Changes to Lottery

The California Lottery folks chose to disenfranchise many players over 40 when they voted to allow large Lotto winners to choose to have lump sum payment of about 50% of their winnings and forfeit the rest, in lieu of having it spread out over 20 years (Dec. 24). Only they also voted to spread it over 26 years!

That means that someone like me, near 55, won’t get all of his winnings until he’s almost 81--if he lives that long! That’s clearly unfair to older players, and in my case, I would be left with the choice between losing half my winnings or risking dying before I’ve collected the balance, nearly 25 years into the next century.

This makes the lottery clearly skewed to the young and a slap in the face to older players. Any way you look at it, it’s a huge win for the lottery and double whammy for the beleaguered player!

WILSON GLEN

Los Angeles