WIN MONEY, BECOME FAMOUS AND BE SATISFIED

Saturday, May 20, 2006

But we can guess. An article in the Journal of Ga

We've got a bunch of lottery winners in Maine, even some in central Maine. It turns out that all is not what you might expect when someone suddenly comes into possession of a lot of money. Or else it's just that classic Maine understatement comes into play when winners are asked whether the money has had a positive effect on their lives.

"I suppose," says Margaret Randall of Cherryfield.

Evidently, few are trying to play Donald Trump, or seeking the limelight. Johanna Colson, who lives in Dover-Foxcroft, won $280,000 in Megabucks in 1994 and quietly uses the money to pay for prescriptions. Janet DeCosta of Weeks Mills said her husband's first thought upon winning $1.3 million a few months ago wasn't about champagne or fancy cars -- it was to buy their grandchildren a swing set.

On the other hand, we don't know how Oakland residents Edward Cardali Jr. and Regan Cardali feel about winning $8.45 million recently; they've changed their phone number and generally made themselves unavailable since the announcement of their good fortune.

But we can guess. An article in the Journal of Gambling Studies -- who knew there was an entire academic discipline devoted to the issue? -- says that lottery winners were found to be "well-adjusted, secure and generally happy from the experience." Well gee, we needed a major university study to tell us that, didn't we?