Anne Stuhldreher follows up on the results of Save to Win in the Washington Post.

More than 11,000 Michigan residents opened accounts through the contest, saving $8.6 million throughout 2009. People can open the accounts — they’re like certificates of deposit — with as little as $25. They need to keep their money in for at least a year and can make deposits as small as $1 as often as they like. More than half of the participants said they hadn’t saved regularly before opening their accounts. About 60 percent admitted they played the lottery during the past six months. And 44 percent earned less than $40,000.

With banks acting like lotteries, maybe it’s time for lotteries to act like banks. For people who can’t give up the thrill of a scratch off game, state lotteries could sell a, say, $5 ticket where $4.50 would be sent to a bank account. Seven other Michigan credit unions have adopted the model. One manager explained that the lottery style bank account proved more successful than a short-term CD with a 10 percent interest rate!



“We were very surprised,” Hubbard said. “It’s a breathtaking penetration rate, especially for a new product and one focused on saving, since that’s something our members don’t do.”

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Tags: lottery, saving