Recently some lucky lady won £29,624 at Flutters bingo hall in Biggleswade in the first national win at the club in two years. Manager Martin Redmond said it was a great coup for the club, and apparently it caused a lot of excitement locally. We don’t know who the winner was, as she didn’t want her name published in the local newspaper that reported the win. You can read the article here. Which brings us to the question “Would you allow yourself to be named as a big winner?”.
The Biggleswade winner didn’t want her name known, perhaps because it’s very easy to get an address from a name these days, and before you know it you’re forking out a chunk of your winnings for beefed up home security.
This applies to any big win, probably more poignantly to online bingo, casino, and lottery wins though as they are so huge. £26K is a nice sum of money to win and may help with paying off mortgages, a holiday, doing up the house etc., but it is not a hugely life changing amount.
For years now there have been huge lottery wins, and if you hit that £12 million Euromillions lottery win (minimum jackpot) do you know what you would say when it comes to the publicity machine? If it was a spur of the moment decision, in the heat of excitement you may throw caution to the wind and be happy to let the world know who you are. I’m guessing that despite what the lottery may say about ‘protecting people’, I’m sure they really do want you to be known, as let’s face it, they want to show a happy smiling face with a huge cardboard cheque in their hands as it is good for business. And so, I’m guessing that despite guidelines there may be a bit of a shove in the publicity direction over that of the cloak of anonymity.
I’m wondering what the advantages are of going public? If any at all? I can see many disadvantages though. All a sudden you may start to wonder about any new friends that you make, is it the money or is it me they like? And if you are single that goes doubly. Also, if you have any sense of social responsibility, what you do with your money will be played out on a public stage, and will be the subject of scrutiny. I could go on. One advantage I can think of would be a warm feeling gained from the spreading of joy via anonymous donations. That, and the smug feeling that you’ve got a bundle of cash that hardly anyone knows about and the knowledge that you can do practically whatever you want. You should never make money your god, however it does bring with it that undeniable freedom, although if you tell everyone about it, it may become your prison.
Anyway, whilst an academic point for everyone except that .000000001% of players who hit that jackpot, please let us know what you think. What would you do? What are the advantages of going public? We’d love to hear from you, just leave a comment below.
