Seth Godin writes that when people buy a lottery ticket, they are not really buying a lottery ticket: they are buying "(t)he thrill of possibility, the chance for recognition, the chemical high of anticipation".
I half-agree.
When people buy a lottery ticket, they do buy something more than just a ticket.
They buy hope.
They buy dreams.
They buy the possibility that they could provide for themselves and their families and be comfortable the rest of their lives.
They buy the chance that it is possible to like those who have won before.
It is not just the anticipation.
It is not just the chance for recognition.
It is not just the 'thrill of the possible'.
It is hope that they are buying.
I have to agree with you on thus one- that's what I was thinking when I read Seths blog.
Posted by: Travis | 30 October 2009 at 12:08
Travis - Thanks for the comment. Indeed, it's about hope. That's what really struck me upon reading Seth's blog. I come from a third-world country that is stuck in a "forever in the stage of developing" - and I am guessing that we probably have the highest numbers of gambling dollars per capita.
Posted by: Philip Tiongson | 31 October 2009 at 05:57
The thrill of possibility, the chance for recognition, the chemical high of anticipation. That's what people pay for.
OR.. has Seth just 'chemically' defined exactly what comprises HOPE..?
Posted by: Geoff Dodd | 31 October 2009 at 07:52
People buy hope: don't knock that, but it is rather silly that so many people think "If I just 'play' (alias, spend!) MORE, I get more chances of winning." In reality, each and every separate ticket has the exact same chance of winning. Either we will win or we won't. One ticket should be enough to give that HOPE. Of course, if everybody thought the way I do, they wouldn't be able to make such huge amounts of money on these lotteries....
Posted by: gator | 01 November 2009 at 16:07
@ Geoff Dodd - Thanks for the comment, Geoff. I would agree with you slightly on the possibility of Seth Godin having chemicaly defined what hope is. Slightly - because I believe there is more to hope than just the thrill of the possibility and the anticipation. HOPE is what drives us to dream big - and to trudge on in spite of the knowledge of failure.
Posted by: Philip Tiongson | 01 November 2009 at 22:09
Hi Gator - Agree with you that it is rather irrational... and silly. But we are not entirely rational in our choices. Kahneman - a social psychologist and a Nobel Prize Winner for Economics [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Kahneman], for example, has shown that the context in which decisions are made - however slightly changed - could significantly affect the choices we make. If we were to reduce the choices people make down to simple probability and chance of winning, then one ticket will be enough - and in fact, NO TICKET will perhaps be the best rational solution. But we don't make decisions like perfectly rational humans... Sometimes, we remain to be 'cursed' (or 'blest') by our irrationality.
Posted by: Philip Tiongson | 01 November 2009 at 22:13
Hi Goeff - I will agree that Seth Godin may have defined what comprises hope. But I think it is far more than just that. I have the belief that hope is one of those things that we cannot fully explain nor understand - that there will always be room for the unaccounted. Perhaps, I have been reading too much of Gabriel Marcel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Marcel) who wrote the Philosophy of Hope.
Posted by: Philip Tiongson | 01 November 2009 at 22:15