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The lottery is a game of complete chance. In fact, you only have a 1 in 14 million chance of winning the lottery with the numbers you have chosen. So, why do we continue buying that lottery ticket every single week? Do we really believe the old adage that it could happen to us? Or, are we looking for a quick and easy return for our money?

The answer is simple we are programmed to see the positive outcome of any given situation. It is only human nature to think of positive aspects rather than negative ones, but in a game of chance this only serves to skew our perspectives. To think of winning the lottery is a much better option than trying to work out that we really have no chance of winning it at all.

We are bombarded with press stories and news releases of people winning the lottery and changing their lives for the better. However, these stories only make us think maybe we could win the lottery next time. If a ticket that is bought from a local shop in a small town one week wins; that shop can then expect to have thousands of people buying their lottery tickets from there. It would be nice to think that another winning lottery ticket could be bought from that shop, but alas, life just isn't that kind! After all, it is the person that chose the numbers (unless it was a lucky dip) and not the shop!

Do we realize that we have next to no chance of winning the lottery no matter how many times we play it? The reason why so many people play the lottery regardless of the odds against them is because they focus on the amount of money they could win. The potential winning of 13 million plus for an investment is an amazing amount of cash. Can you imagine what you would do with that amount of money? Buy a small country (or a large one), buy a Porsche or buy multiple houses in different countries?

The potential jackpot of 13 million sounds much nicer than saying you only have a 1 in 14 million chance of winning the lottery. As all lotteries require a very low stake and the potential payout is huge in comparison. That is why we all still put that on the a few numbers we want to win and we want to win big!

Of course, the lottery has waned since its inception a few years ago. The jackpots now are nowhere near as much as they once were. Could this be because people just don't think that it could happen to them? Or, are we a little more realistic in our attempts in getting large sums of money. Perhaps we just can't afford to keep putting all those on a line of numbers. There only use to be one draw per week when it first started; now you could money on the lottery every day; multiple times per day.

Is the lottery trying to con our money from our pockets? If you are superstitious and you believe that putting the same numbers on every time will win you millions; you could end spending a lot more money ion your lifetime than you will ever see back.