Revealed: what national lottery winners spend their money on

Lottery-winning Brits are shunning the lavish lifestyle and instead making more low key purchases, such as caravans and electric gates.

With the National Lottery having created more than 3,000 British millionaires, a new study has set out to identify how the lucky winners spend their fortunes - and the results might surprise you.

While you might think the first thing they'd all do is quit their job immediately, fewer than six in 10 (59%) actually did so. Almost two in 10 (19%) kept going in their current role, while three in 10 (31%) dedicated their time to volunteering.

The winners also tended to avoid the temptation to buy top-end cars such as Ferraris or Bentleys, with Audi (16%) the most popular manufacturer on their shopping list, followed by Range Rover, BMW and Mercedes.

The cars they bought were by no means old bangers - the average purchase price was over £25,000 - but there's a clear tendency to avoid the most opulent manufacturers.

And it's a similar story throughout the findings, compiled by forecasting consultancy Oxford Economics. Rather than mansions in Marbella and private jets, these Brits opted for slightly less glamorous (or more sensible) purchases.

Let's take a look at what they bought, broken down by sector.

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Homes
If a Brit wins money, he or she is going to buy homes. Lots of homes. Between the 3,000 millionaires, a total of 7,958 homes were purchased (along with 300 caravans), a total of 2.9 properties each. One in four bought a home with electric gates or had them installed.

The vast majority (80%) opted to upgrade to a better main home, with an average price of £900,000. When you consider the extortionate cost of property in the UK today, that's hardly mansion territory.

Inside, a hot tub (29%) topped the must-have list, followed by a walk-in wardrobe. One in five (22%) insisted on a games room.

Interestingly, less than a third (30%) hired a cleaner and fewer still hired a gardener (24%).

The generous winners also paid of 3,700 mortgages for friends and family.

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Holidays

The winners sought out the US most often for their holidays, followed by the Caribbean and Dubai.

And here it seems they were a little more willing to splash out, with more than two-thirds (68%) staying in five-star hotels while abroad.

Savings and gifts
In total, the 3,000 millionaires have won a total of £8.5 billion since 1994. While they have splurged £4.74 billion of that, a total of £3.74 billion invested or saved for a rainy day.

It's worth noting that almost a quarter of the money spent - £1.17 billion - was given as gifts to loved ones, helping create a further 3,780 millionaires in the process.

The big picture
Perhaps the biggest beneficiary of all is the UK economy, as the winners were definitely fans of buying local. In fact, a whopping 98% of spending by the winners remained in the UK.

What's more, their spending added almost £750 million to the UK, generating more than half a billion pounds in tax receipts.

Business
The financial freedom that such a massive windfall brings with it prompted almost one in seven (15%) of the winners to start up their own business.

Almost one in 10 (9%) helped others to do so, while 6% have invested in or bought other people's businesses.

In total, lottery winnings set up or support businesses that employ a total of 3,195 people, further underlining their benefit to the economy.