When you enter a lottery, you can’t help having a little day dream, even if it’s only for a minute, about what you’d do with the jackpot if you were the lucky winner. The amounts available to be won are so huge these days that a jackpot win would be life-changing – without a doubt.
Today, it’s possible to play the lottery wherever you are, even if you’re not in the same country as the lottery is being held in. This is because you can purchase lotto tickets online now, for multiple lotteries. So, not only do you have the chance to win your own country’s lottery, you have the option of entering international lotteries that have even bigger jackpots – like the American lotteries Powerball and MegaMillions.
But bigger isn’t always better – though the jackpots on the Powerball and MegaMillions often reach into hundreds of millions of dollars, the odds of winning them are smaller than on other lotteries with lower jackpots. For example if you were to scoop the jackpot on the Irish lottery, you might only win a couple of million euros, but you have a 1 in 8,145,060 chance of doing so and those are far better odds than the 1 in 175 million chances of winning the Powerball.
When you think about how you’d actually spend the money, most people imagine that they’d go on exotic holidays, buy a mansion or a holiday home, as well as a new car and other luxuries. But in reality, according to a report by Pixmania.com, people who have hit the jackpot often make small purchases in the early days following their win; buying useful household appliances perhaps, but not splashing out on big purchases until later on. Psychologists believe this is because a lottery winner has to come to terms and mentally adjust to their new found-wealth before they can start to spend in large quantities. This is probably just as well, otherwise you might make some decisions that you’d regret at a later date.
Of course, how to spend the lottery jackpot won’t be an issue until you win – and there’s no chance of being a winner unless you buy a ticket!