Sir, Am I the only person in Ireland never to have played the lottery? It does not take Jonathan Swift to tell me that this pastime is a form of national lunacy. Buying a lottery ticket is only slightly less risky - though far more demeaning - than dropping a pound coin down the drain.
The only player guaranteed to win is a mad multi millionaire. If he buys all the tickets he will win all the prizes, thereby losing a fortune. Adam Smith said in The Wealth of Nations: "Buy all the tickets in the lottery, and you lose for certain. The more tickets you buy. the nearer you approach this certainty." Yours. etc.,
Ashford,
Co Wicklow.