Old concept new riches

Old Concept; New Riches A lottery is a pure game of chance. It is great to win and some of the prizes that are won these days are enormous. There is nothing new in the idea of lotteries. In recent decades they have been used to raise funds at a local level for worthy causes and sports clubs and then at national level to allow the distribution of funds on a larger scale.

Historically, there were many occasions where people drew lots; it was occasionally without a prize as a reward. The phrase ‘drawing the short straw’ is now commonly used to describe some misfortune. It originates from the method that a group of people used to decide who was to do a specific task. It was often something that was not particularly pleasant. The number of ‘straws’ matched the number of people involved in the draw. There was always one noticeably short straw but the length of each was concealed, perhaps in the hand and the length of each of the straws appeared the same. One by one, each person drew a straw and the unfortunate ‘winner’ was usually a loser.

Win to Fight In Homer’s Iliad, warriors drew lots from Agamemnon’s Helmet; one of them was to fight Hector in the attempt to take Troy. Hector was Troy’s best warrior, so it was hardly going to be a prize worth winning. That is in sharp contrast to the present day when there have been huge prizes won by ordinary people whose lives will never be the same again.

Lotteries are universally popular. In the UK, the National Lottery has created thousands of millionaires in the period of just over two decades since it was launched. It is not alone; lotteries are worldwide and everyone hopes they have a chance. There is a man in Florida who has done more than hope. To date he has won significant amounts seven times.

Regular Winner Richard Lustig, from Orlando, believes he has a system and he has even been successful selling his ‘system’; some people are gullible but Richard can point to the fact that he has had great success. He said his first win was when he was a teenager and subsequently amongst his wins were $843,000 in 2002, $73,000 in 2008 and a further $100,000 in 2012. He is fairly coy about his ‘system’ unless you are prepared to pay.

Syndicates As interest in online gambling has increased there are alternatives to a supposed system on a game of chance. Companies like DTD European Services offer consumers the opportunity to buy into a lottery syndicate and have the whole process managed for them. It is one way to guarantee that players are in every week because they can arrange a direct debit payment on a monthly basis so that they are in with a chance every week.

Such a membership syndicate is secure; no one else will have access to a member’s private account which will contain a record of every transaction. When members win, the notification will be automatic, with winnings lodged for members to transfer out into their bank account whenever they wish.

A win will certainly be good news; it will not be a matter of taking up arms or getting the dirty jobs to do. There are no ‘short straws’ in online lottery membership.