Does the Lottery increase Hope, or decrease it?

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My math and statistics education tells me that the odds are slim of hitting the big one. A few small wins occasionally seems to provide just enough glee for the brain to want to keep playing. My question is, in light of the fact that we know that most people are never going to win big, does chronic failure to win the lottery make people bitter, and therefore DECREASE hope, or does the mere hope, dream, and fantasy of winning provide enough pleasure to actually INCREASE hope? Are chronic lottery players more hopeful people, or less? Thoughts?
 
I don’t know about hope, but I would definitely not encourage people to waste their money on the Lottery. There are more important things in life to use for money for, than to throw it away for the minute possibility of winning a lot of money.
 
ManOnFire said:
My math and statistics education tells me that the odds are slim of hitting the big one. A few small wins occasionally seems to provide just enough glee for the brain to want to keep playing. My question is, in light of the fact that we know that most people are never going to win big, does chronic failure to win the lottery make people bitter, and therefore DECREASE hope, or does the mere hope, dream, and fantasy of winning provide enough pleasure to actually INCREASE hope? Are chronic lottery players more hopeful people, or less? Thoughts?
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They should put their spare change into a compound interest savings account, to take advantage of a sure bet. 🙂
 
jmcrae said:
They should put their spare change into a compound interest savings account, to take advantage of a sure bet. 🙂
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That’s what I do, but one would think that people would grow tired of losing and quit gambling, but many don’t. I don’t frequent casinos much, but I once saw a man in a casino who looked unkept, almost like a homeless person. He was sitting at a slot machine, rocking back and forth, almost in a fetal position. He looked like his attention was hanging on every quarter that he quickly put into the machine. I wondered what kind of brain pleasure he was seeking to act so irrationally. Did he have too much hope, or was all hope GONE, and now he was waging war out of frustration against a seemingly unbeatable foe? Does the person’s ego become so dejected and threatened that the person unknowingly launches themself into a mission to attempt to “beat it?” Just curious about the psychology behind it.
 
ManOnFire said:
That’s what I do, but one would think that people would grow tired of losing and quit gambling, but many don’t. I don’t frequent casinos much, but I once saw a man in a casino who looked unkept, almost like a homeless person. He was sitting at a slot machine, rocking back and forth, almost in a fetal position. He looked like his attention was hanging on every quarter that he quickly put into the machine. I wondered what kind of brain pleasure he was seeking to act so irrationally. Did he have too much hope, or was all hope GONE, and now he was waging war out of frustration against a seemingly unbeatable foe? Does the person’s ego become so dejected and threatened that the person unknowingly launches themself into a mission to attempt to “beat it?” Just curious about the psychology behind it.
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I really have no idea. I suppose they might engage in some kind of “magical thinking” and hope that by doing this or thinking that, that they can somehow cause the machine to let them win big. Or else they think that they can’t possibly lose every single time, and that at some point, the odds will turn in their favour and let them win.

The only way to win at gambling, is to own the casino. Even then, there are the usual risks associated with running a business.
 
ManOnFire said:
My math and statistics education tells me that the odds are slim of hitting the big one. A few small wins occasionally seems to provide just enough glee for the brain to want to keep playing.
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I look at lotteries the same way I look at raffle tickets. I’m basically just making a donation.
 
A man prayed for years to win the lottery, with no good result. One day the Lord appeared to him in a vision. The man said to the Lord, “I’ve been praying and praying, year after year, to win the lottery, and You have not answered!” The Lord replied, “Do me a favor, son. Buy a ticket.”

Every once in a while, when I get a dollar back in change at the 7-11, I buy a ticket, just in case God’s looking for an opportunity to give me lots of money. 😉

Betsy
 
1ke said:
The lottery has nothing to do with the theological virtue of Hope.
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I’m wondering if gambling hope rubs off on theological hope. I know people who don’t go to Church because life didn’t go the way they wanted, so they blame God for not granting their wishes, genie in the bottle style. I’m not sure how many people know they should discern the difference.
 
baltobetsy said:
A man prayed for years to win the lottery, with no good result. One day the Lord appeared to him in a vision. The man said to the Lord, “I’ve been praying and praying, year after year, to win the lottery, and You have not answered!” The Lord replied, “Do me a favor, son. Buy a ticket.”

Every once in a while, when I get a dollar back in change at the 7-11, I buy a ticket, just in case God’s looking for an opportunity to give me lots of money. 😉

Betsy
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Me too, for the exact same reason. Then maybe we could join the “Winning the lottery was the worst thing that ever happened to me” list of lottery winners who claim that they lost the depth of the relationships with their friends and relatives who just wanted to be with them for the money. 😃
 
Every so often we buy few lotto tickets. The odds are not in your favor, but someone’s gonna win it and won’t be you if you don’t play. It’s a nice little thrill scratching off a ticket or watching the drawing with that hope of winning something. Honestly that’s really what your paying for.

The problem is some people just don’t understand temperance these days.
 
If you have a pound or dollar spare; give it to a homeless person. It is both more rewarding, and a greater good than wasting it gambling.

Buying one ticket a week over the duration of an average working life is about two thousand pounds or dollars. I am sure we can all think of more productive things to do with this money.
 
ManOnFire said:
Me too, for the exact same reason. Then maybe we could join the “Winning the lottery was the worst thing that ever happened to me” list of lottery winners who claim that they lost the depth of the relationships with their friends and relatives who just wanted to be with them for the money. 😃
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I’m willing to take that risk.
 
its gambling. my opinion, unless you are psychic, you are going to lose money. just don’t become addicted to gambling, you lose a lot of money that way.
 
ManOnFire said:
My math and statistics education tells me that the odds are slim of hitting the big one. A few small wins occasionally seems to provide just enough glee for the brain to want to keep playing. My question is, in light of the fact that we know that most people are never going to win big, does chronic failure to win the lottery make people bitter, and therefore DECREASE hope, or does the mere hope, dream, and fantasy of winning provide enough pleasure to actually INCREASE hope? Are chronic lottery players more hopeful people, or less? Thoughts?
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What a great question! I wonder if there have ever been any studies linking the two? I figure my chances of buying a winning lottery ticket are on slightly higher than my chances of finding one on the ground, so I just don’t buy them. 😃 But my husband buys them a few times a year. He’s so funny, EVERY time, of course, we lose and EVERY time, he says ‘But I REALLY thought we were going to win it this time’ and I have to say ‘There, there now. So did the other 42 million people who bought a ticket for tonight, and they were all wrong, too’
LOL!
But, I WILL say that my husband is overall a FAR more hopeful person than I am. I would say, based on personal experience, that the people I know who are lottery players are in fact more hopeful than those who aren’t.
A funny little sidenote: My father has bought tickets to his church’s annual raffle every year for 30 years. He never won, not once. Not anything, not even the free Baskin-Robbins ice cream cones. Last year, he did this prayer ‘Dear God, if I win, I’ll give you half.’ And by golly, if he didn’t win TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS!!! He made good on his word, and gave half back to the church, but I said to him ‘Y’know, everything you have is God’s anyway, so you should probably give ALL of it back’ and he said ‘Ah, but I am the BODY of Christ, which means I had to go buy the tickets. I figure $5K is the wage for my labor.’
Nice, dad. Nice.
 
ManOnFire said:
My math and statistics education tells me that the odds are slim of hitting the big one. A few small wins occasionally seems to provide just enough glee for the brain to want to keep playing. My question is, in light of the fact that we know that most people are never going to win big, does chronic failure to win the lottery make people bitter, and therefore DECREASE hope, or does the mere hope, dream, and fantasy of winning provide enough pleasure to actually INCREASE hope? Are chronic lottery players more hopeful people, or less? Thoughts?
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I believe that it does both.
For some folks each lose makes them more hopeful that a win is around the corner. and in this way for SOME people it increases hope.
For others each lose is a disappointment that rides them further into the ground; reaffirming an already negative world view.

😊 //mackk
 
rwillenborg said:
LOL! I always think to myself ‘That’s because they didn’t DO IT RIGHT. Give me the chance. I’ll show you how to live right as a millionaire. Promise.’
🙂
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I’m the same way. I even have a whole plan in place, set to go, in case I win. Of course, I very seldom buy tickets. 🤷
 
Lotteries: a tax on those who flunked math.

All kidding aside, placing “hope” in anything material, especially money, smacks of idolatry to me.

Why not place hope in God? “Give us this day our daily bread”, for immediate needs, and hope that we can some day see the beatific vision.
 
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