Every so often, maps are compiled of the luckiest places in the UK. However, they’re made of so many conflicting data points that they rarely agree with each other. In 2021, for instance, Slough, Romford, and Chelmsford were all listed as places where money and cars grow on trees and the lawns are more clover than grass. In terms of actual winners, though, the UK’s luckiest place may be much closer to home.
North of England
Stockport, home of hats and the erstwhile centre of the Cottonopolis, had six Postcode Lottery winners on a single street towards the end of June. The remarkable event on Woodhall Crescent (SK5 7QG), saw a group of fortunate neighbours share £240,000 in five lots of £30,000. A single sum of £90,000 was awarded too. The latter winner entered the June 26 lottery event three times, dramatically increasing their windfall.
The Postcode Lottery – or, to use its full name, the People’s Postcode Lottery – has been active in the North of England since 2005, and ten draws are made each month. While the subscription service restricts individual prizes to £500,000 and under, multiple entries by a single person can produce winnings well in excess of this figure.
As its name suggests, UK postcodes are used instead of the traditional lottery numbers, so it’s not unusual for groups of houses to win at the same time.
Just to prove that latter point, the North’s streak of good luck continued into July, when the largest Postcode Lottery in history was shared by NG22, a district in Newark with a population of 26,293 people. This time, the £4.1m prize was shared by 606 lottery players. Two winners, though, Mr and Mrs Leachman, scooped the sum of £666,018, awarded in two cheques of £333,009.
“Social Gamification”
For all its ability to create multiple winners on the same street, the Postcode Lottery is just one of several competitions around the world that takes the mundane details of daily life and tries to turn lead into gold. Poland’s tax lottery is one of these unusual lottery draws. In an effort to improve accounting transparency, in this contest, expensive electronics can be won in exchange for a tax invoice and a 10 zloty (£1.90) fee.
In Stockholm, Sweden, the Speed Camera Lottery is a game with the goal of reducing speeding on the road. Simply obey the speed limit and, if you’re ‘caught’ behaving by a traffic camera, you’ll win the city’s proceeds from paid speeding tickets. The Medical Futurist website refers to this kind of competition as “social gamification”. Stockholm has since reduced speeding by almost a quarter (22%).
Of course, the Postcode Lottery is just a prize given out for possessing a valid postcode and an entry ticket but it does a lot of good, nonetheless. The organization claims to have raised £750m for good causes since its inception, including for the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation, PDSA, RNIB, and Breast Cancer Now. An impressive £14.8m has been given to Dogs Trust alone by players of the Postcode Lottery. Social gamification might be more good than just good fun.
