'We won £1k-a-week for life on lottery and it has made things a living hell'
A couple who won £1,000 a week for life on the lottery have spoken out about the 'nightmare' the win brought them, and they even had to move away from their hometown
Winning the lottery is many people's fantasy, but one couple have revealed how a lifetime jackpot transformed their existence into absolute misery. A mate speaking for them described how neighbours in his area bagged £1,000 weekly for life during the early 1980s, yet instead of delivering financial liberation, the lottery win brought endless troubles.
He revealed on Reddit: "They were already the 'rich' relatives to both their families. In reality they were upper middle class. They sold their house and essentially went into hiding for over four years, their relatives were absolutely relentless in trying to track them down to get their share."
He claims the situation became so dire that their youngsters - aged 10 and 14 - needed to be withdrawn from school whilst the household ultimately altered their surname to regain some privacy.
They continued: "I came home from school one day to a carload of their relatives waiting to talk to my brother about his friends whereabouts, it was frightening."
"Luckily our neighbours intervened and made them leave. My brother was hiding in the house, he recognised them and had ducked down the alley to the back of our house.
"We barely saw his friend after that, I think they moved to a larger city on the East Coast."
Responding to the post, one user remarked: "It's crazy that £1k a week would result in this behaviour.
"Even if in the 80's it was a lot, It's still not enough to be considered filthy rich. More like We can retire well off money."
Another user added: "What 'share' were these people even looking for or expecting?".
"A thousand a week is great and would be a great comfort to most people, but it's not I'm super rich now money.
"If they were already upper middle class, that extra £52k a year wouldn't budge them out of that category.
"They'd still be upper middle class - which is great and means they likely had a comfortable life, but that's it. They were just more comfortable.
"Fewer worries about bills, the kids' college funds would be set, a real nice holiday or car each year, pay off the house early... But sure as hell not 'lift up the entire extended family' money."
A third person commented: "It blows my mind how shameless people can get."
While another added: "The scratch off is £1K a week. The lottery ticket of the same name is £1K a day. That's definitely enough to retire."