Lotto-ho-ho

16 December 2021

By Royal Flushes

ABBY: A few weeks ago, we were in a casino sundry shop and there it was. A lottery area where people could buy lottery tickets. Now, why would that surprise me? After all, casinos are in the business of gambling but the lottery, to me at least, seems outside the bounds of the casino world. Maybe the casino makes a few bucks selling those tickets.

CINDY: Interesting. Why would someone play a lottery ticket where the possibility of a big win is in the hundreds of millions to one? You are in a casino and some of the big progressives only make you face 50 million to one odds! Isn’t that better? I’d think so.

ABBY: That’s funny. Yes, 50 million-to-one odds are far better than hundreds-of-millions-to-one odds. But the store also sold those scratch offs. I don’t get the lottery thing when you are in a casino. What is the point? Those scratch offs? That’s petty stuff, right?

CINDY: I think some people are inveterate lottery players, no matter where they are. These people will have someone play the lottery for them if they are travelling to another country. The lottery is a way of life for them. Some people play every type of lottery, scratch-offs, big weeklies or bi-weeklies. The lottery is incorporated into their lives.

ABBY: A time to dream big. The lottery changes one’s life; the big lottery win that is. I don’t see the scratch-offs in this dream scenarios.

CINDY: It’s like a permanent Christmas time with Lottery Santa ho-ho-hoing a monumental win for you, one that will change your life forever.

ABBY: Do you really think the lottery win of that nature actually changes the person who won? Or is it just that the person can get more stuff? “Hey, I have a better car this week than last week.” Is someone the same on either side of the lottery win? I think they are the same. You take yourself with you no matter what your circumstances. You go from lower middle class to rich; it is still you. You can’t escape yourself. A decent, kind and happy person doesn’t suddenly become a werewolf because of a huge lottery win.

CINDY: I do think we have a tendency to equate a lot of money with a lot of happiness. If you aren’t in poverty, some money and a lot of money won’t change who you are. Poverty might change who you are. That I am not sure of.

ABBY: We exist in a world where money tends to dictate who we think someone is and what someone is could have nothing to do with money…or at least a lot of money.

CINDY: Maybe the lottery is a kind of religious gesture to the new world order, making money the number one thing in life. Something we worship more than what it is actually worth. I don’t know if that pushes this idea too far. I mean, it is nice to have some money, isn’t it?

ABBY: But how does that explain lottery sales in a casino? I still find that weird. Don’t you?

CINDY: Yes.