Stop playing Mega Millions or any other lottery: The government always wins

If this week is any indication, the lottery can make a handful of people very rich.

On Wednesday morning, news broke that there had been a winner in Tuesday night’s Mega Millions drawing: Someone from South Carolina had won the $1.5 billion jackpot. While the prize fell short of the all-time lottery record, it marked just the second time ever that someone won more than $1 billion. For whoever wins these massive sums of money, that’s great.