Comments on: Giving Up the Lottery Fantasy

By: xenia

xenia — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 02:51:21 +0000

I have to admit, I have bought the occasionaly lotto ticket … once, when all I had in my pocket was $2, I thought, “why not? I can’t buy much else with it” and won $20.

I have the “what if” fantasy, but mine includes: what if I could set my parents up for life, pay my brother’s mortgage, buy a nice cottage somewhere and then give the rest to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation? they would benefit from the money more than I ever could, and as long as I have a roof over my head, I’ve just won happiness for life

By: Rossi Stoyanova

Rossi Stoyanova — Fri, 22 May 2009 12:08:21 +0000

Just found this wonderful blog and reading through some older posts now. My grandfather actually won form the lottery – an appartment which was in a different city from where we lived at the time. We gave it for rent and had some problems with the tennants so he sold the appartment. Just a month later there was hyperinflation in Bulgaria and we lost all the money. Easy come, easy gone.

I’ve also dreamed about winning the lottery and how I could use the money to travel. But now my job allows me to save some money and visit 2-3 countries in Europe and I hope I’ll eventually be able to save enough money to travel to more distant places. I’ve also started blogging and really enjoy it so it’s nice to feel I’m building my own life instead of waiting for some miracle which might never happen.

By: Jordy

Jordy — Thu, 07 May 2009 20:17:50 +0000

Hi Chris,

I know this is an old post, but as soon as I saw the title it triggered me. I just found your manifesto through Michael Bungay Stanier great work blog (love his work) and I like your ideas a lot! I’m 25 now, graduating as a computer scientist any day now and it feels a bit like this will settle my dept to the western society I grew up in by getting my degree and then, for the first time in my life, I am really free (I know I always was, but still).

This is exciting and scary at the same time and I hope to have the balls to use this newfound freedom. The lottery fantasy is one I’ve had a lot of times, even without ever buying a ticket, but I hope I don’t need it anymore. I want to do the things I dream about doing then, but without the money. Keep up the good work and if you are ever in my country other then our beloved aitport I would be happy to show you around.

From the Netherlands,
regards,
Jordy Voesten

By: quickroute

quickroute — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 01:57:46 +0000

If you’re not in you can’t win!
It is the far fetched dream that keeps me going.

By: lenamcg

lenamcg — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:35:47 +0000

“It’s only a couple of bucks.” That’s what I hear from people who buy lottery tickets on a regular basis. For me – I skipthe lottery tickets and instead take the two bucks and put it in a savings account. I have an automatic transfer scheduled with my bank to move the two bucks to a high-yield savings account each Friday. I know. Two bucks isn’t so much. But you know what? I bought my wedding dress by saving just two bucks every week! And now that I have kids, I’ve taught them to save two bucks every week from their allowances and now just a few years later, my 14 year old has a CD worth nearly $1000 and his younger brother just renewed his CD at close to $700. I know a lot of adults who don’t have that much money saved! So if you’re thinking it’s just a couple of bucks, think again! YOU have the power to make your dreams come true – one little step at a time.

By: Summer Fey Foovay

Summer Fey Foovay — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:55:26 +0000

If I can trot into Fast Stop and blow $5 on a pop and bag of chips that will just go to my butt anyway – whats the difference if I blow $5 on lottery tickets. Hey, I might win. The fact that the government will take most of it, and most of what’s left I’ll very likely give away is kind of immaterial. I love my life, I have a great life and yes, I made it. But it is a wee bit marginal financially, so it would be nice to be totally out of debt and have a little cushion. I love what I do for a living, so I wouldn’t stop working. Might work a little less – give myself a break now and then. I consider buying a ticket a sort of mild indulgence – on the line of buying a candy bar. I suppose you’d have to keep in mind that I live on a remote ranch, and only go to the Fast Stop about once every two weeks – so both my candy bar and the lottery ticket is not a large expense in my life. I’ve had a few small wins (I think the largest was $20) and they’re fun little cash injections that I allow myself to blow. As long as it’s all discretionary cash, what the hell. The only problem I see is people who spend the grocery money on lottery tickets – and I think that’s something of a personal problem they need to work on themselves.

By: george

george — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 21:24:21 +0000

“Lottery: A tax on people who are bad at math”

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Dear Santa: A New Design Wishlist for Big Bright Bulb | Big Bright Bulb — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 07:18:47 +0000

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By: Danny Garant

Danny Garant — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:41:43 +0000

I had that Lottery Fantasy too. But I stopped buying tickets when I realized what would be the wisest things to do with $30M:

1- Giving it to family members.
2- Buy a farm.
3- Create my own private school.

I don’t need millions to give a token to my family. I don’t need millions to become an entrepreneur. Instead, I could find partners to finance me. And so I would meet new people.

So I think now that lottery money is for weaklings. And I’m not a weakling… I hope.

However, I reserve the right to play local lotteries to the profit of local organization like a school activity or else.

By: Heather

Heather — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 16:16:34 +0000

I never play the lottery. I edit math and stats books for a living and when you do that all day, going and buying a lottery ticket on the way home just seems embarrassing, not to mention pointless. Also, the Texas lottery started in my formative years, and I remember my mother grumbling that the proceeds of the California lottery were *supposed* to go to state education but they really didn’t and they just used it as an excuse to cut other education funding. So no public service appeal.

I’m not saying I don’t *still* feel the thrill of anticipation if I see someone scratching off numbers – I do. But I know I wouldn’t be happier if I won (or at least I tell myself that. It reminds me of a game I used to play with catalogs. If I was feeling poor and frustrated that I couldn’t Buy Things, I’d look through the catalog and decide what I’d take if it were all free. And *if it’s free* I hardly ever wanted any of it!