Thursday, June 28, 2007

Effects of Winning the Lottery

Winning the lottery can bring more than joy into someone’s life. In fact, it can make their lives a living nightmare. It can cause a great change on a person’s life. When someone goes from having no money or being middle class to having millions of dollars, it’s going to cause a great impact on their lives. The lottery can do more that just makes you rich, it can cause family issues, put someone’s life at risk, or even depression.
Winning the lottery can not always bring happiness into your life, especially between your friends and family. If you were unhappy before being rich, you’re more than likely to be unhappy after becoming a millionaire. In Daytona, Ohio a women was sent to prison for trying to kill her husband who had won $3.5 million in the lottery. She was chasing after his money (Pulfer). According to David Bass of The Pundit:
Juan Rodriguez wanted nothing more than to be one of the guys in rural South Texas
where he was raised. And he was — until six years ago, when he had the misfortune to
acquire almost $9 million in the Texas Lottery. Today, he’s lost his anonymity, his
buddies, whatever girlfriends he once had and most of his family, whose members he no
longer trusts. He rarely ventures outside the trailer here where he lives alone. Booze and
the four dogs he keeps chained outside are his main companions. “To tell you the truth, I
wish I didn’t win,” he said from his living room one recent evening, nursing the first of
nine Michelob Ultras he would drink by 10 p.m. (qtd. in “Winning the Lottery: A”)
While most people would often think that money would buy happiness, people who have won the lottery have become depressed. “But the truth is that winning an unimaginable sum of money places unimaginable stress on the lives of people who just aren't prepared for it (Meltzer) Not being able to budget properly can also add a huge effect. “If you've got problems before winning the lottery, you'll have problems after the lottery. Money isn't going to solve what's wrong in your life” (qtd. in “Winning the Lottery: Curse”). Not everyone knows how to manage their money. Sherri Granto of Associated Content says:
In fact nearly one third of multimillion dollar lottery winners become bankrupt in just a
short years after they’re big win. If you are not accustomed to having great wealth as
many of these big lottery winners were not, then the problems that come with suddenly
having a lot of money overnight can be so overwhelming that depression becomes
inevitable. (qtd in “Winning the Lottery: Curse”)
Some people who often win large amounts of money go crazy and buy whatever they want, without thinking about how they’re going to pay for it. Big spending has caused many lottery winners to go into bankruptcy. Lottery winners often want to spend their money on a big house, not thinking of the utility bills, taxes, and insurance they’re going to have to pay. Having a big house is nice, but someone has to be prepared to pay the big bills. After buying the big house, they’re going to want to buy nice new furniture to put in the house. Then they’ll buy the new expensive cars and everything else on their wish list. But what happens to the budget, are they going to be able to pay for all these expensive things? “Lottery winners eventually have financial difficulties due to the lack of budgeting and making a solid financial plan with their new winnings” (Granato).
Once someone wins the lottery, their life is at risk. They can say goodbye to privacy because now they’ll have to get an unlisted phone number, security system for their house, and a post office mailbox. It’s like they’re considered a celebrity (Granato). Someone people have even had to move away, hiding their last names or location because they have so much money. Someone lottery winners are even bothered by people who want them to pay money for their kids to go to college or for inventors who want them to fund their new creations. Meltzer even says that a woman called a family asking for money to escape her abusive husband (Meltzer).
In conclusion, winning the lottery can cause a huge damper on someone’s life. The effects of going from having no money to tons of money don’t always bring happiness like someone would think. It can make your life hell. Winning the lottery can change your life in a negative way, money doesn’t always buy happiness. It can actually cause distress, rather than joy.

Bass, David. “Winning the Lottery: A Surefire Way to Ruin Your Life.” Davidnbass.com.
14 Aug. 2004. WordPress. 23 June 2007 14/winning-the-lottery-a-sure-fire-way-to-ruin-your-life/>.
Granto, Sherri. “Winning the Lottery, Curse or a Blessing?.” Associatedcontent.com. 13 Oct.
2006. The People’s Media Company. 22 June 2007 < http://www.associatedcontent.com/
article/70165/winning_the_lottery_curse_or_a_blessing.html>.
Meltzer, Mark. “Lottery Winners Often Wind Up Wishing They Hadn't Been Lucky.”
Atlanta.bizjournals.com.19 May 2000. American City Business Journals, Inc. 23 June
2007 < http://atlanta.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2000/05/22/editorial1.html>.
Pulfer, Mike. “Winning Big Isn’t Ticket to Paradise.” Enquier.com. 25 Aug. 2005. Garnett Co.
Inc. 22 June 2007 big_isnt.html>.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

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