“Lottery” is not a new concept to Belizeans, who on many a Sundays go for the “Jackpot” big win, which means that the winning number includes four digits. Or, at the very least, players hope to win an “ending”, officially referred to as Ordinary Lottery (the last two digits of the jackpot lottery). For years, buyers have bought the “Panama” lottery—often not issued as a formal lottery ticket, but handwritten on strips of paper, and popularized as “PUP” lottery. Although the lottery has taken on greater government regulation, “boledo”, the official lottery terminology, continues to draw more and more Belizeans to spend a couple dollars—and often significantly more—every night, on the off chance of hitting it big. Boledo refers to a winning number comprised of two digits, and it is sold on all days except Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.
Relatives and friends call or text each other frequently to find out, in Joseph’s fashion, what dreams signify and what numbers are associated with objects or events in dreams. For instance, what does dreaming about having one’s teeth fall out, mean, or what does dreaming of a dead one signify? Of course, at the heart of it all is pinning down that winning number for the next lottery draw. The expert in numerology and dreams, as it concerns the lottery, will ask astute questions such as, “Did you experience pain when the teeth fell out?” For, pain plays one number, and no pain has a different number designation as well as varying interpretations for the dreamer.
Events include, for example, anything from falling out of bed—leading to buying the age of the person— to having someone, usually from the afterlife, whisper in one’s ear, in the quiet of a sweet sleep, the magic winning number to be drawn, if not on that day, before the week’s end. If you are familiar with Belizean lottery players, you will have observed that they often take out a “contract” on a list of favourite numbers, and that this contract can run for over a year’s span.
Of late, the game has taken on new configurations in Belize. Although we are a far cry from the global Mega Millions, Euro Millions, Power Ball, Hot Lotto, Triple Play Lotto, and other scintillating labels, the game of lottery has now opened up from the Panama Lottery to Scratch, Lotto, BEL 3, Mega Bingo, and the “one-armed bandits” common not only to casinos, but to small buildings stockpiled with machines with popular youthful decor and zany sound effects.
It is commonplace to see lottery vendors behind student-type desks outside shops with ticket books ready to issue sales to eager buyers. Countrywide, signs advertising games of chance are plastered on the sides of buildings announcing lottery houses.
So, why are Belizeans, now more than ever, buying into the lottery mania? Is it that we simply are drawn to games of chance? Or, is it that the economic hardship most of us are currently facing, is contributing to our pull toward the possibility of a quick win? Right now, the way the economic situation stands, a game of chance is as good as any for the worker who is seeing very little light at the end of his or her tunnel. The long lines of persons queuing up to buy quick picks, boledo, or jackpot, and who fit a range of socio-economic profiles, attest to the fact that we all have some faith that Fortuna might favour us. While, for many, winning the lottery is aligned to the stars, others regard it a science. Hanging up in offices and homes, diagrams of the skeleton outlined with numbers assist in figuring out the roll of the die.
Certainly, mass communication has contributed to the feeling that everyone has an equal chance to win, as the television news flash the winners’ stories on primetime through first-hand interviews with smiling winners who Lady Luck has smiled on. Just a week ago, one lucky winner of the Mega Bingo, who the day before faced eviction from her home, won over a hundred thousand dollars! Can you imagine how that infused bingo sales! Even right now, players are concerned that the pot for the Lotto has yet to cough up a winner.
Yes, it is lottery mania. The faithful listen to their radios, as hosts that include YaYa Marin on KREM Radio, announce one’s change in fortune. Yes, listeners are glued to the radio air waves or television screen at thereabouts 9:00 p.m. and at 10:00 a.m. on Sundays. In days past, lottery buyers would go to the Courthouse to see the lottery played and written on a blackboard. A growling shop keeper is a sure sign that someone has won big and a payoff has to be made. There are even stories that shopkeepers have had to close shop when the winner’s jackpot has cleaned out substantially the boledo or jackpot lottery seller.
So much for us starry-eyed dreamers, waiting for the numbers we have in our hands to roll and surface. But what about lottery revenues? Where does it go? Without doubt, the administration of a lottery has its expenses for the producing of lottery books, loss that comes from unsold books, and other management costs. However, licences generate revenues as well as sales. Hence, the other question, how are the revenues used? In 2008, licences generated, I understand, $107, 975.00 and the sale of books, $899, 257.04.
Even with outsourcing of the lottery, the government should be able to retain control over business decisions. New Mexico, USA, for example, has a lottery scholarship program for students that is drawn from the lottery revenues set up to sustain a scholarship fund. The scholarship covers the cost of tuition. Yesterday, the New Mexico House approved a proposal to allow students to receive a lottery-financed scholarship if they attend a tribal college in the state. The lottery revenues in Belize, certainly, are not up to this level to sustain large scale scholarship programs, but the contribution to education can be relative to the revenues generated.
Many business initiatives come to our shore without our having clearly defined strategic plans on how they can benefit our people: both young and old. It is time that we begin to project how these initiatives can benefit the country and, hence, citizens. When we try to write in the conditions after the fact, it is often difficult, but not impossible, because the law of the land is ordained by man. Legislation can be amended through lobbying of our legislators whose responsibility is to serve the best interests of a country’s people.
Therefore, while we may not think of lottery sales beyond the call of the winning numbers, and the rush of winning, perhaps we need to regard revenues earned as a way of enabling the education of our people. Let’s not leave that to Chance!