Someone once said that money can’t buy happiness. Jane Park would definitely agree. At 17, she became the youngest person in Britain to ever win the lottery, a cool $1.25 million from playing Euromillions. But instead of loving the lavish lifestyle the winnings have afforded her, Park, now 21, wants to sue the lottery itself.
“At times it feels like winning the lottery has ruined my life. I thought it would make it 10 times better but it’s made it 10 times worse,” she lamented. She plans to sue UK’s National Lottery, claiming that kids under 18 shouldn’t be allowed to play.
“You can’t give a 17-year-old that amount of money,” she said. The current minimum age to play is 16.
Park used her winnings for plastic surgery, travel, designer shoes, clubbing, a purple Range Rover, and two homes. But she says the lavish lifestyle has left her feeling “empty,” and that she feels like a 40-year-old.
None of her friends can relate to her frustration and boredom. “There’s no one in the same boat as me, no one who really understands,” she said.
She is tired of shopping and has had difficulty finding a boyfriend who isn’t just interested in the money. She misses the days when she worked as an administrative assistant for $10 an hour and lived with her mother in a small apartment in Edinburgh.
Lottery officials say that Park was given extensive financial advice and put in contact with other lottery winners for support. They say that the minimum age to play the lottery is an issue for Parliament.
