Millions of Americans are snapping up tickets for Tuesday's $1.6 billion Mega Millions lottery drawing. They're deciding whether to play favorite lucky numbers or let a computer decide their fate. Whether to pool with office colleagues or go solo.
If you usually shun the lottery, but find yourself mesmerized by Mega Millions mania because the prize has reached astronomical proportions, you are behaving exactly as lottery operators hope: People who wouldn't take a shot at a prize of a few tens of millions will throw in a few bucks when the prize mounts to prodigious sums that could catapult them into the ranks of America's richest.
Why? Because the fantasy flickers in all of us (except for Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and a few other mega-richies). The fantasy propels us to wait in long lines at the local convenience store or gas station. The fantasy may involve a beach house on the Pacific, a jaunt to luxury resorts around the world, or a crisis-alleviating donation to our favorite charity. We envision magnanimously showering cash on friends and family and never working another day.
That's the fantasy. Reality may be different. Researchers say that, contrary to popular belief, most Americans who win the lottery keep working. There may be a loll on the beach or splurge in Paris. But then many winners start their own businesses, or scale back to part time. Many don't change employers: Some crave the camaraderie of work, or don't relish spending their days fending off cold calls from investment advisers and stock brokers.
Happiness researchers say that people tend to have a happiness "set point," a default setting that resists huge, enduring changes. That's why there are plenty of miserable multimillionaires (we've heard). Sure, having money is better than the alternative. But research suggests that beyond a certain level of comfort, the happiness gains are incremental. That is, you can earn $100,000 or $1 million, but your happiness may not be 10 times greater at the larger sum.
Not to douse fantasies, but you probably, most likely, almost certainly, won't win. Since a rules change designed to build bigger prizes, your odds of winning the top Mega Millions award now stand at 1 in 302,575,350.
Winning the lottery is a terrific fantasy, even cheaper than a movie ticket. Buying those chances is fine as long as you can afford to lose the money. The reassuring news for millions of Americans: Winning the lottery will make you richer, but not necessarily happier. And you can take that to the bank.
