How even talking about winning the Powerball jackpot can ruin your life

Here's an important life lesson: A hypothetical bunker of cash can still cause a real marital brouhaha

Just imagine if you won...
(Image credit: iStock)

It's Saturday morning and we're at the playground. I'm jiggling a baby and complaining about the pain in my right big toe while my husband pushes our toddler on the swing. Someone is trying to Skype me. It's my parents in London and my dad is very excited about something called Powerball. This, he informs his clueless British Brooklynite daughter, is a U.S. lottery game famous for its giant payouts. We're talking Trumpian riches. I know nothing of this nation's sweepstakes but now I'm curious.

The jackpot is set at a record-breaking, bank-bloating $890 million. It's agreed that we'll be my parents' ticket buying proxies and get 50 percent of any winnings. It's a swift, calm negotiation and I convince myself that in mere hours we'll be making room in our under-nourished joint account for an unfathomable fortune. Already my toe hurts less.

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Ruth Margolis
Ruth ​Margolis is a British ​journalist living in the U.S. Her work has appeared in ​The Guardian, ​The ​Daily Telegraph and BBCAmerica.com.