Mr Thomson said: "I think that's mine."

[checkoutgirl]

I've often had stupid daydreams about what I'd do if I won the Lottery

So have I. It never ends well. I'd get my mates out on my yacht for a few weeks. But what if they had a small child to look after? What if the time out fucked with their job or business? Then I'd give them a few hundred thousand each. What if they wanted more? Resentment would fester. Why did he get more than me? I've spent mine, can I have more? No? Fuck you then. It would completely fuck up your life and most of the people around you.

Also I would quit my job and be dead of alcoholism in a few years with nothing to check my self destructive behaviour.

[checkoutgirl]

I'd buy a really really big telly and house and several cars, big ones.

[Inspector Norse]

I'd probably put some away for the kids and whatnot, some for the house, and spend the rest on travel.

Or cocaine. Can't decide.

[Icehaven]

So have I. It never ends well. I'd get my mates out on my yacht for a few weeks. But what if they had a small child to look after? What if the time out fucked with their job or business? Then I'd give them a few hundred thousand each. What if they wanted more? Resentment would fester. Why did he get more than me? I've spent mine, can I have more? No? Fuck you then. It would completely fuck up your life and most of the people around you.

Remember this?

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/may/18/lottery-millionaires-son-spent-16m-then-sued-his-father-for-more-cash

A bloke won Euromillions, his adult son breezed though nearly £2 million then demanded more money, which the father refused, so the son attempted, unsuccessfully, to sue him.

[checkoutgirl]

Remember this?

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/may/18/lottery-millionaires-son-spent-16m-then-sued-his-father-for-more-cash

A bloke won Euromillions, his adult son breezed though nearly £2 million then demanded more money, which the father refused, so the son attempted, unsuccessfully, to sue him.

Even a relatively small disparity in income can fuck with friendships. I have friends who can afford to go out whenever they want but I can't afford it. It annoys me that they don't take that into consideration. Also the conversation changes. "Oh yeah, we bought a property in Spain and we're renting it out" is an annoying thing to say in my opinion but what are they supposed to do? Keep it a secret?

Multiply all that shit by a thousand and you see what would happen with the lottery. There was a woman in Limerick who won 100 million a decade or so ago. I think she said she regrets it in some ways. She can't see any of the people in her village anymore, the community she grew up in is gone forever. Also her children were wrong'uns who splurged and acted like total dicks, predictably enough.

Plenty of cash and luxury but a total change in life. You have to get rich friends so the money dynamic is removed from your friendships.

[Icehaven]

I think a huge win would probably be most enjoyable if you wouldn't particularly miss your old life. If you were some combination of not having many close family or friends, not being very connected with your local community, hating your job, being in serious debt, and even just plain being incredibly materialistic (the cliché is that things won't make you happy but obviously this isn't always true, everyone's different.) One of the current lottery ads taglines is even ''nicer problems to have'', a tacit admittance that a huge wedge of cash isn't necessarily going to make your life perfect.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Multiply all that shit by a thousand and you see what would happen with the lottery. There was a woman in Limerick who won 100 million a decade or so ago. I think she said she regrets it in some ways. She can't see any of the people in her village anymore, the community she grew up in is gone forever. Also her children were wrong'uns who splurged and acted like total dicks, predictably enough.

One option is to not go public, isn't it?

I would be very very cautious about who I told and would make sure the money I invested in other projects/people was kept similarly way, way low key.

It's easy to think of how to spend a lottery win to improve society, the harder part is deciding on the priority, whereas it is actually difficult to think of how to spend it to improve my own life.

The main positive would be not having to work for someone else. Just freedom I suppose. I would still rent, I would still see the same friends, buy the same stuff. I guess I would rent a place in Central Europe as well, join a gym, get set up to record music. That's about it. I wouldn't even see the point of getting a new phone. This one already does everything.

[Icehaven]

Spose it depends where you are in life too. If I won that kind of amount 10-15 years ago I'd have probably bought as huge a house as I could find near where I live now and had a lot of parties. if I won it now I'd probably buy and renovate something like this;


And in another decade or so I'd probably happily pay Elon Musk for a one way rocket to my own private planet. Money can buy you misanthropy!

[buttgammon]

The cynic in me would suspect it's not just to not be showing off, but also so he didn't have to give anyone any money. I mean there's huge differences between going public, or just telling everyone you know personally, or just telling a few close friends and family, or not telling even your best mate, and the last option does smack of wanting to minimize the number of expectant faces. Unless you genuinely don't want to splurge serious cash on anything (in which case if you also don't want to give any of it away, why play the lottery at all?) it can't be easy living modestly enough that no one suspects you've got serious money, particularly if you weren't that well off before. I mean surely if most people suddenly do something not vast but still clearly out of their price range like quitting work with no obvious alternative income, buying a brand new car or taking exotic holidays it's going to be pretty obvious they've either taken up drug dealing or had a massive windfall they're attempting to hide.

You're right and for what it's worth, his best mate said the same thing too (I've never met this guy and all I know about him is that he got mega rich so couldn't really guess as to what his position would've been like beforehand). From what I've gathered, he does extravagant things with his close friends the odd time, but he's not exactly handing money out to people.

[checkoutgirl]

One option is to not go public, isn't it?

People talk. You'd have to tell someone. They'd tell someone else and so on. Not going public works on a national level but what fun would money be if you couldn't share it with friends and family?

It's very tricky. Nothing a hundred million quid couldn't sort out of course. For better or worse the life change would be immense and not all for the better in many cases.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

but what fun would money be if you couldn't share it with friends and family?

Ask *relative public figure*

[Thursday]

I suppose you never hear from the weird introverts who win the lottery and just quietly retire into a life of debauched opulence.

[Jim Bob]

For better or worse the life change would be immense and not all for the better in many cases.

Should the burden of having millions of pounds become too great for any lottery winners reading this, I shall solemnly pledge to shoulder that burden for you.  I'm a swell guy like that.

[Thursday]

Well that's the thing isn't it

"Oooh I regret winning all that money, I was happier before I won the lottery"
"Have you still got the money?"
"Well yes."
"Can I have some"
"No"