The lottery propaganda continues and now they are extending the fantastic idea of definitely not throwing money away by suggesting that you should buy lotto tickets not just for yourself, but for other people so that they can also get rich without trying.
I can only guess that the news is finding out that they are having trouble getting advertisers so now, and I am sure you have seen some of them intermingled into actual news stories, the "articles" that they are writing are actually long advertisements that are made to look like news stories but are in reality attempting to mold purchasing behaviors of the idiots out there in the world that don't know any better.
There are several news sites that do this dirty tactic of disguising adverts as news stories, but one of the biggest violators is UPI, which thankfully has been shedding actual viewers just as quickly as anyone else in the news world has been.
This article was situated between the usual stories that we are all desensitized about such as political grandstanding and a story about a moose that took a nap in the middle of a suburban neighborhood in Canada. It details about how a doting wife, no doubt from a very responsible and affluent family, purchased a lottery ticket for her husband in their perfect nuclear family, and lo' and behold! It was a winner for $200,000.
These stories have become so common that I don't think they are even written by a human anymore. They begin with something very vague such as "A South Carolina woman..." then they go on to talk about her day then they will get some dumb ass, almost certainly completely made up one-line quote from her about what inspired her to play the lottery - which of course is a completely harmless form of gambling and doesn't contribute to the downfall of people's financial well-being at all.
Look, just because there are not pit bosses and Italian mobsters who will break your legs for counting cards, doesn't mean that it is any less part of an addiction that ruins families and destroys people's lives. What, honestly, is the difference other than the fact that one of them results in private income and the other one goes to the government? They are both rigged so that the house always wins, it's just that for one of them advertising of any sort is completely banned, while the other gets to do whatever they want.
These bullcrap stories always conclude with how the family is going to do something responsible with the winnings like help their kids go to college (also a racket) and increase their retirement savings. Nobody ever talks about getting drugs and hookers, which is a shame. At least if they said that I would feel as though the story was somewhat true.
I sincerely hope that you do not play that lottery because if you ever look at the odds and have just a junior-level understanding of statistics, you would see how it is such a massive waste of money. Plus, on a personal note I don't want anyone to help the government to be able to do anything really, especially when they lie to us with every breath they can muster and now have gotten to the point where they are working with the media to further keep the population as stupid and poor as possible.
In the US, even if you do win one of those prizes the daddy gubment is going to take 40% of it away from you in taxes right away anyway.