David Thompson
Staff Writer
david.thompson@hawks.shorter.edu
Photo Credit: Tracy Glantz/The State/MCT
People around the country use their money to buy lottery ticket
The Powerball Jackpot got reset again. On Jan. 14, the all-time record $1.6 billion jackpot (yes, that’s spelled with a ‘b’) was claimed by not one but three different winning ticket holders in California, Florida and Tennessee. Although the odds of winning were only 1 in 292.2 million, more than 600 million tickets were sold, making it likely that someone would take home the prize.
After taxes, each winner’s lump sum of cash amounts to over $300 million, a tidy sum indeed. But for every winner (or three), there are millions of losers. If that is the case, why do so many play? It is an interesting question, one with an even more interesting answer. People buy lottery tickets to win. However, the large majority of people who play never will.
Of course, a lottery ticket only costs a couple bucks. No big deal, $2 is pocket change. But most people who play the lottery do not just buy one ticket. They buy one a month, one a week or one every few days. That is because there are three types of people who buy tickets – people who get them as gifts for others, people who want the money, and people who need the money. If a person thinks it would be nice to win enough money to buy a dozen private jets but is not obsessed by the idea, the person might buy a ticket every few months or so. But if one needs, or thinks he/she needs, $1.6 billion, then he/she will buy a ticket every week. Maybe even one per day. That money adds up in a big way.
After a while, millions of Americans are spending hundreds of dollars each on the lottery, hoping to solve all their problems in one blow. Financially speaking, this plan is not wise, especially if they cannot afford that money anyway. But forget about money for a moment.
Is it wise to be fixated on one goal or one prize so much that all one’s extra money and thought goes to it, or to be so consumed with the lottery that one knows he will never be happy unless he wins?
Medically speaking, that looks like an addiction. Yep, just like getting hooked on marijuana, people get hooked on the idea of fame and fortune. Just like a drug, that idea sends them into withdrawals when they do not play, and its grip only grows tighter over time.
Let us say that our lower-income, desperate fellow addicted to the lottery actually does finally win. All his dreams have come true, at least in theory. But what people do not realize is that while money can change someone, it more often amplifies who the person already is.
An unhappy, poor person who wins can quickly become an unhappy, rich person. A greedy, poor person can turn into Mr. Scrooge. Because our lucky winner did not work for his pay, he may feel entitled to the money.
And so, like countless other winners before him, he may start spending like crazy, hoping material stuff makes him happy. He may begin going on cruises until they become boring and normal. And never forget that the government will want their share, even when it is all gone.
I do not play the lottery. While I will not judge anyone who decides to “pick six,” I have to wonder. If that person cannot stop spending on the lottery, what else can he/she not say no to? Is it wise to shoot for the heavens when there is a stairway to climb? And if they do win, will they truly be happy? I found my happiness a long time ago, and He is worth more to me than any amount of money – even $1.6 billion.
