Americans spend more money on the lottery than on movies and sporting events combined. Many play the lottery believing the myth that winning big will solve all of their problems, but research shows that many of the biggest winners face financial difficulties and other unforeseen hardships within a few years of winning. In reality found money, including lottery winnings, is typically handled differently than earned money.
It has been suggested that many of the winners would have been better off if they never played. Perhaps it is that awareness that has led some winners to give the winning tickets to a church. Consider two examples:
- Last month a $30,000 winning scratch off lottery ticket was placed in the collection plate of a struggling Maryland church
- In 2008 a $3 million winning scratch off lottery ticket was anonymously donated to a New York church
So What?
I had the distinct pleasure of attending seminary in an ecumenical environment. In order to graduate when I preferred, I stepped well outside of my theological comfort zone and took an elective course in resort and leisure mininstry from a nearby seminary that, at the time, had a student body that was almost entirely made up of persons of a specific faith tradition. In that class one of my small group projects revolved around envisioning a ministry on the strip in Las Vegas. Somehow we got into an in-depth debate about lottery winnings and one of my colleagues in learning expressed the position that local congregations should never knowingly accept such funds. I don’t know that I presented my view well, but do remember telling this young pastor-in-training that I suspected it was an issue he would never need to worry about.
Regardless of your congregation’s place on the theological continuum:
- Would you accept the gift of a winning lottery ticket (assuming it came without restrictions)? Why or why not?
- Assuming the gift was given without restriction, what types of funds (i.e. the proceeds of a Ponzi scheme) would you decline?
If you are searching for a resource to open the door to conversation and further study, I recommend the HBO documentary series Lucky, which effectively balances facts about the lottery and interesting historical data points with stories of people who have experienced dramatic changes as the result of winning the lottery.