Plenty of folk have wondered whether winning the Lottery is good, or not so good. I too have wondered about this over the years as there are strong arguments on both sides.
There is no doubt the Lottery, in its different forms, brings much fun and excitement for the players whether they win or not. For those who do win the jackpot and become an instant millionaire, it will be life changing. For those who become multi millionaires must find it a truly mind-blowing experience.
The money raised through the Lottery, as we all know, is used to support a number of good causes and helpful projects in our local communities. It is also a source of revenue for the Government and here are some statistics (year to March 2018) about the National Lottery, here in the UK:
- Lottery ticket sales £6,951,700,000
- Good causes have £1,655,300,000
- Government takes £834,000,000
- The male/female player split is about the same
- About 70% of adults play the Lottery
- About 90% of winners still play
- People on state benefits are more likely to play, compared to those who aren’t receiving benefits
So I asked about it in my local shop
Recently I went into my local shop for some milk and a newspaper. A rotunded, grey haired man was buying a selection of different tickets and clearly spending a lot of money. Afterwards I saw him jump into his black, flashy BMW outside and roar off.
So I asked the lady behind the counter about the people who buy Lottery tickets. She explained many people regularly buy tickets, both young and old alike without much of a pattern. Then she paused and said how some of her older customers spend around £50/week on the Lottery. I found that quite astonishing; not just a couple of tickets now and again but £50 a week. Wow.
Then I remembered my time in Probation
I don’t remember any of my own cases as having won the Lottery but I did hear about two offenders who struck lucky. One woman, who was already in the Criminal Justice system, was on state benefits. She didn’t declare her win and carried on claiming her means tested benefits. She might have had quite a lot of money but it didn’t stop her being charged with benefit fraud. She was then dealt with very harshly (some might say she deserved it) and found the experience to be very humiliating and embarrassing, plus having a growing criminal record would prove to be a future barrier in many other ways.
Another offender who won went a bit crazy and again he was already in the system. He hadn’t won the jackpot but had won a decent amount of money. Pretty much all of it went on drink, drugs and having a good time with all of his new “friends”. Everyone could see what was happening except him. It was all gone in quite a short period of time and he was left homeless and in a bad way.
Neither case ended well. Apparently both regretted winning.
My own view
I don’t want to be a kill joy BUT playing the Lottery isn’t for me. Why? Let me explain….
- One of my friends described the Lottery as a voluntary tax for the poor. Sure playing the Lottery is voluntary and it is like giving money to the Government. The sad thing is how a disproportionate number of people who have debts or have financial difficulties play the Lottery.
- The fun from winning the Lottery is short lived.
- The good causes should be funded directly by the Government without the need for raising money through a Lottery.
- For winners, their life will change forever, not always for the best. Relationships with friends and family is bound to change.
- Winners often don’t have a clue about managing a fortune and are highly likely to fritter it away.
- There are many sad stories around where winners become lonely in their millionaire mansions, isolated from their normal social contacts and cocooned in a false environment they’re not used to.
But most of all
- The Lottery is about buying into something unreal, uncertain and slightly dodgy. For me, investing hopes and trust in something which is certain is much better; this is where a solid faith is worth more than anything money can buy.
- There is something to be said for being content with what you have, appreciating the small things and enjoying the satisfaction from working for things.
Links: Seven reasons not to play the Lottery on DesiringGod.org