What happens to lottery winners?

One of our favourite pastimes is imagining what life would be like if we won a lottery jackpot. Where would we go? What would we do? And perhaps most importantly, what would we buy? We all have our own ideas about the answers to these questions – but what happens to lottery winners in real life? Let’s find out by looking at some classic lotto winners’ stories:

Some follow their dreams

We all have an ambition that we’d love to accomplish in life – if only we had the money to get the ball rolling.

It should come as no surprise, then, that a high proportion of lottery winners use their prizemoney to help themselves to pursue their dreams.

Take Les Robins, for example. In 1993, Robins, a former high school teacher from the United States, won a world record jackpot of $111 million. (This has since been surpassed by bigger wins, including last year’s record Powerball jackpot.)

Source: JS Online

The lucky winner put a big chunk of his winnings to great use, by founding a children’s camp which today – 24 years later – remains one of most successful in the United States.

“I just hated to see kids not doing the kind of things we did growing up – playing soccer, softball, hanging out,” said Robins in an interview in 2009. For thousands of children, Robins’ Camp Winnegator has kept these time-honoured childhood pastimes alive.

Some go off the rails

Not everyone is cut out for a lottery win… just take this guy for example.

Michael Carroll – AKA the King of the Chavs – is perhaps the most notorious jackpot winner in lottery history.

Source: Daily Mail

In 2002 Carroll won approximately € 10,5 million in the UK National Lottery. For Carroll, aged nineteen at the time, it must’ve seemed like a fairy-tale situation. However, the young lottery winner’s idea of a fairy-tale may have differed slightly from most people’s.

To be exact, in the space of a few years he spent his entire jackpot drugs, hookers, fast cars, parties and other vices!

The last we heard, cash-strapped Carroll was working at a biscuit factory in Elgin, having long since burned through his millions. He says he “loves it” – so at least there’s hope at the end of his strange story!

Some go on holiday for years at a time

How would you like to go on a permanent holiday? If you’ve won a lottery jackpot, you can – and many lottery winners do!

Source: Daily Mail

Matt Myles is a prime example. Aged 27 at the time of his win, Myles decided to do something special with a chunk of his prize money. The young prize winner, who had previously been stuck working 12-hour shifts in a factory, decided to go on holiday for one whole year!

Matt and his brother Pete jetted off on a round-the-world trip using some of his £1 million prize winnings, taking in exotic locations including Bali, Hong Kong, Thailand and Brazil. He told reporters:

“From travelling the world to meeting ­celebrities I couldn’t have made this up in my wildest dreams – They say money can’t buy happiness but I have never been happier.

“I was working night shifts and was worried I’d have to move back home to save some money. While the next 12 months will be incredible, I won’t change. I’ll live as I always have – go big or go home!”

In spite of his luxurious year on the road, Myles has set aside plenty of cash to set himself up for life. He says he stuck to a limit of £100,000 to cover his travels, with the rest set aside for investment, accommodation and establishing a property business with friends.

And they almost always buy some amazing stuff

As you may have gathered as you’ve read this article, lottery winners come in all different varieties. You’ll get the good ones, the bad ones, and the ugly ones – but one thing lottery winners almost all have in common is the tendancy to buy amazing stuff with their winnings!

The UK National Lottery did an interesting study into what their jackpot winners were spending their money on a couple of years back.

There’s a clear favourite car manufacturer amongst British lottery winners, with 16% of those surveyed saying they’d bought an Audi with their prizemoney. We can’t say we blame them! The most popular holiday destination amongst the respondents was the United States, followed by the Caribbean and Dubai. All unsurprisingly lavish destinations, then!

Title image: Dailymail