The National Lottery has been around for so long that it barely seems strange any more. But perhaps it should.
We have normalised a system that sells extraordinarily unlikely dreams of sudden wealth, often most powerfully to people who have least financial room for them — and then gives the whole thing a respectable gloss by funding good causes.
I’ve written a little more about why that bothers me on my gemlog:
gemini://kunulo.smol.pub/2026-09-22-lottery