On Wednesday, February 19^th, a citizen of Milpitas, California became 425 million dollars richer. As usual, my dad and I had a discussion on what we would do if we won the money, in which our ideas ranged from buying a fancy dinner to buying and renovating the city of Detroit.

As fun as it was to fantasize the life we may have as lottery winners, my dad surprisingly closed our discussion by saying, “You know, I wouldn’t really want to win the lottery at the end of the day,” prompting me to wonder why the heck anybody would say no to millions upon millions of dollars.

When I thought about it a bit, though, I realized my dad had a pretty good point.

Step back for a second and take a look at the multi-billion dollar industry that is the lottery industry – specifically, the Powerball lottery. Powerball was created in 1988 by several states, including our own Pennsylvania. It is coordinated by the Multi-State Lottery Association and was founded in order to raise revenue for state governments.

It has done much more than that, however, as its revenue has dramatically increased over the past few decades. In 2012, Powerball’s estimated revenue was five billion dollars, and its huge increase in profit can be credited to the doubling of ticket prices from one to two dollars and, in return, doubling the jackpot. (Its initial jackpot was 425 million in 2012).

Now, back to why my generally sane father would not want to win the lottery. First comes the question of values: my dad would hate to get money he did not earn through hard work – a sentiment I can definitely understand. But after that, his arguments were really quite surprising, his first being that most lottery winners end up bankrupt!

Initially quite stunned, I was told that the National Endowment for Financial Education, which estimates that 70% of people who come into large sums of money unexpectedly become bankrupt within seven years. His reasoning was also pretty interesting and centered on our culture of consuming.

My dad argued that humans, as a whole, tend to consume based on how much is available to them, be it food, water, or money. A terrific analogy was used by Yahoo Finance: “Here’s an experiment for you: Place a small bowl of M&Ms (or your fattening/sugary vice of choice) right within reach. Leave it there all day and then count how many you ate. Think that was a test of self-control? Now try putting a huge bowl in the same place. We’d venture to guess you will end the day with as few left at the bottom as when you started out with less.”

Indeed, this seemingly innocent form of gambling may lead to bankruptcy later on in life. Aside from financial problems, lottery winners are often faced with social problems. Imagine how your friends and family would react to you winning the lottery.

Although you may trust your current friends not to pressure you, it is common for lottery winners to recount their “friends” exploiting them for money. Do not be surprised if when you win the lottery your long lost cousin shows up with a great idea for a new business.

However, regardless of all the problems associated with winning the lottery, I still would not complain. If you truly did not want to spend the money or change your lifestyle, you could always donate millions! Imagine the impact that such a large sum could make on a charity you cared about. If you play it smart, I think winning the lottery could be truly worth it.