Barb Caffrey's Blog

As a long-time minimum-amount player of both the Mega Millions and the Powerball lotteries in the United States, I figured it was time to write this blog. I hope it’s educational.

Folks, as the title says, do not bet the farm on the upcoming Mega Millions jackpot.

Why am I writing this? Well, it’s simple. People who normally don’t buy lottery tickets at all are doing things like mortaging their home — really — or pawning things they use every day (yes, really!) in order to get more tickets for the upcoming drawing on Friday, August 4, 2023.

Even folks who normally are quite sensible about things are buying up to $100 worth of tickets at one time. As the Mega Millions ticket is now $2 ($3 if you get the Megaplier option, which will multiply your win should you have one), that means they’ve bought 50 lines of numbers if they didn’t get the Megaplier.

This may seem a better choice than the one ticket I’m going to buy of my regular numbers (no, I won’t tell you what they are), but it’s actually not. Every line on a lottery ticket has the exact, same odds. When you’re talking about something that has an odds of winning of one in 302,575,350 — yes, that is roughly one in three hundred million — fifty lines won’t help you.

In fact, buying more than, say, $20 at a time (not that I can afford this), is not smart.

Remember, the Mega Millions or Powerball are meant as entertainment. For $2 and a dream, you can have a wish-fulfillment fantasy of “what would I do if I had enough money to do everything I want.”

Obviously, I do play the lottery. I have pretty much my entire life, though I have played far more often since my husband died. Why? Because he and I both liked to play, and it’s something I can do that reminds me of him and his optimism for our future. (Not necessarily financial optimism, as Michael knew as well as I did what the odds were.) It’s something that doesn’t cost a lot, gives me a bit of a mental vacation sometimes, and offers a hope-against-hope in financially bettering my situation in a hurry.

Still, your chances are a lot better to win your money back or maybe a smaller prize than the huge one. I have won the small prize quite often (it’s usually around three bucks, and consists of maybe two numbers and/or one number plus the Powerball or Mega ball). It isn’t life changing money, obviously, but it allows you to play again if you wish without too much guilt or aggravation.

So, you know I am a (at least minor) gambler and/or risk-taker. (I’d have to be, to be a writer, but I digress.) Maybe you think my thoughts on these huge jackpots (the MM jackpot currently is at $1.25 billion) is a bit hypocritical since I’ve already said I will play myself.

It’s not, and here’s why.

You have to stick to a budget when it comes to your entertainment. Figure out what you can afford, and only spend that.

This is why you should not ever be getting loans to buy hundreds of dollars of tickets. This is why you shouldn’t pawn anything to buy more tickets, either. (Those things should be reserved for paying urgent bills when there’s nothing and no one else to help, not playing the lotto.)

If it’s going to happen, it’ll happen. If not, it won’t. It’s just that simple.

Finally, I read recently that eleven female sanitation workers in India won a high-value jackpot. (Here’s a link to the story at the Guardian.) They were so poor that they had to scrape and scrounge up the money to buy a ticket. In fact, two were so very poor, they had to borrow from their other sanitation worker friends to be able to take part in buying a ticket, and because of that their take will be less than everyone else’s. (Still life-changing money for them, but less.)

When a consortium of hard-working people who haven’t made much money in their lives wins a jackpot on one ticket, that kind of sums it all up for me.

So: Don’t bet the farm on the lottery, folks. Do play in moderation, if you wish, and keep track of it when it comes to your entertainment budget.

Remember that for the most part, a lottery ticket is a possibility — a very slight one, mind — that your life could improve tomorrow at least in a financial sense. But the only one who can improve your life overall in any sense is you, which is why you have to keep an eye on what you’re doing and why.

So, what do you think of the various lottery prizes? What do you think of what I just wrote? What’s your philosophy when it comes to buying tickets? (My brother’s is to not do it. He’s a mathematician and math instructor and he knows the odds.) Do you believe in mental vacations? Whatever it is, please tell me in the comments…don’t want to be all alone in the void, you know.