Unlike in the case where a Free State man won a pay-out worth 121 million ZAR and he could afford to quit his job and start his retirement early as he had only two years left before he had to retire.
In cases like these, where people are often close to retirement, they decide to quit their jobs, take their pay-out, perhaps pay off their mortgage, car, or any other bills and loans, and settle into an early retirement.
However, there are those who are still in the prime of their employment with years ahead of them before retirement who are considering quitting and starting an early retirement, if only they could win when betting on an event.
There have, however, been numerous studies conducted in how a lottery windfall had affected its winners, and when considering what their attitudes to work were. The findings are surprising.
A study from the 1980s, conducted in Berkley, found that there were 549 lottery winners in America of which only 23% of them had quit their jobs after they received their pay-out, and those who had won $50,000 and less, had quit.
Another study in 2004 backed this up and it was concluded that around 85% of lottery winners kept their jobs and continued working with 63% of these winners remaining with the same employer that they had been with even before their pay-out.
However, in the UK, the results were slightly different. A study form Ipsos MORI, regarding British lottery winners, had found that less than half of those who had been surveyed continued working the same job that they had before they won a pay-out.
There are those winners who found their lifelong passion and dream jobs through a lottery pay-out, such as Dean Weymes, who had been working for Amazon as a shift-worker before his pay-out, who became a screenwriter after he no longer needed to worry about financials.
These individuals, amidst numerous others who have won substantial pay-outs over the years, have a choice in what to do with their pay-outs, whether they want to quit their jobs, start a new career, their own business, or whether they would opt for an early retirement.
Although, as these studies mentioned have shown, most winners opt for a normal life with the same routine that they had before they became millionaires, and even billionaires.
There are, of course, winners who quit their jobs and who decide to have the life that they have always dreamed of to enjoy the finer things of life, but it also shows that despite the chance of millions and billions, most individuals still settle for a modest life with a stable job or business venture with a routine to tie it all together.
