The man who won all lottery draws(A.Zaak) It was late afternoon of Wednesday, 26 October, when Sami noticed two lottery ads for that night among the junk emails. The ads promoted buying ticket sets priced at $24 and above, but he found that it was possible to pick one or two tickets from each group that cost only $2 and the other was $5.
The quote, "to win it, be in it," flashed in his brain. Sami was tempted
and signed up for the lottery webpage. He picked up two tickets.
A question was next to the figures table, "Add to the Cart?"
The add-to-cart icon is a feature of e-commerce stores that allows customers to purchase multiple items without completing the payment until the end. It is a website facility that records things a customer selects and adds them up.
After all, a shopping cart on an online retailer's site is a piece of software that facilitates the purchase of a product, just like a shopping trolley in the real world.
Anyway, when he ticked the "Add", there was another question", "Continue shopping?"
Without planning, he clicked it to find ads for dozen other games; Tattslotto, Powerball, Super jackpot, Lucky mega jackpot, Set for life, and even Charity lottery like Mater prize, Deaf lottery, etc.
The business model of lottery companies is promoting multiple ticket buying. They would have to promote and sell more and more tickets saying multiple lottery tickets increase the odds and are also the best ways to boost chances of winning.
People are under this false notion that purchasing two lottery tickets doubles their chance of winning even though each lottery ticket has the same odds of winning. No matter how many you buy, each has an independent probability. However, when you purchase several tickets, your chances of having a winning combination may grow, but linearly. The increase is not tall enough to affect your bet.
It also means that regularly buying lottery tickets, whether every day or every week, does not improve your odds of winning.
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Sami was happy that the single ticket with two to four lines was cheap versus the multiple-line access, so he picked his preferred six numbers in a "line".
Depending on the game, a line contains five to eight digits, ranging from 1 to 45 or 50.
He repeated the selection from other games, adding each cost to the cart. They ranged between $2 to $5 or $6.
When he left for a few minutes and returned to the computer to resume shopping, much to his dismay, the cart was empty."
He had to restart.
Then there was a question icon of "Check out?" showing the total cost of the tickets he picked. He ticked it for the sum of $45.
The site asked for his info, including his bank card details and preferred payment method.
After a short while of confusion from buying many tickets, not sure where is what, he was relieved to see a series of emails detailing every ticket purchase.
As well, on the web pages of these games, he read the followings:
"What happens if I win?
You'll receive an email after each draw to let you know your ticket results and if you've won a prize.
If you're a winner, your funds will be added to your lotteries account shortly after the draw...
Unless you've won a big prize, in which case you'll receive a phone call to confirm the good news!".
He slept the night without thinking or dreaming about his first lottery experience.
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The following day, he received two emails and phone calls confirming his win in the first two draws.
Sami couldn't believe it and checked the numbers repeatedly. He realized the win when he checked his bank account, showing the large sum of two separate payments.
He spent the rest of the day thinking about what to do with the fortune.
Things got peculiar the following day. He received a new electronic message and a phone call informing him of winning a different lottery prize.
His bank account confirmed the third payment. It was real but still weird.
He tried to think harder about what to do with his new wealth but couldn't, as if his brain was not processing the uploaded question.
Sami's fourth win was like a line led into a deep or seemingly bottomless abyss, not anything like the ticket line.
He didn't know why the "Being and Nothingness "book by Jean-Paul Sartre" came to his mind.
In the book, Sartre developed existentialism, dealing with topics such as consciousness, perception, social philosophy, self-deception, the existence of "nothingness", psychoanalysis, and the question of free will. As it appeared, Sami stepped into the field of self-deception on his way to psychoanalysis with his free will.
The fifth and sixth consecutive lottery wins were like reverse Cardioversions, the medical procedure that uses sharp, low-energy shocks to restore a regular heart rhythm. He developed Atrial Fibrillation instead.
His ordeal ended when he won the last lottery ticket he purchased that day. It shook his brain as if he had received an Electroconvulsive dose. It was like an electric current through the brain, which affected its activity.
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Following his brain shock wave, Sami immediately remembered reading an ad calling to invest in a mental hospital. He found the ad, followed the details, and eventually bought the hospital.
He decided to live among the inmates of his mental asylum while their families appreciated waiving the residing costs permanently in the hospital.
Only according to Sami, he restored his equilibrium when his new friends presented him with the opening and the closing theme music of the movie "One Flew Over Cuckoo's Nest."
Since equilibrium is a state of physical or mental balance, e.g., psychological adjustment, it seems drastic changes in Sami's thoughts, moods and behaviour have happened due to his extraordinary multiple lottery winnings. Although such changes can signify a mental illness, they can be sudden (or come on gradually over a long time). In his case, too much positive emotion made him inflexible in the face of new challenges.
Psychologists think excessive happiness sometimes wipes out its benefits for us and may lead to psychological harm.
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The closing theme song of the movie "One Flew Over Cuckoo's Nest." is somehow a referral to a lone spirit floating around, then escaping a building and flying away into the distance.
Sami wasn't in a lonesome state, surrounded by his friends, but all good things must come to an end.
The inmates wanted him out for different reasons; soundness wasn't among them, but they needed him to fight against the insanity of life's asylum and the so-called norms.
His inmate friends in the hospital finally persuaded him with a song they found, and here is the song below, which is called "Say Hello to the Tram":: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOVm0ZdC_bY
-The end-

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