Letter: Long odds for lottery gamblers

Sir: I never cease to be amazed at how ignorant the general public seem to be on the risks involved in gambling. David Spanier, in his Gambling column (7 August), refers to a leaflet now available in casinos entitled "The Risks of the Game", gaming's equivalent of a (financial) health warning.

I suggest that providing information and education about gambling should go further. It should be taught in schools as part of the maths curriculum. Gambling is, after all, entwined with probability theory. Schools offer education on sex and drugs, so educating pupils about gambling would be a useful addition to their preparation for life.

After all, the whole country is starting to resemble a vast casino, with the general population bombarded from all directions with opportunities to gamble at horrifically unrealistic odds. How many of your lottery-ticket- buying readers appreciate, for example, that if they bought pounds 100 worth of tickets a week, they could expect to pick up a jackpot once every 2,700 years?

NIC SZEREMETA

General Secretary

European Poker Players' Association

Torquay, Devon