Tag Archives: Powerball

local news, national news, State news

What we might expect from a winning ticket?

games_of_chance

OK, I’m about to offer a not-so-bold prediction.

One day, maybe soon, someone — or some people — is going to win the Powerball prize that totals more than $1 billion.

That’s a billion bucks, man.

The prediction? The place where the winning ticket was purchased will become the target of suckers seeking to win the next big payoff.

It happens whenever they give out a lot of money.

I recall it happening in Amarillo not many years ago when someone here won a Texas Lottery payoff; I think it totaled a paltry $100 million, or something like that.

The convenience store — the location escapes me — where the guy bought the ticket became flooded with customers looking to buy the next winning ticket.

It’s an amazing aspect of human nature, I suppose. Those who like the play these games of chance are drawn to where the winning ticket is sold.

They apparently forget that the chances of the same outlet selling a winning ticket twice in a row are infinitely more remote than the outlet selling a winning ticket in the first place.

Whatever . . .

This Powerball mania is getting serious, folks.

I hope the winner — or winners — are ready to fend off the overtures from their millions of new best friends.

 

State news

Quitting while still ahead . . .

Lotto

I have a long and well-covered loathing for games of chance.

Such as the lottery . . .

While working as an opinion page editor for the Beaumont Enterprise, way down yonder in the Golden Triangle of Texas, I argued vehemently against the introduction of the Texas Lottery. I wrote personal columns against it; our newspaper editorialized against it.

The voters of our part of the state — not to mention the rest of Texas — didn’t heed our advice. Texans voted overwhelmingly in favor of the Texas constitutional amendment that allowed for the creation of the lottery in the early 1990s.

Well . . . I awoke this morning and decided to forgo purchasing a ticket for the $800 million Powerball jackpot that’s looming out there, tempting many of my fellow Texans way past their strength.

I’ll let other suckers lay down their money and hope they win the Big One.

But for the record, I need to make a full disclosure.

Despite my hatred of these games, I’ve played the Texas Lottery exactly twice.

Both times occurred early in the lottery’s existence in Texas.

I went to a convenience store in Beaumont, not far from where we lived. I purchased a ticket. I scratched it off. I won something! It was a paltry $3 payoff.

Cool! I was two bucks ahead of the game.

The next week, I bought another ticket. I scratched it off. Nothing.

Still cool. I was a dollar ahead.

I haven’t played since. I quit while I was in the black.

Good luck today . . . suckers!

 

national news, State news

Powerball jackpot hits $800 million!

635877522067343002-lotteryAP-Powerball-Jackpot

I’m going to bed tonight pondering whether I should buy a Powerball ticket sometime tomorrow.

The jackpot has hit $800 million. The one-time payout totals something more than $450 million, which ain’t exactly walking-around money.

I doubt that I’ll play tomorrow. But my staunch refusal to gamble in this manner has been shaken a bit by a story I heard about two weeks ago.

The story goes like this:

A good friend of mine told me of a young man — a mutual friend of ours — who decided one day to purchase a Texas Lottery ticket. I’m told he doesn’t play often. But he drove up to a West Texas convenience store the other day, got out of his car, walked into the store and bought a lottery ticket. He just had a wild hair, I guess, so he plunked down some cash.

He won a nice prize.

It totaled $1 million. My friend ended up walking away with nearly 700 grand.

Sure, the federal government got a nice chunk of change from my friend’s winnings. Big deal. He still pocketed a lot of dough. I’d settle for a tenth of that amount.

Am I going to lay down some cash tomorrow for a chance at the Powerball jackpot? Not likely . . . but I haven’t yet slammed the door shut.

national news

Woman hits it big … real big

Some people have all the luck, and occasionally it’s quite good.

Take a young North Carolina woman, for example.

Marie Holmes is a single mother of four children. She’s unemployed. One of her children suffers from cerebral palsy. Then she took a chance at the Powerball payoff.

She won — big!

http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2015/02/nc_mother_of_4_who_had_to_quit_working_to_care_for_children_hits_powerball.html?wpisrc=topstories

Holmes is one of three winners of a jackpot totaling $564 million. Just like that, she’s a multimillionaire.

Stories like this make me almost happy that states sanction gambling in this manner. I say “almost”  because I don’t believe in these get-rich-quick schemes.

Don’t misunderstand. I’m happy for Marie Holmes and her children. She had to quit her job to take care of them, as she couldn’t afford the child care required.

Well, she can afford it now — and then some.

These kinds of stories tempt me to play the game. So far, I’m glad to say, they haven’t tempted me beyond my strength.

Hey, I’m still a dollar ahead in the Texas lottery. I bought my first lottery ticket for a dollar in 1991 and got $3 back. So, ahead by $2 at the time, I bought another ticket the following week; I didn’t win a thing.

That’s when I quit. Being a dollar ahead is good enough for me.

As for Marie Holmes, may she avoid the pitfalls that trap so many big winners. Hire a good lawyer, young lady.