There was a chap on the Beeb the other day who won about six million quid a few years back. He said he got loads of begging letters. He ignored them all, but kept them.
Two years later he was contacted by The Guardian who were doing a piece on lottery winners. He gave them the begging letters and they researched them.
Most were from chancers, some from genuine people with various problems but two were from people the Guardian estimated to be worth 10 million quid or more!
It does seem pretty foolhardy, but perhaps they realised that the chances of keeping it quiet due to kids/brothers/sisters/neighbours was slim and decided, as already mentioned, to do a controlled reveal and ride the crazy wave from there. At 7.20pm the night of the draw, I realised that i hadn't bought a ticket and then thought 'ollocks "can't be bothered". Next morning, on the radio..."And the winner of the Euromillions jackpot is from the UK....."
Oh well, all the best to them, "It's life Jim, but not as we know it"
i agree that its an obscene amount of money for one ticket to win, there must be a fairer and better way to divi out massive jackpots like this. however, the pair who have one it seem to be a nice genuine couple,i wish them well and hope they enjoy spending it.
When, yes when*, I win a rather large lottery, my first call will be to our family attorney to set up a Trust that the funds will go into. So when anyone inquires as to just who won the millions an millions of dollars, it will be the ABC Trust. With me as the sole trustee of course, well myself and Mrs. C-P as the only trustees.
With all the nonsense about taxes going on in Washington, our joint salary will be $249,999.99 a year, but the trust is going to own a lot of stuff that we want and like. Oh, a pay for upkeep of all the stuff as well. The $249,999.99 a year will be pocket money.
Location: A civilised little County..with a bit of eccentricity to boot
Posts: 674
Dear Winners,
I am writing to congratulate you on the wheel of fortune that has turned in your favour in Falkirk.
My name is Alex, you may possibly have seen me on the television at times, and I have grand plans to become President for life of Scotland.
Clearly, this will require some capital investment ( on behalf of others you understand, not myself ) to enable me to ascend to my designated role in life and indeed the world.
As it happens, I will be in your area in the very near future and would like to drop in for a wee chat and to discuss in more detail, what I am sure you will consider to be a very worthy, and indeed generous donation to a very special case..myself.
A small word of caution to the unwary. The winners looked a trifle rickety. If they shell out a load of moolah to their children, as they seem to wish to do, and don't live for seven years from the end of the tax year in which the gift was made, there might be a 40% IHT whack on the gift. Even with £163m or whatever, 40% is a kicker. It's a brilliant idea, to set the offspring up in Ferraris for life but who wants to pay tax in order to help Mrs Nick Clegg and her Spanish company get another contract to build windfarms in the UK? ACCIONA - official page
ing stupid. Have they any idea of what will happen 
