Popular scratch-offs — such as the Maryland Lottery’s Baltimore Orioles offering — promise big prizes and inflated payoffs to hopeful gamblers, but at what odds?

IS MARYLAND’S LOTTERY
‘THE’ FINANCIAL ANSWER
TO ECONOMIC AILMENTS
PLAGUING THE STATE?

MARYLAND LOTTERY:
LET YOURSELF LOSE
 
By David Maril
 
We all have our dreams about the lottery and all the big revenues and jumbo payoffs so many local politicians are promoting. Isn’t it remarkable how so many have suddenly embraced gambling as the financial solution to economic ailments that plague the state?

Me? I don’t buy lottery tickets or go to casinos. Still, I have gotten to the point of a skeptical acceptance.

If you are not a player or participant, it becomes a fascinating study of human nature every time a potential lottery dollar-payoff-figure rises into the hundreds of millions.

Lottery talk becomes an interesting diversion.

We all love to fantasize about how our lives would change by winning $400 million. Hey, even a puny $1 million would mean a drastic change for most people.

Few of us however acknowledge that the odds of winning the millions-of-dollars mega jackpots are extremely remote. I think I’d have a better chance of being called in by the Orioles to pinch-hit in the ninth inning of the seventh game of this year’s World Series and delivering a walk-off bases loaded world championship-clinching home run.

Still, millions of consumers spend every dollar they have available to buy as many chances as possible for a shot at a giant prize.

You hear people swear that “after” they win they’ll never report for another day of work.

Even a puny $1 million would mean a drastic change for most people.  But would they still come to work?

Some talk about buying a resort mansion and playing golf and going fishing  every day.

A few debate whether they’d purchase a Ferrari or a Corvette.

I’ve heard some lottery players say they would welcome the chance of being rich and famous.

Others, taking a cautious approach, plan to move away and keep a low profile so they won’t be hounded by requests from people seeking financial support.

Some dream about taking the big payoff all at once, not worrying about taxes. They are in a state of euphoria figuring out how they’ll “manage” to live on thousands of dollars a day for the rest of their lives.

Others, thinking more conservatively, want the payments drawn out.

There are those who say they would want to try and make a difference, helping people, setting up non-profit foundations to support charitable projects and causes.

I’m a dreamer also.

Every time people around me open up their wallets and pocketbooks to buy as many tickets as possible, or try their luck at casinos, I look forward to all the things I’ll be able to buy and do because I don’t throw money away on stuff where there is little chance of winning.

Compared with most  people, I’ll bet I’ve saved thousands of dollars over the years not gambling, joining in lottery pools or buying quick-picks and scratch-off tickets.

If it’s true that lotteries and casinos boost our towns and cities with financial  support, I applaud and encourage people who can afford it, to keep buying up the tickets and gambling.

The more money others spend on lottery tickets and at casinos, the more I’m hopefully saving on taxes. And if the arrival of casinos is creating the thousands of jobs for local people the politicians promise, that’s a definite plus.

Believe me, I’m not jealous any time someone I know says they’ve won $5,000 with a lottery ticket. However, what they are not saying is how many losing tickets they’ve purchased in the past.

In the general scheme of things, they have most likely lost far more than they’ve won.

Artist’s rendering shows Horseshoe Casino Baltimore, set to open on Russell Street near Camden Yards this August.  Do gamblers’ dreams of major payoffs translate into cash?

The  only time the lottery gets on my nerves is when I’m in a hurry at a checkout line and stuck behind someone selecting 25 scratch-off tickets. When they deliberate as slowly as if ordering supper at an expensive gourmet restaurant, my patience starts to wear thin.

And then I really lose it when a few minutes later I see that same person sitting in a car tossing out the losing scratch-off tickets onto the parking lot. In addition to the money they just wasted on the worthless tickets, they should be fined for littering.

The biggest negative, however, that is impossible to ignore about lotteries and casinos is that too often the people who can least afford to gamble their money away, get caught up in the spirit of big-payoff dreams and financial desperation.

I keep wondering how much harm is caused by creating a climate that increases the chances of more widespread and serious problems related to gambling addiction.

Our elected political hacks keep wailing about all the revenue states that don’t have expanded gambling lose to neighboring states that do.

What we never hear is if expanding lottery and gambling revenue is such a great solution to whatever ails a state, why are the places that have had all of this for years still experiencing serious financial problems?

Still, if the majority of people want to gamble and they are adequately warned about the potential dangers, it’s their choice. I’m not a believer in government protecting adults from themselves.

Even though I personally have little use for buying even a single lottery ticket, it can be hard not to join the crowd.

I recall numerous times, with a big lottery jackpot-drawing on the horizon, when co-workers teaming up to buy a number of tickets to increase their chances of winning couldn’t believe I wouldn’t pay into the pool.

“You’ll be sorry. You will be the only person at work tomorrow after we win,” I was told more than once.

Funny thing is, the next day they always all showed up at work — with several dollars less to spend for their coffee than I did.
 
davidmaril@voiceofbaltimore.org
 
“Inside Pitch” is a weekly opinion column written for Voice of Baltimore by David Maril.
 
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