With the Powerball jackpot increasing I feel obligated to tell people not to waste their hard-earned money on a piece of paper.
The Powerball jackpot has gone up to $1.3 billion. According to NHPR, “The jackpot, which ranks as the eighth largest in U.S. history, has grown so large because the long odds of 1 in 292.2 million make winning so difficult. That has enabled the top prize to roll over three times a week for months.”
Powerball is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S Virgin Islands. The chances of winning the Powerball will not go up just because the jackpot also went up.
Many people may not understand the odds of winning Powerball or any other lottery. Many other things that are unlikely to happen are more likely to happen than winning the lottery. According to Review Journal, getting crushed by a meteorite has the odds of 1 in 1.6 million, giving birth to conjoined twins has the odds of 1 in 200,000 and being stung to death by hornets, wasps or bees has the odds of 1 in 54,093.
The lottery is a game that takes advantage of the poor. Many people do not realize how incredibly low the odds of winning are, even to the point where being struck by a meteorite is more likely. This is because a lot of people are not informed on the odds and are likely to spend more and more money to try and win the big bucks.
According to Business Insider, “People in households earning under $40,000 accounted for 28 percent of South Carolina’s population but made up 54 percent of frequent [lottery] players. Uneducated people also made up a disproportionate share.”
Also while people with average incomes were likely to play the lottery for fun, poor people were 25 percent more likely specifically to win money. This is absolutely the wrong reason as you should obviously not base your financial decisions on blind chance.
I have no problem with the lottery or other forms of gambling when it is done in moderation and for fun. The problem arises when people think they can just get millions of dollars for free and not even have a backup plan when that fails. I get that it is also not good to constantly worry about money, but there should be a golden means of planning a budget and not having too much stress about how much money you have.
When people win money in gambling they almost never tell you how much they lost before they won. Maybe they won $1,000 but before that lost $10,000. I think gambling is perfectly fine when done in moderation. My suggestion would be to take it easy with the amount of money you gamble. Sure, you could win but do not count on consistency when it comes to winning. Be sure to have fun when you gamble and certainly do not do it because you expect millions of dollars in your lap after buying a piece of paper or placing some money on red.
Nico Brazill can be contacted at
nbrazill@kscequinox.com
