Behind the Big Lotteries
By: Melissa Tran
As people buy tickets to the lottery, there is a goal of wanting to win. According to CNBC, the Mega Millions jackpot is up to $1 billion, making it the the third largest amount in U.S. lottery history. For this particular lottery, there is a 1 in 302 million chance of winning. The odds of someone winning is so rare that someone has a higher chance of getting struck by lightning!
For nearly 8 months, there have been 2 drawings per week with still no match of the lucky number. However on January 22, a winner was established in the state of Michigan. 1 billion dollars collected from millions of Americans with the hopes of winning, to be given to one lucky individual.
Aside from the small luck each person is given with by default, could the chances of winning increase anyway? In the articleThings to Consider With the Lottery You Must Know, the article lists suggestions for contestants to know before purchasing a ticket. One of the suggestions states that having a good strategy is useful when playing the lottery. Most people pick their numbers in a randomized order, assuming it is absolutely random. However, very few strategize and increase their chance of achieving the slots. Luckily, lottery calculators are existent in assisting and generating the combinations. While the lottery is certainly based on luck, that is not the only thing. In The Jerusalem Post, a man named Richard Lustin won seven times in a lottery for the past 2 years. He used the correct strategy to land him the winning numbers after months of strategizing. With the possibility of winning the lottery, there is also a chance of landing smaller prizes that match certain numbers of the jackpot.
Another one of the article’s tips is, “Don’t rely on the lottery to change your life.” For many people, winning a lottery or jackpot is a goal set in their lives. People continuously purchase lottery tickets envisioning that winning one day would change their life. Once there is an understanding of how low the chances are of winning a big lottery, people come to a realization that their money is worth investing in something else.
Acknowledging that it is not easy to win the lottery, disappointment has been highly expected in most cases. For this reason, the lottery is seen as a fun activity to many, if one does not mind sparing extra cash. It becomes apparent that the more a person participates, the longer they will play. If winning the lottery is a genuine goal someone wants to achieve, giving up is the last option they should consider.