The Mystery of Lottery

Anchor (Jean): Thank you, Sandy! After the lottery drawing, we are very pleased to have three guest speakers—the sociologist, Mr. Lin, psychologist, Ms. Chen and Taipei Bank manager, Mr. Chao in the studio to explore the issue of lottery. They will share their opinions upon lottery and interact with the audience. Please feel free to ask questions now. All right, Mr. Peng from Taipei, please! 

Mr. A (Simon): I would like to ask the Taipei Bank manager: what are the profits of lottery sales used for? Does the Taipei Bank pocket profit without sharing with anyone else? 

Manager (Kenny): Well, after our analysis of lottery buying, we probably will get three billion dollars profits from lottery. So, we will expand the business of financial department to deal with those money and invest in foreign market. Besides, we have made a contract with our country’s Financial Department. That if we sell one hundred dollars in lottery, we have to offer forty dollars to Financial Department. And those money will be allocated to all counties in Taiwan. Also, when we have the surplus, we will offer 40% to set up the public welfare foundation. By the way, we predict that we will have about forty billion dollars in surplus.

Anchor (Jean): Thank you! Then, Ms. Yang from Hsinchu, please. 

Ms. B (Flora): I’d like to be a lottery ticket vendor, but I was refused by your bank. Could you tell me reasons?

Manager (Kenny): I’m sorry to tell you this, but if you are not a disabled person, you couldn’t be a ticket vendor. The launch of lottery is aimed to providing 4,999 employments as ticket vendors to disadvantaged groups, such as the physically handicapped, aboriginals, single-parent families, and those with a low income.

Anchor (Jean): Don’t be disappointed. I am sure, Ms. Yang, you will find a proper job, soon. Good luck! Here we have a college student. Ms. Tsao, please.

Ms. C (Sharon): I don’t like the lottery actually. But my father and mother are so crazy about buying lotto tickets. They even give up their careers and spend all of their savings to buy lottery. I don’t know what they think in their mind. What should I do?

Psychologist (Winona):  Well, as a psychologist, I am not surprised to see symptoms of having lottery fever if people have too much expectation of the extremely trifling and minute rate of winning the jackpot. As you can tell, the negative impact of the game has inflicted on many avid players. They may despise labor and love ease and have the opportunistic thought. I do not criticize your parents as daydreamers of being millionaires overnight, yet they really are. I can sense how helpless you are now. You should suggest them to treat lottery as just a part of life, not all.

Anchor (Jean): It seems people really get crazy about lottery. The next, Ms. Chiang, please.

Ms. D (Camille): Hello, I want to ask the Taipei Bank manager, like others, I suspect that the three-hour lapse time you take to declare the number of the jackpot winner is probably used by it to "conspire" with owners of some betting stations. Is the process of announcing prize winners proper as you keep emphasizing?

Manager (Kenny):  I can assure that there must not be any form of cheating in the progress. Because our security system is well-designed and monitored very carefully, so no one can play tricks.

Anchor (Jean): The lady, Ms. Wang seems eager to say something, please.

Ms. E (Christin): Forget the proper process, jackpots…I strongly argue the lottery selling must be cut off. Yesterday, my uncle committed suicide by drinking insecticides after the lottery drawing because he spent 75,000 dollars, all of his money in buying lottery, yet sadly he didn’t win any prize!

Psychologist (Winona):  Gosh, another tragedy! Since the lottery was launched, many people could not control their tempers, and some of them become crazy, and others attempt to end up their lives! diligence. The influence on the whole society is more serious than expected. It not only causes the degeneracy of the value of diligence, but also gives rise of morbid state of mind to our citizens. Personally, I wonder the moral standard in Taiwan will soon erode. Especially kids and youngsters will find hard to cultivate the balanced value system.

Anchor (Jean): So you claim the lottery is really threatening the survival of society.

Psychologist (Winona): Indeed, bring misfortune to our people.

Anchor (Jean): It sound future outcome of lottery is not promising?! OK. The next, please.

Ms. F (Natalie): Uh, I have a cousin living in America and he also notices the lottery craze in Taiwan. As he mentions to me, people in U.S. are not so enthusiastic about buying lottery. Can you explore if lottery mania as the typical social phenomena in Taiwan?

Sociologist (Eric):  Hmm, it’s true that our citizens are a little bit overheated in lottery, however, it is very likely due to that lottery has been launched on market less than two months, thus people may feel newfangled about it. You know, despite being a new activity in Taiwan, computerized lotteries have a long history in other countries. There is no reason to make such a big fuss over them. So I believe the lottery fever will fade away soon.

Mr. G (Peter): So what do you think about legalization of lottery in Taiwan? Should it be forbidden as Patriotic Lottery since it has led several bad impacts?

Sociologist (Eric):  In my opinion, I would suggest our government that they should set up an effective administration, that means, to have a complete system of lottery. And according to the Taipei Bank manager, we can realize that lottery is also beneficial to public welfare system. Therefore, buying a lottery ticket not only can bring us a chance of being rich, but also show your generosity to poor people. So why should we forbid lottery tickets selling?

Anchor (Jean):  Thanks for your viewpoints and participation. Well, some people remain optimistic and keep hope on the lottery while some do not. But undoubtedly lottery is the most popular issue at present in Taiwan. Have you bought one? You can try your luck, but don’t invest too much money on it anyway. After all, the chance to win first prize is merely below 1/5,240,000. This is the end of our report, thanks for your viewing, and we look forward to seeing you next time.

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