Lottery Articles:

In brief: Studies of Lottery winners show that though their win can cause great elation for a while, their sense of overall wellbeing eventually returns to its previous level- whether they were happy or not.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/mens/mind_happiness.shtml

"For many people, sudden money can cause disaster," says Susan Bradley, a certified financial planner in Palm Beach, Fla., and founder of the Sudden Money Institute, a resource center for new-
money recipients and their advisers.

"In our culture, there is a widely held belief that money solves problems. People think if they had more money, their troubles would be over. When a family receives sudden money, they frequently learn that money can cause as many problems as it solves," she says.

According to Dr. H. Roy Kaplan author of several books on lottery winners, 'winning the lottery doesn't change people's lives as much as is imagined.

'You can catapult people from one economic status to another overnight, but a lifetime of beliefs and experiences change more slowly.

People who were outgoing and gregarious before winning took it in stride," Kaplan said. "People who were shy and withdrawn before winning became suspicious and paranoid.

Money doesn't change a person's level of happiness, said Kennon Sheldon, a psychologist at the University of Missouri at Columbia. "We consistently find that people who say money is most important to them are (the unhappiest)," Sheldon said.

Source: Gaming magazine http://www.gamingmagazine.com/managearticle.asp?c=220&a=1156

Nearly one-third of lottery winners become bankrupt.

'The CFP Board made an offer to the National Association of State and Provincial Lotteries to provide the organization's members with information to distribute to winners. The Investment News article
highlighted the lack of financial guidance many winners receive from state lottery agencies; estimates show that nearly one-third of lottery winners become bankrupt.'

Source: Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc http://www.cfp-board.org/bulletin.html

Wealth brings unhappiness.

'A new study by American psychologists has found that cash and popularity do not bring nirvana. Experts say that excessive wealth, particularly for people unaccustomed to it, such as lottery
winners, can actually cause unhappiness.

There is evidence that there are very wealthy people who are very unhappy, particularly people who were not born to wealth like lottery winners.'

Source: BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1162153.stm

An interesting study by Brickman, Coates, and Janoff-Bulman:

'The researchers studied both lottery winners and individuals that sustained a physical injury, to determine if winning the lottery made them happier or if sustaining an injury made them less happy.
What they found was that immediately after either event, levels of happiness were higher (lottery winners), or lower (physically injured), and that after eight weeks or less, people returned to
the level of happiness they had before the event. This research suggests that we adapt to these situations very quickly, and often return to the degree of happiness we had before such an event.'

Source: University of California Regents http://ucsfhr.ucsf.edu/hrupdate/update200202.htm

A San Francisco Chronicle article titled 'Big lottery winners know a lot about what not to do”' states:

'Research shows that a significant number of lottery winners lose their winnings within five years, said Stephen Goldbart, a psychologist and co- director of the Money, Meaning and Choices Institute in Kentfield, which advices people who come into financial windfalls.'

"We've seen people who had decent marriages who came into money and it destroyed the marriage. Bringing a huge amount of money into the scene is a life-changing event," Goldbart said.

'A hermit drank himself to death just two years after winning $2.57 million (1.8 million pounds) in the lottery.”'

'Tom Grey, spokesman for the National Coalition against Legalized Gambling, said Virginia state lottery officials found in 1999 that of 300 millionaire winners, as many as 60 eventually encountered financial problems.'

Source: San Francisco Chronicle 2002 http://www.geocities.com/ccd4664/BigLottoryWinners.htm

'Researchers have identified many elements that people report wanting that don't really bring lasting happiness once obtained. For instance, there are interesting data on the clinical depression of megabuck lottery winners, or that the reported happiness of the rich is not significantly higher than the average person's. Apparently, large amounts of wealth, fame, power, sex, and prestige do not bring above-average happiness over time.'

Aaccording to ABC's John Stossel, "Studies of lottery winners found that within a year, most say that they are no happier than they were before they won." http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Pantheon/8320/HAPPNSS.htm

Further reading:

The Psychological Impact of Sudden Wealth
Journal of Financial Planning by Eileen Gallo
January 30, 2001
http://www.psycport.com/2001/01/30/13790/67382837-1238-KEYWORD.Missing.html