Lottery payouts way too small

THE EDITOR, Sir: APART FROM some commercial banks, Supreme Ventures Limited (SVL) must be the most rapacious entity operating in Jamaica. I will use just one of their games, Lotto, to illustrate my point.

A few years ago, especially when the Lotto jackpot climbed to a considerable amount, whether the jackpot was won on a particular draw or not, the prize for ‘catching’ five numbers, plus the bonus ball, could be in the range of between $400,000 and $600 000 – maybe more.

Apparently, the company seemed to arbitrarily change the rules to the extent that these days, regardless of the size of the ‘pot’, you hardly see a prize for five plus bonus ball higher than $200,000. This is absolutely unconscionable and unacceptable!

Just look at the lotto administrations in the United States. Players have won as much as US$1 million without winning the jackpot.

The case for catching five numbers is equally as glaring. Several years ago, I won $35,000 for getting five numbers – and I was not the only winner at that level. Today, if you get $10,000 for the same result, you are lucky indeed. And by the way, the prize for getting five numbers in last Saturday night’s draw was $2,626. And before Supreme Ventures tells us that there were all of 38 winners at that level, the cold reality is that the payout adds up to less than $100,000. Shame!

Matching four numbers tells a similar story. A few years ago, you could collect between $350 and $500. In the draw on Saturday night, with the jackpot being above $120 million, your match four ticket won you the princely sum of $169. STEPHEN HARRISON stepharrison28@gmail.com St Mary

I’m wary of Jamaicans who are defending further intervention by the US in Syria based on what they describe as “a need for humanitarian response”. Since when do we view missile strikes as “humanitarian”? Will Jamaicans ever regain their ability to call a spade a spade when it comes to the US?

Many media outlets are calling Trump’s bombing of Syria an escalation, but this is nothing new. The US is a killing machine all over the world, and there has always been bipartisan support of their international massacres.

A few peacemakers and lawyers have been arguing that Trump’s actions are unconstitutional. Perhaps they are, but he is commander-in-chief. Literally, every US president I have been old enough to see has militarily intervened in a country without the approval of Congress. The last time the US went to war with Congress’s approval was in 1942, and we all remember the atrocities that have happened since in the name of making a profit.

There will also be talk at the UN about Trump breaking international law and killing civilians, but the United States has set a bad precedent of flouting international law, and the current president has already made his position on not caring about the UN very clear.

Jamaicans, me a beg you, do, stop pick up fi di US. If we all take a few steps back, we’ll realise that the US and Russia both have monetary interests in Syria and have turned a civil war into a proxy war. This has nothing to do with a humanitarian response.

The US has no moral authority to intervene anywhere on the grounds of humanitarian concerns. JHERANE PATMORE jheranep@gmail.com