I Have a Gambling Problem

No, not really.

I have been buying a lot of lottery tickets lately though. A friend recently told me that it is nothing more than a tax on people who are bad at math. Well, as many of my professors here at the Bush School can confirm, I most certainly fit that demographic. I usually don't pay much attention to the lottery, but will start buying tickets when I notice it's above $50M. A few weeks ago I saw that it was at $68M, and started buying tickets using numbers from what I like to call "the fortune cookie of destiny", a fortune I got back in November that reads "You will have good luck in the Spring". Cookies don't lie, right?

At any rate, nobody has won yet, and so the jackpot tonight is now $80M. I always do the Cash Option, which would yield $50M from this drawing. I'm not delusional, I'm perfectly aware that in all likelihood I'm not going to win. I just have fun with the idea that in a bizarre turn of events I could win. But as I left the convenience store last night after buying my ticket I thought to myself "You know, I have no idea what the hell I would do if I won this thing". In all honesty, I can't even wrap my head around the notion of having that much money, much less what I would do with it.

Theoretically, what I think would happen is I wouldn't tell anybody. Nobody. Nobody, that is, except for the attorney I would retain to set up a trust to put the money in, and then I would live off of the interest. I've jokingly called it my "grad school exit strategy", but I think I would still finish up here at the Bush School. I would absolutely still follow through with my plan to take the bar next year and practice law. I probably would do more pro bono work than I otherwise would do just because I wouldn't be as concerned with how I would pay the bills each month. I don't really see myself shutting down my career because I like where I'm going right now, and I think I would be incredibly bored and unsatisfied with my life if I wasn't working and doing things that challenged me.

And now some of you are thinking "You're full of crap, James." Well, to be fair, I would definitely have some fun with it too. I'd certainly do a little traveling. Apart from that, I would make at least one stupid purchase:

A Delorean

I am completely serious.

So kids, if you see me roll up to the Bush School rocking the DMC like I just came from 1985, you will know something is up.

Ok, I want to open up the comment thread to my readers. You are an intelligent bunch, what would you do if you won a $50M payout from the lottery?