Can You Really Buy Happiness? Question Looms During Mega Millions Mania

CHARLOTTE, NC. — Mega Millions mania! It’s the largest jackpot in U.S. history. The drawing will pay out at least $1.6 billion to winning jackpot ticket holders.

The odds of the game are based on the amount of number combinations there are. For any Mega Millions drawing, there are more than 300 million number combinations that could come out.

The North Carolina Education Lottery says there’s not one specific number combination that is luckier than others. That means it doesn’t matter if you choose your own numbers or if you use a computer-generated Quick Pick ticket. Your odds of matching all of the numbers are the same. Because the odds of winning are based on number combinations, the number of people who play the game will not influence your chances of winning.

But can the billions of dollars buy you happiness?

WCCB asked the experts.

Clinical psychologist Dr. Jonathan Feather says there’s plenty of evidence to support people who win the jackpot can develop emotional issues, “They depend on that money to make them happy, but they didn’t earn it, they didn’t build it slowly, they weren’t wise about how they got to that position, so they’re not necessarily good managers.”

Dr. Feather says with so much wealth, winners have more to worry about, and some become paranoid about who they can trust.

“It can be a pretty emotional time to deal with all these people, whose every friend and every family member you’ve ever known comes out of the woodwork and wants money from you.”