Woman Wanting to Share Lottery Win With Ex Stuns Internet

A woman admitting to wanting to share her lottery winnings with an ex has stunned the internet.

In a viral post shared on the U.K.-based Mumsnet discussion website, which can be seen here, user winningballs explained she had won "a fair amount" of money and could give people a decent amount of her winnings.

Casino Guru Founder and CEO Jan Kovac told Fox Business in October that a single ticket in a six-number, 49-ball lottery drawing offered a one in 13,983,816 chance of winning.

Untangle Money founder Kristine Beese told Newsweek these low odds made playing the lottery a "terrible waste of money."

But the Mumsnet user managed to get lucky after she felt "an urge" to do so for the first time "in ages."

She added: "I got five matching balls plus the bonus. I won't say how much I won but it's a fair amount, enough for me to not worry about bills for the foreseeable and enough to give people 10K each."

She later continued: "I have a list of whom I would share my winning with stored on my phone, it's been on there for years and my ex is on there.

"We have been split for a year or so but I always said I would give him something if I won. I don't hate him and really liked his children, so should I just transfer some into his account?

"This is not a plan to get him back as I am happily with someone else now and he has no problem with my list as he is well taken care of too. Should I or should I not bother?"

Since being shared online on November 8, more than 350 responses were left on under the original post.

While many congratulated the woman, several other noted it was strange that she wanted to give some money to her ex.

One Mumsnet user posted: "What if he (current boyfriend) thinks you are trying to get back with him?"

Another added: "An ex you do not have children with and you've split from over a year? No."

While a third posted: "You risk him blabbing to others and before you know i all kinds of problems have been caused by people coming out of the woodwork to ask you for money."

While Beese admitted that sharing posts about your personal situation could help in some cases, she added there are "a few concerning things" about lottery-winning posts.

Beese added: "Lottery-winning discussions make it seem like people win the lottery. I want to be clear that playing the lottery is a terrible waste of money. And it can make us feel worse about our financial situation, which can lead to overspending as a coping mechanism."

But, Beese added there are several things people can do should they find themselves coming into a lottery win.

Beese told Newsweek: "Pay off debts—especially high-interest debts above 5 percent. Build a Life Happens account. Make sure you have between $2,000 and $5,000 as a cash buffer so that you don't need to dip into debt if unexpected costs come up this doesn't need to be an emergency, it can be a housewarming gift you didn't realize you needed to buy.

"Get your retirement plan done. It costs an incredible amount to retire as a female— between $2 million and $500,000 depending on your age. Because women receive less in state and corporate pensions, and live longer, both mean that we need more in our retirement investment accounts.

"After doing all those things, you can probably live a little richer because you don't need to be putting $1,000 away a month for retirement, but most lottery winners can't afford to live large, or if they do, they end up in worse financial positions than before they won the money.

"Once you've done all of the above, if you still have any money left over, feel free to distribute it as you see fit. If that includes your ex-partner, and you think your relationship is in a place where it would be fine, then go for it.

"My suspicion is that if you're looking for online validation from friends who don't know your relationship firsthand, then it's likely that your relationship isn't in a good enough place that you can hand over 10,000 pounds and not seem like there are ulterior motives."

Beese concluded by warning people not to share too much financial information online as "you never know who is reading these posts."

She continued: "There is an estimate that 70 percent of us are just voyeurs who read but never engage. It's really dangerous to mention large amounts of wealth on any public platform, just ask some traveling celebrities who have been robbed."