Homes. Trips. Family. Charity. That ultra-rare golden-ticket Willy Wonka Funko Pop figure.
We’ve all got our own ideas of what we would do should we ever win big playing the lottery, likely formed over the course of years of playing and dreaming.
But what if you won big on your first ticket? When you were just 18 years old? Before you even had a chance to really think about how millions of dollars could change your life?
That’s what happened to Juliette from Sault Ste. Marie.
Upon turning 18 – the legal age to play the lottery in Ontario – the Ontario teen’s grandfather suggested she buy a ticket. She picked one up at a local convenience store, stopping along the way to call her dad to ask what she should buy (he fortuitously suggested she ask for a Lotto 6/49 Quick Pick with ENCORE – an easy way for anyone to start playing).
Then Juliette forgot all about it. That is, until a conversation at work the following week about a $48-million jackpot winning ticket that had been sold in her home town which reminded her she hadn’t checked her numbers. She pulled out the ticket, and her boss checked it for her using his phone.
That’s when the winning music began to play.
Juliette was in shock. When her employer turned the phone to show her the screen, she asked, “How many zeros is that? Let me count! It’s a lot of zeros! It was so surreal.”
She signed her $48-million winning ticket, her hands shaking. Then she called her mom, who, after freaking out an appropriate amount, told Juliette she had to stay at work to finish her shift, like any good parent struggling to impart a life lesson in such a strange moment would.
But what then? What would you do with an enormous, unexpected windfall?
Resist the Urge to “Fan the Flames”
Whether you’ve just won $100 or $100 million, the first question you’re likely to ask yourself after you calm down will likely be: What should I do with my winnings?
One thing you probably shouldn’t do, most experts agree, is spend any of it right away. Your best bet is simply to do nothing with your winnings until you’ve had a chance to think about what you want and, in the case of very large wins, consult financial, tax, and legal advisors, the subject matter experts to talk about next steps such as how to invest your winnings it and where to keep it.
This includes resisting the urge to “fan the flames” by spending your winnings on additional tickets or bets to try to win even more. When it comes to gambling, the concept of striking while the iron’s hot doesn’t really apply. Your odds never go up just because you happened to win once.
Use the Tools at Your Disposal
PlaySmart has some useful tools that can help you avoid the doubling-down mindset. You know, like when you feel inclined to take an even bigger risk in hopes of breaking even or winning more? You might think you’re lucky at the moment, when in fact your odds haven’t gone up at all.
When you set up an account with OLG you gain access to the My Play Customizer tools, where you can do things like set a lottery spending limit to help manage how much you spend on tickets going forward regardless of how much you win (or lose).
You can also glean insights into your own behaviour and play style by using the My Play History section of your My PlaySmart Tools, which tracks what you spend and when you spend it. You’ll quickly discover patterns in how you play, which may lead you to make changes that let you have fun without going overboard, even after a win.
There are, in fact, tools designed to help manage how you use all of OLG’s products, from tracking and budgeting the time you spend playing iCasino games to setting bankroll limits for PROLINE+ activities.
Point being, responsible gambling habits aren’t based on whether you win or lose, but how you play. The fun of the lottery is imagining all the things you could do if you won, whether that means setting up a foundation to save animals or buying yourself a seat on a private spaceship. Just remember to make smart choices both before and after your spaceship comes in.
