Big Upside?

Foxnews has the story of the West Virginia man who won the Powerball lottery 2 years ago -- taking home the lump sum of over $100 million. Now his wife says she wishes he had torn up the ticket.

The story includes this nugget of information:

Lottery winners commonly regret being so public about their windfalls, said Susan Bradley, founder of the Sudden Money Institute in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

Sudden Money Institute? I'll have to save that for a later post.

This story brought to mind the California lottery's new marketing campaign.

An example:
A picture of someone lounging face down beside what looks like the turquoise waters of the Caribbean, feet covered with sand. The ad copy reads,

Upside: Travel
Downside: Jetlag

SuperLottoPlus
Big Upside

Sounds like lottery winners may actually end up as the losers. I read somewhere that the average lottery winner spends all of her winnings within 7 years. Hardly a big upside.

It is truly sad that we pay huge social costs for a lottery and end up with winners who are anything but in the long run.