Powerball is coming to Massachusetts!
Starting on Sunday, January 31, Massachusetts residents will no longer have to drive to neighboring New England states to buy tickets when the jackpot is really high. Powerball is currently available in five of the Six Great States, but that’s soon to change.
In the past, we would drive up to New Hampshire for Powerball, but only when the jackpot was high enough to make it worth the trip. More often, we’d just buy the tickets when we were up that way for some other reason.
But soon, we’ll be able to buy Powerball tickets at the same stores where we buy our MegaMillions tickets. I’m sure that Tim For Treasurer, oops, it’s now Tim For Governor is happy about this, as state Treasurer, he’s all about looking for ways to raise revenue for this sorry-assed, debt-ridden state. He knows that people are driving to other states to buy Powerball tickets, so why not just sell them here? This was the same sort of idea that former governor Mitt Romney agreed to, by signing a bill that allows Massachusetts liquor stores to sell booze on Sundays. Romney is a Mormon who doesn’t drink, but he’s smart enough to know that other people do, and that Massachusetts needs the tax revenue.
Frankly, I’ve not been thrilled lately with the idea of buying lottery tickets in New Hampshire. I follow the NH Lottery on Twitter and Facebook, and they have the rather annoying habit of posting the names of winners and how much they won. I’m not sure if New Hampshire offers the option of remaining anonymous or not, the law differs state-by-state. The Powerball site itself seems to only post names and photos of winners if the winners agree to it; I’ve seen lists of winners on the site, and many are claimed by attorneys who represent a trust formed by the winner for this purpose.
I’m pretty sure that Massachusetts allows anonymity. At least they don’t seem to have Facebook or Twitter. I’d think as long as they got the tax revenue from the winnings, they’d let people be anonymous. They probably hate it because they want the publicity, but they need to realize that once it becomes public that you won a big jackpot, all sorts of long-lost friends and relatives come out of the woodwork with their hands sticking out.
It’s not that we wouldn’t help some people who need help, but there are certain people we’d never want to have find out about it if we won. Basically, I’m talking about both Mike’s and my exes. And his family, as well. Would we send some money to his elderly mother? Yes, but we’d do it without telling her we’d won a huge jackpot, make her think that this is a one-time payment, no more would be forthcoming. Otherwise, we’d be asked constantly to help his various family members. I’m still steaming over how Mike’s mother asked us to buy his college-aged niece a new car, because her old one died. We refused, the kid is in college, she can work and save up for her own car, and take the bus in the meantime. Nobody ever bought Mike a car when HE was in college. He bought a crappy old van back then, and taught himself how to fix it up. He used to work on it at Click & Clack’s do-it-yourself garage in Cambridge, not far from MIT where he went to school. Funny how no one in Mike’s family forked over a dime to help him get through school; he actually had to LIVE in that damned van for a time because his money ran out. Then he dropped out of school to join the Navy, because he was having trouble finding a job. In fact, his parents STOLE an inheritance he got from a relative, which was to be used for his college education. When Mike finally returned to MIT, I actually helped him get through a lot more than anyone in his family did. So you understand why we’re not too keen on giving them much of anything now.
We refused to buy the car. But then Mike gave his mom money to buy hearing aids. She ended up using the money towards a new car for herself, after having given hers to the spoiled brat niece. And she still does not know to this day that we bought ourselves a new car back in ’07, because then she’d be screaming about how we can afford that, but not a car for Mary.
Actually, NO, we can’t afford to make payments on more than one car. We didn’t even want to have to have car payments again, as the old one was paid for. But it died, and buying another car was a necessity. Mike needs a car to get to work, there is no public transportation near his work. Why should we buy a car for someone else, when we’d have to do without ourselves?
Anyhoo, even if we won a multi-million dollar jackpot, it wouldn’t last long if these people knew about it, and we’d be harassed to the ends of the earth for saying NO. Hell, I think his mother is still pissed that Mike changed the beneficiary on his life insurance from her to me. Let her find her own life insurance quotes, and have her brat grand-niece be the beneficiary if she wants.
Even so, we’d most definitely be moving from here if we came into that kind of money. The new address would only be given to a select few, everyone else gets it on a need-to-know basis.
Oh, we’ll probably never win. But it’s nice to dream, right?
