Eric Tapley

I’ve never played the lottery. Sure, I received a few scratch tickets as at birthdays when I was a kid, but that doesn’t really count. I’m just not a gambler. I’ve never been interested in Mega Millions, Poweball, or going to casinos. I don’t even make bets with friends on the SuperBowl or join in office pools.

Until tonight. I bought tickets for the $370 million Mega Millions game. Biggest prize in history. You’ve probably heard about it and bought at least on ticket yourself. What is that phrase used to market the lottery - you can’t win if you don’t play?

I was initially drawn in by a story on CNN about a man who played a previous big game in 2002 and who subsequently won, taking home over $85 million. He’s been investing the money wisely with the goal of becoming a billionaire in 10 years time and it sounds like he’s well on his way.

I realized I didn’t know anything about playing the lottery. It’s an experience I’ve never had and separates me from millions of other Americans. So I decided to play.

[Even our language about this is odd. You ‘play’ the lottery, not ‘risk your money’ or ‘take a chance’ even though the odds are well stacked against winning.]

I have no delusions about even winning the money I’ve spent on this. My chances were six times better of dying in a car accident on the 2-mile roundtrip drive to the store than winning the jackpot. The odds are 1 in 175,711,536 of winning the jackpot, and 1 in 40 of winning any prize at all.

Even with dim prospects at making any money from this I still consider it money well spent. This has been a new experience, something we have too few of in our daily routines. I enjoyed the time spent learning about the lottery on the web, discovering the “game winning strategies” market of books, DVDs, software and systems, learning about gambling statistics, and coming to understand the impact this can have on people’s lives.

The process of buying a ticket and interacting with other people at the sales counter was enlightening. It’s amazing that people with little or no discretionary income will spend their money on desperate hopes: a man behind me exclaimed that he had to win so he could pay his rent (making this and a pack of Marlboro’s a questionable use of $20). Most of the people at the counter were clearly in a lower-income bracket, or perhaps all of the rich people in Worcester came out in ragged clothes and dirty work boots tonight. I think it was the former. And I can’t say that this is the best way for these people to use their money or the best focus for their hope.

Would we be more concerned about state lotteries if a portion of the money didn’t go back to local towns for education and other needs? What if we didn’t call it ‘playing’ the game?

Even still I’m looking forward to the results. It’s actually kind of fun to ponder the possibilities. I know I’m going to lose. Probably.

Wikipedia Goodness: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mega_Millions