Winning the lottery is always life-changing — but the changes are not always for the better, according to a gambling behaviour expert.
When 250 Kalgoorlie locals won a share of $63 million in the lotto in February, TV crews flocked to the remote mining city to interview those whose lives had been changed overnight.
There was much communal celebrating as each member of the syndicate pocketed about $250,000.
This week, lightning struck again in the gold mining town when a Boulder newsagent sold another winning ticket.
This time the lucky punter won about $1 million.
"I can't disclose any information about the win other than we think it's a local person, which is great news," Boulder News and Lotto owner Mike Saville said.
Lisa Williams from Lotterywest, WA's state-run lotto organisation, said it had been a big year for winners in the region.
"We also had a win from Mount Magnet, taking home over a million dollars a couple of weeks ago," she said.
The downside of dreaming
But when Lady Luck's gilded glow fades, and the fairy dust settles, the tears of joy can easily turn into tears of despair and frustration.
Central Queensland University gambling behaviour expert Associate Professor Alex Russell says seeing the elation of winners on the nightly news can give much needed relief from images of war and sickness, but they can also promote a concerning narrative that's not nearly as glamorous.
"Well, it's a great story, isn't it?" he said.
"It lets us all dream, you know, 'What would we do if we got that money?'."
But Dr Russell, a researcher at CQU's Experimental Gambling Research Laboratory, said such stories could create false perceptions.
"We kind of forget the talk about lotteries wins being really, really rare things," Dr Russell said.
While organisations like Lotterywest were often raising revenue for government projects, he said they could target people on lower incomes.
"We need to remember that most people are losing — and losing quite a bit of money — and the people who are losing tend to be low [socio-economic status] kind of people," Dr Russell said.
"It's a very regressive form of raising money."
Dr Russell said the media's celebration of lottery wins could also influence broader attitudes to gambling.
"We have pokies in pubs and clubs in all states, except for Western Australia.
"We also have things like the race that stops the nation, the Melbourne Cup."
Australians have also been consistently ranked the world's highest gamblers per capita.
Dr Russell said it was understandable to want to celebrate wins in life, but people should bear in mind that the house always wins.
More money, more problems
Dr Russell said a big windfall could often create tension when friends and family expected a cut of the winnings.
"That becomes pretty stressful for a lot of people, and it can lead to break-ups of relationships," he said.
The West Australian reported last week that newsagency owners Tania and Kevin Parkes had begun legal proceedings against former local man Mark Ing, who they allege tried to falsely claim a share in the $63m jackpot.
Dr Russell said a very "extreme example" was the 1960 kidnapping and murder of Sydney schoolboy Graeme Thorne, who was the victim of a ransom attempt after his parents won the Sydney Opera House Lottery.
"It's one of those things that if people see that you've come into a lot of money, that leads to a lot of pressure for winners," he said.
But Dr Russell, the grandson of a newsagency owner, said while playing the lotto was not a smart money making strategy, it could be relatively harmless and even fun.
"I don't have a problem with people buying lotto tickets if they can afford to and if you're dreaming about those nice things that you could have if you won," he said.
"If it's just a cost of doing something social with your friends at work, maybe like a syndicate or something like that, that's fine.
