Alexis Farrell, 5th Period: Ticket to paradise: Powerball jackpot could hit $1.3B

Obviously, the odds of winning the lottery are quite slim according to this article. It explains that they are in fact one in 292.2 million. People around the U.S. that have never participated in the lottery are buying 5 or 10 tickets. Since no one received the 900 million dollar prize, it is most likely raising to 1.3 billion dollars. However, the U.S. lottery has never distributed more than Spain's Christmas lottery, El Gordo. Last month, El Gordo's big prize was 2.4 billion dollars. I'm sure some Americans are hoping for even more than that.

The lottery is mostly fun and games, but I think that it also shows how materialistic society is today.  The advertisements are unreal. Snapchat even made a filter that had several dollar signs and champagne bottles that said "If I win 900 million..." Additionally, on Twitter, #Powerball is the number one hashtag that is trending. I realized that as time evolves, the things that people have begin to define them instead of the way they act towards others. As the mid 1800's approached, it became more evident that if you were successful, you would most likely become rich. Businesses were booming and the economy was thriving but it did have some rough patches as well. The gap between rich and poor widened. Furthermore, instead of wasting all of this money on a worldwide raffle, maybe American citizens should be donating to families in poverty. Better yet, the money could go to people in Syria suffering from malnutrition. 

Link to video about Syrian malnutrition:https://twitter.com/sadgllrl/status/685037503305363456

Link to article: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/01/10/powerball-jackpot-winning-numbers/78587362/