I really don’t like the lottery. Not here, nor there, nor anywhere…and it has nothing to do with religious objections to gambling.

I love animals. But here in Costa Rica, especially where I live, cockfighting is almost a national sport (even though a quasi-illegal one). And, yes, it is substantially about the gambling.

And you know what, I really don’t have a problem with it. It is part of the culture here…just read one of the greatest books ever written, One Hundred Years of Solitude…and you will see that cockfighting is deeply ingrained in Latin American culture, much like bull-fighting is in Spain.

But lottery tickets also seem to be so ingrained. Here in Perez Zeledon there are lottery ticket sellers at every street corner, with a couple in between. They will wave those damn tickets in your face as you walk by and it annoys the crap out of me.

Why?

And now I hear from the U.S. media that the, what’s it called?, mega-jackpot, or some similar bullshit, has reached ONE BILLION DOLLARS…that’s BILLION…with a B.

Big f’ing deal…

So, why do I hate the lottery?

Okay, I’ll tell you why…because it reduces people’s (generally poor people’s) hopes and dreams to the fake and fleeting hope for the acquisition of little pieces of paper with pictures of dead notables engraved upon them.

It reduces people’s (generally poor people’s) hopes and dreams to the fake and fleeting hope for the acquisition of little pieces of paper with pictures of dead notables engraved upon them.

But it gives them something to hope for some will say.

No, it gives them something to waste their very hard-earned and extremely scarce resources on that’s not worth it…not even close.

I guess one can make the argument that good things are done with lottery earnings (not sure if that argument holds true here in Costa Rica).

But someone does win…doesn’t it help that person? Oh sure…straight to the grave. I will venture to guess that the scarce few that actually do something good with lottery winnings were probably doing it before they won…just with less resources. The rest just get one giant greed fix.

I have never bought a lottery ticket in my life…and I never will. I don’t even want to win. I always tell the ticket sellers here (chanceros we call them), “no tengo suerte”, or that I have no luck.

I don’t really even believe in “luck.”

In my opinion, they might as well be peddling crack…they’d probably earn a bit more while doing a similar amount of societal damage.

So why do I feel compelled this morning to poo-poo on the lottery parade?

Because the whole concept is indicative of this materialistic mindset that I often rant about here…and that impact mindfulness is dead set against.

One that proposes that money…even the “hope” of possessing it via the infinitesimally small chance of purchasing a winning lottery ticket…can equate to happiness.

I don’t buy it…and that’s why I don’t buy them.

Am I saying that lotteries should be outlawed?

No, of course not…just that people should find better “tickets” to success and happiness.

That, in a nutshell, is why I loathe the lottery.

image credit: John Carleton via Compfight cc