Best ideas to spend your lottery winnings on

First, pay off debts and get advice

Before any of the fun stuff, the usual advice for new winners is to slow down. Pay off debts, put the bulk somewhere safe and get proper advice before you spend big. Our guide on how to spend lottery winnings covers the sensible side, and the win planner shows how far a win would go.

Then set aside a pot just for fun. Here’s what you could do with it.

1. Go to space with Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic sells seats on its spaceflights for $750,000 each. It put prices up in 2026 when it started selling tickets again, and it expects its next spaceship to start flying in late 2026 or early 2027.

You’d need a big win for this one. A Lotto jackpot would cover it easily.

2. Take the Orient Express to Venice

The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express runs overnight from Paris to Venice, with dinner on a 1920s train. In 2026 the cheapest cabin costs £4,275 per person, and a Grand Suite costs £13,530 per person.

That’s the price of the train alone. Getting to Paris on the Eurostar is extra.

3. Become Lord or Lady of the Manor

Old manorial titles still come up for sale. The lordship of West Bromwich sold for £28,500 to a buyer who stayed anonymous.

It lets you call yourself Lord or Lady of West Bromwich, and you can put it on your passport. It doesn’t come with a seat in the House of Lords, and it doesn’t usually come with any land.

4. Buy your own Scottish island

Eilean Mor, a 12-hectare island in Loch Sunart in the West Highlands, went on the market in 2024 for offers over £325,000. It has oak woods, seals and visiting eagles.

It has no houses and no planning permission, though.

5. Own a racehorse, or a share in one

Colin and Chris Weir bought three racehorses after their £161m EuroMillions win. You don’t need to buy a whole horse, though. Racing syndicates sell small shares in a horse, so you get the race days and the winner’s enclosure for a fraction of the cost.

Training fees keep coming whether your horse wins or not.

6. Buy into your football club

Some winners have put money into their team. Michael Carroll put up to £1 million into Rangers. Colin Weir went further and bought a 55% stake in Partick Thistle in 2019. You can read where the Weirs’ money went in our story about them.

7. Buy a classic car, like Edwin Castro’s Porsche 911

Edwin Castro won $2.04 billion on Powerball and bought mansions and a vintage Porsche 911. You don’t need billions for a classic car, just a good mechanic and somewhere dry to keep it. Read what Castro did with his money.

8. Take an expedition cruise to Antarctica

Expedition cruises to the Antarctic Peninsula usually cost several thousand pounds per person, and well over £10,000 for a suite on a luxury ship. It’s one of those trips people say they’ll do "one day". A win makes one day this year.

9. Take the whole family somewhere hot, like Hawaii

When Joe and Jess Thwaite won £184m, their youngest wanted to go to Hawaii. Sometimes the best spend is taking everyone away together. Here’s how the Thwaites found out they’d won.

10. Give some of it away

This one sounds boring, but for some winners it’s the best bit. Frances and Patrick Connolly won £115m and have given about half of it away to family, friends and local causes. Read the Connollys’ story.

Lotto jackpot odds are 1 in 45 million, so play for fun

The odds of winning the Lotto jackpot are 1 in 45 million per round, so this list is for daydreaming. That’s half the fun. Play for fun and only spend what you can afford. Our guide on the odds of winning the lottery shows exactly how long a shot it is.

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