Winning millions on the National Lottery can transform a person’s life overnight, but for many jackpot winners, one of the biggest challenges is finding someone who truly understands the experience.
To help bridge that gap, a private WhatsApp group has been created exclusively for winners who have chosen to go public, allowing them to share advice, celebrate milestones and support one another as they adjust to sudden wealth.
The community, made up of some of Britain’s wealthiest lottery winners, has become a place where members exchange holiday photos, discuss charitable projects and build friendships with others who have experienced the life-changing impact of a major win.
Andy Carter, the National Lottery’s long-serving “fixer”, has spent two decades helping more than 2,500 winners navigate a combined £4billion in prize money.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, he said the winner network has become one of the most valuable forms of support available after the celebrations are over.
Explaining what happens after someone lands a major prize, Carter said winners receive guidance and advice from National Lottery operator Allwyn UK.
Winners who decide to go public are also supported through media appearances, with teams ensuring they have “a good day and lots of keepsakes”, including champagne glasses from their winner photoshoot.
However, Carter said many winners quickly discover they have nobody in their everyday lives who can relate to what has happened.
“Actually, you are on your own. You probably don’t know someone else who’s won. There’s a community of winners, so they get introduced to each other.
“There’s events where they go off and do stuff together and actually friendships are forged because they’re able to say, ‘well, what did you feel like when you won?'”
The WhatsApp group is only available to winners who have gone public, as anonymous winners risk revealing their identity by taking part.
According to Carter, members often use the group to discuss experiences that few other people could understand.
“When they get to the stage where they’re doing more luxurious stuff, they are able to share that with other people who are also able to do the same.
“So you don’t feel bad about saying ‘well, actually do you know, I’ve just taken my lot off to…’ And they’ll say ‘oh, well done.’ So there is this real community.”
Carter, a married father of two from Cardiff, believes the support network is one of the Lottery’s greatest successes.
“The community of winners” is, he said, “one of the most valuable things we do”.
Asked what conversations take place within the group, he said: “I think a lot of it is sharing, supportive – first of all welcoming and congratulating people, telling people about a lot of the good stuff they do around charity.
“Also it is sharing the holiday pictures, it is saying, have you been here? It is saying have you tried this?
“It’s sudden wealth. Remember, that’s a different sort of wealth, it’s different from inherited wealth, or if you’ve built up a business and you sell it.”
He said many winners initially ask themselves “why was it me” as they try to understand how their lives may change.
“You don’t have to change your life or you can change the bits you want to change.
“You don’t have to change at all. You can change at your pace. It doesn’t matter.”
Although members openly discuss many aspects of their new lifestyles, Carter said there is one topic that is almost always avoided.
“What’s great is when they all come together from what I can see, the numbers are never discussed.
“So if you put someone in a room who’s won £1million and £10million and £20million, they’ve all got the same wacky experience.”
Because everyone involved has already chosen to go public, Carter said access to the winner community is often one of the biggest advantages of ending anonymity.
Alongside wellbeing courses designed to help winners adjust, he encourages people to stay connected with fellow jackpot recipients.
Members also share ideas for charitable work and regularly organise volunteering events together.
Recent projects have included giving a “millionaire makeover” to a garden used by pre-school children at Sacrewell Farm near Peterborough, reports the Daily Mail.
Another group spent time with volunteers and service users at Cegin Hedyn, a community kitchen in Carmarthen, south-west Wales.
Carter said the friendships built among winners create a genuine “sense of camaraderie”.
“If you have won the lottery, the best thing you can do is go and have a cup of tea with someone else who has won.”
The comments come after the UK version of the world’s biggest jackpot game, Powerball, launched last month, giving players the chance to win prizes worth more than £390million following a series of rollovers.
The National Lottery game allows UK players to pay £4 per line to compete alongside US players for shared jackpots.
To enter, players choose five white numbers between one and 69, plus one red Powerball number between one and 26. Matching all six numbers wins the jackpot.