What economists call a "positive income shock" leads to better mental health, but it also triggers "worse lifestyles". And the bigger the win, the riskier people's behaviour.
"Lottery wins might not be good for your physical health because you party too much," said Andrew Clark, of the Paris School of Economics, one of the researchers. "Winning big does indeed improve mental health; however, we uncovered counteracting health effects with respect to risky behaviours. Those who win more, smoke more and engage in more social drinking."
The study used data on around 8,000 people who won big-money prizes in the UK between 1994 and 2005. Clark, who will be presenting the research paper at an Institute of Social and Economic Research conference this week, added: "Much work has shown that, in general, higher income is associated with more favourable health outcomes. Our results nuance this empirical fact."
There are many examples of winners who have overdosed on hedonism. Phil Kitchen drank himself to death after winning £1.8m on the national lottery in 1999. At the time, he was an unemployed carpenter and had borrowed £5 from a friend to buy cigarettes and a lottery ticket. He moved to a £500,000 country house in Worcestershire, with a tennis court and a boathouse, but was soon bingeing on whisky and died in 2002, aged 58. The cause of death was given as self-neglect.
When Wayne Thompson won £125,000 through his work syndicate in Bristol in 1999, his drinking became out of control. Occasional weekend sessions, during which he would drink eight pints, turned into nightly binges involving three times as much. When he was down to his last £36,000, he came to his senses and spent nearly all he had left drying out at the Priory clinic.
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