We're rich! Lottery winners' tales

Saturday, April 22, 2006 posted 08:22 PM EDT

'IT COULD be you' was how the National Lottery first enticed us to buy our tickets in 1994.

There were some great urban myths that sprang up back then, like the builder who allegedly bought £10,000 worth of tickets in the hope that he would become the first big winner (the myth says he didn't).

We were transfixed by tales of ordinary people whose lives were transformed by the overnight appearance of millions in their bank accounts, and then enjoyed the salacious follow-ups from embittered ex-partners.

Here in Wales, the total amount won by lottery winners since 1994 is £509,238,242.

From those, Ken Henry and Sandra Fosbrooke, from Llanelli, won the single biggest Welsh Lotto payout in May 2005 - £12.8 million.

Llanelli has done well down the years, with two of the 10 highest ever Welsh winners coming from the West Wales town - Bob Bradley won £3.5 million this March.

To mark the 10th anniversary of the Lottery, a poll was commissioned from Mori of all the winners, to see if the rest of us could gain some insight into how they came by their fortunes - and what they subsequently went on to spend their money on.

It might not surprise you to learn, for instance, that the favourite purchase made by winners is a house. This is followed by a car, holiday, jewellery, a holiday home or caravan, a pet, sound system and home cinema equipment, football season tickets, land to farm on, and paintings or art.

Winners listed their most expensive purchase as a holiday. This was followed in turn by jewellery, a holiday home, a boat, furniture, a horse or other pets, a swimming pool, a Concorde flight (before the jet was scrapped), a helicopter or plane, and designer clothes.

But the list of unusual purchases made for one of the most interesting.

First on the list - unsurprisingly, given the current obsession - was cosmetic surgery. It then ranked purchases in order of how strange they were. So at number two came a gothic folly, followed by a mini road sweeper, water buffalo, a tractor, a 45-feet narrow boat - of the kind you find on canals, a football club, acres for sale on the Moon, Venus and Mars, a castle and a water fountain. We're presuming that it was one along the lines of Chatsworth rather than one out of the local B&Q.

And following on from giant-sized fountains, what has been our Lottery winners' favourite features in the home?

It seems logical that people who invest in fountains also go for landscaped gardens. Next comes a state-of-the-art kitchen, followed by a swimming pool, conservatory, the location of a new house, and the view you get from it, then the living room, a hot tub, a games room complete with snooker table, and a bar, so you need never leave the house.

Out in the garage, our winners have done some upgrading, but it may surprise you to learn that it's not Ferraris and Porsches that are being purchased.

Top of the list comes BMW, followed by a Landrover or Range Rover, Ford, Mercedes, Jaguar, Volkswagen, Vauxhall, Toyota, Peugeot, and Lexus.

When they travel abroad they go first to the USA, then to Spain (including Canary or Balearic Islands), the Caribbean, Africa, multi-country cruising, Cyprus, England, Australia and New Zealand, the Far East including Thailand, and France.

Who is the most likeliest to win? Well, it helps if you are a builder.

They top a list that has machine operators, administrators and office workers, drivers, chefs, cooks and publicans, nurses, care workers, managers, engineers and postal workers.

Sometimes obsessive attention is given to the way people choose numbers, and the winners are no different.

But the most popular way of picking a winner is a lucky dip from a machine. Next comes random numbers chosen by the buyer when he or she goes to get their ticket.

After that, there is some uniformity brought in. Birthday dates, together with other significant dates and numbers, door numbers, ages of family, ages of friends, car registration plates, even mobile phone numbers, all figure. Beyond that, the winners said they often employ other systems to pick their numbers.

They were also asked what they thought was the best thing about winning.

First, hardly surprisingly, came financial security. Next was no worries, pressure or stress, followed by being able to retire or give up work, being able to look after family and friends, paying off the mortgage or buying a home, being able to afford private education, seeing peoples' faces when you help them out, spending more time with family, having more children, and meeting new people and enjoying new experiences.

But our stories here show that winning the Lottery is a far more individual experience than you could ever glean from lists or polls.

And while there is no failsafe formula for winning the Lottery, it has still produced many fascinating tales that mix joy with sadness, and good fortune with the achievement of lifelong, personal goals.

Our Welsh winners are a fair reflection of what can happen when your numbers come up.

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