Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Lottery Mania Becomes Widespread

Governments everywhere are always on the lookout for clever ways to fund their services without unduly upsetting the electorate. Canada was no different. Thanks in part to the Irish Sweeps, what was once considered almost a sin, the selling and buying of lottery tickets- became an acceptable way for Canada to raise money. During the 1950s Canadian government officials, emboldened by the knowledge that more than 70 per cent of the public was in favour of this form of gambling, gave the green light. Viewing this as a safe bet to obtain a lucrative source of revenue, they soon relaxed the gambling rules on lottery ticket gambling and embraced this new form of fundraising with enthusiasm.

Over the past 40 years, and especially with the launch of the popular 649 lottery, and later, Lotto Max, ticket gambling soon mushroomed into an enterprise beyond anyone’s imagination and made avid petty gamblers out of millions of people. Currently, more than 9 million Canadians each week buy one or more lottery tickets. The Irish Sweeps prize that once looked so enticing, today would find few Canadian buyers for its tickets. Rather than advertising $100,000 prizes, we have weekly jackpots worth tens of millions.

OLG, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, employs 20,000 people, and rakes in annual profits of more than two billion with its gambling operations, including ticket sales, all because millions of delusional gamblers each week chase an elusive dream of becoming rich. The OLG spends millions on advertising to make certain that we play the lotteries. Every evening the TV news channels are saturated with 649 and Lotto Max ads, often repeated over and over every few minutes during the news hour. They often depict ecstatic winners jumping for sheer joy after checking their tickets.

The very thought of winning a $70,000,000 jackpot sends millions of hopeful winners racing repeatedly to the ticket kiosks each week. The government-run monopoly has perfected its slick ticket-selling scheme. Except for a tiny notice in the corner of each ad to “Please Play Responsibly”, it blatantly contradicts itself by aggressively badgering us to purchase a ticket right away to become enormously wealthy. The OLG is the modern snake oil salesman selling “a sure bet”. But the ads never reveal the astronomically slim chance of ever winning the lottery. The odds of winning the 649 are one in 13,983,816, and the Lotto Max, one in 33,294,800. The 21^st century snake oil salesmen selling lottery tickets keep these figures well out of sight. The alluring ads prey on the enormous gullibility of each one of us. Who can resist the temptation of spending a few bucks each week to possibly walk away with a huge bundle of cash, tax free, especially if the lottery prize has reached $70,000,000?