You Won't Guess What These Lottery Winners Blew Their Cash On First

Strange first buys by the people who won big

Imagine you won the lottery, what’s the first thing you'd buy? Most people would invest in a new house or take a once-in-a-lifetime vacation. But some lucky winners made some very different decisions...

Read on to discover some of the most unusual first things that lottery winners have snapped up after cracking open the champagne. All dollar amounts in US dollars. 

Greta and Tony Dodd: four new knees

British couple Greta and Tony Dodd scooped a cool £2.4 million ($2.9m) UK Lotto jackpot in 2007. They chose their winning numbers – 3, 10, 21, 25, 29, and 49 – based on a series of significant birthdays and house numbers, and the gamble clearly paid off.

Greta and Tony Dodd: four new knees

The Dodds, who were in their sixties at the time, had big plans for their newfound fortune. But before they could enjoy watching the Golf Open Championship or going dancing together, the couple planned to make an initial investment: his 'n' hers knee replacement operations to help them combat arthritis.

Greta and Tony Dodd: four new knees

The private operations reportedly cost around £40,000 ($49.2k) of their total winnings. "We're not a professional dance couple but we like the usual jig about," Tony told UK newspaper The Mirror. "We used to go dancing at our local social club but had to stop when our knees got bad." He booked his first knee replacement operation the same week they won the jackpot, so it wasn’t long before the Dodds were back on the dance floor.

David Copeland: land on the moon

David Copeland became £1 million ($1.2m) richer when he won the UK lottery in 2000. While many winners burn through their fortunes in the blink of an eye, Copeland chose to maintain his frugal lifestyle, according to an interview with UK newspaper The Sun. Back in 2006, he said that his money "has all been carefully invested." But it wasn’t just stocks and bonds he added to his portfolio – he also snapped up an asset a little further from home... 

David Copeland: land on the moon

After buying a bottle of champagne to celebrate his win, Copeland’s first purchase was £120 ($145) of land on the moon. The former lab technician reportedly followed up this unusual investment by buying acres of land on both Venus and Mars. 

David Copeland: land on the moon

His cosmic investments aside, Copeland clearly had a down-to-earth approach when it came to spending his jackpot. Describing himself as "not by nature a big spending person," Copeland retrained as a driving instructor and chauffeur (pictured) and bought a modest four-bed house with his winnings.

Roy Gibney: a personalized swimming pool

Many people choose their lottery numbers for sentimental reasons – but not everyone decides to commemorate them in quite the same way as Rob Gibney. The former metal worker won £7.4 million ($9m) back in 1998 and, after resigning from his job, spent £375,000 ($454k) on a new home in Grimsby, England (pictured) and began renovating it to fit his very personal tastes... 

Roy Gibney: a personalized swimming pool

The most striking addition to the six-bedroom mansion was a 50-foot indoor swimming pool, complete with Gibney’s winning lottery numbers spelled out in blue tiles across the bottom. The full text reads: "Roy Gibney, 7.5 million, 12. 13. 21. 23. 33. 36, 8 July 1998".

Roy Gibney: a personalized swimming pool

But after 14 years, Grimsby’s first-ever lottery winner reportedly grew bored of his luxurious lifestyle. By 2012, Gibney had returned to work, founding his own sheet metal business. He put his mansion on the market in 2018. Whether the new owners kept his unique decor choice has never been revealed... 

Jonathan Vargas: a female wrestling show

When 19-year-old Jonathan Vargas (pictured) won the $35.3 million US Powerball jackpot in May 2008, he wasted no time in turning his dream into reality. But his dream wasn’t to fund a college education, get on the property ladder, or go on a round-the-world trip. Instead, Vargas opted to found Wrestlicious Takedown – a TV show about women's professional wrestling.

Jonathan Vargas: a female wrestling show

A construction worker and graduate of the Airport High School in South Carolina, he had no experience in TV but partnered with wrestling manager Jimmy Hart (pictured) and TV producer Johnny Cafarella to bring Wrestlicious Takedown to our TV screens. 

Jonathan Vargas: a female wrestling show

Unfortunately for Vargas, Wrestlicious wasn’t a roaring success. The first and only series was taped in 2008 but aired in March 2010. Despite being announced, a second series was never filmed.

Tracy Field: dog biscuits

In July 2008, Tracy Field's life was turned upside down when she discovered she'd won £2.5 million ($3m) on the UK's National Lottery.

A single mother who was battling breast cancer at the time, Field reportedly couldn't believe her luck but reportedly always had a "funny feeling" she'd come into money. Even so, she was in such shock that her first post-win purchase wasn't quite what you'd expect... 

Tracy Field: dog biscuits

After confirming that she did have the winning numbers, Field headed straight for her local supermarket. But her first port of call wasn't the champagne aisle. According to British newspaper The Mirror, she "went to [supermarket] Tesco at midnight in pyjamas and bought a box of Bonio dog biscuits because [she] couldn't think of what else to buy" after "years of scrimping." 

Tracy Field: dog biscuits

Field's dog isn't the only one who's benefited from her win though. Fifteen years on, Field – who's been given the all-clear from her cancer doctor – has bought a new car and home, and now goes on regular vacations. In 2019, as part of the National Lottery's 25th anniversary celebrations, she told reporters: "It took a couple of years for it to actually sink in. Even now I still tell myself 'can you really afford that?' The fact I don’t have to worry about finances anymore is the biggest thing and I can offer help to my family if they need it."

John and Linda Kutey: a public spray park

In March 2011, American John Kutey bought a Mega Millions lottery ticket with seven of his colleagues at the New York State Homes and Community Renewal. It was a life-changing decision. Their chosen ticket ended up netting a jackpot of $319 million, leaving John and his wife Linda with a fortune of $19 million after splitting the prize money seven ways and paying taxes. 

John and Linda Kutey: a public spray park

The couple wanted to use the money to benefit their local community in Green Island, New York (pictured) so donated $200,000 to replace the local spray pool. Originally built in the 1940s, the new spray pool in Paine Street Park was funded entirely without taxpayer cash, with companies agreeing to design and build the water feature for free. 

John and Linda Kutey: a public spray park

John and Linda organized the project to honor their parents, Edmund and Gertrude Ostrowski and Joseph and Mercedes Kutey. They moved to Florida shortly after building the spray pool but returned to Green Park to attend the pool's dedication (pictured). They've reportedly kept a low profile ever since.

Joe and Jess Thwaite: a wardrobe and a second-hand car

In May 2022, Joe and Jess Thwaite from Gloucestershire, England became Britain's biggest-ever lottery winners when they won £184 million ($222.4m). The couple later revealed their plan to spend some of the money on a family trip to Hawaii. But the first things they purchased with their record-breaking jackpot weren't quite as extravagant... 

Joe and Jess Thwaite: a wardrobe and a second-hand car

According to British newspaper The Independent, the first "treat" that the Thwaites snapped up was a second-hand Volvo V60 car. At £38,000 ($45.9k), the car was far more modest than they could afford – but friends claimed that the purchase wasn't surprising. "The car is smart, respectable and sensible – just like Joe and Jess," one neighbor told The Sun newspaper. 

Joe and Jess Thwaite: a wardrobe and a second-hand car

The used Volvo might have been the couple's first "splurge," but their very first purchase was even more ordinary. Speaking to the UK's Telegraph newspaper, Jess told reporters how they'd celebrated their win: "To tell the truth, we bought bedroom furniture. We bought a chest of drawers and a wardrobe." The couple had already planned to renovate their historic home in Gloucestershire, but were reportedly considering moving to a multimillion-pound mansion nearby. 

Now meet the lottery winners who won millions but ended up with nothing