Winning a car in the lottery - an unattainable dream or reality?

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

There has long been a statistic that the lower a person's income, the more often he buys lottery tickets in the hope of hitting the jackpot or winning a car. And despite the fact that the probability of winning is even less than when playing in a casino, people over and over again buy for their hard-earned hope for a new life.

Adam Pior research data

For example: in the UK National Lottery the chance to win the main prize is 1:14000000. Despite such a meager chance of getting rich, every week in the UK, 32 million people buy an average of three lottery tickets.

Research by Adam Pior suggests that the human brain is not able to objectively perceive probability coefficients, but can only answer the question: "Yes or no?". That is, for a person, the fact that the possibility of winning theoretically exists means that you need to play, and luck must smile. If winning a car is possible, then why not try it? The brain of an ancient man also assessed the danger posed by wild animals and the possibility of a successful hunt.

George Levenshtein's theory

From the point of view of professor of economics and psychology George Loewenstein, it is always easier for a person to buy a lottery ticket in the hope of getting a large sum of money or to win a car, than to do complex mathematical calculations, evaluating the chances of winning. If the calculations are too complex and confusing, people always choose the answer "yes", after calling it "sixth sense".

When deciding to buy a lottery ticket, players are already spending the money they win in their imagination, and winning a car seems like a trifling matter, so the price of a lottery ticket seems negligible compared to future we alth.

Why do people play the lottery?

When the country's economy is in a fever, when the exchange rate fluctuates and prices rise, people lose a sense of control over their lives. Few people are able to predict what the next economic crisis might turn into and remain calm and confident in the future, watching how savings are melting. During such periods in all countries there is a surge in sales of lottery tickets. Again, discounts, promotions, the "Win a car" competition are standard methods for increasing the sales of products of various retail chains in the face of a fierce struggle for a few impoverished customers.

And the poorest segments of the population are the first to react. It seems to them that there is nothing to lose, and much to gain if they win, so the chance to get out of poverty in their eyes is worth much more than a few dollars spent on buying a lottery ticket.

The lottery is an ancient game of chance

In ancient times, the lottery was a kind of way to find out the will of the gods in difficult controversial situations. The lot determined whether to pardon or execute, whether the offender was guilty or not, to start a war or make peace, who would receive a land allotment, and whose family would starve. He, by lot, determined the legislators. In mythology, with its help, a victim was chosen by the Minotaur. And in ancient China, they thought of using a lottery to raise funds to help the poor and to build the Great Wall of China. Queen Elizabeth in Great Britain used a lottery to raise funds to finance the war.

The Mystical Side of the Lottery

The Latin term lotteria itself is interpreted rather than as an opportunity for monetary or other gain, but as fate or destiny. According to Italian myths, the lottery is a ritual of distributing human souls between the bodies of newborn babies.

One of the meanings of the word lot is fate, fate, that is, a list of qualities, inclinations and talents, measured to a person at birth. This is that part of fate that cannot be changed, subject only to some external higher forces and circumstances. For example, it is not possible to select parents, time of birth, race.

The lottery is sometimes called a tax on stupidity or a triumph of hope over common sense. This is due to the incredibly low probability of winning. But romantics will never pass by the bright poster “Action! Win a car and go to the sea!” After all, it may be that not everything in this world can be explained by probability theory or mathematical statistics. There is also a lot. AND,maybe it says to be rich, and you just need to believe in it, stop and take the we alth by buying a lottery ticket on the way to a boring unloved job. And if a person is not ready to win, and he does not have we alth in the lot, then the "lucky" money will not be delayed. There are a lot of sad stories about how those who won huge sums in the lottery subsequently lost this money in the casino, became victims of robbers, died from drugs, and so on. And what about mathematics? This is their lot.

That's why there are so many advertisements for lotteries, promotions, invitations to win a 2014 car, a trip to the islands, a new laptop, etc. After all, the mind calculates the probability, and the soul whispers: “What if!”