Dream a little dream with me!

I confess! When the New York State Lottery gets to 60 million dollars I will buy tickets. When the Mega-Millions Lottery gets to 200 million, I will buy tickets. Being a stolid, solid gambler I try to put myself in a good position to overcome the house edge; yes, even on lottery tickets there are better and worse times to make bets.

So the lottery amounts above make the game a good bet since they are greater than the odds of hitting them. The New York State Lottery is about 35 million to one and the Mega-Millions Lottery is about 135 million to one.

So why even bother spending money on the lotteries as I do on those rare times they hit the necessary levels? Isn't it just a waste to play such mega-long-shot bets, even if the expectation overall is positive at least until that other person or people hit it. I don't kid myself into thinking I will be that person. I have never been that person, even on little lotteries I buy for charity.

On those times I play the lottery I play it in order to dream monstrously large dreams. There aren't any people I know who don't want to have more money than they do now. Certainly a nice 60 to 200 million dollar win would put me in a category of wealth I can only dream about. So dream I do. I picture how I would spend the money; who I would help; what luxuries I would buy.

Here are some examples: I'd want a nice big ranch house on at least 125 acres; I'd want an outdoor and indoor Olympic-sized swimming pool. I'd make sure my sons never had to worry about money ever again. I'd give a sizeable chunk to certain charities for illnesses that have affected my family members -- Alzheimer's, ulcerative colitis, strokes and heart disease. There's a local nursing home run by The Little Sisters of the Poor that I would donate enough in order to keep it going. These wonderful nuns' vocation is to take care of the indigent poor.

Dreaming like this is fun, at least occasionally. It's childish, certainly, since the chances of winning are almost nil. But a little dreaming can't hurt.

And so it goes with those giant progressive machines you find in almost every casino in the country. Despite gambling writers such as me telling people these are very bad bets (and they are), players like to play these machines, because these are the dream machines. Walk around the casinos on a busy weekend night and most of the mega-dream-machines are being played by dreamy-eyed players.

You don't have to be a mind reader to know what these players are thinking and feeling. Depending on the size of the jackpot, these dreams go something like this:

• I'm going to tell my boss where to put it!
• I can get a new luxury car.
• I can get a Rolls!
• I can send my grandchildren to college.
• I can go away to the weight reduction clinic.
• I'm going to tour Europe.
• I'm going to tour the world.
• I'm going to dump that lummox of a husband.
• My dear wife -- there's the door.
• I will move to California.
• I will move away from California.
• I'll get a condo in Manhattan way up high so I can watch that skyline.
• I'm going to gamble more and be treated like a king or queen by the casinos.
• I need a maid and a cook now.
• Top-shelf booze for me from now on.
• I like yachts.
• I can't wait to see my picture in Strictly Slots holding that humongous check!

Yes, there are many more dreams out there in casino land and roiling around in the heads of slot players. That may be one of the reasons the slot machines are ubiquitous.

Certainly it's hard to dream so big in a table game. After all, if you are a $10 blackjack player, the chances of hitting a big enough winning night to buy a yacht could be lower than my chances of winning one of the above lotteries.

So feel free to dream those little dreams with me.

This article is provided by the Frank Scoblete Network. Melissa A. Kaplan is the network's managing editor. If you would like to use this article on your website, please contact Casino City Press, the exclusive web syndication outlet for the Frank Scoblete Network. To contact Frank, please e-mail him at fscobe@optonline.net.