20 Jan 2023. Chase Money Reports. Report No. 13.

Blest is the jackpot,
Bilked are the poor.
Blind of the real count,
Bled as they pour.

The jackpot rises,
Hope shoots up higher.
Bettors queue longer,
Frenzy’s all over.

‘Win, win, win’ summons the ad,
‘Come to catch the jackpot.’
Lotto makes the rich get richer,
But makes the poor get poorer.

The IRS taxes only the rich,
The lottery taxes even the poor.
The rich hate paying to the IRS,
The poor love paying to the lottery.

Playing the lotto
Mixes dream and hope
With desperation
To brighten one’s gloom.

It’s the poor’s last ditch
To make a living.
It’s no small ray of hope
Among the hopeless.

But to play just one bet
Is not much to pitch out, they say;
Yet to join the fray is fun;
But to join not, win nothing for sure.

But playing it nonstop
Is an illness that bilks.
Lose cash, lose food, lose house,
Lose family, and even lose life.

To win is nigh impossible,
One chance in 300 million.
Bet a little, or bet sum more,
You likely lose all just the same.

The concession to lose
Drives betting to just a dollar;
The compulsion to win
Drives addiction to bet much more.

Bet little, but pray much
“If God wills…” you beg Him,
“A million is all I need;
The rest is all for give.”

If God listens, you win,
‘Bless the LORD,’ you’d say.
If God doesn’t, you lose,
‘Good-bye, LORD,’ you’d sigh.

But God rebukes,
“I do not fix games.
I bribe not one soul
To believe in me.

“If the others find out
I let a beggar win,
Every faithful will bug,
‘A win I need that too.’

“If losing makes sulkers leave Me,
And winning makes one believe Me
Hell wins 300 million losers,
And Heaven gains one or two winners.”

Even if nigh improbable,
To win is still possible.
So it may come that
One hits the jackpot.

But after all the cheering,
And all the merry making,
Up pops the worst of woes–
Big winners do lose big.

Cash awash draws a swarm:
Beggars, buggers, and brokers.
Cash keeper locks self from:
Probers, robbers and grabbers.

Cash stashed drives out:
Sleep, health and peace.
Cash that much feeds greed
That greases one’s grave.

Cash too much mops up all cash:
Binge buying, nonstop doling,
Reckless banking, careless dealing,
And the draining endless gambling. VSS