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Originally appeared in APeX Attack #2 (August 1998) 
A Dream for a Dollar
By Gene Monterastelli
To the right you will see a copy of my Powerball ticket from
the drawing on May 20th, 1998. (Also please note how well I did
in the drawing with the only number I matched circled) At the
time it was the largest lottery prize ever (only to be surpassed
by the July 29th drawing worth almost $100M more). When I bought
the ticket the grand prize was $175 million, and by the time
the drawing was held the total had moved to $195M. To say the
least, a prize this big made news all over the country. The day
before the drawing I received a call from my family telling me
I had to go buy some tickets and they would send me money. (My
brother asked wisely if I had ten dollars to front to buy the
tickets) It is interesting in a situation like this the questions
you start asking yourself. Like, if one of the numbers win who's
number is it, or do we split it among the five of us? This is
a question of great concern. When I asked my brother this, there
was a long pause on the other side of the phone before answer.
Another big decision was how did we want to take our winning.
If we took the money all at once we would get $105M before taxes,
if we received the money spread out over 25 years we would get
a total of $195M. (For those of you scoring at home, I chose
to spread it out over 25 years (the technical lottery term is
annuity) which I was told later was the wrong decision). We,
and every one else who bought tickets, seriously gave these questions
thought (to be honest I think I gave those questions more than
I put into deciding where I wanted to go to college) . What are
we nuts?!? We were not going to win (and as you can tell we didn't
or right now I would be sitting on a beach somewhere drinking
a tall fruity drink with a little paper umbrella in it). The
chances of us winner the big prize was 1:80,000,000. Now, I was
smart and brought those odds down by buying 10 tickets- making
our odds all the way down to 1:8,000,000. To give you some idea
of how great those odds are, if every man, woman, and child in
the US were given one set of numbers there would only be four
winners. I am more likely to be struck by lightning on a clear
day while holding a live chicken while wearing a red sequined
leotard (a very scary image of me I know, please don't dwell
on it too long) than winning.
Now don't get me wrong. I enjoyed the lottery experience. All
day Wednesday I referred to my tickets as “the winning tickets.”
I have to admit that I did slip off into a daydream or two thinking
about what I would do with $7.5M a year after taxes. It is great
from time to time to think that we can just have our lives changed
in ways unimaginable with a little (read a lot) of luck. Two
things struck me in the whole experience. Why is there not the
same frenzy over a lottery jackpot of say $10M. I don't know
about you, but $10M would change my life (actually finding five
dollars on the ground would change my life). It could be that
there is no way we could get excited every single week over something
that is unlikely to happen. The second thing, which struck me
was/is a little (read a lot) disturbing. When I went to buy my
tickets I went down to Union Station (train station slash mall
in Washington, DC). I stood in line for about 45 minutes. The
line I stood in was one of two in Union Station which were about
the same size. When I left, the line was as long as it was when
I had arrived. The disturbing fact was not that I had to wait
forty-five minutes to buy my ticket (what else am I going to
do with my time), but the fact people were spending that much
time for something that was not going to happen. All over the
county lines like the one I stood in were forming, some much
longer (as long as three hours long). The only things we will
wait that long in line for are concert tickets, lottery tickets,
and to buy Beannie Babies. All of these things are so ego centered.
None us will stand in line to help a child learn how to read
or to work in a soup kitchen or help rebuild a run down housing
project. It was interesting to see the cross section of people
standing in line. The people in line were of all races, genders,
and walks of life. I cannot imagine anything else in the world
that could bring together such a diverse group (and every one
was getting along and happy). Because of the excitement of the
whole thing every one in line was very chatty. One lady said
that she had scheduled a lunch meeting in the Union Station food
court so she could buy tickets. A train conductor brought his
time card in that day so he could by a ticket as well. Would
they be willing to change their schedules in the same way to
do service? I don't want to sound like I am condemning these
people because I was standing in line right next to them. Maybe
I am condemning them (and myself) because we sometimes just don't
see beyond ourselves and our dream for a dollar. |