AS IT IS 2016-01-14 How Do People Spend Their Lottery Winnings?

AS IT IS 2016-01-14 How Do People Spend Their Lottery¹ Winnings?

If you are lucky enough to win America’s Powerball lottery jackpot Wednesday night, you could take home all or part of an estimated $1.5 billion.

You can play the lottery in all but six U.S. states. The game of chance could forever change the life of the winner or winners.

Whatever the final jackpot is, the federal government will get its share of the money – almost 40 percent in taxes. Then, depending on where you live, the state government could take another 8 percent.

But still, if a single Powerball winner takes the jackpot in a lump sum and pays all the tax, she or he could walk away with over $500 million.

Until now, the largest U.S. lottery prize ever offered -- $656 million – was paid out in a Mega Millions game in 2012.

The chances of winning the Powerball game are 1-in-292 million. A player chooses, or has the computer choose, five numbers from one through 69. Then the sixth number is a “Powerball” -- from one through 26.

What do lottery winners do with their money? And how does the government use the money raised from ticket sales?

A website called FiveThirtyEight.com wrote about how the money is divided.

The first point is fairly easy. Most of the money raised from ticket sales goes to the prize pool. How else can you create a jackpot of over $1 billion?

But after that, the website says it is not clear how Powerball and other lotteries² affect individual states.

The story is based on a study of money spent on lotteries in 43 states in 2012. The total was almost $60 billion.

The largest part of the “pie” goes to funding the prize pool. It eats up about two-thirds. After that, about five percent goes to the administrative³ costs of organizing the lottery in each state. That leaves just under 30 percent for each state to use as it wants.

However, FiveThirtyEight says that is where the transparency ends. Most states do not specifically report on how that money is divided.

ABC News examined the effects of a big Powerball jackpot from 2001. It found that while some states put the money in a “general fund,” other states use the money for environmental protection, schools or parks and recreation.

However, many experts believe that when states begin to receive lottery money, state officials factor that into the government spending. That can have a bad effect on other spending.

Patrick Pierce is a political science professor at St. Mary’s College in Indiana.

He says if a state joins the lottery and claims the money will be used for education projects, it only makes a difference for one year. After that, the state begins to count on the lottery money, and it reduces education spending.

“Given a few years,” he says, “a state would have spent more on education without a lottery.”

States do use lottery money for some government projects. But what about individual winners?

A few years ago, Forbes wrote a story about 11 lottery winners and what they said they would do with their winnings.

The most popular answers included: financing⁴ college for their children; buying homes; paying off loans; setting up a financial plan, or trust, for family members; going fishing; and going to school.

Here’s what happened to some other lottery winners, according to a study from the website PopSugar.com.

First, the good stories:

One married couple from Canada won $11.2 million, and gave most of it away to charitable groups after making gifts to family members.

A school teacher won $111-million in a Powerball game over 20 years ago. He started a summer camp for children.

A couple from Scotland won about $250 million five years ago. They set up a financial program and made gifts to artists, sick children, neighbors in need and other causes in their community.

Now, the not-so-good examples:

A couple in England won a prize worth almost $3 million. They bought a new home, some luxury cars, went on trips and spent more money. Arguments and bad investments led to debt and a break-up.

One woman in New Jersey⁵ won big prizes in both 1985 and 1986. She took home over $5 million. But she lost it all at Atlantic City casinos.

Other lottery winners burned through their winnings by spending big, avoiding taxes (and suffering the punishment) and giving away more money than they had.

Words in This Story

ticket – n.  a card or piece of paper that shows that you are playing a contest or game of chance.

pool – n.  combining money from each player of a game.

jackpot – n. a usually large amount of money won in a lottery or other game of chance

lottery – n. a way of raising money for a government or other organization in which individuals compete in a game of chance to win prizes

transparency – n. the quality that makes something easy to understand

factor – v. to consider or include (something) in making a judgment⁶ or estimate

recreation – n. something people do to have fun : activities done for enjoyment⁷

luxury – adj. something that is costly

1 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。

2 lotteries   

n.抽彩给奖法( lottery的名词复数 )；碰运气的事；彩票；彩券

参考例句：

• Next to bullfights and soccer, lotteries are Spain's biggest sport. 除了斗牛和足球以外，彩票是西班牙最热门的玩意儿。 来自辞典例句
• Next to bullfight and soccer, lotteries are Spain's biggest sport. 发行彩票在西班牙是仅次于斗牛和足球的最大娱乐活动。 来自辞典例句

3 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

4 financing   

n.筹措资金

参考例句：

• The main source of our outside financing is bank loan. 我们向外筹措资金的主要渠道是银行贷款。
• They live in a symbiosis with governments that they are financing. 他们与他们服务的政府互利共存。

5 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

6 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

7 enjoyment   

n.乐趣；享有；享用

参考例句：

• Your company adds to the enjoyment of our visit. 有您的陪同，我们这次访问更加愉快了。
• After each joke the old man cackled his enjoyment.每逢讲完一个笑话，这老人就呵呵笑着表示他的高兴。