A few weeks ago we gasped at the nationwide lottery, which was around $600,000,000. Instead of one winner, there were actually three winning tickets. After taxes, each winner will receive about $150 million. The media showed long lines of people waiting to buy a ticket(s). It seemed the lines stretched from here to eternity.
The odds of buying a winning ticket are hundreds of millions to one, but that didn’t matter to those who risked large sums of money fruitlessly. My purpose is not to moralize or criticize, but I am interested in what drives people to spend large sums of money, with the possibility of winning so very slim. I wonder what causes someone to think that they have a winning ticket despite the odds.
Could it be the belief that God will somehow intervene in the natural order of things? Why do some people have the conviction that God is going to act out of character and make them a winner? If someone seriously believes that God is going to pick him or her out to be a winner they need to get their thinking straight and realize where they are in the scheme of things.
We know that the public as a whole spends far more on different forms of gambling than the majority can afford. Proponents argue that the money spent on lotteries is money, which goes toward education, and not having a winning ticket hurts less because it is for a good purpose.
Occasionally when my wife and I spend a day at the horse races, I plan to lose no more that $20 for all the races combined. If we win we eat at the steak house on the way home, and, if we lose, then it’s off to McDonalds or Burger King. Maybe I’m cheap, but I don’t like to gamble away my money on something which ultimately lets me down.
