Opinion
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Mega odds
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Published: November 9, 2009
The so-called North Carolina Education Lottery has added the Mega Millions game so North Carolinians can have four chances a week to waste their money on long-shot odds.
Mega Millions joins Powerball, where players have a one-in-195 million chance to win a huge jackpot, twice a week.
Lottery officials know that huge jackpots -- sometimes $200 million or more -- create a public frenzy and draw more players than the regular lottery drawings, which are typically much smaller. This, of course, is counter-productive because the chances of winning a $200 million prize are much, much less than those of winning the regular state drawing of just a million dollars or so.
In their drive to lure more North Carolinians into a regular gambling habit, state lottery leaders have now decided that the two Powerball drawings a week are not soaking up enough grocery money from North Carolina families. So, they added Mega Millions and its considerably better odds at winning.
Put your buck down on a Mega Millions drawing and your chances rise to one in 176 million.
Lottery officials know they must draw new players. That's because some people wise up and realize they're never going to win. The addition of the multi-state Mega Millions here, where it was not previously available, is an attempt to draw new players.
Unfortunately, not everyone catches on. As the economy wobbles and both jobs and health coverage look more tenuous, people plop down a dollar or two, then maybe a few more, all in hopes that lightning will strike.
But lightning seldom strikes, as the odds attest. What's left is a player either with a few dollars less for other needs or, worse, an addiction.
The lottery sells a false dream to North Carolinians, that it's a path to riches. But it's just a gamble, and a long-odds one at that.
With Powerball and Mega Millions, there's another false dream: The size of the prize. Powerball, for example, was recently touting a $66-million jackpot, which really is a $33.6 million jackpot if taken all at once. But it is really a lot less because Uncle Sam and Aunt Beverly will take the tax man's share.
The taxes one pays on winnings is just proof that state-run lotteries are a sham. The government wins coming and going. You pay a voluntary tax, dreaming of a huge prize. And those who really do win then pay the maximum income tax back to the government.
The North Carolina lottery will now give us four chances a week to be duped in this manner.
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