Making Big Money

LOTTERIES HAVE ALWAY BEEN popular, especially in these united states where the frantic pursuit of instant wealth (donald) trumps all other values. The nation was, after all, founded upon the sacred doctrine of the pursuit of wealth, which is often given the misnomer "a better life", and "manifest destiny", aka the inevitability of succeeding in the great chase.

Lotteries were an excellent source of income in the early days of the republic, were used to pay down the national debt after the expensive civil war of independence from Britain, and were used to prop up the governments of the newly established disunited states under the impotent Articles of Confederation.

Lotteries fell into disfavor when the free wheeling roaring age of eighteenth century reason disintegrated beeath the weight of revived christian dogma after the turn of the nineteenth century. But at long last the roaring nineteen sixties arrived, and the  era of  deficit spending, and voila! Lotto returneth.

Any junior college mathethics instructor will tell you that purchasing lottery tickets like toilet paper is bound to yield nothing better than a good butt wiping, simply because of odds  which usually run about a hundred million to one against.

But most americans have an aversion to mathematics beyond the sixth grade level, and to common sense beyond kindergarten. So, the greater the jackpot, the greater the number of fools who soon part with their money.

The reasoning usually goes "with the jackpot so high, I'd be stupid not to buy a lottery ticket, or many lottery tickets". Au contraire, madamweasal. Truth is, the smaller the jackpot, the greater the chances of winning, because the fewer the number of suckers who buy tickets.

But never let it be said that a mere million dollar opportunity is sufficient to lure us lusty americans - we always want more...and more...divide a six hundred million jackpot into six hundred equal million dollar parts - and the pool of purchasers dwindles so drastically that not enough people enter to sustain the madness. As the prize grows, and the odds decrease, so grows participation. Go figure.

But, to quote P T Barnum: "nobody ever went broke underestimating the stupidity of the american people". He must've known what he was talking aobut; after all, he made big money.