The People’s Postcode Lottery: Should I Stay or Should I Go?
The People’s Postcode Lottery is quite an interesting lottery system. If you’re not familiar with their system basically it is a subscription based lottery where lottery players pay a monthly fee to enter into the system.
While it’s a somewhat difficult concept to completely understand, it’s definitely got some potential as another lottery to add to my monthly spending. Before we make that decision, however, let’s find out whether it’s really worth it.
Here’s a look at some of the pros and cons of Great Britain’s People’s Postcode Lottery:
Pros:
1) The People’s Postcode Lottery Truly Does Help Charities
Lottery contributors of the People’s Postcode Lottery have helped raise over 36.9 million pounds for charities. That’s a pretty staggering and impressive number.
About 25% of all profits from the People’s Postcode Lottery go directly to charities. A lot of people feel that the People’s Postcode Lottery has somewhat of an unethical aura to it because their major selling point comes from the fact that what they do benefits charities. While I can certainly see the logic behind that thinking I’d still tend to lean towards the fact that they really are helping charities that otherwise wouldn’t be receiving that money.
2) You Don’t Have to Keep Buying Tickets
All of the money is taken directly out of your account on a monthly basis. It’s set up the same way as a gym membership or Netflix account would be. Sometimes it can be quite annoying to constantly have to go to the gas station or convenience store to pick up a ticket for every single drawing. So basically it’s perfect for us lazy folk!
Cons:
1) It’s Incredibly Easy to Access and Sign Up For
Now I’m guessing you’re thinking this one should be listed as a positive aspect of the People’s Postcode Lottery right? Well, I’m going to flip this around a little bit because it’s almost too easy to get a ticket.
You can sign up by direct debit, credit card, debit card, or Paypal. The cost of each ticket is 10 pounds per month, although you have the chance to win something every single day. The problem for me on this one is this sounds WAY too easy.
When we use credit and debit cards, and especially when we use them online, the transaction doesn’t always process in our heads as spending the amount of money that we actually may have spent. The fact that I could just sign up for 10 tickets and be down 1200 pounds a year, while only signing up once is just a tiny bit scary to me. Maybe I’m just a big undisciplined baby, but I say they’re setting us up for going broke with this one.
2) The Prizes Are Awful Compared to Other Lotteries
While we do have quite a few chances to win with the People’s Postcode Lottery the prizes are fairly awful. They constantly advertise that you have the opportunity to win every day, but the prizes aren’t really anything that’s going to change your life.
The one that really irks me is when they advertise the opportunity, 6x a year, for a postcode to SHARE a prize of 2 million pounds. Why in the world would I want to split 2 million pounds with my neighbors? That’s my money and I need it now! Alright, that may be a little greedy… but seriously, it’s like you can’t even win anything worthwhile with this thing.
While the People’s Postcode Lottery definitely has a major perk, the fact that they help charitable organizations, I tend to lean towards staying away from this one. Their prizes are extremely vague and you can’t really ever get a read for exactly how much you would even win if your postcode hit it big.
I’m not saying that I would completely stay away from this thing, but I think I would almost certainly limit my playing to one or two tickets a month. Heck, I mine as well take a chance at winning something while I’m doing good for the world!
