Readers React: The insanity of a $1.5-billion Powerball lottery

To the editor: There is more than one dark side to the current lottery and particularly the multistate Powerball. (“Some see a dark side to Powerball frenzy — the toll on poor players,” Jan. 12)

This is just plain crazy and stupid on many levels. What happens, say, if a terrorist sympathizer wins? This much money can only cause endless problems for society in general and the winner in particular, who is most likely to have no prior financial expertise.

There is no reason to have a lottery payout of greater than $1 million or so to any one person. It would do society much more good to have multiple winners sharing a pot, and they won’t have to hire armies of financial advisors and bodyguards.

Mark O’Connell, Irvine

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To the editor: So, Californians alone spent more than $109 million on Powerball tickets for Saturday night’s drawing and about $179 million for Wednesday’s draw. I wonder how many homeless and hungry Californians could have been provided a meal and a warm place to sleep if that money had gone to them.

Just sayin’.

Chuck Litterer, Lake Arrowhead, Calif.

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