That’s a solid gold shopping list. Realistic Brits reckon a £5.4m windfall would be ‘just enough’ to cover the cost of their lottery wishlist, according to a poll.
Researchers who carried out a detailed study found most reckon they would need to bag £5,402,013.03 in order to cover the cost of their most-desired aspirational items. Buying a flashy holiday home, paying off the old mortgage and snapping up a new motor all feature on the lottery-winning shopping list as does booking a holiday abroad.
Andrew Clarke, Head of Communications for Multilotto.co.uk, who commissioned the report, said: ‘Many people idly daydream about winning the lottery before they go to sleep, or during a slow day at work.
‘In fact, many people have worked out almost to the penny what they’d do with a huge lottery windfall.
‘The fact that it would take more than £5 million to satisfy every last whim suggests Brits have some very expensive tastes.’
More than 80 per cent of the population have played the lottery at some point before, and half of the nation has tried their luck in the last month. The average lifetime spend on lotteries in the UK is £377.94 per person, with a fifth playing the lottery once a week.
Some of the more outlandish things Brits would spend their lottery millions on include a canal boat in Amsterdam, a steam engine and an Egyptian mummy. One respondent even said they would pay for their son to spend a day playing with platypuses in Victoria, Australia.
Incredibly one third wished for nothing more than 10 pairs of thick socks from Marks & Spencers.
Kind-hearted millionaires would also make sure they helped the less fortunate with their windfall, with over a quarter saying they’d donate to a charity regardless of how much they’d won. And unsurprisingly, most people who took home a lottery jackpot would pack in work at the earliest opportunity.
Just 16 per cent would continue to work even after winning the lottery.
While winning the lottery is a dream come true for most, a third think that winning a huge sum would lead to anxiety. And just five per cent of Brits, surveyed by OnePoll, would be happy for everyone to know that they’d won a big jackpot. One in four said a huge lottery win would make them more relaxed, but one in 20 think they would end up more paranoid with millions in the bank.
Clarke added: ‘For most people, daydreaming about winning big on the lottery covers all the fun things, like buying supercars or gifts for loved ones.
‘But there can be a serious side to being super-rich, and it’s worth considering that as well.
‘But overall, most people would agree that they’d rather have millions in the bank than not, and certainly aren’t above a bit of free dosh when the opportunity arises.’
THE UK’S LOTTERY WISHLIST
1. A house
2. Paying off mortgage
3. Paying off debts
4. A holiday abroad
5. A car
6. A trip around the world
7. A second home abroad
8. A donation to charity
9. A cruise
10. A kitchen
11. A motorbike
12. A bathroom
13. A season ticket for a sports team
14. Clothes
15. Build an extension
16. New home decorations
17. A TV
18. A laptop/PC
19. White goods
20. A home theatre system