won the jackpot on the lottery would you go public? I think i’d just tell my close friends and family and start a new life somewhere.

OP posts:
LizzieSiddal · 08/08/2018 11:31

No way. I think people who do are bonkers!

Strawberrybelly · 08/08/2018 11:32

I wouldn't tell anyone. Me and Dp have a plan. We both tell our families that the other one has been given an inheritance enough to buy a new house and go on holiday.

pitterpatterrain · 08/08/2018 11:33

Not a chance

Thatsfuckingshit · 08/08/2018 11:33

Not a chance.

I wouldn't even tell my parents. My parents are fab, but mum's extended family would try and bleed me dry.

I would rather that life continued as it is at the moment for at least a few months.

I would probably just tell people I had been promoted and had much better pay, if they questioned a new house, new car etc.

Pissedoffdotcom · 08/08/2018 11:33

Nope i wouldn't. I wouldn't even disclose to family how much. We have a plan for if we ever win (pipe dream!) which involves securing property for family, securing rental property to have an income for the kids & a big pile of land for us to do kennels/garages on. Nobody would know how much, it would cause too much stress

Ariclock · 08/08/2018 11:35

No, apart from my immediate family. I wouldn't tell anyone the exact amount though, especially if it was the euro millions.

Teddy1970 · 08/08/2018 11:35

Gosh, is that right MorningsEleven? Going public with such a massive amount would be my worst nightmare..

anitagreen · 08/08/2018 11:37

Frosty6611 I agree I've also seen that I've always said to my husband it would intimidate me and I'd prefer if I could pick Grinto win under 10 as it's easier to distribute. As long as I can get a new home and look after my family I'll be happy

Redcrayons · 08/08/2018 11:37

I agree that winning a ‘smaller’ amount like £1m would be better than huge Euromillions amount. I could pay off my mortgage, set the DCs up and still have a nice little nest egg. I’d probably keep working and just upgrade all my regular stuff, nicer clothes,car, holiday etc. I don’t think it would be good for my MH to not have that kind of structure to my day.

Plus much easier to keep quiet. If you’re suddenly driving a brand new Bentley, people will guess (or think you’re dealing drugs).

AnneWiddecombesHandbag · 08/08/2018 11:37

A relative won a considerable sum on the lottery. If you go public you get support and back up from Camelot. If you don't go public they just give you a cheque and you're on your own. My relative decided not to go public.

FinallyHere · 08/08/2018 11:38

@DoloresTheNewt "Asking for a friend"

😆

the money caused huge trouble within the family.

My answer to OP's question is no, no nopidy nope

I have some quite elaborate plans to cover my tracks. DH has slightly scuppered some of these by saying that if he won, he would give me half. I

What we would do if .... is quite a popular conversation between us in the few occasions where we have time to just chat, helps avoid talking about more mundane things along the lines of, if money were no object, what is the next thing you would do. His first answer was make a cup of tea but in those days he *always" made a cup of tea....

I would want to give some to family and some to charities, so have been building up a list of plausible excuses (money given to me by my later father to give to DN when she was old enough ... ok, need better excuses but it's a work in progress. ).

Lots of things that my family know I do through work, I would continue doing (travel, hobbies) without having to go to work.

Incase anyone is wondering, I do enjoy this kind of planning. Have spent quite some time thinking about it. 😁

BasinHaircut · 08/08/2018 11:38

Nope! Not sure I’d want to tell anyone except DH. Wouldn’t tell DS until he was something like 25 as I wouldn’t want him to grow up feeling that privileged.

Hate the thought of winning more than about a million. The pressure of what to do with it (including giving some to others) would be too much.

Enough for no mortgage and nice holidays with business class flights on long haul is all I want or need.

Biker47 · 08/08/2018 11:40

Yeah I've heard they won't give you any advice or support unless you go public

They legally have to provide advice and support in order for them to operate, everyone gets it regardless if you go public or not. They may only give advice with publicity if you chose to go public.

As for me; No, not a chance I would go public, it's easy to enough to keep it secret enough to the point where it doen't matter anymore (namely from the papers etc.). The only people who'd know how much actually won would be me and my partner, would tell family at a later date and would never tell them the actual ammount. Would continue to work for a few weeks/months normally without telling workmates, then work notice period and leave eitehr saying taking a break or getting a new job.

Obviously the cat comes out of the bag eventually, when you move into a £5 million house and start driving a Ferrari, but if you don't say when and how much you won to anyone, and if it's a long while after you won, would the Daily Mail honestly care about a story about someone who may or may not have won the lottery a few unknown months previously? So less chance of your entire life being splashed all over the news, they only really care about the winners of the time, there's numerous big winners who've remained unknown for years now.

Original poster
Frosty6611 · 08/08/2018 11:40

@finally here I enjoy planning how i’d Spend it too haha. I like looking through Rightmove at all the lovely houses and picking which one i’d buy Blush

OP posts:
HollowTalk · 08/08/2018 11:41

The minute you say "I'd give this person £X and this other £Y" you end up with a problem. The minute you give each person the same, you end up with another problem. I think it would lead to so many problems and so many old friends and cousins you've never heard of coming out of the woodwork - I'd really hate that.

FinallyHere · 08/08/2018 11:41

@IKEAmeatba11s do you have a financial advisor in mind. I would love one, could really do with one but have known a few duds who tried to tell me things even I knew were not true. Finding one is high up my list of priorities though I suspect that they may treat me differently if I were introduced by s solicitor who hinted at high net worth. Sigh

FinallyHere · 08/08/2018 11:42

@Strawberrybelly

Other other family

Oh, great idea

Teddy1970 · 08/08/2018 11:44

It's not only the amount you win, can you imagine the interest the huge amount would generate? It's staggering..

Pissedoffdotcom · 08/08/2018 11:44

HollowTalk thats a chat we have had too. Sharing it out would cause an issue. We decided that we would help each 'qualifying' family member to secure a family home - so for those with a mortgage already we would pay it off. For those in rental, we would buy a home relative to their family size. Then each of the kids would get a rental property to build up a nest egg for when they hit 21.

Of course the distant family members who don't qualify cos we never talk would be pissed

FinallyHere · 08/08/2018 11:45

@BasinHaircut

no mortgage and nice holidays with business class flights

Agreed, and a fresh pair of tights/holdups/pop socks every time. If never wash or care that I snagged a pair again.

PaulRuddislush · 08/08/2018 11:45

A woman I used to work with won and didn't tell a soul initially. She made gradual changes e.g. retired much earlier than anticipated, moved out to the country. No one suspected a thing, just assumed she was a good saver/got an inheritance. She told me about 5 years after it happened, apart from this anonymous board I haven't broken her confidence. She gave loads to charity and good causes.

A guy dh worked with won £11 million, went public and it's ruined his life.

I personally don't do the lottery, although the chances are slim I don't actually want to win.

riiiiight · 08/08/2018 11:47

Why do people go public? I don't get why you would

Same reason people go on shitty reality tv shows.

I wouldn't tell anyone.

FinallyHere · 08/08/2018 11:48

@Frosty6611

I am toying with just hiring a suit at The Savoy which would be left ready for me anytime I want it. No need to change lightbulbs / find a housekeeper between holidays. Grin

GabsAlot · 08/08/2018 11:48

notg true morning they cant make anyone from any camelot lottery go public

i woldnt in a million years tgheres no benefit to it whatsever

couple won 160 million near my dad everyone knew them and they got begging letter threats the lot then they ended up spliting up

Original poster
Frosty6611 · 08/08/2018 11:48

One of the jackpots in America recently was 1 billion! I get that there are so many more people over there purchasing tickets, but 1 billion is ridiculous for someone to win. I wouldn’t have a clue what to do with that sort of money and would probably end up giving most of it to charity

OP posts:
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