Monday 11 January 2016

Are you a gambler? UPDATED

Do you do the national lottery? We did it for its first year but stopped after that, having not won anything. We have just worked out that not doing it, has saved us £1168.

Okay, you could argue that we might, in all that time, have won something but prefer the money in our rather than their pocket. We know quite a few people who do it every week, who still haven't won, except for the odd free play, then they didn't win anything from that. One or two have won the odd £10 once or twice!

We are often amazed to see people, often far older than us, hand over at least £10 to buy tickets, we have even seen one person hand over £25. As we don't know if they have ever won, it is difficult to predict but if you had played the lottery since its inception, at £10 every week, you may well have forked out £11,680 and that is just once a week until 3rd October 2013 when each ticket went up to £2.

If you stuck at the same £10 spent from there, the total will be what is written above. If however, you felt you needed to then spend £20 every week, to buy the same amount of 'tickets', another £2,360 would have been spent, bringing the grand total to £14,040. Such a sum doesn't include those who buy the scratch cards, or even take part in the Health Lottery.

So then, have you ever won? Do you still play?

On a similar theme, on the odd occasion we find ourselves in M & S food market, looking for something we need that only they produce, have you noticed how many people in there are pensioners?

Are they on private pensions? The mind boggles!

Back on the lottery, here is a link to where the money goes. 

32 comments:

  1. Oddly, we have recently just started paying for the lottery. The reason isn't to win money though, it's because we support a lot of the work the Heritage Lottery Fund does and it's a really easy way to give money to lots of really good projects. It may sound daft but that's why we do it.

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    1. Good for you. I am not having a go at anyone who wishes to play but just to be careful too much doesn't get spent on it if in debt.

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    2. Nope, no debt, one ticket a week, we just count it in with our charity/good causes giving. There are lots of projects that it would be difficult/impossible to give money to directly.

      I know quite a few people who shop at M&S, some because the staff are nice and it's worth the extra to have a chat, my parents buy food from there now because, as Father says, they scrimped and saved for years when we were little so if he wants a small something now then he'll have it. He is a lover of Aldi too though!

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  2. I have NEVER done the Lottery and never will. When the first National Lottery was introduced 200 years ago, William Wilberforce, the great social reformer/antislave-trade campaigner, declared it to be a "National Sin which will demoralize the poorer classes". You are twice as likely to be canonised by the Pope as you are to win the jackpot prize!
    When the Camelot Lottery began in the 90's I taught in a school in a very poor area of Thamesmead, near Belmarsh Prison, and was horrified to realise how many of the single Mums [or ones with partners inside BP] spent a high proportion of their benefit money on tickets, genuinely believing they would win their way out of poverty.
    Furthermore the proportion of money which goes to the 'heritage lottery fund' is not that large - and could be better spent, imho, on hospitals etc, rather than opera houses
    If someone has £5 that they can afford to throw away each week, they should consider throwing it into a charity bucket - the blessings will be far greater [for the recipient and the donor]
    sorry, this has been a long rant - but I think your post is dead right!!!! blessings xx

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    1. I have to admit I am tempted to buy the odd ticket but so far, have resisted. We used to be English Heritage donors but that got too expensive. Now, if we wish to give, we do so direct to the charities of our choice.

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  3. Love M&S but not their prices. Even the quality of their clothes recently has gone down. I used to walk in and pick up a 12m and know it fitted length wise etc not anymore. I have never done the lottery regularly but I buy a £1 scratch card once a month on pay day. I'm probably out of pocket a little. But its my one flutter.

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    1. I don't know what the odds are on cards but reckon they must be better than the National Lottery. Did you know there are 52 different types of scratch cards with winnings still unclaimed see here:

      https://www.national-lottery.co.uk/games/gamestore/scratchcards

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  4. Never won a huge amount, the odd tenner over many years! It put me off when they upped it to £2 a time. As for pensioners in M&S, my mum & dad get some of their food from there (Aldi the other half) but this is one of their only pleasures - neither of them drink, my dad smokes roll-ups,they live simply, never holiday by choice and mum is a good cook/baker and so a few luxury dishes is a treat for them. However I've also noticed some people pile their trollies high in there - must cost an arm and leg!!

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    1. We can only assume they have an arm and a leg to spare!

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  5. We used to do the lottery, just one line twice a week. However, since they introduced another ten numbers, the odds of winning have been altered dramatically, and not in our favour! Therefore, we're not bothering with it anymore!
    On the M&S subject, my FiL does almost all his food shopping at M&S, and yet he gives DH £10-00 for his birthday and Christmas, and our DS £5-00, DDil and I get nothing! To say he's mean is an understatement, he's as tight as a crab's backside, and that's watertight!
    We very occasionally get something from M&S, their Pesto Mayonnaise is lovely, but there's no way on earth that we could afford to shop there for most of our food!


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    1. Hello my dear, Happy New Year to you and yours. I burst out laughing at that comment, you are so funny!

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  6. My Mum buys food in M&S, aswell as Asda and Sainsbury's. She has her state pension and private pensions that my Dad paid into but never got to receive. She doesn't have a car, doesn't 'go out', doesn't go on holiday, doesn't drink etc - all things that are seen as 'the norm' ( Haha - I've just realised that I'm just like her, though I don't shop at M&S). She spends money on her home, on clothes, has a grand-daughter at uni that she is very generous to :) keeps her home well heated and eats well. She says that those things make her happy and comfortable, and I'm glad that she spends on that rather than think she has to save it to leave something to me. To be honest I'm just glad that she has some happiness in her life after being widowed at 56 :( , and that my Dad made provision so that she can do those things, because fate has meant that we're not in a position to help her. When I've been in M&S with her it is predominantly older people who are shopping in the food hall, but a lot of them seem to be those who live alone if the types of things they buy are anything to go by. I think they might feel that it's easier and cheaper for them to do that than to use gas/electricity for cooking, or to waste food. Also M&S is in town, whereas the supermarkets are out of town and take 2 buses to get to. My MIL has shopped in there for stuff ever since I met J in 1981. She used to buy ham in a packet and it was so thinly sliced that it was almost see-through - you couldn't tell there was anything between the slices of bread when she made a sandwich!

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    1. Like you say, for some it is comfort/making them happy/nearest shop shopping. It would be interesting to see a demi graphic breakdown of M & S grocery shopping though we probably would never know what income people are on to compare the trends. We recently worked out how we would fare on just a government pension each, not nice. It would in all probability be a heat or eat scenario!

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  7. I was going to mention that huge lottery rollover thing in a post but forgot. We've never done it - not even £1 spent but our sons current archaeology job is heritage lottery funded so mustn't say too much!
    Re the M & S food, many years ago my aunt shopped there simply because she could get a bus into town but not a bus to out of town store, that was before Tesco metros etc moved back into town centres and the only food shop in town was M&S. I've never shopped there either.

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    1. I don't disagree with the charitable outcomes, just whether people hope to buy themselves out of poverty. Life would probably be hell after a huge win unless heads are screwed on the right way.

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  8. Hi DC! I work with quite a few gamblers, the amount of money they spend, especially on sports betting, is eye watering. Makes £10 on the lottery look like a prudent investment.

    As for M&S, yes a lot of pensioners are on 'gold plated' final salary pensions. I know more than one whose monthly private pension is more than our combined household income (over £2000), and the wife claims her government pension and invests it. That combined with a paid of mortgage? Lots of money to spend in M&S. There are plenty of pensioners struggling, but there are also many who are the wealthiest pensioners to have ever lived and they are quite a large group.

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    1. I think all addictions are sad and wish more could be done, not just for those addicted but to prevent people starting in the first place. I know many people on more pension money than us who still moan about lack of funds but who don't do anything about their wastage to tackle it.

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  9. My late Mum in Law got those frozen meals delivered regularly that you paid a subscription for, one day we looked at the food she was getting against the price she was paying and worked out it would be cheaper, and tastier, for her to actually go to M&S once every couple of weeks and stock up on 'meals for one' and pop them all in the freezer.

    I must say I am shocked at the piled high trolleys in there being pushed around by a lot of folk. I did go in there quite regularly but only for bits and bobs of things that we consider treats, I have never done a weekly shop in there. It would be interesting to see the same shop done in M&S and Asda and see the price comparison.

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    1. My MiL used to get meals on wheels until we saw what they were - overcooked and generally disgusting although I know some are very good in other areas. In the end we cooked for 3, plated up then froze them. She did like going to M & S just for a nose around.

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  10. Well I have starting cutting back on the lotto, like you say when you work it out its crazy, and we rarely win anything, I have started doing more of the health lottery.

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    1. It all helps although I don't know what the odds of winning are on that.

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  11. Scarlet, did you want me to publish your last comment?

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  12. unfortunately I see this more lately at my work the jackpot here in the US is high and people are just spending it all on a dream some to the point that other things are in neglect

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    1. Wish we could help them see that although dreams are free, the outcome rarely is.

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  13. my husbands work syndicate of 23 people played the lottery for 3years before they stopped. they won £30.00 over that time.

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    1. When we were crafting, 4 times a year at a certain fair, all stallholders would pay £1 for a ticket. We never won and there were 163 of us!

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  14. I have never bought a lottery ticket but I have read quite a bit about people who do..they tend to be less educated, can least afford it and cant really understand the odds. Our lottery here in the States is over a billion dollars this week - the odds of winning are the same as being struck by lightening AND becoming president..on the same day. One chance in 292,000,000. I have read another reason is that the fantasy it affords give temporary relief to feelings of hopelessness that many people experience. I dont think there is any harm in buying lottery tickets it that is what you want to spend your money on, better than smoking or drinking.
    I dont think the elderly should be harshly judged for buying food at M & S - they have discharged most of life s obligations and responsibilities so why should nt they eat the food they like and I doubt whether they are going into debt over it...the food is lovely, tasty and fresh - I used to buy it for my mum when I visited.

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    1. I do not judge merely observe! UK government pensions are not brilliant unless fully paid up. Only receiving a single pension, I don't think it would be possible to survive well, let alone shop in there. Other pensions would need to be in place.

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    2. My mum managed o.k. She had a two bedroomed flat (no mortgage) and most of the things we all have....phone, t.v.(no cable), washing machine etc. No computer, no microwave, no dryer and no car (which she gave up at when she was 89 and which was second hand when she bought it 15 years perviously). She was never in debt and paid all her bills on time. She was nt frugal in the sense that she scrimped or bought out-of-date food or but she NEVER bought anything she really did nt need and she never smoked or drank or ate any junk food or really indulged herself in any way....
      She cooked all her own food, and only had a few M & S dinners in the freezer as an emergency in case the weather was bad and she could nt get out.
      She had the state pension, about 90 pounds a week and a very small pension from my father, some savings that she invested and the winter heating allowance. She took care of her clothes and shoes which were very classic and which seemed to last forever and looked great on her ! She never went "on holiday" but visited friends occasionally as they did her..
      She was almost 97 when she died, had been a widow for 38 years and had retired at 71 after working as a dental nurse for 40 years (no pension from that)

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    3. I think it does depend on the person and their personality. Your mum certainly did very well with her income.

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  15. When the lottery first came out here years ago stateside, we did buy some scratch tickets, we won a few, but lost more. That went on for a few months here and there.
    When the big draws stated later on, we occasionally bought one. I think we have bought maybe 3 in the last six years or so. We did purchase one last week when the win was so high, and other people there urged us just to "try it". Of course, we did not win.
    Yesterday my husband asked me if I wanted another go at it. I turned that down.
    At some point I might buy another one. It is for fun only, and as someone said, the hope (or illusion) of just winning.
    I can be a kid once in awhile, but reality buys groceries, not pretend.

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