A LUXURY holiday, an expensive shopping spree, a flashy new motor – the possibilities are endless when you’re a new millionaire.
Another lucky Brit could join that exclusive club if they pick the correct numbers for tonight’s EuroMillions draw, which boasts its biggest ever jackpot of £184million.
Within minutes, the winner will be richer than two-time heavyweight champion boxer Tyson Fury, who’s worth up to £120m, and would even surpass Adele’s £138m fortune.
But such vast wealth is not something to be foolishly frittered away, as recently skint Michael ‘Lotto Lout’ Carroll will attest to after blowing £9.7m on drugs and sex parties.
However, not everyone has such frivolous plans when it comes to spending their lottery money.
Here we reveal some of the most unusual ways people have celebrated their newfound wealth.
Becoming a pig farmer
For many, winning the jackpot means mass celebrations and ultra-expensive cars – but not for Susan Hardman.
When the mum-of-one’s numbers came up in January 2010 she worked as a hairdresser in Eardisley, Hereford, and was “struggling financially”.
Instead of splashing out when the £1.2million win landed in her bank account, she traded in her scissors for overalls and became a pig farmer.
Susan claimed to be happier than ever knee-deep in mud and said bringing a piglet into the world brought her “more satisfaction” than winning the lottery.
In 2015, she told the Daily Mail: “I was perfectly groomed, my clothes and make-up were always carefully picked out – now I always smell of pigs.
“Ironically, these days I buy most of my clothes from second-hand charity shops… Friends think I’m crazy.”
Susan’s life is now a far cry from her previous struggles, when she was forced to “turn down the thermostat” because she “couldn’t afford the bills”.
Last year she told the Mirror: “When I won, I think I immediately turned the heating up and I realised I’d never be cold again.”
Renovating a public toilet
Retirees Dennis and Shirley Banfield appeared to have gone a little potty when plotting how to spend their £18million National Lottery win in 2018.
The couple from Winterbourne, Bristol, paid for new lavatories at a local community centre after discovering they needed replacing.
They were determined to give something back after visiting the venue for countless celebrations including wedding receptions, anniversaries and children’s parties.
In 2019, Denis told the Mirror: “When we read that it needed new toilets, we donated £20,000 for the work and cut the ribbon outside the Ladies and Gents ourselves at an official ceremony
“We joined a lunch at the centre… and a man got up to use the loo [and] said, 'I'm just off to use the Banfields' which really made our day!"
Splurging on dog biscuits
Tracy Field was a struggling single mum-of-three with three jobs before she won the National Lottery in 2008.
Her financial woes had taken a massive toll on her, and after being diagnosed with cancer a year earlier she became so ill her hair fell out.
After realising she had won £2.5million, Tracy felt “compelled to go out and buy something after years of scrimping”.
She told the Mirror: “I went to Tesco at midnight in my pyjamas and bought a box of Bonio dog biscuits because I couldn’t think of what else to buy.”
Following her modest purchase, Tracy bought a £430,000 three-bedroom house and helped her sons get onto the property ladder, too.
The mum was also able to get private medical treatment after finding more lumps, which she said "instantly put my mind at rest.”
Boob jobs for sisters
Sarah Cockings from Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear won a whopping £3million in April 2005 when she was just 21.
She claimed to “live a very normal life” despite her vast fortune, and after the money dropped in her account she treated her siblings Emma and Alex to matching boob jobs.
“Just after I won, I bought my two sisters boob jobs but now I've had one myself, because mine were wrecked by breastfeeding,” she told the Daily Mail in 2019.
Sarah, who said she “loved” her surgically enhanced chest, also went back to university so that her mum could have a “picture of me graduating”.
Eight years after winning the lottery she decided to quit her job as a social worker and pursue modelling opportunities, where she’s found ultimate happiness.
“Up until now there’s no bad part of being a millionaire – I’ve loved every minute,” Sarah added.
Private field for dog
Dogs are often described as “man’s best friend” but it seems lucky pooch Lucy may appreciate that more than most.
She was found “starving and terrified” by Faye and Richard Davies after being “abandoned on the mountainside” in Brecon Beacons, Wales, back in 2018.
Weeks later the couple won £1million on the EuroMillions and, after recognising Lucy was too scared to go out for walks, paid £20,000 for a private field.
Faye told the Mirror: “She was terrified of people, of other dogs and water, so dog walks were a nightmare.
“Then, weeks after our win, a half-acre field came up for sale just down the road [and] we bought it for Lucy.”
Since then she’s been “happy and carefree” while out on her “safe place for walkies” and has even learned to play with other dogs.
Drank tea all night
While most lottery winners would be tempted to splash out on fancy Champagne, Anne Canavan had very different plans.
The mum, from Northern Ireland, couldn’t believe her luck and felt fate had intervened after her £1million EuroMillions win in 2015.
On the day she picked the winning numbers, Anne joked with a neighbour that it was “about time someone from around here won”.
Normally she “always waited a week” before checking her lottery ticket but that night things were different.
“At 1am, I suddenly had the urge to check the results so I switched my laptop on, when I realised I’d won I woke my daughter up," she recalled.
“It took half an hour to convince her that I wasn’t joking, and after that we stayed up all night with cups of tea planning what to do with the money.”
Anne went on to spend £50,000 renovating her four-bedroom house and funnelled other funds into inventions – including self-sealing gift pouches.
Went to work
Winning £1m was sheer luck for Jamie Heavens, who purchased a Millionaire Riches Scratchcard after watching a customer in front of him do it.
After leaving the petrol station, he pulled into a layby to scratch it off and was gobsmacked when he won.
However, hardworking Jamie, from Bournemouth, had no intention of quitting his day job.
Jamie told the Mirror: “It was 7.30 in the morning and I still had a day’s shift ahead… I won a million pounds and earned another £100 for my shift.”
After that the roofer and his fiance Danielle spent £25,000 on a lavish wedding with “a band, a videographer and a massive marquee”.
He bought a business but feels rather happy about his new job, adding: “I still work but now I’m my own boss!”
Bought a Chihuahua
Jane Park was arguably one of the lottery’s luckiest winners after bagging a cool £1million with her first ticket at the age of 17.
Her 2013 lucky dip win sent her life in a whole new direction and allowed her to quit her £8-an-hour admin job for a life of riches.
The first thing Jane, from East Lothian, Scotland, bought was her Chihuahua, whom she named Princess, followed by a Louis Vuitton bag before jetting off to Magaluf for two months.
But money didn’t solve all of her problems – in fact, they only created new ones.
She launched a website to find herself a boyfriend in 2017, and within 24 hours had over 10,000 applicants – but said most lads were only after her money.
Her excessive spending and the difficulties that came with her riches were laid bare in the 2014 BBC documentary Teenage Millionaire: The Year I Won The Lottery.
She has since admitted that winning has been a nightmare and that being a millionaire is stressful.
“I have material things but apart from that my life is empty. What is my purpose in life?” she told the Sunday People.
"I thought it would make [my life] ten times better but it’s made it ten times worse.
"I wish I had no money most days. I say to myself, 'My life would be so much easier if I hadn’t won'."
A few years ago, Jane said she was hours away from fighting for her life with suspected sepsis after a bum lift op.
She had the Brazilian procedure to get a perkier behind in 2017 but was rushed to hospital after becoming severely unwell. She had already suffered with swollen lips and cheeks after reacting to the anaesthetic at the Turkish hospital.
Jane, who has spent more than £50,000 on plastic surgery since she won the jackpot, said: “I’m in absolute agony, I know the saying is pain is beauty, but this is horrific.”
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