Do You Feel Lucky?

“I figure you have about the same chance of winning the lottery whether you play or not!”  Fran Lebowitz

Lotteries are one of the biggest industries in America generating a projected $45 billion annually. It is estimated that 46% of Americans play the lottery. That is nearly half the population of the United States including men, women and children.

The illusion of a windfall wealth drives people to use their hard earned cash to buy lottery tickets even though their chances of winning the jackpot are somewhere between 150 and 195 MILLION depending on the specific lottery.

You read that right . . . ONE in 195,000,000.

People around the world . . .  not just Americans believe they’ll get rich quick by playing the lottery.  It seems folks want wealth immediately without all the waiting, planning and working.  Lotteries “sell” the hope of wealth and happiness with the hype that everybody can win.  State lottery commissions sweeten the pot with appealing advertising and media exposure of the most recent winner.

I am convinced people who buy into the lottery have flunked math or are living in a dream. Think on this: Most folks who spend $25 a week on the Lotto may not miss this money, however, they really don’t understand what that $25 a week could mean to their future.

If you were to habitually put $25 a week into a mutual fund at 10% interest, in 20 years, your portfolio would be worth $75,076.95.

In 21 years your weekly investment would have increased to $100,072.98

In 27 years your weekly investment would have more than doubled to $200,181.35

In 32 years the value would be $300,069.96.

That is the power of compound interest and common sense.

You said, “Wow!” So, why give in to the temptation of trying to become that instant millionaire?

Let’s say … you still think the Lottery is still worth a shot.  Sure…one million dollars and it is all yours. That is . . . if the advertisements were telling you the whole truth. There are a few tricks the lottery monopolies play on the unsuspecting masses. Notice I said monopoly, for every state with a lottery grants only one gambling organization the right to collect the people’s money.

When the lottery advertisement proclaims that you will be an instant millionaire, they stretch the truth a little bit.

With the lottery the word “instant” has a somewhat deceptive meaning. Do you become a millionaire from one moment to the next or does it take a few days? Now isn’t that just like a preacher to start splitting hairs? What difference does it really make if you become a millionaire from one moment to the next, or if it takes a few days, or even a few weeks?

While there are some lotteries that offer a lump sum . . . for most companies the “instant” payout usually means twenty to twenty-five years. Yes, you are reading correctly. Your instant million dollars is divided up over at least twenty years. Then it’s handed to you in annual chunks of $50,000 each.

I’ll even use the twenty year payout instead of the twenty-five year plan. I do hope this shows the decision to deal fairly with the lottery company’s use of the phrase “instant millionaire!”

So, to be as accurate as possible, it must be stated that you do not become an instant millionaire. You become an instant thousandaire. Well, Brother Harold, what’s so bad about being a fifty thousandaire every year for twenty years? Well, there is one other small detail with your instant wealth. The IRS. also instantly becomes your partner in the lottery and instantly takes 28 percent of every $50,000 check you get.

So, once you subtract the IRS portion from your instant $590,000, you find you are not exactly an instant millionaire. No, you are not even an instant fifty thousandaire. You are an instant thirty-six thousandaire.  That is, if you instantly quit your job and stop earning any other income which would automatically increase your tax bracket, further eroding your instant thousandaire jackpot’s actual size.

Let me share one more small detail. When you become an instant jackpot millionaire, you do not actually get the equivalent of $36,000 every year. Let me explain. There is a termite instantly turned loose in your jackpot. His name is inflation! According to today’s rate of inflation, you will not be a thirty-six thousandaire for long. At the end of twenty years, your $36,000 will be devalued to only $11,225.

So, the first year, it does look like you will be an instant thirty-six thousandaire. However, in the twentieth year, you will be nothing more than an instant eleven thousandaire. This means that winning the lottery doesn’t make you an instant millionaire.  Why, you don’t even become an instant thirty-six thousandaire. You actually become an instant twenty-three thousandaire. This will be the real value of your instant million dollar jackpot when averaged over 20 years, and adjusted for inflation. However, you must remember, this only holds true if taxes are not increased and you (the instant millionaire) do not get a job or increase your income in any way.

Some years back, I read an article in Delta’s Sky Magazine where the author recommended that the average person should use a percentage of their income as a basis for giving to the lottery. He suggests you give one half of a percent of every dollar you earn. This means out of every $1,000 you should give the lottery $5. Using this percentage, it’s an easy deduction to arrive at the fact a family earning $3,000 a month should give only $15 per month to their lottery.

For most people who participate in the lottery this would be a small percentage of what they spend. It is estimated there are six million compulsive gamblers in The USA today with one million of these being teenagers! The cost of chasing the odds is high.

You may ask, “So what’s the big deal then? Even God asks for 10% of our income.   He would then demand $300 of our $3,000 income. But wait a minute. Let’s take a look at the odds of winning.

With Lotto it is easy to figure because there is only one winner. We’ve established that the odds are extremely slim to say the least.

Only one in 18 million bona fide lottery players wins big at Lotto. That’s not very good, especially when you find out that “instant winner” means a twenty-year process, and “instant millionaire” actually means “instant thousandaire.” Go one step further and you realize that the instant $50,000 per year actually means $23,612.50 per year. Why, for a family of six, that’s almost living below the national poverty level according to the U.S. Department of the Census.

Is it easier to or more difficult to figure out the odds of tithing working for you?. Well, that’s based on whether or not you believe the Word of God.

Now, here is the bottom line for the tither. “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.

And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delight-some land, saith the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 3:10-12)

God says if you tithe, He will open the windows of heaven for you.  Non-tithers don’t have those advantages.  In addition, He promises to pour you out blessings that you will not have room enough to receive all of them.  So, what price can you put on God’s blessings?  But again, that’s not all.  God promises to “rebuke the devourer” for the sake of a tither.  That means on top of your blessings, the enemy is held at bay while you are blessed . . . so much so that even other nations will see and call you blessed. 

As a tither, are you claiming your blessings? After reading this article, I do hope you will be able to conclude that Lotto is “A Lot-O-Bologna.” Believers had better stick with the real thing, “tithing” and the blessings of a loving God and investing your money wisely.