Margaret Loughrey is back in the spotlight after her brother said her £27 million EuroMillions win “destroyed” her life, with his remarks drawing fresh attention to the strain sudden wealth can bring. Loughrey, from Strabane in Northern Ireland, won the UK National Lottery EuroMillions in 2013 and later said the prize had destroyed her life. The comments come as another winner, Karen Child, describes the lasting personal problems that followed her own seven-figure lottery win.
Sudden wealth, sudden pressure
Margaret Loughrey, known as “Maggie Millions, ” won £27 million, the equivalent of about €31 million, on a Lucky Dip ticket at the age of 48. Her brother Paul said the win came while she was already dealing with ongoing mental health difficulties after the death of their father, and he believed the money would not end well for her.
Paul said he was the first person told about the win and warned other family members that it would not be good for her. He said she grew more distant from relatives, later cutting contact and not wanting to know them, although she did give £1 million to each sibling and close friends. Margaret Loughrey died eight years after the win.
Karen Child speaks about the long tail of winning
Karen Child, from Chesterfield, said her own National Lottery win brought comfort but also a hard-to-manage personal cost. She was working at Tesco and living in a council house with her two children when she bought a Lucky Dip ticket in 2007 and later discovered she had won more than £8 million.
She recalled first thinking she had won £10 after matching the first three numbers, before the screen kept filling and she began shouting with excitement. “The hardest part of winning has been trust, ” she said. “I struggle to trust new people. Now, I wait before telling anyone about my win. If nothing changes, they’re a friend for life. ”
Child said her marriage later broke down and she has remained single for 13 years. She has also used part of her winnings to buy a new home, support her three children and sponsor local sports teams through her charity, The Child Foundation.
What Margaret Loughrey’s case shows
The stories of Margaret Loughrey and Karen Child point to the same pressure point: money can solve practical problems quickly, but it can also strain family ties, trust and identity. In both cases, the prize brought major change that was not easy to control.
The National Lottery has advised winners to stay calm, seek independent legal and financial advice, and make contact as soon as they can. That guidance now stands in sharp relief beside Margaret Loughrey’s story, which continues to be discussed after her death and her brother’s warning that the fortune changed everything.
What happens next
For now, the renewed attention around Margaret Loughrey is likely to keep the focus on the human cost of sudden wealth, not just the headline number. Her brother’s comments and Karen Child’s account both suggest that the aftermath of a lottery win can last far longer than the celebration itself.
