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Jackie: For this week's podcastsinenglish.com we're talking about the lottery and the reason for that is, Richard's got some good news.
Richard: [laughs] Yes, my mum has just won the EuroMillions lottery.
Jackie: But Richard, she didn't win a million euros, did she?
Richard: Not quite. She won a fiver, she won five pounds.
Jackie: But Richard, the ticket probably cost her two pounds.
Richard: [laughs] Yes. So er... not a fantastic win, I must admit.
Jackie: But she's like many, many people in the UK, isn't she Richard? So many people love playing the lottery. In fact there are two lotteries, aren't there? There's the British, the National Lottery...
Richard: And the EuroMillions um... started in 2004 and it's run in a number... eleven different countries in Europe but I believe a lot of the recent big winners have all been British.
Jackie: Yeah, I know amazingly and the biggest win ever: 161 million pounds, would you believe, um... was won by a Scottish couple in July 2011, but only a few months after that another English couple won 101 million pounds.
Richard: So a lot of money.
Jackie: Well, also even... even at the beginning of 2012, two couples have won er... the... the EuroMillions, winning 41 million pounds and another English couple 45 million pounds just the other day.
Richard: So a few lucky people are winning a lot of money. But there's a bit of controversy about where that money comes from.
Jackie: Yes. The problem is that, in the UK, the average household spends 140 pounds a year on the lottery. That doesn't sound a lot does it, Richard?
Richard: It's not a lot for the high income earners but a lot of low income earners spend the same amount and it's a large proportion of their income. It's up to them of course but a lot of the controversy is that 28% of the money collected in the UK goes to good causes which sounds like a good thing. However, a lot of those good causes are supporting the rich people rather than the poor people.
Jackie: Yes. There was a big... big hoo-ha about the amount of money spent on the... the Royal Opera House which only rich people go to.
Richard: Exactly
Jackie: So, Richard, it's a voluntary thing, why do people do it? Especially now, why are so many people buying tickets now when we are in a very difficult economic situation?
Richard: Well, a lot of people, a lot of poor people especially, think that the only way they can get out of the economic hole that they are in is by winning the lottery.
Jackie: Even though it is really, really difficult to win?
Richard: Well, people put their hope in it.
Jackie: And I suppose, Richard, all the publicity in the newspapers of people winning all this money encourages more people to buy more tickets. But I think if I won the lottery I... I wouldn't necessarily want that to be publicised in all the newspapers.
Richard: Yes, that's interesting. You get a lot of support from the lottery people but they give you advice on whether to go public or not and they actually say it's better to go public.
Jackie: Yes, because you will always get hundreds and hundreds of begging letters, people asking for money, but at the end of the day the newspapers always find out who wins, and publicise it.
Richard: Exactly. So just get the publicity over at the beginning and then hopefully the... the fame will drop off and you can then just enjoy your money.
Jackie: Mmm. So Richard, has your mum decided what she's going to spend her winnings on?
Richard: [laughs] Yes, unfortunately I think she's just gone and bought a few more tickets.
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