Reasons not to play the lottery

From my perspective, any wins on the lottery/scratch cards would be totally random and I would be aware of this before purchasing (which is why I have never bought a scratch card and only bought a couple of lottery tickets ever). My addiction is the buzz of pitting my wits (LOL) against the bookies and others on the exchanges, as winning this way makes me feel clever and feeds my ego etc. when I win - with an illusion of control there.

A lottery win is like the old ads - a random finger pointing and proclaiming 'it could be you'...not very likely at all... but it could be I suppose. 2 different things for me. But there is a bloke in my office who frequently buys scratch cards, does every lottery. He has the odd horseracing bet, but I wouldn't call him an addict - just a regular hoper that 'it could be him'.

my thoughts are very like duncs

like having a fire lit and when i throw the odd bet on the fire sparks up again. Not by much but enough to keep it alive.

that 'fire' stays alive in my brain

To use another analogy its like an alcoholic saying 'reasons not to drink shandy's or alco pops'

I must not play the lottery but i respect others to make their own decisions.

It was on the news yesterday about a lottery winner last weekend, they were immediately booking a luxury holiday ( who wouldn't) but guess where they are going, yep, LAS VEGAS, hope they are not CGs

Suzanne

I seem to remember some time back a block had a huge win on the horses. When asked how it felt he said something like "I've only gotten back what I've lost over the years"

Interesting.

Take Care..

Sorry ninth word in previous post should have read bloke not block

My eyesight is not what it was !

Hi guys.

I have just seen Favodoc & Triangle having a small discussion about this on Lost££££’s post. I didn’t want to completely change the initial subject of that post, so added to this one instead.

The lottery thing is an interesting one!

When you look at opiate addiction for example, often a person will be prescribed with a "replacement" drug (by the NHS), with the intention of slowly lessening the dose. Many previous users disagree with this method because you can simply become addicted to the replacement drug and it doesn't tackle the problem head on. There is a great documentary by Russell Brand on Youtube about addiction, and how (from experience) he thinks abstaining completely should be the only option.

Whether the above should be compared to continued use of the lottery for a CG, I don't know, but it is food for thought.

A couple of my own thoughts are:

Good points: (I use that term loosely)

- Negative Reinforcement in your brain: Doing something with a positive outcome is likely to promote a particular behaviour. Doing something with a negative outcome should discourage a behaviour. How often do you win on the lottery? A lot of the time this activity can prove that gambling has no worth.

- Can people use the Lottery as their "reward" for not using other perhaps more expensive forms of gambling? Is it enough to reduce their cravings toward other gambling activities?

Bad points:

- Can you label yourself as gamble free?

- There's the National Lottery, then there's the Euro Millions, the Irish Lottery, the 49's, etc. Where does it end? There is no limit on the amount of tickets you can buy, or how many lotteries you can participate in. It still has to be controlled, people can be (and are) addicted to the Lottery. You are opening yourself up to another form of gambling addiction.

Put it this way, if somebody came to me with advice on how to stop gambling.. I wouldn't recommend that they play the Lottery. Having said that everybody is different.. who are we to judge somebody if it works for them?

Ryan

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Interesting thoughts.

I think for me the main point (and as Ryan has said) is this... "would continuing to play the lottery, reduce the urge to play ones more destructive gambling games" which for me would be slots both physical and online.

Indeed there are certainly a few souls on this forum for whom this approach seems to work. But would it work for me and would I want to take the chance?? Its a gamble in itself isn't it??

I haven't played the lottery in over 10 years, but when i did play I spent quite alot relatively to my income and won maybe £10's twice a year. Its not a good return is it?

I think for me the bigger issue is simply about money and feeling fed up of being poor all the time. The lottery brings a miniscule chance of becoming rich over night. It allows me to live a fantasy that could theoretically become true and thats the whole point of the lottery isn't it??...

... anyway I maintain my stance of "no gambling in all its forms for me"... its the way it has to be. I become richer as a human being the more I keep away from the vice called gambling.

Thanks for listening

S.A 🙂

I have thoughts today about playing the lottery once more... so if anyone has any more thoughts about reasons NOT to play the lottery.. then please do offer your thoughts. My brain feels a bit befuddled.

Thanks for listening... S.A

Gambling addiction is very clever at giving me reasons to gamble. Thought Ryan's post earlier was interesting. Weening myself off gambling. I wish. I tried that method so many times and I'm sure it works for many who arn't as addicted to gambling as I am.

Do I get thoughts and temptations? All the time

I read on other posts that some only think about gambling these days when they come on Gamcare. I so wish that was the case for me but I accept I am different. I am not the type of friendly easy go gambler.

Sure you remember the advert that l*******s put out about the different models of gambler (one similar to our very own Mr Brightside). My type of gambling wasn't shown in their advert. If I had have been it would have been of a person stealing from family, lying and deceiving to get money, living on the streets homeless and attempting suicide. Yeah I can understand why the wouldn't want to put that model on their adverts.

So if ever you need a reason not to gamble just imagine a box. A plain box measuring width 28 inches, by 84 inches length and 23 inches high.

Well said Triangle...thanks.

Am just remembering the times when I wanted to die because of gambling. Not nice feelings.

No gambling means no gambling... however insignificant it may seem in the moment.

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I still maintain that everyone has their own personal triggers that lead to problem gambling and playing the lottery does not pull those triggers for me. Neither does buying raffle tickets or sticking a £1 in a fruit machine. Everyone is different of course.