Keeping it Together: When does playing Mega Millions, other lotteries go too far?

Odds are, you've probably played (and lost) a lottery before. But what you may not know is that doing so could cost you your mental health.

My name is Charlie, and I'm a health and wellness reporter with Paste BN. This week, I looked into the potential mental health ramifications of playing the lottery, in light of the landmark Mega Millions jackpot that climbed to $1.58 billion. A Florida resident won the enormous grand prize Tuesday night, and several others throughout the country won $1 million.

But playing the lottery, if taken too far, can have disastrous mental health ramifications, including the development of gambling addiction.

"If you're struggling with your bills and you're looking to make the money through buying scratchers or playing the lottery, and you lose that money, it's money that you really can't afford to lose," Steve Kobashigawa, a marriage and family therapist specializing in addiction, told me. "Of course, it creates more stress, anxiety, depression, and it has a very significant impact on mental health."

Most people are able to play lotteries for fun without falling into addictive or destructive patterns. For example, Kobashigawa notes, only about 2% of people in California, the state with the third-largest lottery sales in 2022 according to Statista, suffer from a severe gambling disorder or pathological gambling addiction.

"It isn't a very large number, but when it does happen, it's pretty significant," Kobashigawa says, adding he's worked with many clients who became addicted to buying lottery tickets. "There's a very high prevalence of suicidal ideation and suicide with people who struggle with gambling disorder. It's very, very serious."

Find out more about how to play the lottery in a healthy way here, and keep scrolling for more deep dives from our wellness team.