On an American radio, a father revealed that he had won nearly 21 million euros in the lottery. And for a fairly understandable reason, he decided to hide it from his two teenagers and those close to him, apart from his wife and his brother.
When it’s time to scratch your game or fill out your lotto grid, we’ve all already imagined what we would do if we one day won the jackpot. There are those who would immediately stop working to travel the world or who would realize all their dreams, still others who would benefit from associations or who would shelter their loved ones… And then, there There are certain winners who decide, for their own reasons, to remain discreet, to hide their winnings from their family while maintaining the same lifestyle. This is the case of this Australian father in his fifties, who shared his story on an American radio program, the Ramsey Show.
A jackpot hidden for years
Two years ago, this dad – who calls himself John to remain anonymous – played the lottery with “a group of colleagues” and won 35 million Australian dollars, or around 21 million euros. A nice jackpot that could change the life of any family, except that this Australian chose not to tell anyone about it. Only his wife and one of his brothers are in the secret. To justify his decision, taken with his wife, he puts forward a first argument: “The first thing I did when I found out I had won was to do some research. I read that on average 1 in 5 people lose their winnings or go bankrupt within 10 years . And above all, if we tell too many people, everyone rushes to our door just out of interest.”
A secret even from his two teenagers, but why?
This lottery winner also chose not to warn his teenage children for good reason. He explains: “We didn’t even tell our two teenagers, so they could figure out what they wanted to do with their lives, not wait until we died to get the money.” and make it that simple for them. This secret doesn’t count either “hide from them forever.” Furthermore, the parents have changed almost nothing in their daily lives. “We are not looking to improve anything,” adds the man on the radio. They both continue to work because they love what they do. They also kept their two Toyota cars and have not decided to change homes.
On the other hand, they have surrounded themselves with a team that advises them on investments and they have already helped a few relatives in need without saying that they had won the lottery, but under the pretext of the inheritance of a relative, who had just to die. And you, in their place, would you have made the same decision?