Lottery - colleague just won big
Discussion
DannyScene said:
Lots of people have said winning would be scary, I don't get why it would be at all scary?
Someone has just said to you 'here, here's £100mil live the best life possible do everything you've ever wanted to do, money is no object'
The last thing I'd ever think is 'ooo that's a bit scary now isn't it'
The first thing I'd think is 'Holy s
t, round the lads up we're going to Amsterdam......in ferraris' or something similar
In the case of REALLY big wins, it's a lot to deal with. They have advisors whom you can choose, or choose not to use. Someone has just said to you 'here, here's £100mil live the best life possible do everything you've ever wanted to do, money is no object'
The last thing I'd ever think is 'ooo that's a bit scary now isn't it'
The first thing I'd think is 'Holy s
t, round the lads up we're going to Amsterdam......in ferraris' or something similarI met one of them once and he was telling me that EVERYTHING changes. Begging letters the likes of which you've never seen, hundreds of them written by "professional" writers. Your children can become a kidnap risk. You are advised to change telephone numbers and bank details immediately."Friends" who you have not heard of for years come out of the woodwork.
It comes with a great deal of pressure.
Interestingly, they do advise that you go public though...
ChocolateFrog said:
I assume it's someone's job at Camelot to hand the cheques over. Imagine every week making new millionaires. I think it would break me after a while.
I used to work in a bank, and would regularly be around huge piles of cash, but it's meaningless as it isn't yours.Mastiff said:
DannyScene said:
Lots of people have said winning would be scary, I don't get why it would be at all scary?
Someone has just said to you 'here, here's £100mil live the best life possible do everything you've ever wanted to do, money is no object'
The last thing I'd ever think is 'ooo that's a bit scary now isn't it'
The first thing I'd think is 'Holy st, round the lads up we're going to Amsterdam......in ferraris' or something similar
In the case of REALLY big wins, it's a lot to deal with. They have advisors whom you can choose, or choose not to use. Someone has just said to you 'here, here's £100mil live the best life possible do everything you've ever wanted to do, money is no object'
The last thing I'd ever think is 'ooo that's a bit scary now isn't it'
The first thing I'd think is 'Holy s
t, round the lads up we're going to Amsterdam......in ferraris' or something similarI met one of them once and he was telling me that EVERYTHING changes. Begging letters the likes of which you've never seen, hundreds of them written by "professional" writers. Your children can become a kidnap risk. You are advised to change telephone numbers and bank details immediately."Friends" who you have not heard of for years come out of the woodwork.
It comes with a great deal of pressure.
Interestingly, they do advise that you go public though...
The envy of seeing Orange Tony and Mottled Gloria toasting their new Ford Focus is what keeps us buying tickets.
Kermit power said:
One thing I've always wondered is what happens logistically speaking when you find out you've just won the jackpot?
Iirc, any retailer will pay out up to a specific low limit, and I think Post Offices pay out for middling prizes, but if you've won the jackpot, do you have to get the ticket to Camelot in Watford or something?
Imagine going out for a few beers on a Friday night then checking your numbers on the way home, only to be told your ticket is worth £50m, and you've got to keep it safe until Monday morning!
I always wondered this aswell.Iirc, any retailer will pay out up to a specific low limit, and I think Post Offices pay out for middling prizes, but if you've won the jackpot, do you have to get the ticket to Camelot in Watford or something?
Imagine going out for a few beers on a Friday night then checking your numbers on the way home, only to be told your ticket is worth £50m, and you've got to keep it safe until Monday morning!
I am informed (unsure how reliably) that when you call the hotline to tell them you've won the jackpot, they verify your numbers, where you bought the ticket, when, serial number, etc
Upon establishing if you're the real deal, they despatch an advisor to your house to inspect the ticket and take you through the claiming process.
You do have to go down to Camelot offices in Watford, in person, to claim your winnings. However, once the advisor has initially been to you and checked everything is kosher, they move you to a hotel for the duration until the Camelot office is open and you are able to claim.
God knows what happens with the ticket in the meantime. I'd sellotape the thing to my chest!
After you've claimed, they provide financial advise, etc, etc. This applies whether you go public or not.
They do advise to go public - it's in their interests that you do - but, IINM, if you are foolish enough to do so then you get nothing that an anonymous winner doesn't get.
marmitemania said:
I can see your point and I can't see your point. How the f@ck would £108 million make you depressed. I would be happy as a pig in ste. I think it is a lack of imagination in a lot of cases. I would spend some of my money on charities that's for sure but only charities in this country as I think that's only right. I would also not give them the money as it would just be wasted, instead I would ask them what they want and then buy it, if they didn't agree to that then no money.
It's a little naïve to think that money would make you as "happy as a pig in ste. I think it is a lack of imagination in a lot of cases. I would spend some of my money on charities that's for sure but only charities in this country as I think that's only right. I would also not give them the money as it would just be wasted, instead I would ask them what they want and then buy it, if they didn't agree to that then no money. te"These people aren't unhappy because they can't think of anything to spend their money on.
These people are unhappy because of what a large amount of money suddenly arriving into your life can do to relationships - both family and friends.
Some friends of ours netted £1.9m a couple of years ago from the same line of numbers they've played every Saturday since it started.
At 14 million to 1 odds, the chance of winning the big one is infinitesimal, but it is a chance nonetheless. If you understand the odds, and keep it to a couple of quid a week max, I don't see any harm.
At 14 million to 1 odds, the chance of winning the big one is infinitesimal, but it is a chance nonetheless. If you understand the odds, and keep it to a couple of quid a week max, I don't see any harm.
Muzzer79 said:
I always wondered this aswell.
I am informed (unsure how reliably) that when you call the hotline to tell them you've won the jackpot, they verify your numbers, where you bought the ticket, when, serial number, etc
Upon establishing if you're the real deal, they despatch an advisor to your house to inspect the ticket and take you through the claiming process.
I quizzed my mate about this.I am informed (unsure how reliably) that when you call the hotline to tell them you've won the jackpot, they verify your numbers, where you bought the ticket, when, serial number, etc
Upon establishing if you're the real deal, they despatch an advisor to your house to inspect the ticket and take you through the claiming process.
He played online. He told me he received an email similar to the one you get when you've won a tenner, but instead of asking you to log in to your account, it asks you to call Camelot. One on the phone they run through some checks, then you go to the offices with your ID etc to make the claim. They give you champagne, which in his case he put in his bag and went back to work!
Interestingly, they don't tell you how much you've won until you get there and everything is verified.
ash73 said:
No problem with people who can afford it burning a couple of quid a week while day-dreaming, but what about the vast majority who are desperate and blow £20-30 of their dole money on impossible odds they simply can't comprehend? Even otherwise intelligent people fall for the "someone's got to win it" malarkey.
People need protecting from themselves; it should be banned, imo.
No problem with anyone at all doing it, it's their money, don't let it bother youPeople need protecting from themselves; it should be banned, imo.
ash73 said:
Kermit power said:
ash73 said:
p.s. still a tax on the stupid. Wake up people.
At least you get a small chance, however remote, of seeing some value for money out of it, unlike income tax, VAT etc, etc....Alternatively, just view it as the price of daydreaming.
People need protecting from themselves; it should be banned, imo.
Sorry, but I have to call b
ks on that one.The vast majority of people playing are spending £2-£10 a week that they can comfortably afford on a daydream that has tiny hopes of success, I would say.
The vast minority are people with a problem, spending beyond their means on an infinitesimally unlikely dream.
I play, I don't mind admitting it. £2 a week for that tiny, tiny chance that it will be my numbers.
I am not stupid. I know the odds, and that I will far more than likely spend the rest of my life having never won.
I play for that tiny chance it will be me and I'll win. No different to the football pools in the old days.
I am comfortable laying out £2 a week on my daydream. The stupid people are the ones who see it as a £2 a week investment into their inevitable win.
The problem with winning big for a lot of people is that most of one's incentives in life are suddenly removed. No point working, nothing to strive for. When faced with no purpose in life people can become despondent and lose their drive to do anything. It's hardly surprising that this, combined with potential alienation of friends and family, that they need help, ironic though that may seem. IMO.
I have spoken to people who are almost waiting for their big win and thinking that it will make everything better, strange thing is that these are fairly well to do people by any stretch.
Money doesn't immediately make you happy, it is what you do with it and partially just the security it brings, after all there is only so much "stuff" you can buy and to be honest I don't feel hard done by at the moment.
I know people who have massive houses, they squirrel themselves away with basically their own leisure center and posh hotel, all behind electric gates, what fun, we are human and half of our enjoyment (and problems) comes from interacting with other humans, I think cutting yourself off is unhealthy.
I look at said massive houses and after a point, yeah, all very nice but though the house gets much much bigger, we are the same size, we dont scale, I see massive sitting rooms with a corner occupied by a sofa and TV, the rest a massive void, there are only so many rooms you need, I reckon we could do with perhaps an extra 5 on our 4 bed detached and a decent garage, after that, its showing off really, I suspect, if you had 100 rooms, you would live in a subset of rooms like the owners of stately homes do. There is a mansion for sale locally that has a cinema, nightclub and god knows what else, yeah, every house needs a nightclub....
I reckon 2 or 3 million would do me, in fact less, I am reasonably well off, mortgage paid, no debts but sometimes could do with a bit more spends, a few hundred grand maybe, give the kids a bit more of a start, few nice holidays, pay to get some stuff done like cleaning and decorating, be able to change the cars when I fancy and enough to fall back on. I would fly Business/first class, would buy better clothes but not go overboard.
I think 160 million or whatever is just too much for most, you can perhaps explain away a few hundred grand, the odd new car, the odd holiday without having to go public.
Even if i did win that kind of money, I would ensure that I kept my existing life intact, keep the house, the cars and everything, just in case I wanted to go back, there are always people willing to take money off your hands if it doesnt suit you.
Money doesn't immediately make you happy, it is what you do with it and partially just the security it brings, after all there is only so much "stuff" you can buy and to be honest I don't feel hard done by at the moment.
I know people who have massive houses, they squirrel themselves away with basically their own leisure center and posh hotel, all behind electric gates, what fun, we are human and half of our enjoyment (and problems) comes from interacting with other humans, I think cutting yourself off is unhealthy.
I look at said massive houses and after a point, yeah, all very nice but though the house gets much much bigger, we are the same size, we dont scale, I see massive sitting rooms with a corner occupied by a sofa and TV, the rest a massive void, there are only so many rooms you need, I reckon we could do with perhaps an extra 5 on our 4 bed detached and a decent garage, after that, its showing off really, I suspect, if you had 100 rooms, you would live in a subset of rooms like the owners of stately homes do. There is a mansion for sale locally that has a cinema, nightclub and god knows what else, yeah, every house needs a nightclub....
I reckon 2 or 3 million would do me, in fact less, I am reasonably well off, mortgage paid, no debts but sometimes could do with a bit more spends, a few hundred grand maybe, give the kids a bit more of a start, few nice holidays, pay to get some stuff done like cleaning and decorating, be able to change the cars when I fancy and enough to fall back on. I would fly Business/first class, would buy better clothes but not go overboard.
I think 160 million or whatever is just too much for most, you can perhaps explain away a few hundred grand, the odd new car, the odd holiday without having to go public.
Even if i did win that kind of money, I would ensure that I kept my existing life intact, keep the house, the cars and everything, just in case I wanted to go back, there are always people willing to take money off your hands if it doesnt suit you.
FarmyardPants said:
The problem with winning big for a lot of people is that most of one's incentives in life are suddenly removed. No point working, nothing to strive for. When faced with no purpose in life people can become despondent and lose their drive to do anything.
Only if imagination is lacking, imo.Big win should mean opportunities, not a life sitting on one's arse pondering what the point of it all is.
FarmyardPants said:
...potential alienation of friends and family, that they need help, ironic though that may seem. IMO.
Agree with this point though.Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff