What we believe in is luck. Luck has become our way of explaining ourselves and what comes our way. When bad happens, it is the result of lousy luck. The world is a great spinning roulette wheel. When your number is up, it is up, for good or ill.
Nothing is meant by either one.
It is mostly a matter of chance. No doubt that accounts for the phenomenal upsurge of the gambling industry around the world. And the lotteries continue to grow. Teachers support lotteries as a way to finance schools, though only a tiny portion of the money goes for any good. Politicians support lotteries as a way to raise needed funds, though most of the funds do not meet those needs.