I am sure you have heard this before, perhaps even said it yourself. There’s an old joke where someone is praying to God saying that he wants to win the lottery. Lottery day comes and someone else wins. He prays again and still no lottery win. He despairs thinking that God has forgotten him when a blinding flash of light appears and the voice of God booms “Meet me halfway, buy a ticket”
When I was younger, I worked in my parent’s takeaway. I worked at the counter, taking orders and serving clients. When my Mum was in the takeaway, I would go and pack the deliveries instead. It was crazy busy as everyone wanted their food at the same time. On Saturdays, we all bought lottery tickets and at the craziest times, we would start sharing about what we would do if we won. We would tell each other we would buy each other houses if we won and all sorts of fun things. It gave us hope and a bit of light-hearted entertainment to get us through the hard-working evening shift.
If you are a mathematician, you’ll know the odds. Actually, you don’t need to be a mathematician to know the odds are massively stacked against you. If you used the lottery ticket funds plus your own efforts towards something that you really wanted, your chances of getting it are much higher.
So what do you want to win the lottery for? And what could you do instead of buying a lottery ticket?