Last weekend, somebody bought a lottery ticket, chose all the correct numbers and won millions. How lucky! Or maybe not. In the 1970s, scientists at the University of Illinois studied lottery winners and compared their levels of happiness with other people. The results were interesting. The winners felt delighted for a short time, but after that, their happiness returned to normal levels. A similar study by the University of California in 2008 gave the same results. They looked at lottery winners six months after their win and found completely normal levels of happiness. And for a few unlucky people, a huge lottery win was the start of major problems. Alex Toth, for example, won $13 million in 1990. He stopped working, spent the money quickly and had terrible arguments with his family and friends.


Are all lottery winners happy?