Campus Viewpoints: What would you do if you won the lottery?
Wednesday’s Powerball lottery jackpot reached $1.2 billion dollars, one of the highest sums on record. With no winning ticket bought before the drawing, the pot soars to $1.5 billion for Saturday, Nov. 5’s drawing. (Ethan Cohen | The Union)
The Nov. 5, Powerball lottery jackpot has soared to a colossal $1.5 billion with a cash option of $745.9 million.
With the pot reaching one of the highest records in recent history, The Union staff sought out the perspectives of the El Camino College campus community about what they would do if they had won $1.5 billion through the lottery.
Here are their thoughts:
Computer science major Jessie Gonzalez said that he would be careful not to spend too much of the winning lottery money.
“I would spend it along with my family and not blow it all,” Gonzalez said.
El Camino College groundskeeper Salvador Martinez said that the amount of money that he would win from the lottery is too much and that he would rather use it to help others.
“I would help the poor people who have nothing…no job, money or food,” Martinez said.
El Camino College groundskeeper Raul Hernandez has never bought a lottery ticket before since he feels that he can’t justify continually spending money on such things, but he would give the money to others.
“I would help those who really need it and my family,” Hernandez said.
Radiology major Emily Nava would use the winnings to support her family first and then give back to the community if she would end up winning the lottery.
“I would buy myself and my parents a house and open a school for the community or maybe a women’s shelter,” Nava said.
Kelly Gordin, 25, a receptionist at El Camino, would not hesitate in giving money away to people close to her and people that deserve it.
“I would give the money to good people that are in a [hard] spot that don’t deserve to be there, so I would give out a good amount to each person that deserves it,” Gordin said.
Antonio Ochoa, 23, temporary staff at the Social Justice Center would make sure his family is secure financially. He said the money could help him for his future and be put away as a cushion for his life, so he wouldn’t end up in a bad financial situation.
“I would help my family out and make sure I help the community because people go through hard times and they need help too,” Ochoa said.
The Powerball lottery jackpot did not sell the winning ticket during Wednesday’s drawing. The jackpot has been raised from $1.2 billion to $1.5 billion, just short of 2016’s record of $1.586 billion.
The next drawing will take place on Saturday, Nov. 5 at 7:59 p.m. PST.
