Pure Math
童俊翔, 廖登豪, 章立昇, 劉建宏

Temptation by lottery
　

       Although money is not all powerful, many things cannot be done without money. Believe or not people in the world have the dream to own a lot of money and become wealthy so that they can be happy. In the modern world, lottery offers such chance. That is by spending a small amount of money, one can make a fortune if he has good luck. Many people are keen to gain fortune that they embrace this opportunity to  buy lottery dreaming they can be a billionaire overnight. 

       Many of us can not afford to buy many things we want. Imagine as long as we have money and we can buy many things we want, life must be completely different. And it is wonderful. In addition to house, automobile, life necessity, and food, we can live a carefree life without working hard. We can travel to many places for holidays. Life is good. All these owe to lottery. It satisfies many of our desires. But is lottery really so good?

       Not everyone wins lottery. The chance to win the prize is odd. Many people borrow money to buy lottery tickets at large quantity. But they end up with losing each penny they’ve invested. They become mad. Others commit suicide because of great debt. Lottery thus becomes evil and a serious social problem. It is not a dream; it becomes nightmare. Many wish they could have not walked into this pitfall if they were allowed to make the same decision for a second time.  

       But we can look things at bright side. Money collected from lottery actually goes into two parts. Quite a large percentage of money goes into the winner’s pocket. However, a certain percentage of money is collected as taxes by government. Then the government will use the money to pay for our health insurance services, social welfare packages for minority groups like handicapped people, children and women foundations, meal plans for school children. In this sense, lottery is also a major income of charity. This is why legal lottery is not gambling, on the contrary, it is encouraged by government.

       To buy lottery or not depends on one’s motif. But the worst motif is to gain a quick fortune to enjoy only material comforts. The money one wins from lottery is through collecting a large sum of money from a large population who make this investment. Since lottery money is not made through the winner’s sweats but by luck, the chance to attain this evil purpose normally is slight and many investors will end up with stress and disappointment. Charity is a benevolent motif to buy lottery because the money benefits the disadvantaged minorities. Besides, it takes each of us only a small amount of money. If we are very lucky, we can be the winner although it won’t come easy!

 498 words