When the national lottery was introduced, some people wisely said it was a no brain tax. The 'joke' being that the lottery was basically a tax and only people with no brain would pay it. (or alternatively that deciding whether to play was a 'no brainer' in that it didn't require a brain to work out it wasn't worth playing.
Now Camelot have announced that they are increasing the price of a lottery ticket from £1 to £2, and changing the odds on winning some of the prizes.
This has been met with 'outrage' by the more mathematically challenged members of society.
The chances of winning the national lottery is usually given at 14,000,000 to win. That is for every person who wins, there will be 14 million who won't.
Most people can grasp that the chances of throwing a six on a standard 6 sided dice is 1 in 6. Two sixes, 1 in 36, 3 sixes in a row will happen on average once every 216 throws. No wonder those games that need a double six to start are so boring ! But to win the lottery is more like being given 10 dice and being told you win if you throw all sixes.
It it wrong to mock people for playing the lottery, for some, probably many people it may represent a way to riches when they have no other option, but there is something inherently cynical about lotteries. We all like to think we are special, and we all hope that we are lucky, so almost all of us have the urge to play the lottery to day dream about how we would spend our winnings. the reality is throw that most people are simply giving their money to someone else. If you don't mind doing that, then fine, but try and remember, we are all special, most of out lives are truly blessed with the most marvellous things, and often winning the lottery hasn't brought people happiness, rather the opposite.
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