Cambridge couple Dave and Angela Dawes went public with their £101m EuroMillions win on Tuesday, but such public announcements are actually rare.
Lottery operators Camelot have said that only about 10 to 20 per cent of people decide to go public with the news of their win.
Huffington Post UK spoke to Andy Carter, senior winners adviser at Camelot, to see what it is like dealing with private winners, even though their lottery scoop means their lives will never be the same again.
“You often get people who don’t want anybody finding out," he said.
“As soon as we get a call, we come out and see you. There have been times I’ve been told to say I’m a bank manager, an insurance man or an estate agent when a neighbour has popped round and the winner hasn’t wanted anyone to know.”
“Sometimes I deal with people who live close by, or with whom I share mutual acquaintances, but I can’t say anything. We do share a knowing glance when we walk past each other though.”
“Funny things happen to you in this job. I once dealt with a man who kept on getting up and walking to the window and looking out. He kept asking me ‘how long is this going to take?’"
“I told him it would probably be about an hour, and he told me that his wife had just popped out to Tesco."
The man, it turned out, had not told his wife about his good fortune.
"It’s just I haven’t told her I’ve won and I’m not going to, I mean we are happy together, it’s just in our relationship I look after the money side of things and I’m going to deal with this," the winner told Carter.
Carter added that the man’s win was more in the hundreds of thousands than the millions, explaining that for bigger winners it's “nay on impossible to hide".
“There are people who just want to head off into the sunset, but we go through the pros and cons of going public on the first visit. If you are thinking of telling anyone, when you go down the publicity route you have better control as Camelot’s press office can confirm or deny what’s being said.”
“Public celebrations help you to come to terms with it too. At any major event, like a wedding or a birth you celebrate with champagne or have your photo taken.”
Is Carter ever envious of the winners, after a momentary hesitation he answers:
“You know, you see people who are were about to get their homes repossessed or just been made redundant. They might have an ill relative and this money will help them get the treatment they need.
"It’s a privilege to be part of someone’s life when they are going through something that positive.”