Like a conventional lottery with one big winner, this lottery would also have a big loser. Its excitement and fearful expectation would not only come from the small chance of great reward but also a small chance of losing it all. One of the lottery participants would be singled out for poverty, homelessness, unemployment and public humiliation.
Like the trials of Job, the losing lot would mean a media-shown confiscation of all possessions and savings and leaving one’s employment. The price of each lot would have to be at a level to preclude the participation of the already destitute, and this revenue in addition to the newly insolvent’s funds and TV proceeds would make the winnings all the higher. Viewers could follow as losers try to rebuild their lives with the possible help of family members, loyal friends and charitable contributors.-- FarmerJohn, Jul 24 2002 worst...lottery...ever... http://endeavor.med...ackson315-des-.htmlThe movie was better [Mr Burns, Jul 24 2002] Borges: La lotería en Babilonia http://en.wikipedia..._Lottery_in_BabylonA short story with a very similar theme [Toto Anders, Dec 06 2014] Gee, sounds an awful lot like farming or starting a business. Nobody loves you when you're down and out.-- entremanure, Jul 24 2002 In high school, our class watched a short film called "The Lottery" or something like that...
It was a small town, and they held a lottery for the husbands, and the winner (well.. loser) got stoned to death by the rest of the town.
Details are sketchy.. that was some time ago...-- Mr Burns, Jul 24 2002 Of course there are many small losers in every lottery. Someone said that a lottery is a tax on those who are bad at math.-- FarmerJohn, Jul 24 2002 Damn.. it was the lady that got stoned. You can tell I slept a lot in school...-- Mr Burns, Jul 24 2002 Were you stoned?-- thumbwax, Jul 24 2002 An extension of this would be the "Free Redistribution Lottery". Tickets are free. When the lottery is drawn, your ticket number will match an instruction like:• Give all your possesions to the holder of ticket number XXXXX• Receive all the possesions from the holder of ticket number XXXXX• Give £10000/£1000/£500 to the holder of ticket number XXXXX• Receive £10000/£1000/£500 from the holder of ticket number XXXXX• Do nothing-- hippo, Jul 24 2002 {somber} Gambling addiction frequently results in exactly this scenario.-- waugsqueke, Jul 24 2002 Yeah, that's the story to which thcgenius was referring. Though apparently his school has given up on reading and chosen to go with the film adaptation.-- bookworm, Jul 24 2002 bookworm: We read the short story and watched the film, and had to write a comparison paper between the two. The movie was better.
Thumb: nope. College was my gateway drug...-- Mr Burns, Jul 24 2002 Lottery ticket sales will approach zero.-- andrewm, Mar 06 2003 Good.-- snarfyguy, Mar 06 2003 Losers would not claim their "prize".-- yabba do yabba dabba, Mar 05 2004 Perhaps throw in a little twist, like all of the Loser's possessions go to the Winner, as well as the cash prize?
"Losers would not claim their 'prize'."
hahaha, very good point.-- Max]I[muS-X, Jul 01 2004 Baked--sort of. I think there was a "Twilight Zone" or "Sliders" episode where you could go to an ATM and either "win" and get free money, or "lose" and get your organs harvested.-- TheJeff, Jul 01 2004 THIS WEEKS JACKPOT: $45 MILLION!
THIS WEEKS LOSING JACKPOT: ___you have to eat dog poop___-- phundug, Jul 01 2004 or....
the automated ticket scanner spontaneously hurls a banana cream pie/other comical item at a losing number.-- Cuit_au_Four, Nov 08 2005 Yes! Or how about the loser gets drafted and sent to Iraq as IED fodder?-- smendler, Nov 08 2005 i like the redistribution idea..
how about:
5/6 tickets say "receive £200 from xxxx"
1/6 say "Share £1000 between the following 5 tickets, £200 to each"
therefore, *most* people would be winners. Ooooh, now there's a risk i dunno if i could resist!...-- daaisy, Nov 08 2005 random, halfbakery