Recently Lotto 649 in Canada reached a jackpot of 49 Million dollars. The draw was made May 20, 2009. Many people had paid their $2 for a chance at winning this jackpot. My wife and I purchased a total of 4 tickets for this particular draw. We did not win. However the sole winning ticket was purchased to the north of us in Edmonton Alberta. Like many in Alberta I was anxious to see who had won this huge jackpot. Huge, by Canadian standards.

While checking my yahoo e-mail I saw a news feed about the ticket being purchased in |Edmonton and clicked on the link. The news article was very sparse but there was a comments section on the web page. In this comments section I found so much veiled sour grapes. I admit that I was disappointed that my wife and I did not win this jackpot. Apart from being curious if someone I knew won I could care less who had won this jackpot, it was not me. However, when looking at the comments that some of these lottery losers were making on this web page it seemed there were many people who had a very unhealthy concern as to the winner of this jackpot. The next few headings are taken directly from peoples comments on that web page.

“I Hope it is Someone Who Needs It”

At first glance a statement in regards to winning the lottery such as “I hope it is someone who needs it.” may sound noble. However, when examined further it is really a judgment. A judgment based on subjective criteria. The idea of what constitutes a need is something that means different things for different people. As an artist, I have a need to “create” which does not fall into the hierarchy of needs in quite the way that Maslow suggested. Some people would say that is not a real need. I would suggest that playing the lottery is not a real need for anyone. Winning the lottery is fulfilling a dream, rather than a need, in the way the word need is being used in statements like “I hope it is someone who needs it”. When people make these statements what is really being said is “I hope that the winner was not someone who has more money than me.”. If it all comes down to the prize money going to those with the most financial need, then people would be saying things like “that person does not have enough money to buy food for their kids, but they can buy a lottery ticket.”… Does that statement sound familiar?

“The Lottery Should Never Get That Big”

The idea that there should be caps on the lottery as to how big it gets was also thrown around on this web page. Various people saying that the prize should have been divided into all manner of lower amounts so that more people could win. The lottery game in question is Canadian Lotto 649 that starts at between 3.5 and 4 Million and if no one wins the jackpot grows like many other lotteries. Many people do not even purchase tickets until the jackpot gets to a larger amount and there are plenty of smaller prize payout games throughout Canada. In light of these facts the notion that the government should set limits to the size of jackpot so that more people can win is ridiculous and ludicrous. Many of the people I know personally who make “the lottery should never get that big” statements after not winning the huge jackpot, beforehand where saying “it’s all mine, I have the winning ticket.” Based on that experience I can be safe in saying that those making such statements online are saying so out of sour grapes. The same people would not be suggesting limits had they won the $49 Million Jackpot.

“No One Needs That Much Money”

Winning the lottery is about dreams coming true and not about “needs”. Get it? Got it? Good!

“I Hope a Group Won”

Each and every time the lottery gets huge and there is a winning ticket waiting to be claimed I hear at least one person saying “ I hope a large group of people win it.”. I hear this from people who bought their private tickets the day before saying things like “I got the winning ticket right here.” My feeling is that people feel if they did not win the huge jackpot themselves, they do not want some other person to be that lucky as an individual, or even a family. I feel that somehow their jealousy of not winning the huge jackpot is eased by the jackpot being diluted into smaller amounts that would be merely helpful to the winners, but not necessarily life changing. I suggest that most people play lotteries in hopes of having their lives changed for the better in a big way. The only way I can see the statement of “I hope a group won” as being sincere, is if that statement was made by a person that ONLY plays the lottery in a group or someone who does not play at all.

The Winners of The $49-Million 649

The winners in the particular news story that inspired this article were in fact a group of 13 people in Edmonton who worked at ATB (the Alberta Treasury Branch, a bank). I will be honest and say that I wish my wife and I had won instead of them. Anyone who played lotto 649 on that particular draw and says they are completely happy that these other people won needs to take an honesty check with in themselves. However, I can be happy as a human being for the good fortune of these other human beings. I can wish them congratulations and hope they use the money to fulfill THEIR dreams and not the whims of every joker that comes along looking for a way to get at their winnings.