UK National Lottery - have they got it wrong?

  • Snowball's Avatar
    With the changes to the lottery to have more balls, there is now a repetitive rollover and the jackpot has climbed to an obscene amount that will probably be collected by one person. Wasn't it much better, and fairer, when the jackpot was won regularly, with more punters having the chance to collect what was still a life-changing fortune for anyone winning it?

    I know that the Euro Lottery can climb to eye-watering figures, but at least, with it being spread across the whole of the EU, the much greater number of punters does improve the odds of it being won more regularly than the UK lottery.
    What would we prefer - a regular flow of winners getting what for most of us is a dream-making fortune, or all wait week after week until the odd winner walks away with a prodigious amount of cash?
    Isn't there an independent governing body that can force in rectifying action if things look wrong? Occurrences of rare, high amounts may be exciting for the media, but is it fair to the punters?
  • 13 Replies

  • Santa's Avatar
    Exciting for the media is what it's all about. The same arguments were put forward back in the early days when winners were often walking away with a cheque for £30 million plus.

    Daft as it seems to pragmatists like us, the lure of a big jackpot brings in the punters. Of course, I am sure that no one on this forum is daft enough to 'play'. At those odds, 1 in 45 million, (although there is a nearly 1 in 10 chance of getting a free go) The Health Lottery, which claims players are 21 times more likely to win, looks a better bet, even though the prizes are smaller.

    Not for nothing has the lottery been described as a tax on the arithmetically challenged.
  • Snowball's Avatar
    From when the Lottery started, and up to when I retired, there were 12 of us in a syndicate where we paid for one line each using set numbers. Apart from the odd £10 we did not fare very well. I'm afraid my indulgence now is based on whether I have a few spare coins in my pocket.
    On a whim, I did do the 'Hotpicks' one week, choosing two lines with 3 numbers in each. One line came up and I won £450. I then had the horrible thought that, had my second line also come up, I would have won £900, BUT I would, that week, then have actually picked out the correct six Lotto numbers - PHEW! That would have been a blow.
  • Santa's Avatar
    For one person to win £million - a million people have to lose £1.50 or so
  • smudger's Avatar
    After spending Lots of money doing the lottery over the years, I've now given up on it, and spending my money more wisely, on booze and fags
  • Motman's Avatar
    Lol. I remember seeing George Best on a TV show once and they asked him what he spent his money on. He said he spent the majority of it on booze, birds and gambling. The rest of it, he said, he just wasted it!
  • Snowball's Avatar
    Does anyone remember Michael Carroll (I think that was his name) who has a large win on the Lottery. He bought a sizeable house in a posh area and turned the garden into a race track, and he and his buddies drove the neighbours mad. The last I heard he was supposed to be running out of money fast.
  • Santa's Avatar
    This the guy? I hope Sandra bailed while there was still some left:)

    A little over 10 years ago Michael Carroll was sitting on a £10million fortune after scooping the lottery.

    But now the money has gone and he has been forced to take a job in a biscuit factory for just £204 a week.

    His ignominious journey from rags to riches and back again has included squandering money on fast cars, huge quantities and drugs and drink and has even included two spells in prison.

    Divorced from his wife, Sandra, the man dubbed the ‘lotto lout’ has now had to move north to Scotland to be near his 10-year-old daughter, Brooke.

    And at one stage he was so broke he was forced to sleep rough in a forest while looking for work.

    But despite the wasted money, the stints behind bars and the broken marriage, Carroll, 30, - who styled himself as the King of Chavs - says he is happier now.
  • Snowball's Avatar
    Well researched, Santa. Guess there's a warning there that we win at our peril. There must be some truth in the saying, "As happy as a pig in ****"!
  • ficklejade's Avatar
    Gave up on the lottery the day I got a ticket and DS (aged two) fell over and started yelling so didn't check date. All six numbers came up - wrong day!! Won about £600 on the odd scratch card but only get one once in a blue moon!
  • Hometune's Avatar
    Guest
    A story not about the Lottery.

    In the late 60s my grandad had a paper shop in Edinburgh so the main newspaper was the Edinburgh Evening News. It ran a weekly Spot-the-Ball competition. One evening he had 20 papers left over so he cut out all the competition pages and took them home. He completed them all and sent them in. The prize was £600 for the winner and if you hit the centre of the 'ball' an additional £300. He won £900, got his and the shop's picture in the very same paper and I got £5 which is worth £80 today.
  • Snowball's Avatar
    Around that time I used to do a 'Spot-the-ball' competition in a local paper. If I remember correctly, there was a choice of how many crosses you put to mark the centre of the ball (depending on how much stake you placed). Never once got anywhere near!
  • ficklejade's Avatar
    Being a bit serious, would love to see more people getting smaller prizes - it would mean a lot to their lives and those of their families. Silly amounts haven't always brought happiness and lots of money has been wasted whilst other winners have done a lot of good. I can just about figure what I'd do with £1m; any more and that means I'd have to trust bankers etc. No thanks!
  • Coton Motors's Avatar
    Lol. I remember seeing George Best on a TV show once and they asked him what he spent his money on. He said he spent the majority of it on booze, birds and gambling. The rest of it, he said, he just wasted it!

    The Irish and the Scots express themselves eloquently.

    Bill Shankley also had the gift with words and one-liners.