I think I just saw a TV commercial in which they had to explain to people the benefits of the $1 million prizes in addition to the main $50 million prize. Did I really just see that? Oh, wait, I have a PVR now...
Yes, they actually had a guy explain that he can do all the things he fantasizes about for a lottery win, even with a single million. Have we really become that inured to big prizes that we have to relearn what good a million dollars is?
I always thought that lotteries should give away a greater number of smaller big prizes, rather than one massive prize. After all, wouldn't it seem more meaningful if you could change the lives of a few dozen people, rather than just one? Of course, I don't buy lottery tickets, so I'm not in their target audience. I guess if you're the sort of person who thinks through his lottery fantasies like I have, then you'll also realize that lotteries are a losing proposition.
And that's why this commercial will ultimately fail. As the saying goes, lotteries are a tax on people who are bad at math. So trying to explain the mathematics of financial dreams is counterproductive.
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