Is playing the lottery a waste of your money?
The crushing odds and the very few success stories don’t have a deterring effect on those who are playing the lottery every single week
What makes people playing the lottery?
Millions of people from all over the world are playing the lottery and now that tickets also sell online for most of the important games, their numbers will grow. The interest is still sky high and on the rise, but this doesn’t prevent many players from asking themselves whether the lottery is a waste of money or not. There are reasons for and against this assertion and a definitive answer can only be reached by looking at both the advantages and shortcoming.
The odds are stacked against players
From a strictly mathematical perspective it might sound a bit surprising to hear that people are still playing the lottery despite the fact that the odds are crushing. For instance, you have a chance at 14 millions to win the jackpot and second-tier prizes also have odds of one in tens of thousands. At a first glance, this simple observation should trigger the immediate and irrevocable quitting, because you can’t actually expect to beat this kind of odds.
The best case scenario for most of those who are playing the lottery is to win a few hundred dollars every now and then, and hope that these small amounts will cover the money paid for tickets. What actually happens is that people rarely win even small amounts despite the fact that some buy lottery tickets several times per week. Those who are on a tight budget have good reasons to stop purchasing tickets and divert the money to covering other expenses and addressing pressing matters.
Keeping the hope alive
While a mathematician will strongly advise against playing the lottery and will suggest players to look elsewhere to feed their gambling needs, there are plenty of reasons to keep buying lottery tickets. One argument is the fact that unlike other forms of gambling where the link between profits and expenses is airtight, in this case you can win millions with a single dollar invested. As a result you are not going to become addicted and even a long unlucky streak will not set you back financially. This doesn’t mean that playing the lottery is the lesser evil and there is nothing more to it than a way of cutting losses.
Perhaps the most important reason for why people keep buying lottery tickets is that this allows them to keep the dream of getting rich alive. The sad reality is that many players have no other chance of winning large amounts, and if they weren’t playing this game they would have to settle for a life of scarcity. The idea of winning millions in lottery games, elusive as it is, can keep people going for years with optimism and since the price they have to pay is insignificant, it’s definitely worth to keep buying lottery tickets.
Read about How to play the lottery online now.
