I felt shame buying my first Lotto ticket after jackpot spiked to $38 million
Wednesday, 16 October 2019
OPINION: I bought my first Lotto ticket on Tuesday.
I felt ashamed as I handed over my $12.
When the jackpot balloons to a mind-bending amount of money — in this case $38 million — a flood of people rush to buy tickets.
I have never been among them, and thought I'd for once join the queue to beat the astronomically long odds of winning Lotto to find out how it felt.
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My emotional reaction took me by surprise.
Walking back to the office I felt the urge to shove the garish yellow ticket into my pocket so nobody would see I had it.
Theories as to why people buy Lotto tickets generally focus on humans' evolutionary deficits.
These theories argue that humans haven't evolved far enough from the savannah to be able to competently process aspects of the modern world. Their primitive brains can't grasp the reality of the very long odds of winning millions on Lotto.
There may be an element of truth to this, but there must be more to it than the way our brains are hard-wired, unless I, and other non-lottery ticket buyers, have somehow taken a big leap forward in the evolutionary race.
In fact, US research on lottery participation would imply that I would be more likely than average to buy lottery tickets because I am male, I earn okay money, and I am knocking on the door of 50.
Talking things over with fellow non-Lotto players yielded a variety of reasons for not playing.
'I have skills. I back myself to make money.'
'It's a waste of money. The odds are just ridiculous.
'I don't have any debt.'
'It's really expensive. I'm a frugal person. $12 is a meal.'
Surveys, especially non-scientific surveys, produce dubious data. The trouble with surveys is people tend to rationalise their own behaviour.
All the explanations given me are things I might have said, but I don't believe they are the primary reasons I don't buy Lotto tickets.
My shame points to a plausible answer.
I was raised in a non-gambling household where wasting money on betting was just not done.
I also do not share the surprisingly widespread quasi-religious belief that the universe makes sense on some grand level, that destiny and fate really do exist, and that there's a far higher chance of me winning Lotto than the hard odds would seem to suggest.
If my family culture was anti-gambling, it was equally non-religious and rationalist.
Risking money on extraordinary long-shots would have been seen as too silly for words.
Working as a reporter spells doom to any belief in fate, or a just universe. Every week reporters see the reality that people do not always get their just desserts.
My take on Lotto is that if you think it's fun, play it occasionally.
If you play it for the money, best of luck, but you'd be better off using the money for more sensible investments in things like your own skills, paying down the mortgage, even Bonus Bonds, anything in fact, rather than buying Lotto tickets.
But then that's me being rational, and the decision on whether to play Lotto, or not to play Lotto, is not an entirely rational one as I have learned.
GOLDEN RULES:
* Don't rely on long shots
* Seek to make your own wealth
* Know yourself, and be an investor