As I sit at my desk wondering what to write about, a radio advert
is playing in the background. This week the radio shouts out, $90
MILLION to be won in X Lotto; Australia's biggest ever prize pool.
The
reason why it is now 90 million is because the previous $59.2 million
jackpot did not go off. This is despite Australians entering 79 million
times and spending 87 million dollars on it.
OK here it comes, I think I can just imagine the next few days. First you will get the story on the news of the reporter interviewing people in the street asking what they would do if they won. Then the current affairs shows will do their bit to pump up the public. Then the newspapers will join in. Not to mention the jokes around the work place of people saying "Hey, I won't see you here next week I'm going to win the lotto".
Now there is going to pressure on you. First you will start hearing things from your work mates. There is going to be a syndicate that you will have to join at work. Then there will be pressure on you when you go to the newsagent. There will be a syndicate there as well. Then even in your own extended or immediate family, people will be asking the question, "Have you got a lotto ticket?"
Now, I have no problem with some healthy gambling. What annoys me is when it becomes fever pitch and every man and his dog has already told you what they will spend the money on.
As I go onto the official lotteries commission website, I see they have the odds at 1 in 45,379,620 to win the $90 MILLION this week. Now let's pretend you entered the lottery once every single week of your life from a baby to age 100. You use the same numbers each week. Congratulations, you just increased your odds from one to 45,379,620 to 5,200.
I guess what I am trying to get at is YOU CAN'T WIN. The whole system is designed so you can't win.
However, each time you see an advert on TV or on radio, it makes it sound so easy. The adverts sell the fantasy of you winning.
Let's talk about another form of gambling and the ways they try to sell you their services. Instant scratchies are a product where the odds are not in your favour. In fact to try and win a $200,000 prize, the average odds on a $5.00 scratchie are 400,000 to one.
Using real figures let's do the sums.
400,000 tickets at $5.00 a ticket equals $2,000,000 revenue for the scratchie organisation.
However the total prize pool on the tickets is only $1,200,000.
That means they make a profit of $800,000 but they are only paying out 60% of every dollar they bring in.
Once again the odds are definitely not in your favour.
Now there is pressure to play this type of gambling as well. There was a television advertising campaign a number of years ago in South Australia that I found particularly distasteful. It had a reporter with a microphone from the instant scratchies organisation interviewing people in the street about their wins. One particular lady said that she had won $1000 one time from a $2.00 scratchie. This lady went on to say that it was her last two dollars; it was left from her shopping. She was meant to be using it for the bus, but she decided to try her luck instead. She ended up winning $1000.
Now does this sound evil to anyone? Here is a lady at the shopping centre who is down to her last $2.00. This is the only money she has to get home on the bus. She decides that this money was better invested in a long shot instead of getting herself home safely. Most people would say this is crazy.
Yet the advert glorified this lady as if she had done something extremely smart. Had this lady been one of the countless losers, she would not have been on television.
The same South Australian instant scratchie organisation came up with an equally clever, but evil marketing ploy. They placed big full length mirrors in shopping centres. These were ordinary everyday mirrors, however along the bottom of the mirrors in big writing was something to the effect of "Will you be the next lucky one? Buy an instant scratchie".
They were actually placing your image into their advert. Wow, this is clever stuff!
Save your money. If you want to gamble, you can. However, understand the odds. They are not in your favour; they are in the favour of the people setting it up. Remember most of these gambling things like X Lotto and scratchies are owned by the government. So what you are really doing is paying more TAX. The only difference is when you pay this tax there is an ultra slim chance that you will get it back or maybe more.
OK here it comes, I think I can just imagine the next few days. First you will get the story on the news of the reporter interviewing people in the street asking what they would do if they won. Then the current affairs shows will do their bit to pump up the public. Then the newspapers will join in. Not to mention the jokes around the work place of people saying "Hey, I won't see you here next week I'm going to win the lotto".
Now there is going to pressure on you. First you will start hearing things from your work mates. There is going to be a syndicate that you will have to join at work. Then there will be pressure on you when you go to the newsagent. There will be a syndicate there as well. Then even in your own extended or immediate family, people will be asking the question, "Have you got a lotto ticket?"
Now, I have no problem with some healthy gambling. What annoys me is when it becomes fever pitch and every man and his dog has already told you what they will spend the money on.
As I go onto the official lotteries commission website, I see they have the odds at 1 in 45,379,620 to win the $90 MILLION this week. Now let's pretend you entered the lottery once every single week of your life from a baby to age 100. You use the same numbers each week. Congratulations, you just increased your odds from one to 45,379,620 to 5,200.
I guess what I am trying to get at is YOU CAN'T WIN. The whole system is designed so you can't win.
However, each time you see an advert on TV or on radio, it makes it sound so easy. The adverts sell the fantasy of you winning.
Let's talk about another form of gambling and the ways they try to sell you their services. Instant scratchies are a product where the odds are not in your favour. In fact to try and win a $200,000 prize, the average odds on a $5.00 scratchie are 400,000 to one.
Using real figures let's do the sums.
400,000 tickets at $5.00 a ticket equals $2,000,000 revenue for the scratchie organisation.
However the total prize pool on the tickets is only $1,200,000.
That means they make a profit of $800,000 but they are only paying out 60% of every dollar they bring in.
Once again the odds are definitely not in your favour.
Now there is pressure to play this type of gambling as well. There was a television advertising campaign a number of years ago in South Australia that I found particularly distasteful. It had a reporter with a microphone from the instant scratchies organisation interviewing people in the street about their wins. One particular lady said that she had won $1000 one time from a $2.00 scratchie. This lady went on to say that it was her last two dollars; it was left from her shopping. She was meant to be using it for the bus, but she decided to try her luck instead. She ended up winning $1000.
Now does this sound evil to anyone? Here is a lady at the shopping centre who is down to her last $2.00. This is the only money she has to get home on the bus. She decides that this money was better invested in a long shot instead of getting herself home safely. Most people would say this is crazy.
Yet the advert glorified this lady as if she had done something extremely smart. Had this lady been one of the countless losers, she would not have been on television.
The same South Australian instant scratchie organisation came up with an equally clever, but evil marketing ploy. They placed big full length mirrors in shopping centres. These were ordinary everyday mirrors, however along the bottom of the mirrors in big writing was something to the effect of "Will you be the next lucky one? Buy an instant scratchie".
They were actually placing your image into their advert. Wow, this is clever stuff!
Save your money. If you want to gamble, you can. However, understand the odds. They are not in your favour; they are in the favour of the people setting it up. Remember most of these gambling things like X Lotto and scratchies are owned by the government. So what you are really doing is paying more TAX. The only difference is when you pay this tax there is an ultra slim chance that you will get it back or maybe more.
My name is Adam Goulding and my story is quite simple. Six years
ago my bank balance was so low paying rent was a big problem. Then like a
flash of lightning, a thought so extremely simple, yet a powerful
realisation hit me. Whatever happened in my life with money up to March
15th 2005 wasn't working! Most decisions about my money to then were
wrong. This one true realisation changed my life... who could show me a
way out of financial danger?
Then my girlfriend, let me in on her system for growing money. Knowing Renee was much better at handling money than me, she could help. She told me secret number one of keeping more money in my bank account.
Then my girlfriend, let me in on her system for growing money. Knowing Renee was much better at handling money than me, she could help. She told me secret number one of keeping more money in my bank account.
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