they win what you paid (and a small fee of course).-- po, Oct 08 2011 haw [+]-- FlyingToaster, Oct 08 2011 hee [+]-- swimswim, Oct 08 2011 If I get this right, you're proposing some method of identifying break-even winners for the purposes of giving gifts that won't disappoint? Noble, but completely illegal. Just give your mom a crisp new $1 bill for her birthday instead.-- Alterother, Oct 08 2011 I didn't get it, I swear.-- 4whom, Oct 08 2011 Huh? They would not need to be cherry-picked break-even tickets from a real game, just gift cards that look like scratch-off game tickets.-- swimswim, Oct 08 2011 How, then, are they redeemable for the prize?-- Alterother, Oct 08 2011 They aren't. They get what you paid, minus a small fee, of course.
The problem is this. What kind of miserly, thoughtless, gobshite c*nt hands out these equally purile gifts. The kind (my paternal family excluded for reasons I don't/won't go into) that doesn't want you to win.
With this in mind the above idea is offered as a solution.-- 4whom, Oct 08 2011 I get it now. I actually think I've seen this somewhere, but I'm not sure. Where I live, scratch tickets are common stocking-stuffers, so this might be a big hit. [+]-- Alterother, Oct 08 2011 Clever! [+] But they would have to be indistinguishable from standard scratch cards, while the vendors would have to be able to distinguish them (they'd come in differently-labeled boxes, say). So, the vendors would substitute standard cards for winning cards, then sell the winning cards to a confederate, or themselves, at the price of standard ones.
It seems a difficult scam to prevent: Since the recipient of the gift believes it to be a standard card, he/she notices nothing unusual, and the gift giver might never learn that the card didn't pay off.-- mouseposture, Oct 08 2011 <obligatory Charlie Sheen reference> Winning, Duhhh!</ocsr>-- 4whom, Oct 08 2011 // But you could always drop the winnings by 20% so they would get 80% Gift Value guaranteed plus increased odds for a crack at a million. //
Now you're starting to think like a State Gaming Commission. Congratulations, you're a robot.-- Alterother, Oct 08 2011 I'll be waiting for mine +-- blissmiss, Oct 08 2011 // Just give your mum a crisp one dollar bill//
Seems a bit extravagant.-- Ah Supp, Oct 09 2011 oh come on, she deserves it.-- po, Oct 15 2011 I like it, but for younger viewers isn't this luddite bitcoin?
Would be good if there was some sort of artisan exchange element. Like if you were offering, I dunno, a ukelele composition, you'd get a slightly crappier one back.-- notripe, May 10 2019 I was going to post this but see it's already been suggested.
It's a great idea because it would be a lot more exciting to get a lottery ticket that you found was worth $100 than getting $100 I'd think.
One the recipient saw the look on the giver's face and said "Heyyy, did you just pre-pay this?" the excitement will have already been enjoyed.-- doctorremulac3, Jan 31 2022 I wish giftticket.com would offer anonymous gifts as an option. I would want the recipient to truly believe that they just got lucky.-- jutta, Feb 03 2022 If the lottery companies were smart they'd offer these in an envelope that clearly states is a guaranteed winner, but when you remove that envelope it looks like any other lottery ticket. Then you buy a few more, put this one in, there you go. The person gets all the excitement and never knows.-- doctorremulac3, Feb 03 2022 This wouldn't be a bad way of laundering money. You could spend your $100 dirty money on winning scratch cards, redeem the $100 and claim you won the $100 from a regular $1 scratch card.-- bs0u0155, Feb 04 2022 I think the feds would probably catch onto that pretty fast. Best money laundering plan I've ever seen is the one that explains modern art. Not good stuff like Dali or Escher, garbage like Jackson Pollock or Andy Warhol.
1- Buy a bunch of splatters on canvas for a million dollars.
2- Sell it to an undisclosed buyer for 10 million, because... art.
3- Repeat.
You can also do fun stuff like buy a bunch of skid marks on canvas for a million bucks, pay an "appraiser" who tells you it's now worth ten million, donate it to a museum for the tax write- off.
So next time you look at a piece of garbage that you're told you "just don't understand" now you know the truth behind it.
Fun part is, they depend on the "Emperor's new clothes" effect to have people not call this out. "Oh yea, I can see the hidden beauty of a bunch of splatters on canvas, can't you prole?" It's actually pretty brilliant.
And yes, there's some of the bitcoin factor in worth being assigned to worthless stuff just on the hope that there's a greater idiot down the road that will pay more, but the money laundering ability of these things gives this stuff actual utility that translates into market value, something that crypto currency doesn't have.-- doctorremulac3, Feb 04 2022 random, halfbakery