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Dhaka Day by Day

Trying Luck the Lottery Way

by Lamis Hossain
"Win Tk 30 lakhs! For ten taka only you can get 3.000.000 Taka" a loudspeaker blares an offer you cannot refuse. Think of what you could dp- with the money. It could buy you a posh new apartment in the*city or a couple of sleek cars. You could even set up a business and still have enough money left over to Jet set around the world.
Dreams flood in as soon as you finger the multi-coloured National Sports Council lottery ticket.’Even if you don’t get the first prize, you reason, there’s always the second or the third. And what the heck, you really wouldn't be that disappointed to get the tenth prize — a return of Tk 1.500.onaTk 10 investment.
Unfortunately, you won't be the only Dhakaite lost in reverie. ”1 sell around-a hundred 'tickets a day." Mohammed Momim Hossain claims. "In fact, around this1 time before the draw, the sales increase to around 250 tickets a day."
Momim manages two lottery stalls in the New Market area, as weir as a few other shops. Despite the fact that he remains cooped up in a little tin ghar all day. the dream merchant looks exceptionally well-groomed In his squeaky clean white kurta. "I don't make much profit with this stall though." he reveals. "Even if I make Tk 1.000. a lot of it will go on renting equipment. The mike is Tk 10'0 a day. I sometimes keep a boy to mind the stall for Tk 100 more. 1 normally end up with a profit of Tk 200 a day. My other shops make more money. This is Just away to spend time."
Sensing perhaps thaj he looks slightly ridiculous speaking from a poster plastered hen house. Momim gets out to continue the conversation. "I don't think that there is one good luck number when it comes to buying tickets.” he says. "But some people do come and ask for a specific number. Sometimes they let you choose it. or they bring along their -children and ask them to take their pick."
Momim doesn't get many bulk buyers. "People usually Just take two to four tickets, although I have had some people buy ten." Some Dhakaites religiously buy tickets every month ‘until the draw. It is also open to debate
whether it is wiser, to choose consecutive numbers or pick from different packs.
Luck, however, does not point in the Dhakaite's favour. "I don't believe in these things." one man complains. "No .one from Dhaka ever seems to win. It's always someone from some .unknown little village.". Momim agrees. "If someone from the capital won then my ticket sales would increase. Even if you don't know them, you might be encouraged'to try again."
Kalam. a driver, comments. 'The real winner is the National Sports Council. They give you Tk 30 lakhs and they probably make more than one crore." The Council's profit making, thanks to national gambling, would at least be forgivable if Bangladeshi sports teams ever achieved anything to show for it. After all. the lottery is just another tax on the poor — albeit a voluntary one.
, It would also be fairer if the amount for the first prize was decreased and the second and third prizes, made more attractive. Surely the winner wouldn't be Ungrateful if h^ got Tk 20 lakhs instead of 30 lakhs.
If the odds are so heavily stacked against winning, why do people buy lottery tickets? 1 buy it for wishful thinking," explains a housewife, "It lets you hope that you. might get your future ambitions fulfilled." Monir, a 12-year-old loitering about, says he would use the prize money to set up a stall. An older man sneers. "A stall, heh? How much money do you think that will take — how would you spend the rest?”
Momim too has elaborate plans in case, he receives the bounty. "First of all. I would donate I lakh taka to the poor. Then I would spend about Tk 4-5 lakhs on distributing food. The rest I would invest in a business in Dhaka. I won't go abroad." he Informs.
Ironically, the dream merchant himself hasn't been very successful so far. "I kept 48 tickets for myself before the first lottery, but none of them matched up. Buying lottery tickets is a loss." he admits ruefully.
Momim will nevertheless persevere in his efforts to sell more tickets before the November 6th draw. He knows that despite the objective odds against winning, the Dhakaites, will fervently cling onto one hope. Jodi latga Jai (if it strikes the number)".