Opting for publicity holds some appeal
for many winners. Because Euromillions is a topic of
interest for many millions, any winner who goes public
is virtually guaranteed a taste of fame. They will often
be treated to champagne dinners and driven around for
interviews in a limousine. They will get their picture
in newspaper and magazines, their name on thousands
of internet sites and the story of their success on
radio and television shows all over Europe, if not the
world.
Whilst most winners who opt for publicity enjoy a short
period of fame, some remain famous for much longer.
For example, the name Dolores McNamara has been on the
lips of every Euromillions trivia buff ever since she
won €115,000,000 in July 1995 and became the largest
individual winner in the history of the game. Her name
will become less famous as soon as an individual wins
more than €115,000,000, but until then Dolores will
remain the biggest star in the Euromillions hall of
fame.
Being famous certainly has its perks, but it isn’t
all good news. The downside of allowing your Euromillions
jackpot win to be publicised is that you will start
receiving requests for money, and lots of them. Your
address won’t be publicised by the lottery company,
of course, but the letters will still find their way
to you in their hundreds, and every one will give you
a dozen good reasons why you should use some of your
fortune to help the sender. Another disadvantage of
being famous for having a Euromillions win is that the
media will keep a close eye on how you spend your money
and comment accordingly. If you spend it carefully,
you will be called a miser. If you spend it lavishly,
you will be called reckless. Not matter what you do,
you can be sure that at least one newspaper or magazine
will find fault with it.
Does all of this mean that it is better to opt for
no publicity at all? You can be forgiven for thinking
this, but in reality opting out is no guarantee of privacy.
When you choose no publicity, all you are doing is asking
the lottery company to keep your name, address and other
personal information confidential. The lottery organisers
will be perfectly happy to do this, but the media can
still do their own detective work and will usually be
able to identify you as the mysterious Euromillions
winner within a matter of days. Some newspapers will
even offer a reward for friends, colleagues or family
members to let the cat out of the bag!
Since the chances are that you will find it almost
impossible to keep your Euromillions win a complete
secret, opting for publicity at the outset makes a lot
of sense. It gives the media what they want, the lottery
organisers will be able to help prepare you for interviews
and you won’t have to worry about being “found out”
at a later date. The begging letters will still arrive
en masse, but look on the bright side – at least you’ll
be able to afford a secure hiding place!
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