Reasons not to play the lottery

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If the lottery is not a problem & isnt in anyway connected with our gambling issues then why bother playing it.

People continue to play it because they believe the same lie that kept them playing a slot machine or flipping a card. The lie that a big pot of money will make everything ok.

That there happiness & problems are directly linked to there bank balance.

For me I can see both sides of the argument.

Its like for Delorean and many others no doubt, a £2 spend on a lottery ticket, once a week, isn't then going to trigger them to empty there bank account with the type of gambling that caused them a problem in the first place. And I also get what day@atime says... in that if the lottery isn't a problem, then why bother playing??... and this brings us back to the issue of money and what value we place on money.

My dad once wrote me a letter and in this letter he said "the more money you have the happier you are". The timing of that letter wasn't the best because at the time I was in rehab and up to my eyeballs in debt... but fairplay he said what he felt and thats what he thought... and i would imagine that alot of people think that way to

For me... I could imagine being lonely in my castle and appreciate that wealth doesn't necessarilly bring happinness in your relations with people, particualrly your close personal relationships. But at the same time I think i'd rather be in that position than lonely in my one bedroom flat thinking about how to pay the next rent or council tax installment or credit card payement "as well as" potential unhappiness in human relationships.

I think what am trying to say is that money makes things much more confortable, where you no longer have to worry about day to day living and keeping a roof over your head and can afford to worry about different things and the meaning of life if you will. This is where the lottery brings that possibility however small. Its like you don't come across many unhappy lottery winners and the ones that are unhappy I use as evidence not to play it

Now this is where people might come back and say. Well if you want more money well go out and earn it... and with this I agree. It feels good to earn money. Its not tainted its earn't through hard toil and you deserve it. I deserve it. But then the flip side of this is that realistically most of us are not going to be able to earn very large sums of money that will make a real and lasting difference to ones life. I guess i could argue against this as well but then most of us are not natural entrepeneurs. Most of us are workers for companies... and workers don't get paid big bucks. Again, the lottery brings the worker the tiniest possibility of being rich and thats why people who are not wealthy play it. Its a tax on the poor of course.

I'd imagine that the more spiritually enlightened among us might say "I have nothing but i am happy". I like myself for who I am not what i have or how much i have.

I want to be more spiritually enlightened but I am still a work in progress.

But just for today I will not buy a lottery ticket or gambling in any other way.

Thanks for listening... S.A

P.s Joydivider... I think we are very similar in are gambling habits and where we choose to gamble and why.

In my dream world I don't necessarilly dream of all 6 numbers and the jackpot.... 5 numbers and the bonus would be just fine lol

No lottery products for me today.

Maths charity boss, Mike Ellicock, says changes to the National Lottery draw will raise the odds of winning the jackpot to a one in 45 million chance.

Odds of winning the lottery are currently one in 14 million, making the big win on the new draw much more "improbable", says Mr Ellicock, Chief Executive of National Numeracy.

That means you have more chance of being attacked by a shark, which he says has odds of one in 3.7 million, and of finding a pearl in an oyster which are one in 12 thousand.

In others words... "Your wasting your money"

If I played the lottery then I think I probably would not spiral into more destructive forms. Nonetheless, it's far too risky to find out.

This is an interesting debate. But only on a CG website would there be such agonising! Imagine the scenario of a non-addict ocassional lottery ticket buyer - information comes to light that a few lottery tickets might contain anthrax. The genuine non-addict would probably make a decision to stop buying them. The lottery isn't a big part of his his/her life and one naturally avoids any risk of serious harm. The CG faced with a similar dilema might start trying to find justifications for carrying on.

I mean, seriously, if the lottery is 'not a big deal' for any CG, why not just cut it out? Given the huge amount of personal investment people put into recovery, this seems like a strange sticking point. If the real answer is that playing the lottery is a moderate form of gambling which is preferable to a more serious form, then that's fair enough. But this cannot preferable to being gamble free (for reasons which have been done a thousand times before, but in a nutshell I have never been happier since a) stopping gambling and then b) looking at why I gambled and addressing these underlying issues).

I have some sympathy with the idea that if you are in poverty then this might offer some hope, even if that hope is (statistically) highly delusional. But then isn't that a bit patronising? Like saying poor people should get into organised religion as <insert religious figure> will offer salvation. I mean being delusional, knowingly (if there is such a thing, you know what I mean), seems a rather negative approach. And anyway the UK isn't really like living in some famine ravished country where things are so bad.

Aside from this, there's something inherently healthy about being able to take control and hold the belief of 'I am a compulsive gambler. I will not gamble because gambling harms me'.

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Another reason not to play the lottery....

Today the number of balls increase from 49 to 59 and the chance of winning the jackpot will decrease from one in 14 million to one in 45 million.

And more balls means that the chances of matching three of the six winnings balls goes from one in 57 to one in 97. So it's harder to win and a lot harder to win big.

The lottery is a pointless waste of money in my humble opinion!

I have some thoughts of buying a lottery ticket, so its time to resurrect this thread and have a read.

No gambling for me

Hi

Ive edited this out because Im sickened about all forms of gambling I havent gambled at all since my exclusion so I dont want to discuss the lottery now other than its another way they take our money as they try and turn us into a nation of gamblers

Another reason NOT to play the lottery

Lotto ticketholders with five numbers in Wednesday's draw were left frustrated after they won less money than those who matched only three.

Camelot said more than 4,000 players matched five of the six balls to win £15 each.

This was compared to the 7,879 ticketholders with four numbers who won £51, while the 114,232 people who matched just three balls won £25.

I read that on FB earlier and thought it was a hoax!.

As you said another good reason not to play.

I read that on FB earlier and thought it was a hoax!.

As you said another good reason not to play.

If that had happened to me I would of lost it absolutely ludicrous.

Bump