Breaking the spell of the National Lottery. Copyright Richard Ford.
I am very opposed to the National Lottery for two reasons. First of all it is a transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich. Many working people live lives of quiet desperation, hoping for overtime so they can clear last months credit card bill. Trying to save for a holiday (or more likely pay for last years holiday.) This is not absolute poverty because most people live quite well in material terms- but it is a poverty of hope. It is difficult to face life if all it offers is the nine to five for forty years and then death. It is possible to spend half the year dreaming of holidays- but permanent escape from work is what most people dream of.
Poor people are not stupid. They are fully aware that the chances of them winning are small- but they need to dream and can see no other way out of their situation than winning the lottery. The poor enter into the deception willingly because there is simply no way to face life without hope- no matter how unrealistic.
This mugging of the poor is shameful but what follows is even worse. The lottery is run by the liberal elite who use the money to further their own objectives- publicly subsidised opera and ballet plus politically correct measures that are directly opposed to the interests of the white working class people who pay for it all.
The way to break this addiction is to find a useful substitute.
Premium Bonds also give hope- but encourage saving rather than gambling.
www.nationalsavings.co.ukThere are free internet lotteries that you also will not win.... But neither will you lose because they are free. In fact I have won a total of £160 from both sources so it can be done.
www.bananalotto.co.uk
