LOTTO players dream of the day they find their winning ticket and what they could do with the potentially millions to be won.
Whether that’s jetting off on a spontaneous holiday, or finally starting their own businesses, but what happens dreams become reality? Lottery advisor, Andy Carter spills the beans.
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On tonight’s lottery draw, lucky winners could get up to £10,000 a month, for 30 years, on the National Lottery’s Set for Life.
There’s one in a 139,838,160 chance of winning the National Lottery’s top cash prize, and if you are lucky enough there is a whole process to help you through the dramatic transition to becoming a millionaire.
Lottery adviser Andy Carter told the Metro what happens to winners: from the moment you find out about the life-changing win up to choosing the best colour for your brand new supercar.
Day one
If you win the jackpot during tonight’s draw at 7.30 pm, you should call the number on the back of your ticket, or on the confirmation email if you played online.
Your details then get passed on to Andy, who will then call you back to figure out the logistics.
They will check your personal details, such as verifying your identity and your bank account details to get paid your winnings.
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The most important part of the call is to check out your well-being and help you process the crazy change that is about to happen after you win.
Andy said: “There’s two bits to that phone call. One is just me talking you through how things will work but actually I’m calling to check in on you because you’re usually having an enormous shock.”
Two days later
Once you’ve had a little time to think about how you will manage your winnings Andy will pay you a home visit.
His team will triple check all your paperwork, making sure your ticket’s real and verify you are the person who bought the winning ticket.
This process can take up to an hour for Andy to receive confirmation that everything is a-ok.
Afterwards, Andy will send the winning funds to whichever bank account you choose and the money will arrive in your account within two working days.
Andy said: “It’s quite strange actually because some people want to rush it through, others just need to take their time and get their heads around it first.
“We go at their pace.”
Follow-up programme
The logistics of receiving your money is “just the start” of the long journey for Lottery winners.
Two-or-so weeks after the millions have landed in your account, Andy sets up some meetings with legal and financial advisers to help you through.
But on top of this continuous support, the National Lottery believes it is incredibly important to support winners with their mental health.
Winners are also provided with a life coach to help them with the big decisions, whether that’s which country you holiday in next, what kind of supercar you treat yourself to.
Andy says: “People are actually going through an enormous change, they’ve had an enormous shock.
“This is why winners are also given a life coach, which they can share with their whole families if they choose.
“Winning the lottery gives you lots and lots of opportunity to do lots of fantastic stuff but it takes a bit of getting used to.”
Winners have access to this financial, legal and wellbeing support for the rest of their lives too.
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Concierge service
While the winning process sounds a little serious, Andy makes a point to remind winners how to make the most of the fun, exciting news.
He often suggests that winners should do one (somewhat) impulsive thing, like go on holiday or do something you’ve always wanted while mulling over how to spend the rest.
He also said that most people can’t actually begin to imagine how to start loving like a millionaire, so Andy always connects winners with a concierge service to help them out.
He said: “If [you] want to go to a concert that’s sold out or [you] want to hire a private jet to take [your] family on holiday, there are experts on doing that.”
Previous lottery winners
Andy also thinks “the best thing [winners] can do is have a cup of tea with another lottery winner.”
He said: “If something happens to you in your life, you normally know someone else who has been through it.
“But there have only been 6,000 lottery millionaires since the start of the national lottery.
“Our job is to put [new winners] in touch with other winners and make sure they have access to that support.”
The effectiveness in the National Lottery’s support is showing new winners “how sensible our winners have been”, Andy added.
He said: “Once the financial crisis of 2008 came out, people had a different view towards money.
“So we find that people start slowly as they grow into their wealth because it takes them time to get used to it.”
There is currently £3 million that has yet to be claimed by six winning tickets.
Those lucky jackpot winners are completely unaware of their eye-watering prize money – as a total of £3,213,810, plus a Set For Life prize, remains unclaimed.
The ticket holders have a limited time to claim theirs, after that, the money is dished out to good causes.
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