It is reported on the papers the super long queue for Toto and 4D in Yishun Blk 102 with a picture. I decided to go for breakfast there to see for myself. Hup Lee has very good fried beehoon and chicken and is just directly opposite. I was there about 10 am. And no kidding the queue was long and stayed long the whole time I was having my breakfast. No wonder it is a lucky store. With the volume of business, the wealth is going to Singapore Pool and the 7-eleven. Lottery is a numbers game. The more purchases, the higher the chance. I also believe the God of Fortune must be smiling at the store.
Living in Canada, the Toto there is called 649 i.e. 6 numbers out of 49. There many outlets there as well but I do not see the queue like in Singapore. It is like this is a Chinese trait. As MM Lee Kuan Yew said in an interview why he strongly objected to Casinos when he was the Prime Minister - Chinese are congenital gamblers. Given a chance to gamble, they will gamble their lives away.
Chinese are obsessed with wealth. Our greetings are "Good Luck", "Prosperity", "Great Wealth", etc. In Canada, the discussions are on what you do doing the weekend, sports and other leisure activities.
Chinese also have a saying, "Coming into this world empty handed, Taking nothing when you leave". Yet when we are in this world we seek wealth and material comfort.
It is easy to be philosophical about money. Unfortunately, to live in this world we need money. Maybe we are obsessed with money in Singapore because our social safety net is not as good as in Canada. In Canada, if you are jobless, there is UI(Unemployment Insurance), if you are sick, healthcare is free, if you are retired, you get a pension. In Singapore, you have to be a destitute and have no relatives before you can get some help from our government.
You know something... it is vastly better to be wealthy than to be poor.
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