If you won the lottery, would you go public?

[Frosty6611]

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.

There have been several cases over the years where shopkeepers have been prosecuted - not sure how prevalent it is, as we never hear about the ones who aren't rumbled. You can always check the numbers yourself and phone Camelot if you've won big I think.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/08/village-shopkeepertold-customer-20k-winninglotteryticket-worth/

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/shopkeeper-tries-cheat-great-gran-out-1200711

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2299354/Shopkeeper-Imran-Pervais-tried-claim-80-000-lottery-jackpot-telling-lucky-customer-Callum-Crosier-won-10.html

I would keep it quiet and drip feed the money into my life. Pay off the mortgage and upgrade holidays a bit. I would reconsider my job and current working hours with a view to doing something less stressful.

No quick decisions.

MadMum101 I wondered the same about a huge amount suddenly going into my sad little current account and worrying about an unscrupulous bank employee spotting it.

I'd never heard of Coutts so that's my new plan! Thank you

If it was a Euromillions jackpot type amount, I think I'd find myself considering it after a few years, because I'm opinionated and would want to talk and write about my causes and views as myself. Only after a few years though, definitely not immediately, because that would be when you'd got used to your situation, researched what life was like for people who did that sort of thing, and employed people to help deal with the crap etc. I'd probably also have done at least one more Masters course to make myself sound more qualified in the stuff I felt like banging on about.

But there are lots of people with wealth in the low single-figure millions because of the way house prices have risen and so on, and it just wouldn't even feel very special, simply fortunate, when you've lived in areas where that is prevalent.

The posters saying that if you don't agree to publicity then you are on your own are mistaken

www.euro-millions.com/publicity

If you read the link you will see that regardless of whether you go public or stay anonymous, everyone gets support and financial and legal advice from Camelot

Er, no. I'd tell like 3 people.

The machine made a loud noise when I had a £250 win- was actually very noticeable seeing as I had to walk out of the shop with that amount of cash in my pocket!

Neighbours were very very early winners when we were younger- so at the time when it was big news every time. They chose no publicity but ended up doorstepped by a ton of paparazzi anyway, so everyone found out.

a big fat no here too. probably wouldn't even tell family.

like many others, i've often played out the "what if" and the list depends on how much, but a fair chunk would go to charity. No drastic lifestyle changes that might out me, but a little here & there to make things easier. Already retired but several times I've dreamed of telling an employer where to stick it... knowing that my next job would probably depend on their reference is the only thing that stopped me. would have been so nice not to have to worry about how to pay the bills.

Ithink that if you want financial advice and guidance from camelot, it's part of the deal that you go public with it

Yes it is

If I won the 74 million I would employ a team of financial advisors to set up a charitable trust and give 50 million away.

Hell would freeze over before I went public it would probably freeze over before I win the lottery too though. DH and I have A Plan for what we'd do if we won. I've put quite a lot of thought into it

No . I would tell my partner only . Not wider family as we're not especially close anyway only meeting up for significant family events . Would set up trusts for the kids , pay off mortgage etc but not spend madly and obviously .

I wouldn't go public but I'd definitely tell the important people in my life. Especially if I won silly euromillions amounts of money, because I'd want to give some to all of my family and friends. Buy each of them a nice house so they can live mortgage-free, probably.

I couldn't enjoy life if I was significantly better off than my mum, my sister etc. I'd spread the money in such a way that my loved ones had broadly the same as I did.

I won a small amount (£5,000) and was pestered every other day by my bank offering investment advice - to my DH only...

Our neighbours won approx 1 million, and told no-one except their children. Who went to school and told EVERYBODY. They were then burgled twice in a month, followed by a hurried move completely away from the area.

Would I go public? Hell, no.
I would tell no-one the exact figure except DH, and God help him if he spilled the beans, because I would be so scared of my family becoming targets.

I'd tell my husband. But not even my kids or siblings.

I'd tell my husband. But not even my kids or siblings

Same here.

I'd also tell my DH only.

I used to know someone who'd won a life changing amount many years ago. They suddenly had a lot of "friends" with their hands out, & had to move. Quite sad actually.

We wouldn't go public at all and I'd have no trouble telling them no.
We wouldn't tell anyone for at least a year, even then not the full amount, you can't trust kids to keep a secret like that, it's not fair and they don't need to know about it until they're old enough or when you start preparing them for the amount you've put aside for them.

It would take at least a year to slowly get used to it, I don't think it's healthy to jump so quickly from one lifestyle to another in either direction so we would make small adjustments over time with the help of a well recommended financial consultant.
It would be tricky to find a way to share the wealth with family and we'd need help with that.

If we won a smaller amount 5/6 figures I think we'd be more open about it and set an amount for smaller treats for people or offer a big holiday for everyone 🤷‍♀️

The dilemma I always have in this scenario is that I would love to help my siblings out, but both are married to grabby, financially irresponsible people who would piss it away and then feel entitled to more. I have racked my brains about how I could gift my siblings whilst protecting said gift from their spouses. Would love to know if and how this would be possible. The only solution I can come up with is to put it in trust for the DN's, but that wouldn't make my siblings lives any easier in the here and now

I'd never heard of Coutts

They used to have a tiny branch quite local to me, i was sorry when it closed down, as my plan needed up update....

No, definitely not. Would hire a top notch financial advisor and sit on the money for a short while whilst deciding how And where to spend. Would only tell other half, no other family members initially but would pay off sisters mortgage and put money in trust for nephew and nieces and my own children. Would make a large donation to local hospice and buy the hospital the mri machine that they’re fundraising for and probably a chunk to nicu for some more cots/funding nicu nurses and a large amount to local air ambulance.

Wouldn’t have any major extravagant plans for the money, just nice house with grounds and stables and a modest pool and newer cars(bog standard family cars not a Porsche of anything!) a some nice holidays/travelling. Not interested in anything stupidly extravagant, oils just be nice not to worry about money and be able to take the kids abroad and see some of the world.

Never in a million years would I tell anyone other than DH. We were having this very same discussion one afternoon and my DM said she would expect me to sort out the family first. When I queried that her response was that she didn't bring me up to be selfish....! I've also got an ex-BF would you can bet your life would come crawling out of the woodwork even all these years later with his hand out (he was like that). So depending on how much I won, I would take time to assess how best to use spend the money and then drip feed so it's not obvious.

I would, however, start at the bottom of Sloane Street and work my way up buying anything I wanted. As I've got a bit of a shopping habit anyway, it would come as no surprise to people if I pitched up with a Chanel bag for instance - I'd explain that I'd been tucking a bit away for a 'big' purchase.

I would like to say that I would tell work I was leaving, work my month's notice and then just leave. However, the temptation to go in, wait until someone upset me (about 5 mins after I get in) and then sweep out in a blaze of glory after calling them all a bunch of W*ers would be overwhelming.

The thing I think winning the Lottery would give me would be Time. I imagine the luxury of not having to cram everything in at weekends - things like booking a hair appointment in the middle of the week ('can you do Thursday at 1pm?' 'yes, that's fine' rather than having to squeeze in on a Saturday), having beauty treatments when I felt like it, or just sitting and reading a book with a coffee in the middle of the afternoon. The museums I could visit, short breaks and longer holidays without having to plead for the time off.....I could go on.....

Of course the chances of all this happening are remote in the extreme, so it's all a bit of a moot point really

My brain isn't in gear today so I'm probably not thinking through the statistics properly, but on that Euromillions page.. I find it interesting that of the top 12 UK wins, 6 of the winners went public... but from the top 12 non-UK wins, only 2 went public. Does that say anything about Brits?

I have come up with the idea that I would insist on a cheque and rock up to Coutts in London and ask to open an account there and then so the money wouldn't go through my normal bank account. That'd only be for a big Euromillions jackpot though or they'd laugh in my face and send me on my way!

Pretty sure if it's a big big win, there's already someone from Coutts sent to meet with you (among others) when you go to Camelot, and they'll set up an account for you then and there, and are able to make immediate payments from it into other accounts if you wish, until you get full access.