Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 16, 1994 TAG: 9402180019
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN GOOLRICK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Sure, it's nice to daydream about becoming an instant millionaire, but when it comes to gambling I've always been very conservative. At race tracks, I'm what is known as a "chalk" player. That is, I usually play only favorites or near favorites. Seldom will I bet any nag that goes off at more than 5-1.
Even in casinos in Vegas or Atlantic City, I play craps strictly by the book, using a system that narrows the house percentage to less than 1 percent and hoping a bit of luck will take care of the rest.
And yet I plunk down dollars for various Virginia lottery games in which the odds are heavily stacked against me. Consider the chance of winning top prize in Pick Three is 1 in 1,000; in Pick Four it's 1 in 10,000; in Cash 5 it's 1 in 278,256; and in Lotto it's 1 in 7,100,000.
Everybody reads about those lucky folks who strike it rich overnight and can retire early and buy fancy cars and homes. But you seldom hear of all those millions who lose time after time.
I'm certainly not morally opposed to the lottery or I wouldn't be playing it. And at least I have the consolation of knowing that some of the money from this "voluntary" tax is going to the state's general funds to build prisons, or whatever, and pay bills.
All I'm saying, I guess, is that I would have just as much chance of dialing a 10-digit number at random and reaching Elvis as I would of hitting it big in the lottery.
But sucker though I may be for playing the lottery, I am not dumb enough to fall for the offers of wealth in so-called sweepstakes sponsored by such outfits as Publishers Clearing House and Readers Digest.
Millions of Americans get invited to buy magazines and participate in these sweepstakes to win millions given away. The clever mailings make it seem you're almost a cinch to win if you'll just send in your entry and, of course, subscribe to a magazine or two. Few people read the small print that shows that, compared to the odds against winning a sweepstakes, the lottery odds are a piece of cake.
Not long ago I was bombarded with mail from Readers Digest that was a direct insult to my intelligence.
First there was the letter from the investment adviser who said he'd been retained by Readers Digest to give financial advice to those who won $5 million or other prizes in its sweepstakes. He said I could call or write him immediately for advice about how to spend my bonanza.
Next a letter arrived that said Readers Digest planned to give me royal treatment if I happened to be a big winner. Included was my four-day New York itinerary that would whisk me in a limo from the airport to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. In succeeding days I would eat at Peacock Alley, take in Broadway plays of my choice, hop a limo to Central Park for a ride in a horse and carriage, have dinner and cocktails at Tavern on the Green and finally be presented the whopping check for $5 million.
I was sorely tempted to send in the entry form along with a subscription to the magazine. But then I looked on the other side of the form where it said my chance - indeed the chance of any entrant - of winning the $5 million grand prize would be 1 in 206,000,000.
In case all those zeroes confuse you, that's two hundred and six million to one, a figure not all that far from equaling all the men, women and children in the United States.
Of course, I might win one of the lesser prizes, a wristwatch. My chance of doing that would be only 1 in 3,628.
I tossed the entry form in the wastebasket and went outside hoping lightning wouldn't strike me (odds, about 1 in 5,000,000) before I got to the 7-Eleven to buy my lottery tickets.
\ John Goolrick lives in Fredericksburg and works for Rep. Herbert Bateman.
by CNB