New York Sign Language New Yorkers Willing To Take a Gamble On Lotto By BOB YAMPOLSKY	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
宝くじで一穫千金を ニューヨークでは毎週水曜と土曜はロットと呼ばれる公共の宝くじの抽選日。当たれば3,300万ドルの賞金が手に入ります。くじは1ドルで購入でき、結果は新聞・テレビで報道されます。一穫千金を夢見て、今日もニューヨーカーはチケット売り場に並びますがー。

It is a Saturday night as I write this. This means that it is a New York State Lotto night. There will be a Lotto drawing tonight, and it is very possible one or more people will hit the jackpot and become very rich. The jackpot for tonight's drawing is $33 million (¥4 billion). I know this because there is a stationery store near my apartment that displays a sign telling me how big the next jackpot is.

I try to ignore this sign, but it invariably catches my eye in the morning, after I leave my apartment ($2,020.20 [¥242,400] a month) and walk my two kids to their preschool ($880 [¥105,600] a month for the two of them). I am at a stage in life, shall I say, where $33 million would really come in handy.

Lotto in New York is run by the New York State Lottery Commission. It is just one of several lottery games the commission offers, but it is by far the most popular game, and the game with the biggest prizes. It's a simple game. One ticket costs $1. You pick six numbers between one and 48. If those six numbers match the numbers drawn, you win the jackpot. The odds of this happening, by the way, are 13 million-to-one.

The jackpot starts at $3 million (¥360 million). If no one hits the jackpot, then it keeps increasing until someone does hit it. The drawings are held on Wednesdays and Saturdays and are televised live. Forty-eight numbered ping-pong balls are flying about crazily in a glass case. One by one, six are sucked down a stoppered glass tube. They roll down the tube, come to a stop and reveal their number. If you miss the broadcast, you can learn the numbers from the late night news programs, from the morning newspapers or from the lottery agents.

There are several important things to keep in mind when playing Lotto. First, there are two ways of picking numbers. You can choose your own numbers by filling out a form, which is then inserted into a machine that prints the ticket, or you can let the machine pick the numbers at random for you.

Second, the winnings are paid out over 25 years. You do have the option of getting your winnings all at once, but you must make this decision when you buy your ticket. If you do choose to get it all at once, the total amount you receive will be much smaller than the jackpot total.

Third, lottery winnings are taxable income.

Fourth, if two or more players have the winning numbers, they split the jackpot.

Fifth, profits made by the lottery commission are directed toward public spending on education. This is actually a meaningless point, since it does not mean that public schools in New York get more money because of lottery profits. But it is a nice way to rationalize a vice that is run by the state government.

Lotto is heavily advertised. Aside from signs on the stores selling tickets, there are billboards, ads on the subways and buses, and ads on television. A memorable ad from a number of years back showed a boss fuming because his secretary is late. She struts in, finally, sashaying down the rows of desks, chewing gum, blowing kisses to everyone, and otherwise acting in a way designed to infuriate her boss. She has just won the lottery, of course.

In the current ads, an opera is in progress. A man in a suit interrupts, walking out onto the stage and announcing to the audience how many millions the current Lotto jackpot is. In a matter of seconds the entire audience (dressed in furs and tuxedoes) rushes out from the hall, presumably to buy lottery tickets. "Cool," the man says, surveying the now-empty hall.

When the jackpot gets large, sales of Lotto tickets increase. Last year, when the jackpot reached $70 million (¥8.4 billion), the lines at the stationery store near my home were 10 to 15 deep. To be honest, I don't really see the logic of buying tickets just when the jackpot swells. After all, even the smallest jackpot, $3 million, would be enough to make me financially secure for life. But of course playing the lottery is not a matter of logic. A previous slogan for Lotto was: "All you need is a dollar and a dream."

My own dreams tend to be rather reality-based. I think, OK, $33 million. I'll take the winnings up front, giving me $10 million (¥1.2 billion) or so after taxes. I will give about half of that to family, which would leave me, say, $4 million (¥480 million). I will spend half a million on a nice apartment and put a million away in trust funds for the kids. That will leave $2.5 million (¥300 million). Even if I just stick it in a bank, at 5 percent interest, that would be $125,000 (¥15 million) a year. $125,000 a year would be nice.

Not a very imaginative dream, I'll admit. But then again, I haven't bought a ticket for tonight's drawing. In fact, I haven't bought a ticket in years. Still, I do notice that sign showing the current jackpot. And, since tonight is also a bill-paying night, that figure of $33 million will undoubtedly be lurking in the back of my mind as I write my check for our health insurance ($585 [¥70,200] a month), for the electricity and gas ($80 [¥9,600] a month), for the telephone (about $70 [¥8,400] a month), for the credit cards ($???), . . .

Shukan ST: March 26, 1999

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