ABSTRACT
Some people believe that, through some mysterious relationship or affinity with numbers, they can give fortune a nudge in their favour: they see some numbers as friendly and others as hostile, and claim to be able to manipulate the lottery or games of roulette in their favour by always putting their stake on the friendly ones. But the true ideological justification was different: for although a lottery industry would bring in considerable revenue for the state, it would also provide extra revenue for some individuals, independently of what the state provided; and this was unacceptable. Communist countries had no lottery until the slow disintegration of communism was well under way, and the ostensible ideological justification for its absence was similar: people should earn better lives through their own efforts rather than trust to blind fate to help them.
