Aardvark Daily

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Please, stop fixing stuff!!

We live in an age when everything we own or use must apparently be updated with monotonous regularity.

It doesn't matter whether it's your car, your phone, your TV set, your computer or the software you run -- updating is a fact of life and is often imposed on us by manufacturers, fashion or just the evolution of technology.

Don't believe me?

Just try using your old analog mobile phone -- and in the not too distance future, those 2G digital phones will also be switched off.

Of course updating and upgrading should be a painless and simple operation -- if it's done properly. Unfortunately, it's often completely botched, especially when the upgrade is one that's driven by the marketing department.

Take the new online Lotto app and website for example.

It seems that Lotto has forced an upgrade on people and, in the process, broken a whole lot of functionality.

Did the old Lotto and website have some fundamental flaws or problems that needed to be fixed?

Apparently not. This was a move which was clearly driven by the marketing department and rushed to coincide with a price increase and change to the payout structure.

Sigh!

It would appear that the result is a fiasco in which some Lotto players are threatening a boycott. Just read the comments on that story to get a feel for the level of outrage associated with this fiasco.

Perhaps the one good thing about this is that it might wake up some people as to the futility of wasting their money on Lotto. I noticed one honest comment stated:

"I have bought a $20+ lotto ticket every week since 1993 and have won $765 up until yesterday!"

Yep, that sounds like a great investment to me!

Another savvy comment states:

"I 'win' $10 - $20 a week guaranteed 100%!! How do I do it???.... ... ... I don't waste my money on buying a ticket :D"

Let's hope the feeble-minded are listening.

Of course I have to admit to buying a ticket occasionally -- sometimes it's worth it just for the fact that I can daydream about what I'd do if I won a large jackpot. However, given the price increases and the reduced payouts per division, I won't be bothering even with the occasional indulgence now. The price hike and update fiasco has been enough to return me to my senses.

So how many Aardvark readers indulge in Lotto?

Do you slavishly buy two tickets a week regardless of the prize pool?

Or do you have the occasional dabble, but only when the jackpot is into double digits so that your spend to payout ration is more favourable?

Nah... spend the money on something decent and really be a winner!

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