A Four Wheeled Lottery

Most people play the lottery hoping to strike it big; in Beijing people play to get behind the wheel.

Right now the only way to get a registration is through the lottery; and without one Beijing residents cannot buy a new car. The restriction started in January as part of an effort to control air pollution and traffic congestions. And people are flocking to the lottery with the hopes of getting back on the road.

Earlier this week only 17,000 of the 614,000 applicants won the right to register. Officials say the odds of winning are 35:1; the same odds you would face at a roulette table. And although they scored the big prize a lot of winners aren’t cashing in.

An official with the transportation commission says so far 30,000 lottery winners have yet to buy a new car. Now the commission is threatening to release the names of the people who are wasting their winnings. They are also considering adding those extra un-used registrations to the next lottery pool. I wonder what would happen if Los Angeles started a lottery just to drive on the 405.