You might win a little, but you'll rarely win the lotto... (National Lottery, The)

Member Name: shanecahill

Product:	National Lottery, The
Date:	02/04/05 (1415 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: You might win

Disadvantages: You won't win

This review is about the Irish lottery, as I live in Wexford in Ireland. Similar issues apply, except obviously all the odds have risen dramatically! In Ireland, the odds of winning the jackpot prize are a whopping 1 in 5,245,786. That means that if every single person in Ireland bought a ticket to a raffle, you would have way more chance of having your ticket picked out of that monstrously big hat, than you have of winning the lottery. In fact, you are over two and a half times more likely to be killed by falling out of your bed than you are of winning the Irish Lottery.


LOTTO FACTS
The shocking thing is that Ireland’s odds are quite generous. If you fancy a flutter in the Canadian National lottery, you have one chance in 13,983,816 of holding the winning ticket. How about the odds in the multi-state Mega Millions lottery in America? The odds in that one are 1 in 135 million.


So why do we play the Lotto? Why do so many of us take 2 euro out of our hard-earned wages and throw it at such mindless odds. People pass it off with silly excuses like "Sure, somebody has to win it", "Better odds than me being president, isn't it?" or "Less than a pint anyway". However if you spend 5 euro on the lotto twice a week for just ONE YEAR, you’re facing a bill of 520 euro. Can you think of something a little better to spend that money on? Is that less than a pint?


LOTTO FACTS
You are seven and a half times more likely to be killed by a dog than you are of winning the Irish Lottery. Shocked? How about the fact that you are
§ Over five times more likely to be killed in a bathtub?
§ Almost 61 times more likely to be killed by poison?
§ Almost twice as likely to freeze to death?
§ Two and half times more likely to be killed by being struck by lightning?
§ Two and half times more likely to be killed by a tornado?
§ And finally, a whopping ONE THOUSAND AND FIFTY times more likely to be killed in a car crash


In my opinion, the National Lottery is slyly turning us into a nation of gamblers. It pawns off that notion with Government backing, fancy advertising and its presence in almost every newsagent in Ireland. Yet the Lottery is gambling, pure and simple, and the number of gambling addicts in Ireland is steadily rising. If the lottery continues to be so widely accepted, we will teach our children that gambling is acceptable, and that it holds no danger for them. What's worse is that we seem to believe it ourselves…


LOTTO FACTS
If you have a partner, and the two of you decided to play the world’s largest game of spin the bottle with the ENTIRE POPULATION of Luxembourg, you are five times more likely of the bottle pointing at your partner when you spin it than of winning the Lotto. Of course its just as likely to point at that man with the funny smell who lives above the bakery in Mersch.


My personal opinion on the subject is that more and more, it is targeted at people who have a low weekly income. It sells them the dream of a better life for 2 euro a week, which in many cases they can ill afford. Not only that, but have you ever seen a lotto ad that said "Play the Lotto, you could be rich! On the other hand, you’ve way more chance of being killed by a tree falling on your head"? The odds are hidden, tucked away in some remote corner of the Lotto website. I feel a law should be passed, which would state that each lottery ad must include a statement of your actual odds of success. God knows, that would make me laugh more than Billy Connolly prancing and shouting "Don't live a little, live a lotto!".

LOTTO FACTS
If a red cross was drawn on the back of one euro coin, and placed it in a line of touching euros TWELVE KILOMETRES LONG, you would have more chance of picking out that coin than winning the lottery.


Now, I now by this stage in the article many of you are saying that all the proceeds of the National Lottery go to charity. Well, you’re half right. In fact, you’re a third right, as 33 cent of every euro spent on the Lottery goes to good causes. I may be wrong on this, but I don't believe this to be anywhere near enough. It wastes significant portions of people's wages and desensitises us to gambling, and yet 66% of the money taken is not even returned to do some good in the community! I feel if you want to help a good cause, donate the 2 euro a week to Concern or Trocaire. I guarantee they’ll be delighted to receive it, and you'll feel better than the dejection of another crumpled ticket on a Saturday night.

So, the next time you go to buy a Lotto ticket remember this : "It could be you…" but its 5,245,785 times more likely to be someone else.

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