You can make your own luck
Dear Jerry:
Obviously, lotteries are very popular. Sean is both my next-door neighbor and a colleague at my IT office. In the hopes we will win a fortune, Sean and I spend lots of money on local, state and federal lotteries. When many others are buying their own lottery tickets, Sean and I sometimes pool together tickets. Then, if the ticket wins $400 million or more, we can split the amount and each live a comfortable lifestyle.
To date, Sean and I have collectively spent well into five figures (to the left of the decimal point). Except for $50 here or $100 there, we have nothing to show for the dollars we have spent.
Should I remain optimistic?
– Andrew T., San Diego, Calif.
Dear Andrew:
No. The likelihood of your winning $400 million or any substantial amount is infinitesimally small.
For readers who are gamblers at heart yet wasting away their hard-earned dollars, I would like to see them handle that money more constructively than the long-shot chance of a public lottery win. That same money you are spending on lottery tickets can be handled with a win. I offer two alternate suggestions to your tossing money down the lottery drain.
1. Create your own “raffle.” Skip the public lotteries and start your own version. For participation, identify any group of congenial neighbors or colleagues to participate. Each time you and others in the group are ready to purchase a lottery ticket (i.e., monthly, quarterly, or whatever frequency you select), collect the cash and place it into a fund. The name drawn from “the hat” wins the cash in that fund. Unlike the lottery and unlike a group of people sharing a lottery ticket, this is a scenario where you or someone you know always wins. Be sure to confirm such a raffle is legal in your jurisdiction. If it is conducted with colleagues, be sure to confirm it does not violate any company policy; also be sure it is handled outside of company hours and premises.
2. Skip the raffle and keep the money. Specifically, whenever you are inclined to buy a lottery ticket, place the dollars in a box. You can add your leftover change each day to the same box. If you wait a reasonable time period, you will be exceptionally surprised how much money has accumulated. In this case, while you may not win $400 million, you will be the winner on every single occasion that you open the box. Instead of your ultra-low lottery odds, your odds become 100 percent.
For your reference, Nos. 1 and 2 are not mutually exclusive. You can contribute part of your income to a raffle. You can place the rest in your private box.
Good luck.
Jerry Romansky is a syndicated columnist. Readers are invited to write in English or Spanish: Ask Jerry, Post Office Box 42444, Washington DC 20015. E-mail askjerry@earthlink.net and (because of spam situation) write the name of your newspaper in subject heading. Questions of popular interest are answered in the column. Unpublished letters cannot be answered individually.