Female Forum

Currently in the UK the legal age at which you can buy a lottery ticket is 16. Do you think this is too young? Do you think someone of that age could cope if they won a lot of money?

This young man won 2 million pounds at the age of 17. Now at 29 he’s dead. It would appear that he simply couldn’t cope with it all. He became a virtual recluse and hardly ever went out.

lottery winner dies recluse

I remember anothe case of a young girl, (her name escapes me for the moment) who won roughly the same amount. She is now bankrupt. She went on huge spending sprees, treating her family to cars and holidays, instead of doing the sensible thing and saving it.

I think the age limit should be raised to 18, or maybe even 21. At 16 you simply arn’t mature enough to be able to cope with winning such vast sums of money. 2 million quid, although very nice, would completly overwhelm me. I have no idea what I would do with such a vast sum of money.  What do you lot think?

I was under the impression that people recived some kind of finacial advice and help coping via the lottery people?

It would be hard for anyone having to adjust thier lifestyle and there would always be family and friends who would feel you ‘owed ‘ them something..

I know viv nickleson the pools winner back in the 1960’s blew her money in just 4 years her motto ‘spend spend spend’ a film was made about her with that title I think..
She was alot older than this lad but with no advice or help she just couldnt cope with the sudden life change and the social probelms money can bring.

I dont know about raising the age but maybe some kind of cooling off time would be good with counsilling and advice given in that time to help people understand exactly what they can and cant do and how far this money could go or how quickly!

Maybe leaving the age limit as it is but not actually being able to access the money until you are 18?

I think it would be too much for some teens to deal with, As Souxi said before that girl who won all that money is now bankrupt and she could of been set up for life with the money she won and it’s a shame to see that she’s wasted such a life changing amount of money and I’m sure it’s haunts her daily when she realises how well she could of lived.

I am afraid even older people have problems with a huge and sudden influx of wealth. I am really annoyed at these people who bemoan the fact that they have all this money and it has ruined their lives. Why did they do the Lottery in the first place? I know for sure that it would be a good thing for me and know pretty much exactly what to do to set me up for a comfortable and interesting life. All I need are those elusive 6 numbers :]