Spain has a national lottery every Thursday, but they also have two special ones for Christmas. Today was “the fat one”, with a top prize of 400.000,00 € per decimo, meaning a tenth of a ticket which costs 20 €. I presume the 10th of a ticket goes back to the days when most people couldn’t afford a whole ticket.
As usual I won nothing. I knew I wouldn’t, because I didn’t buy a ticket. I’m one of those irritating people who go around saying that lotteries are a tax on people who don’t understand the laws of probability.
Mind you, I do buy raffle tickets, especially for good causes. Although the prizes are smaller, the chances of winning are much, much higher. A few years ago, I spent 20€ on raffle tickets, and found I’d won a decimo. Oh well, I thought, at least I can spend a week dreaming about how I could spend the money I’m not going to win.
But I was wrong. I did win. All of 20 €.
