To really dislike the National Lottery

[averywoomummy]

Went to the newsagents today and saw lots of people queueing up to by lottery tickets and it got me thinking how there is something about it that makes me feel uncomfortable.

Firstly it always seems to be the people who have the least money who get the tickets. They have such a low chance of winning it's really sad to see them waste their money. Imagine if they saved £2 per week instead of spending it on tickets for the last 20 years then they would have a nice nest egg of over £2k by now which would make a real difference to some people. I really don't like the fact that people are encouraged to part with their money like this.

Secondly I think the large prizes (I saw one for 180million) are obscene. Does anyone really need 180 million I doubt it makes people happy. Why not cap the prizes at 1 million? This is more that enough to be life changing for someone. If any rolls over then why not just give it back to the charity?

I know it provides valuable funds for charity but it just seems like it preys on vulnerable people to do so.

[peking]

I did talk about it to my supervisor as I wasn't happy selling them to those that clearly had a gambling problem and a family to support to boot. She replied it wasn't any worse than those who spent the same amount of money on fags and booze. Guess she had a point.

[Heartbrokenmum73]

Your supervisor at school? You explained about the feckless spending, dirty clothes and head lice?

[Pigsmummy]

If head lice don't jump, fly or run then how do they get passes around?

[Pigsmummy]

*passed

[Bodypopper]

Well read some total shit in mumsnet but this one beats the lot.

Poor people with lice ridden ragged hungry children on an estate!! Buying scratch cards? Hilarious.

I buy lottery tickets and like to dream. I don't think I will win but hey ho.

I expect others feel the same. The lottery supports good causes.

Ffs

[peking]

No, my supervisor at the shop the school staff were already well aware of the situation of the disadvantaged children from that area. It felt very strange to be somehow contributing to the problem in my paid work. I left quite soon after.

[Heartbrokenmum73]

Head lice move from head to head via close contact between people, like when children are working with their heads bent together.

I didn't say they don't run, I said they don't swim. Obviously they have legs or they couldn't move! In an ideal world, they wouldn't have legs, or even exist, actually.

[LedareAnsley]

They crawl up the hair shaft, pigsmummy.

Well I am sure that Dave, Boris and Gideon don't waste their inherited millions on lottery tickets because they don't need to.

This sort of I'm rich enough thinking didn't stop DC from claiming DLA for his late son though, because it was money in.

[phantomnamechanger]

OT but no, headlice do not hop, jump or fly, they crawl & transfer by head to head contact, or sharing hairbrushes etc. they die very quickly once off the head so do not live for long in hats or bedding etc

but yes they CAN be very very visible to the naked eye, especially in blond children and those with partings.

they are rife in our very middle class school, so nothing at all to do with estates/poor families

[OddBoots]

The lottery looks quite innocent if you regularly walk past bookies and see the same people feeding the gambling machines, it's far more than £2 a week that they are pouring away.

[MorrisZapp]

Seriously? You think a volunteer in a school in a deprived area should mention to the head that some of the kids appear to be showing indicators of deprivation?

I would think the management will know their student body very well already.

[MrsAMerrick]

We have a comfortable household income, I understand probabilities, I know what the odds are of winning a large prize, and yet -shock horror - I occasionally buy a lottery ticket. Just as I occasionally buy a trashy magazine, or a nice sandwich. It's a waste of money but means I can fantasise about lovely holidays, bigger house etc for a few days. I really don't see what's wrong with that, and I'm at the suggestion by some posters that poor people shouldn't ever fritter away £2 on a lottery ticket.

[peking]

But it wasn't £2 every now and then MrsAMerrick, it was at least £20 a week - a good proportion of their income - that could have been used on their children (as I thought child benefits were meant for).

Guess it's just as contentious as "poor people shouldn't be allowed to have a fag/booze habit". It's a fine line and I saw it being crossed into addiction territory regularly.

[LedareAnsley]

peking what do you mean, "child benefits" for poor people? The majority of income for children for single or non-working families isn't from ChB.

[MadeOfStarDust]

I've never bought a ticket - but still have ALMOST the same chance of winning the jackpot...

£6.5 billion last year in ticket sales the government takes 12% of this - £780 million in taxes for encouraging people to gamble in the name of "good causes"

[Bogeyface]

I've been late buying tickets before and bought on-line where there is a minimum spend of £10 and have been caught up in the scratch-card nonsense though This does piss me off, I dont buy them online since they introduced the £10 minimum.

And thank you OP for pointing out that I should be saving my £2 per week, I am clearly too stupid to have worked that out for myself

[Pigsmummy]

Does anyone else now have an itchy head and thinking about buying Euromilliona ticket for tonight?!

[Bogeyface]

Pigs yep!

[hackmum]

I agree that a lot of smaller prizes would be better than one big prize. But I disagree with the idea that this is a tax on the stupid.

For a start, £2 a week isn't very much - interest rates are very low at the moment so there's no point in putting money into a savings account. Secondly, it's not just about the winning, it's about the pleasure of anticipation. People like sitting down in front of the tv on a Saturday night to watch the numbers coming up. When my late mum used to play bingo, she used to talk about the thrill of the "flutter" - the feeling you get when you've only got one number left to get and you think you might win. There's also the fact that although the chance of winning the jackpot is very low, the chance of winning a smaller prize is much higher. Everyone probably knows someone who's won a prize of a few thousand, while anyone who plays the lottery regularly will have won a £10 prize.

So it's not about stupidity, it's about bringing a little bit of pleasure and hope into lives that are otherwise quite dreary and impoverished.

[msrisotto]

My accountant DH plays the lottery every week (online by DD with no £10 minimum - I just checked that with him). I think it is a waste of money but he understands the odds and they are better if you do buy a ticket I suppose!

[MrsDavidBowie]

Dh's brother married a woman in America who won $64 million in the lottery

[mysticpizza]

It is a tax upon the stupid

What a charmer you are.

OP - YANBU.

The lottery normalised gambling in this country paving the way for the government to deregulate it and there's a shitstorm a-brewing because of it.

[FreyaFridays]

Genuinely don't understand everybody jumping on peking. Of course it's irresponsible to spend a high proportion of your income on needless gambling when you have a family to support. It'd be stupid to do that whether your income was £100 per week or £1000 per week. A couple of quid on the lottery, fine, whatever, most people I know play it, as does my partner. But those £10 scratchcards you see in the newsagent's are there to prey on the desperate and the gambling addicts.

[FortyDoorsToNowhere]

I play the lotto every week.

You got to be in it to win it. If I did win it then my children future will be secure.

Last 4 weeks I have spent £16 won £100 :)

[Bogeyface]

Freya I dont think anyone is arguing that Pekings customers were doing something very silly with their money. It was her implication that poor = stupid, dirty and nit ridden that I took exception to.

There is a guy who lives in the village that regularly spends hundreds on scratchcards. I was in the shop once and he was cashing some winners in, he won £19 and said to the woman behind the counter that he had spent £600 only to win that. He was on BGT and tours in America so presumably he can afford it, but I was still very shocked that he would spend so much.