Winning the lottery: Most Brits’ first purchase would be buying a house

A new survey from MyVoucherCodes has found that buying a home would be most people’s first purchase if they were to win the lottery.[1]

To get an idea of the nation’s financial priorities, the voucher code site asked Brits what they would buy first if they were to win £2 million in the lottery. The results show that almost a third (30%) would choose to buy a house as their first spend, putting it at the top of the country’s wish list.

Buying a home was a particularly common selection among millennials (1982-99). More millennials chose a house as their first purchase than any other generation, which may indicate that they’re the most concerned about being able to afford one.

The second most popular answer, and a top priority for 21%, was giving some money to friends and family, showing that sharing truly is caring for many Brits. Spreading the wealth would be less of a priority for millennials though, as only 9% said this would be their first spend, compared to 12% of Gen X (1965-81) and a huge 49% of those from the silent generation (1928-45).

Paying off debt (16%) and going on a holiday (15%) were the third and fourth most popular answers, respectively, followed by 7% of people choosing to invest their lottery money.

Meanwhile, only 4% chose to buy a car as their first spend, and a tiny 1% would prioritise buying gadgets such as a new TV. Similarly, only 3% would donate to charity as their first course of action, with 2% choosing to kick off their lottery spending with a big party.

The full list can be found below:
Buying a house (30%)
Giving some to friends and family (21%)
Paying off debt (16%)
Going on a holiday (15%)
Investing some of it (7%)
Buying a car (4%)
Donating to charity (3%)
Throwing a big party (2%)
Buying new gadgets -a new TV, home cinema, etc (1%)
The survey also found that women would be more generous with their lottery winnings than men. A quarter (25%) of women would give some money to friends and family as their first spend, compared to just 17% of men.

On top of this, slightly more women (3%) chose to prioritise donating to charity compared to men (2%). Women would also be marginally more likely to kickstart the lottery-winner spending with a big party, with 2% of women picking this compared to 1% of men.

Sarah-Jane Outten, savings expert at MyVoucherCodes, said: “Thinking about what you would first buy when hypothetically winning the lottery is a great way to figure out what your priorities are. It’s a good insight for businesses to have, too, as it lets them understand consumer desires and needs on a grander scale.

“Of course, winning the lottery is a one-in-a-million kind of luck, but there are smaller, more realistic ways of improving spending ability. Finding ways to stretch a limited budget is key to helping people feel like winners, and sometimes, finding a good voucher code can be a huge win, making something desirable more affordable.”