What would you do with $1.6 billion?

The controversy over the death of Jamal Khashoggi continues to grow. Hurricane Willa has become a Category 5 storm and will strike Mexico late tonight.

Meanwhile, Americans have also been paying attention to a news item closer to home: tonight’s Mega Millions drawing is worth $1.6 billion, the highest total in US lottery history. The jackpot could go even higher between now and then, perhaps surpassing $2 billion.

Right now, people across the US are wondering what they would do with $1.6 billion (the cash payout is $904 million). A stack of 1.6 billion dollar bills would reach more than one hundred miles into the atmosphere, three times higher than commercial jetliners. It would cover 6.4 square miles in area.

It’s the classic get-something-for-nearly-nothing dilemma. A Mega Millions ticket costs $2. The payouts are so enormous that Americans spent $77.7 billion on lottery sales in fiscal year 2018, up about $5 billion from the previous year. In 2016, lottery ticket sales eclipsed what Americans spent on movies, video games, books, music, and sports tickets–combined.

However, your odds of winning the jackpot are one in 302,575,350. You are 2,649 times more likely to die from a lightning strike.

Is materialism bad for us?

The lottery is classic Western existentialism at work: most winners spend their money on themselves. One couple bought their dream home, other properties, and a Porsche. The husband also made a record with his college band. Six years later, every penny of their fortune was gone.

Another winner spent $5.4 million on gambling in Atlantic City. After losing it all, she is penniless and lives in a trailer park. Yet another spent all her winnings on luxury goods and has nothing left.

Materialism has been linked to depression, social anxiety, decreased well-being, lower life satisfaction, and compulsive and impulsive spending. The failure of money to buy true happiness shows that the Bible is right to warn us: “Keep your life…