I won Tattslotto the other day. But before you join the queue with your hand out it was only a sixth division of $15. I had a friend who told me he’d also had a win, although his was about $700,000. I was more than surprised when he said it wasn’t life-changing.
It got me thinking how much would be life-changing. Winners of Tatts last Saturday got $1.2 million. In the current political climate that would put all of them off the pension and living off their winnings. The response I got on social media was interesting and varied. “Enough to pay off the mortgage” was a pretty common theme and then you could spend your wage on anything you wanted, like travel and setting up your children.
One million seemed to be the most popular amount and that would certainly be more than enough for me. But I do have friends who are looking for the high life with visions of a $15 million pay-out.
The other interesting thing about my friend’s non-life-changing win was that he kept it pretty quiet and so, it seems, would everyone else. “You’d tell only close family and friends, mainly because you need someone to celebrate with” was the thought of the majority. Trust me, you won’t be reading about any of my winnings above division two in the pages of this publication. In one way it seems sad that you can’t share your good fortune with everyone, but I guess that’s because they’d want part of the fortune. Money does do strange things to some people.
One thing I do know is that, regardless of the amount, I wouldn’t give up work. But that’s just me. Some of my friends say they’d stop working and do charity work instead. A noble path. The chances of winning millions are remote, but I’ll keep buying my weekly ticket because, well, you never know.
Do you know anyone who has won big and regretted it or someone who has delighted in their bonanza? I may even award a lotto ticket to the best email I receive. But probably not as one of my real fears is that I’ll buy someone a ticket that wins them millions and I’ll get zip.
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■ If you have any news or events, let me know at kevin@howdypartnersmedia. com.au
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