(title stolen from the Fast Show. Rubbish!)
I'm always one to have a bit of a giggle at my Mum for playing the lottery every week - she has played it every week for as long as I can remember, usually 3 tickets each time. I usually take the Dr. Cox (from Scrubs) approach of telling her that "I've already burned a pile of money this morning, so I've got none spare" when she asks if I'd like a ticket.
As a maths man, I could never accept the probabilities and the odds of the lottery. I've convinced myself that given the minute chance of winning the lottery, the best strategy for long-term financial gain (I suppose "gain" is the wrong word here; "stability" is probably better) is simply to pocket the money not spent on the lottery and place it in a savings account. Although at the back of my mind is this constant nag that perhaps I could be lucky and one day win big, and of course that would then erase any financial trouble or any expenditure on tickets in the past. It's a funny psychological phenomenon that when the jackpot has rolled over to a very large amount, more people enter as they genuinely believe that it could be their chance to win. In reality, the chances of winning are of course exactly the same as before. But that "what it?" still lurks in the back of the mind . . .
Websites like TopCashBack are excellent for nagging thoughts like this, as you can get cashback on purchasing lottery tickets so you don't feel so dirty (mathematically). I tried it once - £4 cashback for £5 spent, so essentially you pay for one ticket and get five chances. Unsurprisingly enough, I won a grand total of zero pounds that week.
So I was all ready to ditch my grand dreams of winning the lottery and buying myself a nice guitar, when I came across another site through TCB, called Search Lotto (http://www.searchlotto.co.uk/index.php?rid=19609). If you remember all those years ago when P2C sites were big (Pay-to-Click) - it's among similar lines. You make searches on the websites, and earn points for doing so - the unique thing about this site is that 25 searches earns you one entry to the lottery. Not quite so simple, as actually you are entered into a syndicate of 10 people - but still entered nonetheless. 10 searches a day count towards the 25 search limit, up to a maximum of 50 per week. The search is done via Yahoo, so I use it as per usual during the day to get through my 10 a day without sitting down and wasting time unnecessarily.
I think this is quite a nifty website, and now means that when mum tells me that "you have to be in it to win it" (thank you, Lotto advertising people) I can tell her that I am in it, but I've not paid anything to do so. I'm pretty sure that in the distant future I will not win big on the Lotto, but my mind rests at ease to know that I'm not spending money on it, but that slight chance of actually winning has also been taken care of by just searching a few times a day. Give it a try! You never know. (although you probably do)
(quite late edit - I noticed today that a "Mr. D from Cambridge" had won something on the lottery via this method today - unfortunately not me!)
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