Of all the gambling formats available, the type that is the most accessible and has low probability of winning are lotteries, which in countries it is most played at was called togel Hong Kong. This city has recently shown to have a large lottery-playing population.

With those figures, the question arises on why—despite the low chance of winning—was lotto gambling still religiously played even in the low-income parts of the city. There are a lot of reasons for that, but the simplest ones are as follows:

The Pull of Almost Winning

One of the strange but inescapable part of human nature is the attraction to endeavors that result in “almost winning.” There is a very special kind of failure in reaching a goal that causes the near-miss effect. It is when the “player” has come close to,but ultimately fall short of, hitting the goal they were aiming for.

In skill-based games, this would provide feedback on how to get better and thus become encouragement to try again. This almost winning gives hope to the individual(s) in their future attempts.

Lotto players who comes close, say like getting half the winning numbers, take this as a sign to keep trying. Research in this area in 2009 reveal that near misses activate the same portion of the brain that rewards the individual when experiencing success.

Bias Because of the Flaunted Examples

There is something called the availability bias, where the people’s judgement of how likely something is to happen will be affected on how easily examples come to mind. For example, despite the general safety of one’s neighborhood, a person may still think that robberies are more common than they actually are by how often they come across such news in the headlines.

This means that since there are quite a bit of people that are reported to soar into success and a good life from their lottery winnings, then surely that means winning the lottery is more common than what the big numbers suggest.

The Gambler’s Logic

There is a fallacy that applies to a gambler’s mind that shows up no matter which format it is that one plays. It is one where the player has a belief that a result that haven’t shown up in a bit would surely be the most likely one to come up soon.

People usually choose their numbers for lotto based on how often have they shown up in the recent past—or rather, how long was it since they’ve come up. This logic gives the people a sense of control over an entirely random game. Then there’s the sunken-cost fallacy where all the effort you’ve expended in the past become an investment you cannot let go of.

Before you feel down and all…

There is ultimately one true reason why lottery continues to become a traditional game played by the people. Despite the long odds against winning, it is a way out of a tight situation, a one chance for one’s situation to turn around in one fell swoop. And, beyond all that, it is a form of entertainment that continues to serve its purpose in society and the economy.