As Luck Would Have It Incredible Stories, from Lottery Wins to Lightning Strikes

Chapter 1 Do Not Rip the Ticket or Otherwise Mutilate It Steve Roberts is having trouble reading the numbers. It's dark outside, and he's driving, so try as he might, he can barely make them out. It's late, and he's tired, and the woman on the radio is announcing the winning numbers over and over, since the drawing was hours ago, and the winning combination was sold. Yet still no one has come forward to claim the jackpot. With his ten tickets, each containing ten series of numbers, there's no way he can listen to the announcer on the radio, watch the road, and read the tickets at the same time. Instead, he tries a quick glance at each Big Money Ball number, knowing that, without that number, there's no chance he'll win the Big Game. But it's no use, he just can't see the numbers. He doesn't bother pulling over, since it's after 11:00 p.m. and he's tired. He's had a long day putting in and inspecting pools in the Michigan suburbs where, in May 2000, the hot, humid summerhis busy seasonis just getting under way. He gives up on the tickets. And anyway that hot dog he ate at lunchtime, the one he bought just before he decided to pick up some tickets, isn't sitting too well. He'd just as soon get home, see his wife and kids, maybe have a beer and a snack, and go to bed. What are the odds that he's the winner? Who ever heard of a guy like him winning the Big Game? Much less today's jackpot, the biggest in the history of any lottery. And anyway, he's never even bought a lottery ticket in his life. Wasn't it always the guys who bought a ticket every day for twenty years who won? He puts the tickets back into his pocket and laughsa tired, exhausted, end-of-a-long-day laugh. Then he sighs. What was it up to now? Something like $363 million? He pulls into his driveway. It's nearing 11:30, and he has to be up early in the morning. He sighs again. A lottery win is luck in its purest form: unexpected, unpredictable, and with external causes over which we have absolutely no control. And, of course, there are the tremendous odds. These vary with the game and the number of tickets sold, but the odds of winning a multistate lottery are in the tens or scores of millions to one. These odds generally rise in direct proportion to the dollar amount of the potential payout: More money means more media hype, which means more people buying more tickets, which means a larger jackpot, which starts the cycle all over again. But winning a big-money lottery game, while clearly lucky, often comes with a price, and that price can quickly turn untold millions into a liability instead of an asset. With big money comes big pub- licity, and on the heels of publicity come those looking for an investment, a loan, or simply a handout. Furthermore, many lottery winners are unprepared for their huge tax liability and for the suddenly needy relatives, the scheming business associates, and the jealousy and resentment of their friends and colleagues. Add in the huge psychological burden of dealing with sudden wealth and you get a depressing but sobering statistic: Two out of every three lottery winners either lose or spend all their winnings within five years. Still, winning the lottery may seem like a problem well worth having. That wouldn't be me, we think. I'd invest all my money. I'd play it safe. But the fact is that managing the good luck of a lot- tery win is not as easy as it might seem. Several researchers have even identified a psychological disorder, termed "sudden wealth syndrome," that can result from a large influx of money and can severely hamper our day-to-day ability to function in the world. And these symptPiven, Joshua is the author of 'As Luck Would Have It Incredible Stories, from Lottery Wins to Lightning Strikes', published 2003 under ISBN 9781400060559 and ISBN 1400060559.