The Lotto Big Winners’ Survey 2012
August 19 2012
Sharing their experiences of winning big!
In order to mark Lotto’s 25th birthday, we got in contact with all of our big winners from the last
couple of years. Over 80 of our big winners have shared their stories about what it feels like to do
what most of only dream of – winning big!
Our winners collected their prizes from Lotto, Powerball, Strike and Big Wednesday. Their winnings
range from $100,000 to $15 million. All responses are anonymous.
Lucky dips are lucky
Do you choose your own numbers or do you play lucky dip? Lots of people have their own playing
strategies – however, 73% of our recent big winners won with a Dip ticket. Most of our other
winners chose their own numbers – although quite a few can’t remember how they won!
Lucky numbers come from a variety of sources – birthdays and anniversaries are particularly
popular. But some of our winners chose the age at which they were ‘fittest’, or the date they
achieved their qualifications, or the number of brothers they have. Which just shows – that luck is
where you find it!
Very superstitious
Is it luck – or is it fate? We asked our winners whether they had any particular rituals or superstitions
when buying their tickets. Most didn’t. Although some like to buy from the same shop every week,
and some like to buy on the same day each week. One winner’s ritual is to be very polite to the Lotto
staff when buying their ticket – that’s one ritual we can definitely get on board with!
Where were you when you found out you’d won?
Not surprisingly in the modern age, more and more of our winners are checking their numbers
online, with 27% finding out online that they’d won. And the Saturday Lotto draw is still an
important part of our winners’ weeks, with 26% of our big winners watching the winning draw live.
What an amazing night that must have been for them all!
Our regular customers often check tickets when they buy next week’s ticket, so it’s not surprising
that 32% of our winners found out they’d won while in their local Lotto store.
Reading the newspaper was still a popular option for 10% of our big winners, and 4% still used
teletext.
O M G! Are you kidding me?!
Shock and disbelief are overwhelming the first reaction of our big winners. Not surprisingly a few
started swearing, a few started crying, and one stopped breathing! But as in life, there are all types,
and one of our big winners took the win in their stride and just went to sleep like nothing had
happened.
While, we all know the odds of winning Lotto are about one in three million, our big winners seem to
have more faith – and 41% always thought they would win the big one, at some point.
And while it can take anywhere from minutes, days, weeks or months to sink in – once they see their
bank account balance in black and white, that’s when a lot of our winners really start to believe it’s
real.
Winning tickets get hidden in some strange places
Still the most popular place to keep a winning ticket is where winners usually keep their money – in
their purse or wallet. However, some winners seemed to be hoping for a better night’s sleep with
their winning ticket under their pillow (7%). Some definitely took a more creative approach and kept
their ticket in a bible, in their car or just held it all night – they’d clearly given up on a good night’s
sleep!
Three separate winners kept their ticket in a “secret hiding place” in their house. Does your house
have a secret hiding place?
Most big winners just tell immediate family – few go public
The wedding vows say ‘for better, for worse; for richer, for poorer’, so it’s no surprise that when our
winners find out that they’re richer, 51% turn to their other halves as the first person to share the
news of their good fortune with.
But once you’ve told your number one, who else do you tell? 19% just told their other half, while
31% also told their immediate family. But life is a spectrum, some people told nobody and some told
everybody!
Only 8% did not keep their win a secret – indicating that New Zealanders are still a modest bunch
and like to keep their Lotto wins very private.
Winning big does transform lives
As you would expect, winning big brings with it some amazing opportunities. For most winners, that
means: being financial secure, being able to get debt-free, paying off the mortgage and just
generally making life less stressful. For quite a few of our winners, the best thing about winning was
simply that “winning feeling”.
For one winner being able to get their teeth fixed was the best thing about winning – and definitely
something to smile about.
Yin and yang
The majority of big winners report no negative aspects to winning, but a small percentage mention
jealousy and gossip as being the unfortunate downside of winning.
Don’t worry, be happy
It’s often a conversation starter at dinner parties – can money make you happier? Well 51% of our
winners would say yes, as they report feeling increased levels of happiness since their win, and 17%
said while not strictly “happier”, they feel much more relaxed and confident being in a more
advantageous financial position.
Showing that Lotto players are a cheery bunch, of the 32% of our winners who said there has been
no change in their happiness levels since the win, the most reported reason was because they were
happy before the win, and they’re still happy after it.
The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step
So how to start spending your millions? We asked our winners what the first purchase they made
was – no matter how big or small. Getting something to eat or drink was a top priority for 19% of our
winners, who celebrated with everything from McDonalds, Moet, ice cream and takeaway curries.
Cars, clothes and TVs all featured. And one poor winner got some first-hand experience of a brutal
Wellington winter when collecting their winnings – the first thing they bought was a coat to protect
them from a bone-chilling southerly.
The wild and wonderful
We asked our winners what was the “wildest” purchase that they made and while it’s clear that
there is a huge variety on the wild spectrum, we got some really interesting results – from getting a
professional tattoo or a face-lift to throwing a big birthday party and inviting all their friends. One
plucky winner risked having a heart attack by having sex with the Missus!
Getting the car of your dreams could also be a reality with a big Lotto win and some of our winners
have bought: a classic 1968 Daimler, V8 trikes, a second-hand Porsche and a Honda CRV.
Although 56% took the cautious approach to ensure their winnings would bring them joy for years to
come and didn’t splurge on anything wild.
The big spend – winners look to home and abroad
The Kiwi dream of owning your own home is still alive and well with our Lotto winners. Fifty-two
percent of our winners spent most of their money on paying off their mortgage, buying a house or
doing up their house!
And when not spending money on their home, winners were spending money getting away from
home, with 16% spending their winnings on travel; while 8% took to the roads and bought a new car
or truck.
Lotto represents New Zealanders
It’s hard to pick the luckiest occupation as our winners come from all walks of life and all different
job types – office workers, teachers, doctors, nurses, engineers, viticulturists, investigators, horse
trainers, and real estate agents. You name it – they’ve won Lotto recently!
Having been around for 25 years, Lotto has a loyal older fan-base, so it’s not surprising that 20% of
our big winners were retired or semi-retired when they won.
When will you be back at work? Tomorrow actually
The day-dream of winning Lotto and quitting your job might just be a flight of fancy, as 85% of our
big winners kept working and remained in the same job as before their win.
Winners believe that lightening will strike twice.
The vast majority of our winners believe that more luck is headed their way, as 98% still regularly
buy Lotto tickets. And they may be right – one of our big winners surveyed had already won Lotto
First Division twice!
Family comes first for winners
A win can change the lives of close family members as well, with 64% of our big winners giving
money to their family and even more giving gifts.
Charities are also big winners
Fifty-two percent of our big winners gave money to charities with some of the most popular
charities being the SPCA, Westpac rescue helicopter, cancer society, children’s cancer, local hospices
and the Christchurch earthquake appeal.
Talking to the experts
The majority of our winners sought advice about how to manage their winnings, with banking
managers proving to be most popular with 44% of our winners. And sometimes Mum and Dad know
best, with 2% of our winners consulting with their parents about what to do with their winnings.
Practice makes perfect
A resounding 66% of our big winners wouldn’t change a thing if they won again. While a few would
give more money away to friends, family and charity – and try and enjoy it more!
Take it from someone who knows
We asked our winners what advice they would give someone else. The two biggest pieces of advice
were not to tell anyone and to take your time before you decide how to spend your money. Good
advice! Thinking about who to tell and taking some time before spending winnings are two key
pieces of advice in the Winners Booklet that NZ Lotteries gives to all of our big winners.
Most importantly, the next biggest piece of advice was to enjoy the winnings!