Guaranteed Lottery System
Further to my blog post here in January (about lottery systems), I received an interesting piece of junk mail today with the headline, "Win The Lottery Within 6 Weeks, Guaranteed!" With such a stupendous secret up his sleeve, you might have thought that the author of the mailing would have invested some of his (presumably) considerable wealth in it. I would have expected a nice glossy brochure, with full colour images and a reply paid envelope. Instead, I received what appeared to be a photocopied letter on cheap sheets of white and green paper.
The letter was written to appeal to my emotions. "They can put a man on the moon!" it said, and the implication was that if "they" can do something as special as that then something as "simple" as making a profit from the lottery must be a piece of cake. The "system" being offered was described in glowing terms. It is "TOP SECRET!" and "BANNED IN MANY COUNTRIES!" Lest I forget to mention it again, it was also "GUARANTEED!"
Not bad for just £159... though if I ordered quickly I could get it for £39.99 plus a few pounds more for postage and packaging. Heck, that's a fairly big discount for something as cool as a guaranteed lottery system. And yes, it really was "GUARANTEED!", meaning that I had "NOTHING TO LOSE".
Unless you actually stop and think about it, that is. Embedded in the sales pitch it was quickly explained that if I followed instructions to the letter and didn’t win, I could return the system and get my money back. All of my money? No, just my £39.99. Which means that any money I "invested" in using the system in order to "qualify" for my "guarantee" would be lost if it didn't work. Call me pedantic, but that's very different from saying that I have "nothing to lose".
Of course, the author of this letter is counting on the fact that people won't use his system for long enough to qualify for his guarantee. If they did, the £39.99 they would get back (assuming they really would be able to get it back) would be quite paltry in comparison with the amount they would likely have lost on lottery tickets. And if they didn't play by the rules of the system, they wouldn't qualify to get their money back in the first place.
For the naive purchaser of the system, it's a lose-lose situation. Sure, one or two gullible souls may get lucky and win, but not because of any system they've bought for £39.99. And the vast majority wouldn't even get lucky enough to match 3 and win a tenner.
In all of this, the only person who's "winning" is the author of the mailing piece, so if you happen to receive one, do the wise thing and put it where it's "guaranteed" to be of most use - in the nearest recycling bin.
Article Last Updated: 02/02/2007 12:57:47
