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| 6 | %% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks! |
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| 12 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/never_win_the_lottery.jpg]] |
| 13 | |
| 14 | -> ''"Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it."'' |
| 15 | -->-- '''[[Literature/BookOfProverbs Proverbs 13:11]]''', ''Literature/TheBible'' |
| 16 | |
| 17 | The RuleOfDrama ensures that nobody will get a legitimate winning lottery ticket and just cash it unless "character wins the lottery" is the core premise of the work (in which case, see RagsToRiches). Traditionally StatusQuoIsGod kicks in and ensures they either lose or [[AFoolAndHisNewMoneyAreSoonParted something comes up]] to [[YankTheDogsChain make sure they remain in their original financial state]]. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | There are a couple of stock ways to play this out. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | For example, one character is mistakenly convinced they've won the lottery and make an ass of themselves before learning it was a practical joke or that they heard the winning numbers wrong. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | Or, other characters start lavishing fake love and attention on the lotto winner hoping for a share of the prize, with the exact same humiliating outcome when the ticket turns out to be a loser, or worth far less than previously thought (sometimes because the millions or billions in the lottery's home currency [[RidiculousExchangeRates is worth nothing when converted to the local rate]], or on some cases because [[TaxmanTakesTheWinnings once all taxes have been taken off, the remaining amount of prize money is way too small]]). |
| 24 | |
| 25 | In a third and even rarer variant, the ticket will be legit but will turn out worthless because the characters will either spend so much time arguing about dividing it up that they'll fail to cash it in before the deadline, or their fighting inadvertently causes the destruction of the ticket itself. |
| 26 | |
| 27 | If against all odds the character ''does'' manage to collect the prize money, the pretty much inevitable outcome is AFoolAndHisNewMoneyAreSoonParted. |
| 28 | |
| 29 | While lotto tickets are the most common, it can also be some other big prize, like tickets to a big concert or sporting event. Especially if the characters are kids and thus ineligible to play any wagering game, even if they had a winner. |
| 30 | |
| 31 | SubTrope of GamblingRuinsLives. |
| 32 | |
| 33 | See Also: OnOneCondition. |
| 34 | ---- |
| 35 | !!Examples |
| 36 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 37 | |
| 38 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 39 | * In ''Literature/GoblinSlayer'', there are betting pools that try to predict when or how a given person will die, and those characters with a reputation for always losing when they gamble will bet against others surviving in the hope that their record of failure in guessing right will confound the cosmic dice of Fate and Chance into keeping the outcome of their outings positive. |
| 40 | * In ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'', Hayate enters the lottery, loses his grip on the ticket in the wind. Yukiji gives it back to him because it's just a ticket and he's not likely to win anyway. Later when they realize that they've won a small prize, Yukiji storms the mansion to try and get it back. While they're fighting, Nagi tosses the ticket into the fire, since it's a tiny sum for her, and they're destroying her mansion. Hayate and Yukiji stop fighting and cry over the ashes. |
| 41 | * Zig-zagged in ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable''. Josuke, Okayasu, and Shigechi manage to acquire a legitimate jackpot lottery ticket that [[GrailInTheGarbage was thrown away]]. They have to jump through a lot of hoops to get the money, though; they almost get arrested for fraud because they didn't buy the ticket. And then Shigechi gets greedy at the last seconds and tries to abscond with the money, but Josuke forces him to split it as they agreed. In the end, everyone receives their fair share... but Josuke's mother quickly impounds his share because it's too much money for him to handle and uses it for his college fund. |
| 42 | * In the last arc of ''Anime/{{Monster}}'', a couple wins and wants to cash the ticket but becomes paranoid as other happenings around town suggest something very bad is going to happen. [[spoiler:Surprisingly, the two bringing so many guns ends up helping the good guys as they never get the chance to act on their paranoia and are then just happy to be alive by the end.]] |
| 43 | * ''Manga/RockLeesSpringtimeOfYouth'': In Episode 27, Tsunade hits the jackpot in the lottery and promises to take Team Guy to a five-star sushi bar. She finds out that she actually had the wrong number when she goes to collect her winnings. To make matters worse, Lee invites Naruto, Sakura and Konohamaru to join them, making it almost impossible for her to back out. |
| 44 | * When the title character of ''Manga/SquidGirl'' discovers a lottery ticket worth 100-million-yen, first response is to rattle off a list of reasons why it's fake. Upon discovering it isn't, she still has difficulty accepting it - particularly the fact that she gave Ika that ticket. The two bicker about it so much that Chizuru burns it to settle things. [[spoiler:Or at least she pretends to.]] |
| 45 | [[/folder]] |
| 46 | |
| 47 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 48 | * More than one "The Bash Street Kids" story in ''ComicBook/TheBeano'' used this trope. Regardless of what else happened, they usually followed the same basic plot: Teacher comes into a lot of money, quits his job (usually doing something to anger the headmaster in the process), then he would end up losing all the money (usually because of the Kids, though not always) and end up having to crawl back to the Head and his old job. |
| 49 | * ''ComicBook/{{Beetlejuice}}'': In "Scuzz-O", Lydia's ticket does win the Neitherworld lottery - thanks to some B-guy cheating, of course. |
| 50 | * Averted in Wally West's early years as ''Comicbook/TheFlash''. He ''did'' win the lottery and spent the money foolishly. (e.g., the fastest man alive bought an Italian sports car.) Poor planning and an economic downturn caused him to lose the money not too much later. |
| 51 | * In the first volume of ''Comicbook/{{Lucifer}}'', a lottery winner sprays his boss with shaving foam. Little does he know that a supernatural power is granting wishes, and he has to share the cash with 800 other people. Can I have my job back, please? |
| 52 | * Bibbo Bibbowski from ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' comics actually did win the lottery. Although, in his case the ticket was one he found on the street. The ticket was lost by Jimmy Olsen, who was going through a ChewToy phase. |
| 53 | ** In a later issue, [[RealityWarper Mr Mxyzptlk]] made ''everyone'' believe they'd won the lottery. |
| 54 | [[/folder]] |
| 55 | |
| 56 | [[folder:Fan Work]] |
| 57 | * ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14162274/1/Luck-of-the-Acolytes Luck of the Acolytes]]'' has [[WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution Pyro, Remy, and Piotr]] going over some stolen lottery tickets for a chance to win big. The first ticket has matching numbers for a different lottery. The second ticket has matching numbers for same lottery but a previous week. And the final ticket ''is'' a winner... [[spoiler:but gets stuck in a sandwich that Sabertooth eats]]. |
| 58 | [[/folder]] |
| 59 | |
| 60 | [[folder:Film -- Live Action]] |
| 61 | * In ''Film/BruceAlmighty'' Bruce answers "Yes" to all the prayers in an attempt to get them to shut up and leave him alone. This includes everyone praying to win the lottery. Result? 400,000 lottery winners, each getting about $17. Oops. |
| 62 | * Creator/PrestonSturges' ''Film/{{Christmas in July}}'' involves a guy whose coworkers prank him by sending a telegram congratulating him for "winning" $25,000 in a commercial-slogan-writing contest he's entered... which fools not only him but also the owner of the coffee company sponsoring the contest, who's unaware that the judging committee is still deliberating. [[spoiler:In a twist, however, the movie ends with him winning the contest for real.]] |
| 63 | * ''Film/DumbAndDumberTo'': Harry and Lloyd win the lottery but believe otherwise because they think the winning numbers should come in the same order displayed on the ticket. |
| 64 | * ''Film/InTheHeights'': Just like in the stage version (see Theatre below), this trope is ZigZagged, but in a different way. All the characters fantasize about winning the lottery and [[spoiler: Abuela Claudia]] actually wins. Unlike in the stage version, [[spoiler: Claudia dies before Usnavi or the audience knows she has the ticket]], and Usnavi's plans to leave Washington Heights are not contingent on the winning ticket. Instead, it's [[spoiler: learning that Abuela left him the winning ticket that makes him decide to stick around and use the proceeds to improve the neighborhood.]] |
| 65 | * The movie ''Film/TheLotteryTicket'' is built on this trope. |
| 66 | * Comes up once or twice for Film/TheThreeStooges. |
| 67 | ** 'The Brideless Groom', the favourite of the public domain reprint crowd, features Shemp about to win a large inheritance if he's married. After finding a bride, the ones who rejected him turn up for a brawl. |
| 68 | ** Another featured Curly winning a drawing, and the three moving into a ritzy hotel. A GoldDigger or three try to bilk him for all he has. Then he sees the winnings. After, of course, the natural result of having the Three Stooges in a ritzy hotel room. |
| 69 | [[/folder]] |
| 70 | |
| 71 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 72 | * In the ''Literature/CalendarMysteries'' book ''January Joker'', Nate says he sent postcards to Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose saying they had won a million dollars in a contest. The three kids seek revenge by creating a ScoobyDooHoax. |
| 73 | * In the short story "Even a Loser Can Win," the narrator [[spoiler:is SecretlyWealthy]] as a result of attempting to avoid this trope. It comes back to bite him, though, as his PrettyFreeloader-turned-girlfriend [[spoiler:knew about his winnings all along and is actually a very subtle GoldDigger]]. |
| 74 | * In the backstory of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'', the Weasleys won a modest lottery. This doesn't immediately give them bad luck, but it does [[spoiler: give Sirius Black impetus to escape Azkaban and make his way to Hogwarts, as the newspaper article had a picture of the family, including their pet rat Scabbers, [[{{Animorphism}} whom Black recognized as his treacherous former friend.]]]] |
| 75 | * The premise of the book ''Literature/OneInAMillion''. The main character [[spoiler: wins the lottery, but before she gets a chance to tell her husband, he announces that he is leaving her for another woman.]] |
| 76 | * ''Literature/RequiemForADream'' uses a very dark variant. The protagonist's mother receives a prank call telling her that she's been chosen to be on a TV game show. She starts taking and becomes addicted to diet pills to get into shape, which turn out to be uppers. In combination with her isolation, she goes completely off the rails and ends up a shadow of her former self, enough to reduce her old friends to tears. |
| 77 | * One of the ''Literature/SweetValleyHigh'' books has Winston winning the lottery when he mixes up his jacket with a man he met at the convenience store. Jessica and Lila start lavishing Winston with attention. Elizabeth realizes that the jacket does not belong to Winston and convinces him to give the jacket and the ticket back to the old man. Funny how she didn't point out that Winston is 16 and is ineligible to win the lottery, much less buy a ticket. |
| 78 | * The title story of the short story collection ''[[http://books.google.com/books?id=oNJF3jMhcg8C&client=firefox-a Yuck!]]'', by Joe Schrantz, features a woman swallowing a multi-million-dollar winning lottery ticket after a fight with her husband over what to do with the money; the ticket is later recovered from her feces but is swallowed again by somebody else, which can't be very healthy. |
| 79 | * Then there's Shirley Jackson's short story, "Literature/TheLottery": about a lottery you ''really'' don't want to "win." |
| 80 | [[/folder]] |
| 81 | |
| 82 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 83 | * An episode of ''Series/TwoTwoSeven'' has Mary scolding Rose and Pearl about wasting their money on buying lottery tickets, only to find that Mary herself bought a ticket, using their numbers. Pearl and Rose are rightfully upset, and Mary offers to split the winnings. Mary wins the lottery, but so did everyone in the building and over 13,000 others in the Washington, DC area! In the end, Mary's winnings were $266 and after splitting it with Rose and Pearl, only pocketed $88.67. |
| 84 | * ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'' once opened with the Solomons sitting in their car listening to the lotto numbers. After it turns out that Dick managed to successfully predict the winning numbers, they cheer. Then Dick tears up the ticket, saying "Oh, I wish there was money in this." |
| 85 | * Spanish show ''Series/AquiNoHayQuienViva'' had an episode in which a lottery ticket, won by the whole building, (a Christmas tradition) won the (third) price. The community president's wife attempts to convince her husband to keep the money, and HilarityEnsues. One of the rare examples where the ticket is legit, and it does get cashed. |
| 86 | * ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'', the episode "Goodbye Mr Grainger". Old Mr Grainger resigns after a bad depression, but the depression lifts when he discovers that he won a First Drawing tin the football pools. He buys the entire staff farewell gifts, and they discover that he didn't win anything. So, they just club the money together that the gifts cost, tell him he just won that much, and manage to intercept his resignation before the Boss reads it. |
| 87 | * In ''Series/TheBrothersGarcia'', the family legitimately wins the lottery, but it turns out that a hundred other people also won it so they only win about $1400 which is '''after''' they've gone wild with the spending. |
| 88 | * In one episode of ''Series/ElChavoDelOcho'', Don Ramón believed to have won the lottery but at the end of the episode, Chavo remembered that the tickets he bought were good for the day after tomorrow's drawing. The episode later got a remake with Professor Jirafales being the one who buys the ticket. |
| 89 | * ''Series/ColdCase'' has a depressing variant. A humble garage mechanic named Ed wins big in the lottery. [[spoiler: He's eventually murdered by his own family, who are in financial distress, and hope Ed's lotto money will pass to them when his estate is dissolved.]] Turns out Ed managed to spend the entire $8 million in just six months (giving the last $100,000 away to the one person who never asked him for anything), and they end up with nothing. |
| 90 | * ''Series/CornerGas'' has a variant where Hank wins, but only matches some numbers - not all of the numbers - and gets the minor prize of $480. However, Hank is TheSlacker who is perpetually unemployed and broke, this is technically "winning the lottery", and $480 to him is like a million to anyone else, so it goes to his head anyway. |
| 91 | * In one episode of ''Series/CSIMiami'', the victim is a waitress who had a winning lottery ticket and was murdered by two of her co-workers because she wouldn't share the winnings with them. |
| 92 | * ''Series/TheDoctorBlakeMysteries'': In "Lucky Numbers", the wife of the winner of the state's first lottery is kidnapped. |
| 93 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': |
| 94 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E1Rose "Rose"]]: |
| 95 | *** Rose meets the Doctor because she was asked to deliver the staff's lottery money to the chief caretaker down in the basement, leading to her getting attacked by Autons. |
| 96 | *** The [[Literature/DoctorWhoNovelisations novelization]] adds the details that Wilson, the aforementioned chief caretaker, usually kept the lottery money for himself, and only bought requested tickets if he'd been given specific numbers for them. A woman who worked in the Henrik's café had won that week's Wednesday drawing with her usual numbers, but Wilson had instead chosen to spend the money on a deposit for a car, so he plotted to burn down the store to [[FieryCoverup cover up]] the ticket's non-existence. The Autons killed him before that could happen, but the Doctor blows the store up later anyways. The unlucky "winner" is later seen drunk and breaking down outside the police cordon. |
| 97 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E3SchoolReunion "School Reunion"]]: The Doctor arranges for a teacher to win the lottery so she'll quit her job so he can investigate the suspicious goings-on at the school where she worked. |
| 98 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]]: The Doctor gives Donna a winning lottery ticket as a wedding present (one he bought with a bit of cash he borrowed from her deceased dad before he died). |
| 99 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWho2010CSAChristmasCarol "A Christmas Carol"]] has the Doctor arranging for Kazran's staff to win the lottery, even though Sardicktown has never had a lottery. |
| 100 | * An episode of ''Series/DueSouth'' had Ray Vecchio and his sister Frannie arguing over a winning lottery ticket, with each claiming it was his or her money that actually bought the ticket (they had each put in $5). In the end, no one got the money because the ticket was ruined by [[ItMakesSenseInContext chickens pecking at it]]. |
| 101 | * ''Series/EarlyEdition'': Gary uses his "tomorrow's paper today" to buy a winning Lotto ticket because a corrupt official has been gaming the system so nobody would win; if Gary hadn't gotten the winning ticket, the rollover money would have gone into a slush fund. Gary anonymously gives the winning ticket to an orphanage in need of money to stay open. |
| 102 | * One of ''Series/{{Ed}}'''s cases involved coworkers who played a practical joke on a co-worker by using a year-old lottery TV drawing tape to make him think he had the winning ticket. Unfortunately, before they could tell him it was a joke, he told the boss off and quit his job. |
| 103 | * ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' - As an act of revenge, Will and Carlton trick Geoffrey into thinking that he had won the lottery. This leads to Geoffrey leaving as the family's butler, insulting them when he announced his departure. After Phil finds out what had happened, he forces Will and Carlton to convince Geoffrey to return, which he does after Will and Carlton humiliate him during his new job as a waiter. |
| 104 | * In an episode of ''Series/{{Friends}}'', the characters buy a large number of tickets for a big lottery - and nearly come to blows over what they'd do ''if'' they won. Phoebe manages to find a ticket with the power ball, which wins them a grand total of $3. The others immediately give up their share so she can have everything. As they're commiserating in Central Perk, they learn that while nobody won the whole jackpot somebody won $10,000 with one of the tickets the gang lost in the street. |
| 105 | * ''Series/GilligansIsland'': Gilligan has what everyone thinks is a grand prize-winning Irish Lottery ticket, so the Howells invite him to join their "country club" (where he used to be a waiter). But it ends up it's an outdated ticket from the previous year. |
| 106 | * ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'' had a rather heart-rending example. Dorothy wins the lottery, but she leaves the ticket in the pocket of Blanche's jacket which Sophia mistakenly donates to charity. They have to go to a homeless shelter to find the ticket and spend some time with the "guests". They eventually find it but decide to donate it to the shelter. |
| 107 | * An episode of ''Series/GoodLuckCharlie'' has Gabe pulling a prank on his father with a fake lottery scratchcard. He doesn't allow for Bob immediately telling Amy, though. After being told off by her boss for slacking, Amy gets herself fired. Gabe is of course horrified and pleads with the boss for her to forget about it, but she laughs in his face. [[spoiler:Gabe accidentally-on-purpose drops another fake ticket in front of her, she claims it, immediately acts in a similar way as Amy, gets herself fired,]] and StatusQuoIsGod again. |
| 108 | * In ''Series/HappyEndings'', the gang trick Max into thinking he won the lottery to get back on all the pranks he had played on them. When he finds out, Max swears revenge on all of them. |
| 109 | * ''Series/HeyDude'': Someone with money wants to invest in the dude ranch; it turns out to be Ted, who left the show last season and has won the lottery in the meantime. He spends most of the episode waving his money around before the lottery commission finds out at the end that he's under 18, and thus, ineligible. |
| 110 | * The Ur-example is probably the classic episode of ''Series/ILoveLucy'' where they win a prize for the serial number of a dollar bill, but Lucy leaves the bill in the clothes that go to the laundry. After they pay off the traffic tickets and everything else, they have nothing to show for their efforts... except what happened to Lucy while chasing the clothing on a conveyor belt... |
| 111 | * The ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' episode ''Hero or Hate Crime?'' centers around the contents of an unopened lottery ticket. After a prolonged and contentious debate to determine who the ticket belongs to, Mac is determined to be the winner of the $10,000 prize -- [[ShaggyDogStory which is just about what the gang spent hiring three separate arbitrators to settle the matter]]. |
| 112 | * On ''Series/JustShootMe'', Jack has Dennis play his lotto numbers every day, and on the one day Jack wins, Dennis neglects to buy a ticket and tries to cover it up with a ZanyScheme. |
| 113 | * ''Series/KenanAndKel'': |
| 114 | ** Kel wins the Illinois Lottery and $64 million. The ticket is legit, and all arguing is avoided when Kel generously agrees to split the money down the middle with his best friend Kenan. Just before Kenan and Kel head out to cash the ticket, a customer enters the grocery store where Kenan works and insists to be served. In their haste to fill the woman's grocery bags, the duo accidentally places the lottery ticket in the woman's grocery bag. They try to get it back from her house [[StatusQuoIsGod but fail]]. |
| 115 | ** They also had another episode in which they made Chris think he won the lottery as an AprilFools joke. |
| 116 | * In an episode of ''Series/{{Life|2007}}'' we meet a support group for lottery winners; they've all lost all their friends because of the wealth they've gotten. |
| 117 | * Inverted in ''Series/{{Lost}}'': Hurley, having won a very large pot in the lottery, quits his [=McJob=] after his boss mistreats him, and his friend and co-worker Johnny - not aware of the lottery win - quits as well in a gesture of solidarity. Hurley's inability to come clean to Johnny about his newly acquired riches has more to do with the ruin of their friendship than the riches themselves. |
| 118 | * A 1983 TV series entitled ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lottery! Lottery]]'' featured variations on this premise as its main element, with winners of a fictional Intersweep lottery getting into a variety of predicaments. ''[[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078556/ Sweepstakes]]'' (1979), ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windfall_(TV_series) Windfall]]'' (2006), and ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_7_(TV_series) Lucky 7]]'' (2013) were other series with similar premises. |
| 119 | * On ''Series/MamasFamily'', Iola buys a lottery ticket and takes Mama's suggestion of using the birthdays of Mama's children for the number. When the ticket wins, a huge argument ensues about who it actually belongs to, until they finally decide to split the winnings. When Mama goes on the show to spin the wheel to determine the prize, the ball lands in the $2 million dollar space, and they all begin celebrating--but then the ball moves a few more spaces, meaning they win a paltry $200. |
| 120 | * On ''Series/{{Martin}}'', he and Gina win the lottery and buy all sorts of extravagant things before collecting any of the money. But while they did legitimately win, ''so did about 300 other people'' in the largest tie in Michigan Lottery history. Martin and Gina only got a couple thousand out of the whole thing, which wasn't even enough to pay off the things they bought on credit, leaving them a grand in debt. |
| 121 | * ''Series/MeetTheBrowns'': The Colonel borrows a dollar from Brown (who borrowed it from Cora) and purchases a lottery ticket. It's a $100,000 winner. Brown and Cora want half of the money and soon, they are fighting with The Colonel and his fiancee Edna. HilarityEnsues. In the end, The Colonel and Edna decide to give Brown and Cora half of the money. [[spoiler: The Colonel's winnings were a mere $500. Edna explains that he had to split the jackpot with 199 other people who also had the winning numbers. Brown and Cora's half came to $250. They didn't take the money.]] |
| 122 | * ''Series/{{Monk}}'': |
| 123 | ** "Mr. Monk and the Paperboy" concludes with Monk realizing the murder of his paperboy is due to his upstairs neighbor Kevin Dorfman having won the lottery [[spoiler:unbeknownst to him, with the culprits trying to keep him from knowing until one of them could marry him and... [[DeadlyEuphemism inherit the money.]]]] In the next episode we see Kevin in, "Mr. Monk and the Game Show", he's back to his regular lifestyle. Kevin lost all his lottery winnings to things like bad investments, cons, and gambling. Considering his style of living is the same as it was ''before'' he won and he's not drowning in debt, he got off ''extremely easy'' compared to most real life lottery winners. |
| 124 | ** In "Mr. Monk Gets Lotto Fever", Captain Stottlemeyer appears to win half of a $212 million jackpot. However, he's ruled ineligible because he knew Natalie, who was serving as lottery ball girl. Not only that, [[spoiler:the winning ticket was planted to frame him and Natalie in a plot to rig the lottery. The perp (a cameraman) had replaced some of the balls with versions using metallic paint and hidden an electromagnet in the microphone. He then got fired for unrelated reasons, meaning he had no way to turn the magnet off, someone would have noticed the same numbers hitting again and again, and he would've been the first and only suspect... hence the framing.]] |
| 125 | * Subverted in the pilot of ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'' -- Earl gets a scratchie ticket worth a considerable amount of money (not in the millions, but it may as well be to him), but loses it- part of the chain of events that cause him to discover Karma, and he eventually gets the ticket back and cashes it in. Later in the series, [[spoiler:Earl gives all of his winnings to the person he believes should have had the ticket - making Earl practically penniless.]] Randy tries to help Earl by buying another scratch card, but just as they think they're about to win another quarter of a million, they find it is a joke ticket. |
| 126 | * ''Series/NewTricks'': "Lottery Curse" uses the 'winning the lottery will ruin your life' version, with the team investigating the murder of a woman who was part of a winning lottery syndicate. |
| 127 | * ''Series/{{Numb3rs}}'' had an episode that dealt with people stealing scratchcards in order to decode the formula that would allow them to predict the appearance of the jackpot winner. It turns out that most of the crew were former lottery winners who'd blown through their wins and were desperate to recover some money to prevent their lives falling apart, making them prime targets for manipulation by the scheme's leaders. |
| 128 | * Averted in ''[[Series/TheOfficeUS The Office]] (US)'' when the entire warehouse staff wins the lottery and quits their jobs. Played straight with Darryl, who would have been in their lotto pool had he still been working in the warehouse and not been promoted to an office job. |
| 129 | %%* On ''Series/OurMissBrooks'', it happens (or rather, it doesn't happen) to Miss Brooks in "The $350,000 Question". |
| 130 | * One season premiere of ''Series/PerfectStrangers'' had Larry and Balki play the lottery. Balki hides his ticket because he was afraid of losing it but wrote down the numbers. Larry is shocked to discover he won. After a mad search for the ticket (which makes a mess of their apartment), it turns out Balki gave it to Jennifer and Mary Ann for safekeeping. After they give it back to him, they try to cash it in. They then discover that Balki wrote one of the numbers down wrong and they only won $100. |
| 131 | * The Connor family in ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'' actually ''did'' win the lottery during the final season (at least, until we find out that it, and much that came before it, was AllJustADream). Commonly considered to be the show's JumpTheShark moment. |
| 132 | * ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'': Sabrina is allowed access to a crystal ball that can answer any question. Her first question was, [[MisappliedPhlebotinum oddly enough]], "What if Kenan and Kel won the lottery?". Followed by a short segment of the two losing the ticket and coming to the conclusion that it was inside a sandwich that Kel just took a bite out of. |
| 133 | * ''Series/TheSopranos'': Tony B hits a Lottery Ticket of sorts when he finds $12,000 thrown away by drug dealers on the run from the cops. Gwen suggests investing it in his massage parlor. But he soon blows all of it on [[CoolestClubEver partying at the Bing]]. |
| 134 | * An early episode of ''Series/TheSteveHarveyShow'' has Bullethead winning a pair of Chicago Bulls tickets. Sophia, Sara, and Romeo pay a lot of attention to him and treat him nice in the hopes of going to the game with him. In the end, Bullethead chooses to take Steve to the game because Steve didn't treat him differently. |
| 135 | * On ''Series/SuddenlySusan'', Todd tricks Vicki into thinking she has won the lottery. She quits ''The Gate'' after telling everyone in the office what she really thinks of them and must beg for forgiveness when she learns of the ruse. |
| 136 | * A sketch on ''Series/TheTraceyUllmanShow'' was about a pair of waitresses at a greasy spoon who always buy a set of tickets together, promising to share the winnings. Then when one of their tickets hits the grand prize, the purchasing waitress claims that she had bought an extra ticket with her own money so the other waitress doesn't get any. |
| 137 | * An episode of ''Series/TVColosso'' featured Capachão winning the lottery. Several people tried to win his favor until mathematician [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Ossaldo de Souza]] announced that each one of the ''several'' winners would get only $ 1.50. |
| 138 | * The ''Series/USAHigh'' episode "Lottery Fever" is built on this trope. In this case, everyone who contributes to the lottery scheme actually believes that they've won the lottery initially, before realizing late in the episode that they were mistaken after a closer look at the "winning" ticket in question. |
| 139 | * ''Series/TheWayansBros'': Marlon wins a trip to the Caribbean. At first, the family is excited because they want to escape the brutal winter that New York is having. Marlon then finds out that the trip is only for two people. This causes the family to shower him with gifts and (obviously) fake love and attention in the hopes of going with him, while they undermine each other. In the end, Marlon gets tired of the attention and decides that being with his family in the cold is more important and gives the trip to Dee because she didn't treat him differently. Of course, the rest of the family now tries to gain Dee's favor, which she relishes. |
| 140 | * ''Series/WKRPInCincinnati'': A record rep buys Irish Lottery tickets for the staff, with Johnny & Venus handing them out. Later they look up the numbers and they think that Herb's ticket won $1,000, but he can't find the ticket or even remember that they gave it to him. It turns out that he gave it to a client, who is no longer a client because Herb's drinking made him forget all about making the ads that he had promised the client. |
| 141 | %%** The revival did a similar episode; Les even announced the multiple winners story on his newscast, but who ever listens to Les? |
| 142 | [[/folder]] |
| 143 | |
| 144 | [[folder:Radio]] |
| 145 | * ''Radio/{{Give Or Take}}'', 1981 radio sitcom by Creator/TheBBC about the tribulations of a family who win the football pools. |
| 146 | [[/folder]] |
| 147 | |
| 148 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 149 | * [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-zagged]] throughout ''Theatre/InTheHeights''. It is discovered that somebody in the neighborhood actually ''did'' win the lottery, although Usnavi is quick to point out that the prize of $96,000 is considerable but not enough to retire and live in luxury. Then the trope is played straight when [[spoiler:the winner, Abuela Claudia, dies before she can make use of the money.]] Then it's subverted again, since [[spoiler:Usnavi and Sonny actually do get to keep their shares of the lottery winnings.]] |
| 150 | [[/folder]] |
| 151 | |
| 152 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 153 | * Double subverted in ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry2LookingForLoveInSeveralWrongPlaces'': Larry ''does'' win the Luck-o Buck-o lottery (albeit through cheating) and the grand prize of one million dollars a year. The million does help him a bit through his quest... but by the end, he loses it all, and the lottery went bankrupt. |
| 154 | * Poor Glen Elg of ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations''. He wins the lottery. The ticket isn't fake, it's not a prank, he won big... and then he gets killed because of it. And not even for the money. [[spoiler: He owed $100,000 to a loan shark and had offered a computer virus he created (which would actually be worth millions) as collateral. The loan shark happened to be $1M in debt to the mafia and was counting on selling the virus to pay it off... but then Elg won the lottery and just paid the debt normally, leaving the loan shark short of the money he needed. So, the loan shark had to kill him to get the virus Elg would've given him if he ''hadn't'' won the lottery.]] |
| 155 | [[/folder]] |
| 156 | |
| 157 | |
| 158 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 159 | * ''WebAnimation/EtraChanSawIt'': |
| 160 | ** In this story, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8XOwEc7NcE Akamatsu]] wins the lottery and spends the money for himself and his mistress while abusing his wife, Yuri. He eventually tries to reconcile with Yuri after his mistress stole all of the lottery money. |
| 161 | ** In this story, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8k06LThBp8 Yuri]] learns that her parents won the lottery and were using the money to refurbish the house. This led to Akamatsu, her classmate from middle school who she have been distant since graduation, to ask her out for her parent's money. When she rejects him, he didn't take it well and it escalates into harassment until her boyfriend threatens him. |
| 162 | ** In this story, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOrF2mPtnA0 Azami]] wins the lottery and she begin bragging about it to her friends and coworkers. Unsurprisingly, [[AFoolAndHisNewMoneyAreSoonParted she loses the money through overspending on luxurious things and her partner stealing the rest and her car through marriage fraud]]. |
| 163 | [[/folder]] |
| 164 | |
| 165 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 166 | * ''Webcomic/{{Calamities of Nature}}'' points out that you're [[http://www.calamitiesofnature.com/archive/?c=253 just as well off throwing that money away]] as buying a lottery ticket. |
| 167 | * Subverted in the webcomic ''Webcomic/{{PvP}}'', when Robbie wins the lottery and quits his job. Everyone on staff expects him to lose his fortune and come crawling back, but he doesn't. Apart from buying a mansion (and keeping all his stuff in one room, since there's no reason to furnish the other rooms) and hiring a butler, he doesn't spend a dime. Instead, he invests the money wisely and even starts a brewery. |
| 168 | [[/folder]] |
| 169 | |
| 170 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 171 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': In one episode, Richard's [[SchoolyardBullyAllGrownUp childhood bully]], Harold, is tricked into thinking he's found a blank check for a billion dollars. He ends up [[TakeThisJobandShoveIt quitting his job,]] [[CoolCar buying a golden car and helicopter]], [[TrophyWife leaving his wife for a younger and prettier woman]] and [[KarmicButtMonkey blowing up his house with dynamite.]] Richard considers stopping him, but tells him to [[RevengeIsSweet place the dynamite closer together to get a stronger blast.]] |
| 172 | * ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'': |
| 173 | ** "Super Bowl": Both Carl and Shake are suddenly very nice to Meatwad when he wins two tickets to the Super Bowl in the hopes he'll give the other ticket to one of them. Naturally, neither succeed as Meatwad decides to take Boxy Brown instead. And it turns out Meatwad didn't even go to the game; he got confused and went to a farm instead. |
| 174 | ** In "The Meat Zone", Meatwad suddenly gets the power to [[{{Seers}} see the future]] with Shake asking for the numbers to win big lottery jackpot. Meatwad predicts the numbers of 1-2-3-4-5-6-7, which Frylock deems impossible and tells Shake to pick different numbers and that it won't happen. Immediate GilliganCut to the lottery broadcast showing Meatwad's numbers winning with Shake tossing his losing ticket and TV in frustration. |
| 175 | * Downplayed in ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko''. Ulrich Stern [[MundaneUtility rigs a lottery ticket]] through a [[TimeTravel Return to the Past]] so Yumi's parents could afford to stay in France, but since he used the AppliedPhlebotinum without talking to his friends about it, he's [[TenMinuteRetirement kicked out of the group]], and Yumi's parents give him the ticket back. At the end of the episode, [[StatusQuoIsGod he donates the money to a charity for humanitarian work in Africa]]. |
| 176 | ** [[Series/CodeLyokoEvolution The sequel]] has Odd play the lottery but when he wins, it turns out XANA hacked the thing, making it meaningless. |
| 177 | * ''WesternAnimation/ComboNinos'': In one episode, Diadoro and Gomez released a Divino who manipulates luck. Among the several good fortunes she brought Diadoro, she caused a gust of wind that brought him a winning lottery ticket. When she was defeated, Diadoro's limousine caught fire, burning whatever lottery money he didn't spend. |
| 178 | * In ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'', Eustace won the lottery but because of an earlier robbery from the bank holding the prize money (Done by himself and Muriel while being brainwashed), he only earned 17 cents. |
| 179 | * ''WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck'' wins a new car in a radio raffle drawing, but due to an error in announcing the winning number, he had thrown his ticket away thinking it was a loser. His nephews hear the correction, realize he's won, and cash the ticket in secret to surprise him. When they show up with the new car, Donald thinks it's a prank and [[VandalismBackfire unknowingly destroys his own winnings in a rage]]. |
| 180 | * In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', Peter, upon hearing of the lottery prize being $150 million dollars, decides to buy thousands of tickets (by putting up a second mortgage for the house), with one of them being the winning ticket. The Griffins then go through what every person who gains vast amounts of money does: act like snobs, mistreat friends, and buy outrageous things. In the end, they go through all their money and wind up broke and homeless. Peter then suggests that their only hope is the lottery again, only for the same thing to happen again. Fortunately, when Peter repairs his friendship with his buddies, they give him the money to buy back his old house. |
| 181 | * In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'', Garfield buys a lottery ticket and wins ten million dollars. He and Jon then move into a mansion and Jon even gave an interview. However, when Jon falsely claimed during the interview that he was the one to buy the ticket, an enraged Garfield appeared to make it clear who bought it. Unfortunately, the lotto announcer showed up soon after to inform that, since Garfield is legally too young to buy lottery tickets, he and Jon have to give the ten million dollars to the next winner, who happens to be the very same reporter who was interviewing Jon. |
| 182 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheGarfieldShow'': |
| 183 | ** In episode "Ticket to Riches", Jon believed to have won 54 million dollars and started a spending spree before even collecting the money. He bought a pizza parlor, a mansion, seven cars (one for each day of the week), and tailor-made suits. He even quit his job. Soon after donating his old clothes to charity, he figured out he forgot the ticket in one of them. They (Jon, Garfield, and Odie) fail to rescue them on time but fortunately the ticket was in a pair of pants he didn't donate. Unfortunately, when Jon finally tried to claim the money, he is told that the number "3" at the end of his ticket was actually an "8" covered by some sauce and he won nothing. |
| 184 | ** Another episode features a computerized mailman program delivering Jon's mail so that the real mailman will no longer be pestered by Garfield. However, due to an accident, the program ends up delivering mail from the next day, including the newspaper. Jon takes advantage of this by using the knowledge of the winning lottery numbers to amass a fortune. However, he loses everything when a crooked investor steals his money, and the cyber mailman machine explodes. |
| 185 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheJetsons'': In "Jetson's Millions", Mr. Spacely goaded George Jetson into buying Venusian lottery tickets. One of them became the winning one, earning George ten million (of the Venusian currency), which equaled US$ 7.5 million. Needing a million dollars to save his company from a hostile takeover by a Venusian conglomerate, Mr. Spacely offered George the Vice-President post for it, but before George could convert his prize into American money, a collapse of the Venusian economy rendered the prize worthless and making the Venusian conglomerate bankrupt, thus restoring the [[StatusQuoIsGod status quo]]. |
| 186 | * In one episode of the animated ''ComicStrip/MotherGooseAndGrimm'', Mother Goose's lottery ticket (the number being [[OverlyLongGag 5498666246838409804441989859893259]]) is announced as a winner. Unfortunately, Grimmy ate the ticket, so throughout the episode, Mother Goose and Hamm try to get it out of him, while Dracula (who now works at a grocery store Mother Goose got the ticket from) tries to steal it from them so he can leave the store behind and move back to Transylvania. At the end, when the characters decided to simply give up, it was announced on TV that Mother Goose's number was a mistake and the correct winning number is simply 3, which is the number Hamm had. Unfortunately, Hamm gave the ticket to Igor, Dracula's assistant. |
| 187 | * One of the old ''WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}}'' cartoons featured Olive Oyl winning a sweepstake. When she told Popeye about it, he imagined themselves living a wealthy lifestyle until she told him she lost the ticket. After all the trouble Popeye went through to recover it, he learned the prize was a pet bird. |
| 188 | * In ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'', Mordecai and Rigby decide to get back at Muscle Man's pranks by giving him a fake lottery ticket. Seemed harmless enough until Skips tells them of what happened to the ''last'' person who pulled a prank on him. Fearing his wrath, the two try to tell him what happened but get dragged into Muscle Man's spending spree before he even cashes the ticket, becoming more reluctant to do so. It isn't until when Muscle Man does go to cash it, the ticket is denied, and he goes on a rampage against an army of guards do they ''finally'' tell him. Surprisingly he takes it in stride despite now being in debt (at most, he just gets an apology from the company that makes the fake tickets) and is impressed at Mordecai and Rigby for getting back at him. Though he promises that he'll have [[OhCrap to top their prank in the future]]. |
| 189 | * ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'': In "With Friends Like These", Rocko accidentally wins two tickets to a big wrestling match, and Heffer and Filburt drive him up the wall trying to curry his favor, so he'll take one of them. When the day of the match arrives, the two have handcuffed themselves to Rocko and literally dragged him to the stadium where they intend to force him to pick one of them to share with. Instead, Rocko finally snaps, tears the tickets into tiny pieces, and tosses them into the air declaring "Tickets for everyone!". In a bitter irony, Rocko doesn't even ''like'' wrestling and probably would have given up ''both'' tickets if they'd just asked nicely. |
| 190 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': |
| 191 | ** When Santa's Little Helper gets sick and needs an operation, one of the ways Marge cuts back in order to afford it is to stop buying into the lottery ticket pool with her women's group. Then her lottery number gets chosen for a big prize. |
| 192 | ** In another episode Homer goes to buy a ticket instead of appearing at a wedding reception with Marge, for which they practiced a song. He claims he was in an auto accident to cover, but when he wins the jackpot, he has to pretend to "find" stuff he buys for the family. |
| 193 | ** In yet another episode Homer finds a winning scratcher ticket at the Kwik-E-Mart while Apu is asleep on duty, but he only has enough money for the ticket '''or''' the candy he also wants to buy. He disappointedly opts for the candy, even though he could have just bought the ticket and used some of the winnings to then buy the candy as well. |
| 194 | ** In "Double, Double, Boy in Trouble," Homer is about to buy what turns out to be a winning scratcher ticket from Apu but has to run to catch Bart after he jumps off a high shelf, causing Lenny, who was next in line, to buy the ticket. Lenny uses the cash to throw a huge party for all his friends. |
| 195 | ** "The Saga of Carl" sees Carl absconding with a winning lottery ticket jointly purchased between himself, Homer, Lenny and Moe and using the winnings to buy a missing page from an Icelandic text, which he believes exonerates his ancestors in a centuries-old issue of FamilyHonor. Since he wants the page for what's printed on it rather than for its value, the group could sell the page afterward to recoup the cost, [[StatusQuoIsGod but this doesn't seem to occur to anyone]]. |
| 196 | * Done several times on ''WesternAnimation/StrokerAndHoop''. Here, though, the money Stroker wins is real each time, he just loses it at the end of the episode due to bad luck. He even remarks in one episode, "I have a disturbing trend of not getting paid for doing my job." |
| 197 | * Becky wins big in a lottery in the ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'' episode "Your Baloo's in the Mail", but Baloo puts it in jeopardy when he botches cashing it in, as he spends most of the money for the postage on hot dogs and the only service he could afford would arrive long after the deadline. |
| 198 | * ''WesternAnimation/WheelSquad'': In one episode, the neighborhood believed they won the lottery but learned their bet wasn't placed on time for that drawing. |
| 199 | [[/folder]] |
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