Lotto: There's FOMO and there's $50m work syndicate FOMO

Thursday, 27 February 2020

Rāwiri Hawker didn't normally play Lotto, but would have a crack for $50 million.

As colleagues and family members pitch in for shared glory, Lotto's conscientious objectors are put to the test. Reporter Sophie Trigger is one of them.

Three Lottos ago, someone in the office suggested a work syndicate for what was then a $35 million Powerball prize.

A week later, the unclaimed Lotto prize had rolled over to a must-win $50m, which will be the biggest prize in New Zealand history if won by a single winner.

I was in a bind. I'm not into Lotto, but had been enjoying the chats of whimsical plans and hypothetical holidays enough to contribute again.

On the streets of Blenheim on Thursday, it turned out plenty of people agreed with me in the futility of Lotto. Few had gone in for work syndicates, preferring to keep tickets in the whānau.

The Powerball has jackpotted to $50 million on Saturday, which will be the biggest prize in New Zealand history if claimed by a single winner.

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Karen Perrott would buy a ticket for family, and said her mum was going in with colleagues.

Rāwiri Hawker had not played Lotto for years, but for $50m would have a crack, hoping to maximise the chances by going in for a ticket with family.

'I'd say it's more families, a lot of people go in with their families nowadays,' Hawker said.

Likewise, Josie Ngatai planned to buy a ticket. While she usually went in with her son, she wasn't sure this time as he had his own family too. A work syndicate wouldn't interest her, she said.

'I feel safer just being with my own family,' she said.

'It's getting big now.' Wera Stafford was buying a ticket for himself.

Wera Stafford bought a ticket for Wednesday's Powerball and was back in for the $50m jackpot. 'It's getting big now', he said.

Karen Perrott, too, would buy a ticket for the family and knew her mum in the North Island was going in with a work syndicate.

Flynn Adam said it was tempting, but the chances were too slim for him to take a crack.

But some were opting out altogether, or had never played in the first place.

Flynn Adam, visiting from Auckland, said while $50m was tempting, 'you're more likely to get struck by lightning twice' and he just wasn't in the habit of doing it.

Corey Walker agreed. 'I don't waste money on stuff I don't like.'

But, unlike Walker, I had given into the peer pressure, but found unlikely value for money.

Personally, the idea of winning $50m is a little sickening. Sure, I'd pay off student debts and travel the world, but after that I'd be crippled by the responsibility of philanthropy, plagued by the guilt of causes I didn't support and people I didn't offer a hand-up to. I'd be lost without the struggle and challenge that gives life meaning.

But fearing the existential dread of winning Lotto is, of course, as futile as planning your $50m round-the-world trip.

With the chances of winning Lotto smaller than the chances of having identical quadruplets, you're not really paying for a chance at winning the big prize at all. You're paying for escapism, the chance to dream, the fun of imagining a glamorous future that doesn't involve a 9 to 5 grind. That was my value for money.