Playing The Lottery

Occasionally and only $1.

My theory is that if HKBH wants me to win, all I need is one. If He doesn’t want me to win, buying a million won’t help.

I haven’t thought about what I would do if I won.

The Wolf

(Yes, I know He could also cause me to find the winning ticket on the street. So I’m not logical – sue me.)

I dont play Lotto because my personal understanding of how Hashem operates, is that he wants man to earn his money because we appreciate what we work for and therefore anyone He really loves and cares about, He will not give them the money via lotto.

Wolf- I agree with your theory and its not illogical at all. After all- you have to do some form of hishtadlus.

whatrutalkingabt

Hishtadlus is working to make a living. Lotto is spending your money on entertainment.

Statistics show that most people who win the lotto end up ruining their lives.

Read this:

The authors of a book about how success often destroys families, Begin and LePage said they know firsthand the destruction sudden wealth can cause.

Begin said he has had a couple of lottery winner clients, and has studied and worked with people whose net worth is $5 million or more.

Statistics show lottery winners often go bankrupt, get divorced and have family feuds, he said.

Part of the problem is that many lottery winners are average Joes who have no experience handling huge sums of money. So, they buy and invest without realizing what it will cost to maintain the houses they buy or to pay their taxes.

http://journalstar.com/special-section/news/article_ecba141b-3e59-5914-a321-38b4adb20733.html

WIY,

The evidence that you brought (while correct in and of itself) does not support the premise you put forth.

The reason that most people squander their winnings is largely because most people are poor money managers to begin with. Giving a person with poor money management skills lots of money doesn’t magically transform him into a great money manager — it just gives him lots of more opportunities to make mistakes.

But whether or not buying a ticket counts as hishtadlus or entertainment (and I can the case being made either way) really has nothing to do with whether or not people squander the winnings away after they get it.

The Wolf

Wasn’t it the Chofetz Chaim who promised to give away any winning after hiis rebbetzin purchased a ticket without consulting him?

So many winners got divorced and had all sorts of problems from their newfound wealth, that they rued the day they bought their winning ticket.

as a “chesed” i will give u some info u might not know.

u can send a ck and be in every drawing, no more forgetting to buy tickets, no more checking them, etc..

. . . a tax on the statistically ignorant.

I bought a ticket (the $1 kind) a few days after my 18th birthday. I pretty much said if Hashem wants me to win, it might as well be now.

If I won, I would not spend the money all at once. I would limit myself to using 150,000 a year… This way I wouldn’t go “sick with new-found wealth.”

If I won, I would pay off all mortgages and debts of my family, open up my own BY, start a Yeshiva in a small Torah community, give tzedakah – especially to people in E’Y, invest and save it. I would still work – although not as much.