Celebrate National Lottery Day this Year by NOT Playing the Lottery: Here’s Why

Playing the lottery gives you some of the worst odds across the entire gambling spectrum. Your chances of winning the lottery actually are far lower than playing casino games like blackjack, which involve some level of skill. According to statistician and popular math blogger Salil Mehta, lottery jackpots have been recently re-engineered to make them more appealing to players, yet much harder to win (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/08/30/the-sneaky-math-that-made-the-lottery-more-alluring-and-harder-to-win/).

Your odds of winning the Powerball Jackpot, for example, are about one in 292.2 million; and 95.98% of number combinations in the Powerball lottery will pay absolutely nothing. The chance of winning any prize (the lowest possible is $4 on a $2 Powerball ticket) is about one in 24.87 (https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2016/01/13/the-science-of-powerball/?sh=1326edb75d8b).

Compare your odds of winning a jackpot – one in 292.2 million – with the chance that you’ll be struck by lightning – one in 1.2 million – and you’ll comprehend the folly of throwing away your hard-earned money on lottery tickets.

Americans spend an incredible amount of money playing the lottery: about $73 billion a year and growing, according to Mehta. More than 50 million US adults play at least $1,000 a year for life. Regular players – those who play every drawing, multiple times a week, every week of their adult lives – spend upwards of a few thousand dollars a year. That averages more than $100,000 across their lifetimes.

And it’s not the people who can afford it who play the lottery. In fact, a 2018 Bankrate survey found that 28% of Americans making less than $30,000 a year played the lottery at least once a week (Who buys lottery tickets? Those who can least afford them – CBS News). Households with incomes of $75,000 or more spent just a quarter of what low-income households spent on the lottery. The average amount that these low-income families spent on lottery tickets – $412 a year – may not seem like a lot, but that money could turn into $50,000 or more if it were put into an investment that earned even a very modest return.

Take that against the Stash survey finding that 75% of Millennials live paycheck-to-paycheck and have no emergency savings, and playing the lottery seems like an even worse decision.

Make no mistake: playing the lottery is gambling, just like playing poker or slot machines. That means there’s a risk of addiction among those who play. The National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) estimates that about 2 million American adults can be classified as pathological gamblers in a given year, and another 4-6 million can be called problem gamblers (Responsible Gambling | Signs Of Gambling Addiction And How To Get Help (casinoshub.com)).

And again, 61% of the poorest Americans are among the biggest lottery gamblers every year – underscoring the need for greater knowledge and awareness about how saving and investment can help secure people’s futures, regardless of income level (Gambling & Lottery Addiction | You Have the Strength to Quit (lotterycritic.com).

For Our Advice: Stop Playing & Start Saving.

Rather than throwing money away at 300-to-one odds, we recommend that you avoid playing the lottery this National Lottery Day and start saving instead. People who save early and consistently can leverage the power of compounding interest to set themselves up for life.

According to calculations by The Motley Fool, a person who saves just $100 a month in a mix of investments that yield a 7% annual return will have $240,000 after 40 years; and a person who saves $500 a month would have $1.2 million in the same time frame (The Ridiculous Retirement Solution Nearly 60% of Millennials Are Banking On | The Motley Fool). That may not compare with a Powerball Jackpot, but it’s far from small change.

And this time, the odds are in your favor.

If you or someone you know exhibits signs of gambling addiction, we urge you to seek help immediately. Problem gambling can have severe repercussions, but you do not need to struggle with this alone; there is always someone nearby with whom you can speak.

There are numerous organizations that offer free, anonymous services to those with gambling problems. Visit this site to learn more about the available support services available in several languages; https://www.casinobonusesnow.com/responsible-gambling/

Do not wait until it is too late; seek assistance before the situation worsens.