Leader comment: Let's not wallow in Champagne

'Who wants to be a millionaire? I don't,' goes the famous Cole Porter song from the 1956 film High Society.
The Winning Nurses syndicate at Cleland Hospital, who won a £1 million lottery prizeThe Winning Nurses syndicate at Cleland Hospital, who won a £1 million lottery prize
The Winning Nurses syndicate at Cleland Hospital, who won a £1 million lottery prize

“Who wants to be a millionaire? I don’t,” goes the famous Cole Porter song from the 1956 film High Society.

A group of Motherwell nurses is celebrating after they collectively won £1 million in the ‘EuroMillions Millionaire Maker’ lottery draw. But, because they were in a syndicate, no millionaires have actually been made with each member receiving the much more modest prize of just over £66,000.

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This is still a life-changing amount, but not on the scale of the world’s largest prizes, which can run into the hundreds of millions; the world-record payout, in the US in 2016, was a staggering £1.1 billion.

Lottery history is littered with people who won big only to struggle to cope with their sudden wealth and for their lives to fall apart. Great wealth can be a curse as well as a blessing. But £66,000 seems like a decent amount, one that makes a real difference but not so much as to send the winner crashing off the rails. Perhaps there should be a cap on lottery prizes so we would all stand a better chance of winning?

After all, as Porter pondered wisely, who really wants to “wallow in Champagne?”