The way we look at the wins and losses of gambling
When people talk about how they bought their lottery ticket with their hard-earned money and then end up not winning anything, they always complain that they lost their money playing the lottery. They wasted a dollar or more on a losing ticket. They are tired of losing the lottery every week. The truth is, they never lost a single cent!
When people who gamble don’t win, they always refer to it as losing. They lost when they played a slot machine. They lost at poker. They evem lost at bingo. That seems to be the mindset: I didn’t win the lottery so I have lost my money!
Lottery players
What lottery players don’t realize is that the dollars they buy their lottery ticket with are dollars spent, not lost. The money has been spent purchasing a piece of paper that gives you a chance to win some money. So it doesn’t matter whether you actually win or not when you check your ticket, as that money was spent to buy something.
It can be compared to buying a chocolate bar that has a contest promoted on the wrapper in which a winning number is printed inside the wrapper corresponds to a prize. If you have number printed, you have won that prize. If there is no number, then you did not win a prize.So you buy the chocolate bar and look inside the wrapper. You eat the chocolate bar as you stare at a blank inside wrapper. You did not win. Some people would actually say you lost.
However, you did not specifically buy a wining number inside a wrapper. You bought the chocolate bar. You did not drop the chocolate bar on your errands around town. Therefore you did not lose your chocolate bar. The wrapper and the potential winning number inside is simply a bonus to your purchase.
So with buying a lottery ticket, you are buying a physical object like the chocolate bar. You are actually buying a piece of paper with writing on it. This piece of paper only gives you a chance to win, not a guarantee you are going to win. You bought and ate your chocolate bar. You did not lose the money you paid for the chocolate bar, you spent it. The same goes for the lottery ticket. You did not lose the money you paid for the ticket, you spent it. You got your chocolate bar, you got your ticket, end of story. So whether you find a winning number in the wrapper or not, or whether you match any numbers on the draw, is totally irrelevant. You bought a product, end of story.
If you are the type of person who believes that when you buy a lottery ticket and don't win, that you really do lose, it is best to avail yourself of some help. Contact Gamblers Anonymous in your local area or look for, or ask the retailer, for the number of the recommended problem gambling helpline. Because if you don’t, then you could be on the way to developing a problem gambling issue.