Millions To Win; Billions To Waste (National Lottery, The)

Member Name: opinions4u

Product:	National Lottery, The
Date:	13/10/02 (74 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: You have a 14m to 1 chance of sharing the jackpot

Disadvantages: You won't!, Waste

National Lottery ? the least likely way to become rich


Just about everybody reading this will have bought a lottery ticket or a scratch card at some point.

All of us would like to be millionaires. The lottery, without doubt, is the most accessible way of becoming one.

So, do the sums add up?

Well, probably not. As a nation, we now have more millionaires than ever before. Most of them have worked their way to this status. Many have invested their way. Others have inherited their wealth.

As gambling goes, the amount paid out in lottery prize money is paltry. Compared to casinos and bookies, and even fruit machines, the amount of stake returned is about as low as it could be!

Playing roulette is a great bet! The margin for the casino is only 3% ? on average 97% money staked is retuned as prizes! A card counting blackjack player can actually turn the odds in their favour, with 102% of money staked being returned in prizes (although this is illegal in Las Vegas and takes remarkable mental acumen!).

Ladbrokes pocket approximately 10% profit for every £1 staked, meaning 90% of all stakes are returned to winning bets.

Even the fruit machine in the local pub has an 80% payout.

The lottery, wait for it, returns a pitiful 45% of funds staked in prize money. This is a truly awful return. Even somebody investing in the stock market over the last two turbulent years should have achieved a better return than this!

Who gets the rest then? Well, the newsagent just about covers his costs with 5% of your money. He hopes you will pick up a flake and an evening newspaper at the same time as buying your lottery ticket.

Next in line for the money is Gordon Brown. Now, remember, he pockets 12.5p of your stake. In addition, he rakes in Corporation Tax on Camelot and their profits, and enjoys creaming off 40% of the income generated by your winnings! It is a massive money-
spinner for the Government coffers.

But, I hear you say, what about the good causes? Well, if you can hand on heart say that you buy your lottery ticket for the benefit of the good causes you are a generous person. But why not just send your stake directly to the good cause and massively increase the value to them?

So, what is a good cause? Well, I have seen local cricket clubs, theatre groups and community centres benefit. I am happy with this. This is genuine money reaching genuine people.

Then there is £120m indirectly reaching the Wembley Stadium fiasco. I reserve judgement on the value of this until our new National Stadium is built. If the Welsh example is anything to go by, you could persuade me that this is a good investment. The Dome. Perhaps the basic idea of a centrepiece for Millennium celebrations was justified. The content was a disgrace as was / is the financial mismanagement of the site. I expect the decision makers to consider better ways of investing our £800m. Perhaps a Millennium cancer fighting hospital would have been a better option.

It was agreed at the outset that lottery funds for good causes should not go to hospitals and other Government expenditure responsibilities, as HM Treasury were already raking enough from the sale of tickets to do this themselves.

But I was under the impression that lottery funds were to be used for British good causes. Such as supporting the Rwandan pottery industry. Or allowing organisations to support convicted Sikh terrorists claims to remain in Britain. Or supporting groups who help asylum seekers (who have already received legal aid, free accommodation, benefits and due legal process) to remain in Britain after they have been told to leave.

I am not saying I know the best way to spend these huge sums. My idea of a brand new stadium for Stockport County at lottery expense may just hit reasonable opposition!

But I am not prepared
to buy a lottery ticket simply because the prize pot is painfully low and the good causes money is wasted.

Your money. You decide how you want to spend it!

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