I won the lottery with my work syndicate but we made a crucial error – it meant we couldn’t even quit our jobs
A LOTTERY winner has revealed how their joy was short-lived due to a crucial error.
The colleague who took part in a work syndicate won the jackpot and hoped to have been able to take a break from work.
After splitting the winnings between them, the winner received £30,000 but due to a major mishap, the work colleagues couldn’t do much with their money.
According to the Lottoland website 70 per cent of the UK’s over 18s take part in the national lottery on a regular basis, which is close to 45 million people.
Taking the online forum Mumsnet, an employee who worked at the same company as the winner, spoke of the “unfortunate” event.
The social media user, who is anonymous, wrote: “My work syndicate won the jackpot about 25 years ago, long before I worked there.
“Unfortunately for them there were three winners that week and they had so many members in the syndicate they only got £30K each.
“Apart from most of them driving around in a new car, normal life quickly resumed.”
The post was part of a thread of other people revealing their lottery winnings.
One Mumsnet user couldn’t believe how people chose to spend their winnings.
“I really cannot fathom why or how so many winners burn through their winnings.
“I would see a financial advisor if it ever happened to me. If it were a sizable pot I mean,” said one shocked parent.
But someone else replied back to this and added: “If it was only a million I could probably burn through it easily.
“I’m a non homeowner with barely any pension so by the time I’d bought a house, put enough in my pension for a comfortable retirement and put some away for DS’s [darling son] future I’d not have much left.
“I’d definitely have to carry on working.
“I’m not particularly financially savvy, having never had much money so I wouldn’t have a clue how to invest and you hear tales of financial advisers screwing over their clients!”
Another person, who was related to a lottery winner said: “A close relative won one million.
“They make you speak to financial advisers and the banks phone with special rich people’s secret accounts.
“My relatives spent all within five years on drink, drugs, cars and houses that they sold for a loss.”
A different Mumsnet user also added: “My colleague won £450k on the postcode lottery a few years ago. She’d only signed up to it a week before!
“She’d had a really rough few years prior to the win so it was well deserved.”
What are my chances of winning the lottery?
EVERYONE wants to know how to beat the odds and win the lottery.
But unfortunately, the lottery is a game of luck and there are no tips or tricks that can guarantee you’ll take home a top prize.
The odds show how likely you are to win any particular prize – the lower the number, the better the odds.
For example, odds of 1 in 10 are better than odds of 1 in 100 or 1 in 1,000.
There are several major lottery games in the UK including Lotto by the National Lottery, Camelot’s EuroMillions and Thunderball.
Chances of winning the Lotto
Lotto by the National Lottery is a game where you pick six numbers from 1 to 59. You can play up to seven lines of numbers on each slip.
The game costs £2 to play per slip.
The odds of winning any prize on the Lotto are 1 in 9.3.
But to win the jackpot on the Lotto, the odds are considerably slimmer.
To bag the top prize, you need to have six matching balls. The odds of doing this and scooping the jackpot are currently 1 in 45,057,474.
The next highest prize of £1,000,000 is for getting five main matching balls plus the bonus ball.
The odds of taking home the million pound prize are 1 in 7,509,579 – far higher than the jackpot, but still unlikely.
The odds of taking home £1,750 for getting five main numbers without the bonus ball are 1 in 2,180, while you have a 1 in 97 chance of bagging £140 for getting four main numbers.
Your chances of taking home £30 for getting 3 main numbers are much better at 1 in 97.
And you have a roughly 1 in 10 chance of getting a free lucky dip for 2 matching numbers.
Chances of winning the EuroMillions
The EuroMillions costs £2.50 to play and is open on Tuesdays and Fridays.
To play, you must pick five numbers from 1-50 and two “Lucky Stars” from 1-12. Players with the most matching numbers win the top prizes.
Your chance of bagging the EuroMillions jackpot is even slimmer than winning the top Lotto prize.
This is because it generally has higher jackpots on offer, meaning it attracts more attention.
Currently, the odds of matching five numbers and two lucky stars – the top win – stand at 1 in 139,838,160.
The average jackpot prize is £57,923,499, according to EuroMillions.
The odds of winning the second top prize for matching 5 balls and a lucky star, which is typically around £262,346, are 1 in 6,991,908.
The chances of taking home the third prize for five matching balls, with an average payout of £26,277, are 1 in 3,107,515.
For four matching balls with two lucky stars, it’s 1 in 621,503, and for four balls with one lucky star, it’s 1 in 31,076. These come with an average prize of £1,489 and £95, respectively.
Chances of winning the Thunderball
Thunderball is another game run by National Lottery where you pick five numbers and one “Thunderball”. It costs just £1 to play and you can enter up to four times a week.
The jackpot of £500,000 for matching five balls plus the Thunderball is 1 in 8,060,598.
Your odds of bagging the next highest prize of £5,000 for matching five balls is currently 1 in 620,046, while the chances of winning £250 for four balls plus the Thunderball is 1 in 47,416.
You have the best chance of winning £3 for matching the Thunderball, with odds of 1 in 29.