"Mega Millions is administered by a consortium of its 12 orginal lotteries"
~ Wikipedia (10/23/2018)
The Mega Millions's jackpot is still huge. A whole lot of eople are buying. I don't mind. Every time someone spends $20 on a wasteful gamble, I climb up the socioeconomic ladder by $20 vis a vis that person. The same goes for gas purchases and housing. I drive a black, 2008 Smart car which, given the past two years of my driving it, I think could last me another 15 years. I pay $19 for gas every five weeks. And, I live comfortably in an 1,100 square foot condo which could meet my needs for the rest of my life.
If I see someone buying lottery, driving a car that is bigger than they need, or living in a house which is bigger than they need; then, I know I'm winning.
Also, just ask yourself what else could we as a society be doing with these incredibly long-shot gambling purchases. Entrepreneurship? Could we create one or more jobs, pay vendors and partners, and produce something which many people would find enjoyable or helpful? Probably. But, a lot of that money will go to making one or a few people filthy rich. And, we hate people who are filthy rich. And, people who get rich like that are not equipped to deal with what comes with it. Often, they are worse afterwards. A lot of taxes would be paid after a win. And, that can be good. But, I find Mega Millions and the like to be giant displays of people's greed and comparative unwillingnesses to invest small amounts of their income reasonably into the projects of themselves or others. Heck. What about retirement? Is everybody so squared away with their Financial Planners that they have tens to hundreds to thousands of dollars to throw away? Also, what the f*ck is the difference between a $50 Million jackpot and $1.3 Billion jackpot, except worse odds maybe. Is there some elite purchase like a specific yacht or private plane you've wanted and couldn't get for $50 Million but could afford if you won $1.3 Billion. It's absurd. It's about greed and an inability to understand numbers. The latter quality is why people wins mostly f*ck up thieir lives aftwerwards. But, alas, such is a case study in Behavioral Economics, I guess. Behavioral Economics is basically the field of watching what stupid people do with their money. It has filled a glaring hole in the field of traditional Economics.
But, from a public policy standpoint - who owns the big, nationwide games? Where do the profits go? I know Kentucky Lottery goes to public education in Kentucky (not a great cause, but there could definitely be worse ones). I also suspect that this is or has been the justification for outlawing gambling in many states. But, I don't get who runs Mega millions, who profits from it, and how exactly it has been legal for so long.
