Double Lottery winners are lucky blighters

How many of you shook your head in disbelief at the news a former lorry driver and his wife had won the lottery twice in less than two years?
David and Kathleen Long. Photo: Lynne Cameron/PA WireDavid and Kathleen Long. Photo: Lynne Cameron/PA Wire
David and Kathleen Long. Photo: Lynne Cameron/PA Wire

I think of myself as someone routinely generous and happy to hear of the good fortune of others.

But there are times when even my genuine good nature gets tested to the limit.

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And I found it hard to get too excited about this huge slice of good fortune.

I have never had more than four numbers in a Lottery draw.

The green-eyed monster peering over my shoulder? I hope not.

And as if National Lottery winners aren’t bad enough, there’s the multi-multi-million pound lunacy we call the EuroMillions.

David and Kathleen Long’s two wins have come courtesy of the Euros.

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Not the sort of jackpots that could pay off the national debt of Greece, but seven figures on both occasions.

My own strange logic suggests the more other Brits scoop on the Euros, the smaller my chances. I am sure statisticians out there would tell me such an event can’t change my chances of winning, but being able to put one’s money worries behind you is such a vain hope that it is easy to lose faith.

There were plenty of statistics bandied around following the Longs remarkable double lottery win, with some saying the odds were 283 billion-to-one, although this was dismissed by others who argued the chances would be the same as winning once because the two events were separate.

This argument lost me early on but I am certain of one thing: that the Longs are lucky blighters who could not care less if their two £1m. wins were far less likely than them both being killed by a shark – there aren’t many of those near their home town of Scunthorpe.

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You pays your money and you takes your chance, I suppose, but if I won a seven-figure prize I would stop playing and give everyone else a chance.

And in the case of the Longs, I just hope that good things don’t come in threes!