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scratch cards

I asked the staff I know very well at the Tesco fag/Lotto check-out if they could recall a meaningful winning event in the 7 years they have been there. None could.
My old man is in a syndicate of 25 in the local sports club.
They cough up R150 a quarter each (about 6 beers), and every week take x amounts of lines on the local lotto.
Over time, they break even, and on one occasion got a 'biggie' and everyone got R26K out of it.
Nice.
But, as he says, it is a bit of fun and they can afford it.
Not the 'courage born of desperation' gambling.
 
I used to buy the odd one, until one day when I won £100.

Fantastic, you might think, but actually no it was a bad thing, as for some reason I now thought I had a chance of winning.

I went from buying one or two a month, to at least four or five a week. In the space of a month or two, I realised that I'd spent more on scratch cards than I had won.

I haven't bought any since.
I can relate to that. I won £1000 on a single scratch card about 5 years ago (5 x £200 on the same card). The newsagent could only pay out a maximum of £200 I recall and I had to claim the rest from the local PO.
I did the same as you for a few days - must have spent around £50 or so trying to get another big win.
It’s a mugs game right enough, but we got a set of winter tyres out of it! :grin:
 
My old man is in a syndicate of 25 in the local sports club.
They cough up R150 a quarter each (about 6 beers), and every week take x amounts of lines on the local lotto.
Over time, they break even, and on one occasion got a 'biggie' and everyone got R26K out of it.
Nice.
But, as he says, it is a bit of fun and they can afford it.
Not the 'courage born of desperation' gambling.

Another way to do something similar (in Australia anyway; I don't know if it'd work in the UK or SA) is simply to go into a TAB (State run betting shop) once a month and put say $10 each way on the horse with the longest odds in a maiden race. That's $20 per month or $240 per year, and the chance of jagging a really good win would be a sight better than those in any Lottery or Scratch Card game.
 
The lottery is aimed squarely at the low income and unemployed bracket, because they're thick as mince. They buy them the same time they buy their fags and booze and complain they're skint. Silly cnuts.
Agreed, most can't even plug in a USB drive the right way up, even though there's a 50/50 chance of getting it right.

I've always believed the lottery is akin to the Roman manumission. I.e. It was promise that as a slave, if you kept your nose clean and behaved yourself, one day you'd be granted libertas with all the benefits that it bestowed. The reality was that very very few of the slave population ever achieved it, but the dream kept everyone aspiring to it.
 
As long as the interest rate on savings account is low, premium bonds are a "sensible" option. They encourage people to save by giving them a chance to win "prizes" each month and the sum they save remains theirs whatever (unlike investment-based savings).
Since the NS&I is not a bank but a govt. institution in theory it can't go bust. Savers can withdraw any amount of their savings at 3 days notice.

I always regarded it as a joke since 6 numbers my grandparents bought me when I was born never came up in 57 years. However, since I started saving more I've "won" over 500 in less than 2 years.

Of course, if the interest rate goes up, premium bonds will be a less attractive option.
 
I usually pop a scratch card into the kid's birthday and Christmas cards.
To see their faces crumple with disappointment as scratch away to no avail has given me years of pleasure...
 
Where do you work if you can't afford a £3 scratchcard?

The lottery is just a tax on benefits, it's just a shame they fund so many tin pot schemes rather than using the cash to lower income tax for proper people.
You didn't read the whole article did you?
 
I have to admit to buying euro millions tickets. Two reasons:

Firstly, I can afford it, (always a good place to start when gambling).

Secondly, I have spent millions over the years on houses, vehicles and the like.

Then I check the numbers:(
 
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