Lottery Odds

Whenever people find out about my enthusiasm for playing lottery games, they tend to respond in one of two ways. They either smile and admit that they like to play too, or they take a step back, shake their heads and say something like, "But why? Have you see the odds? Lotteries just aren't sensible!"

Now I know the odds against a person winning a lottery game more than most people. Someone playing the UK Lotto has a 1 in 13,983,816 chance of hitting the jackpot. Players of the Powerball face odds of 1 in 146,107,962. And MegaMillions players fare even worse - the chance of you winning that jackpot is just 1 in 175,711,536.

But personally, I don't think that massive odds against me winning a jackpot make any of these games a waste of my time or interest. To me, playing the lottery is as much about keeping a dream alive as it is about anything else.

It seems to me that lotteries give people a very real - albeit a very slim - hope of achieving the kind of things that most of us would like to achieve. Financial freedom, an escape from the nine-to-five rat race, a larger home, the wherewithal to shower our generosity on friends, family members and our favourite charities... the list goes on.

Let's face it, relatively few of us will become best-selling authors, box-office celebrities or world-renowned businessmen, because relatively few of us have that kind of talent and widespread appeal. But lottery games give us as big a chance as anyone of winning our way into a millionaire lifestyle, so we can continue to dream big dreams regardless of the odds. I may not have the literary talents of Stephen King, the acting skills of Michael Douglas or the business savvy of Bill Gates, but by heck I'm perfectly capable of buying a lottery ticket.

And because anyone can buy a lottery ticket, anyone can afford to dream. Lottery tickets don't give you lung cancer, cirrhosis of the liver or sexually transmitted diseases, so I don't see the harm in being a lottery enthusiast. Sure, we probably won't hit the big one, and yes, the odds are stacked against us. But for a short while we can enjoy the notion of winning a jackpot and living lives on a whole new level. The cost of a ticket is, in that sense, packed with the kind of entertainment value you just can't get anywhere else.

So, are lottery games sensible? If you're only talking about odds and statistics, the jury is still open. But if you're talking about getting entertainment value for money - and you like to dream big dreams - then the answer is undoubtedly yes.

And, of course, we really could land the big one as well!

Article Last Updated: 18/12/2006 12:27:43

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