Opinion : Should Wycombe take a gamble on a town lottery?
When it comes to moving forward one could say that Wycombe is always a step, or two, behind the pace.
However other town, such as Aylesbury, seem to be going about things differently, and some may say better, than Wycombe.
You can therefore imagine how intrigued I was to read the article that appeared in the news section of this site yesterday entitled ‘Aylesbury Vale District Council takes first steps to launch online community lottery‘.
By Jove! It’s a bold step for a District Council to launch its own lottery to raise money indeed if the plans come to fruition Aylesbury will be only the second Council to be operating such a scheme in the UK.
Well, maybe it’s time that Wycombe had its own lottery too?
It would surely be popular after all just look at all the betting shops there are in Wycombe town centre. Not only does Wycombe have the betting shops but we have the gamblers too after all if gambling was not popular there would not be so many betting shops in the first place.
Why stop at a lottery? Perhaps Wycombe could be the first town to have a municipal bookmakers where we could place bets on things such as which shop is going to close down next or when will all the units in the new shopping complex will finally be open?
Maybe Wycombe could go the whole hog and the magnificent Old Library building in Queen Victoria Road could be fitted out with roulette wheels and poker tables to turn it into a municipal casino?
On a serious note, surely the introduction of a town lottery is a step too far and just another way of encouraging gambling which will lead to poverty and misery for those who are daft enough to part with their money in such a way?
As far as I’m concerned yours humble servant would never buy a lottery ticket if I knew the proceeds could be going to the powers that be or even substituting schemes that should be paid for by the Council Tax.
Good causes should be funded by donations and grants and not by betting indeed gambling is just another temptation put in our way by Lucifer to weed out those who can resist from those who succumb.
The question is will Wycombe follow Aylesbury and start a lottery after all can Wycombe afford to be left out?
What do you think?
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