What Happens When Small Scottish Islands Win The Lottery?

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We’d all like to win the lottery. Most people who have only just heard what a lottery is would like to win one. We sit and daydream of what our win in one of the many progressive jackpot lotteries might purchase for us. However, typically it is a solitary dream of independent wealth. No one dream of themselves and all their neighbors winning the lottery with them. However, for one Scottish island, that’s precisely what happened, with some very interesting results.

So what did you want? Round the world trips? Exotic Italian sports cars? A new house on the Riviera? Once you start considering what to buy with a notional lottery win the sky’s the limit. Of course, the reality is usually a little more humdrum than our dreams. We know that. However just sometimes normality can seem a bit of a letdown. As if it isn’t trying hard enough. Take, just for instance, what happens when a community in the far-flung reaches of Scotland win the lottery.

The UK Postcode lottery may not be the best lottery to play in the UK. Lotto Agent has better. However, it is very simple. You sign up, there’s a regular draw, and if your postcode (zip code) wins, so do you. You get a share of the pot up for grabs that draw. So, in this case, 101 people on the small Scottish island of North Uist got a share of £3 Million. To a small rural island community in these dark days of ours, that’s an awful lot of money suddenly floating around.

A New Non-Stick Frying Pan?

So, did our happy islanders win the lottery then and go wild? Well no, not really. In fact there’s a distinctly down-to-earth feel to their response. Would you really collect your money and rush out to buy a new wheelbarrow? One of the islanders did. He also bought a pedal bin and a non-stick frying pan, because. Well. You only live once, right? To be fair, he then also bought himself a new flashy chair too. Still. Not quite what we imagine ourselves doing with our winnings eh?

“On the islands, there’s more practical things to do with money rather than blow it on cars or holidays. You spend it on something you need.”

• Donald MacDonald – Lottery Winner

Another couple said they planned to take a holiday. When someone asked when they would go, they said Inverness. Inverness is perhaps the closest regional city to them. Not especially adventurous. But then they do live on a remote Scottish island, how much adventure do they really need? What they really need, they bought. One man spent £3,000 on a new dingy. A perfectly valid purchase, even the best lotto jackpot reviews would agree, but it’s a not a superyacht, is it?

You Could Win The Lottery At Lotto Agent

Likewise there’s something distinctly charming about the couple that said the first thing they’d buy was a cattle grid. The metal lattice on the road would keep wandering sheep from their garden. A positive boon for them, but again, not something the rest of us have dreamed of buying when we win the lottery. The closest any of them get to a relatively normal splurge is the couple than bought a new BMW. Which is probably very useful of a barely 303km2 Scottish island. 

“I bought a table-top dishwasher because I’m not a fan of washing up.”

• Peter Johnson – Lottery Winner

Now if you’re sat there thinking this is all a bit weird, you’re probably right. It is. You should therefore be pleaed to also know you are not alone. Channel 4 in the UK has decided if so many crazies win the lottery it’s worth a documentary. They’re probably right too. These islanders prove that the even best lottery jackpots are only as useful as what you spend them on. So the next time you daydream, perhaps you ought to think more wheelbarrow than Ferrari F8 Tributo.  

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We take a look at what happens when some very down to earth people on a small Scottish island win the lottery.