Officials for the Mega Millions lottery game announced on Monday plans to more than double the price of a ticket, a move that promises to increase jackpots and claims to improve the odds and frequency of winning.
Tickets, which now cost two dollars, will jump to five dollars this coming April.
In reality, the move will increase debt, worsen addiction, and entice new players – a losing trifecta for families and a winning transaction for the Illinois lottery, which runs the multi-state consortium racket.
Launched back in 1996 as “The Big Game” with six participating states, there are now 45 states, as well as the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands, participating.
Lottery officials put the usual syrupy spin on the announcement, even suggesting they were doing it to serve and meet the desires of their customers.
Mega Millions’ Joshua Johnson suggests the new price for tickets won’t be “a big thing” for regular players who are hungry [translation: desperate] for larger jackpots.
“We wanted to do what we can to satisfy [existing] players and new players.”
How magnanimous of lottery officials.
But today’s New York Times quotes Rohit Patel, a Manhattan convenience store manager, who provided a more accurate snapshot of what’s going on with the rank-and-file lottery player.
“They’re going to be mad, but they’re going to bet,” he said.
In other words, the average person who plays the lottery is hooked if not actually addicted, chases weekly losses, and is reaching for a fantasy they know probably will never be realized, but nevertheless frustratingly pursues.
Lotteries have been called a tax on the poor, as well as a tax on stupidity – an exploitation of the vulnerable. It’s all of that, and a lot more. Recent studies have attempted to dispel claims that lottery winners are more likely to file for bankruptcy or report an overall negative outcome following their big jackpots. A headline in an article in Forbes that details several European studies centered on this declares: “Actually, Winning the Lottery is Usually Great.”
But concentrating on the winners of a lottery evades the vastly larger issue. Rather than studying the infinitesimal amount of folks who win, we should be focused on the outrageously massive number of individuals who lose.
For perspective, the odds of winning Mega Millions are 1 in 302.6 million. The odds of winning Powerball, another popular multi-state lottery, are only slightly better – one in 292.2 million.
You have a much better chance of getting struck by lightning (one in a million) than claiming a big lottery prize.
One of the many ways lottery officials entice interest or diminish guilt of participation is stressing all the good that lottery-generated dollars supposedly do for the state or local community. Here in Colorado, half of all dollars goes back into the jackpot, and the other half is split between administration and seller fees, plus schools and a variety of outdoor interests.
In North Carolina and North Dakota, lottery proceeds go to compulsive and problem gambling efforts.
The best bet is not to bet at all. Gambling addiction has mushroomed as gambling has spread, bringing with it a host of harms, including destroying marriages and families.
Yes, people win from time to time – but a stopped clock is also right twice a day.
While the Bible doesn’t specifically address gambling or call it a sin, it regularly warns about the love of money and our problem with greed.
“Wealth gained hastily will dwindle,” wrote King Solomon in Proverbs, “but whoever gathers little by little will increase it” (Proverbs 13:11).
The Mega Millions Lottery might be offering more mega jackpots in the years to come – but it’s also going to produce more mega losers, too. After all, that’s the problem and the secret to gambling – nobody wins unless many more lose.
Image from Shutterstock.
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