Health: Lottery `leads to compulsive fear'

Playing the National Lottery becomes a fearful compulsion for people who use the same numbers every week, according to researchers.

People keep playing through fear that their numbers will come up when they have missed a go or changed their numbers, Pam Briggs and Sandra Wolfson, from the University of Northumbria, found in their recent study of lottery players. The psychologists state that "anticipatory regret" - imagining the potentially negative consequences of changing behaviour - provides more motivation than excitement at the prospect of a potential win in buying lottery tickets. Even for those who buy a ticket, pessimism is rife. The study found that many dream of winning in the future, but few think a win is likely in the foreseeable future.