Lottery Ticket: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

For example, one character is mistakenly convinced they've won the lottery (or some other big prize, like tickets to a big concert or sporting event) and make an ass of themselves before learning it was a practical joke.

In a third and even rarer variant, the ticket will be legit, but will turn out worthless because the characters will spend so much time arguing amongst themselves and not notice the deadline for cashing it in has passed.

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* In [[Hayate the Combat Butler]], 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 anyways. Later when they realize that they've won, 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.

* When the title character of ''[[Squid Girl]]'' discovers a lottery ticket worth 100 million yen, [[Genre Savvy|Eiko's first response is to]] [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/shinryaku_ika_musume/v07/c125/3.html 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 Squid Girl that ticket. The two bicker about it so much that Chizuru burns it to settle things. {{spoiler|Or at least she pretends to.}}

* In the last arc of [[Monster (manga)|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.}}

 

== Comic Books ==

** In a later issue [[Reality Warper|Mr Mxyzptlk]] made ''everyone'' believe they'd won the lottery.

* more than one "The Bash Street Kids" story (in ''[[The Beano]]'') 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.

 

== Film ==

* The movie "The Lottery Ticket" is built on this trope.

* [[Preston Sturges]]' ''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.}}

 

== Literature ==

* In the ''[[A to Z Mysteries|Calendar Mysteries]]'' 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 [[Scooby-Doo Hoax]].

 

* Spanish show ''[[Aqui No Hay Quien Viva]]'' had a 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 [[Hilarity Ensues]]. One of the rare examples where the ticket is legit and it does get chashed.

* ''[[Are You Being Served?|Are You Being Served]]'', 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 British Lottery. 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.

* An episode of [[Due South]] 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 [[It Makes Sense in Context|chickens pecking at it]].

* An episode of [[Tv Colosso]] featured Capachão winning the lottery. Several people tried to win his favor until mathematician [[No Celebrities Were Harmed|Ossaldo de Souza]] announced that each one of the ''several'' winners would get only $1.50.

 

== Theater ==

* In ''In the Heights,'' in the song "96,000," the characters find out that somebody won the lottery, and start fantasizing about what they'd do if they won the money, until Usnavi reminds them that it really isn't enough to do any of the things they're talking about.

 

== Video Games ==

* Poor Glen Elg of ''[[Ace Attorney]] Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations''. He wins the lottery. The ticket isn't fake, it's not a prank, he's won big... and then he gets killed. {{spoiler|The loan shark he owed $100,000 was desperate to get a valuable computer virus from him, and if Elg had collected on the ticket, he wouldn't have had to give it up.}}

 

* Calamities of Nature points out that you're [https://web.archive.org/web/20130523021703/http://www.calamitiesofnature.com/archive/?c=253 just as well off throwing that money away] as buying a lottery ticket.

 

== Western Animation ==

* ''[[Wheel Squad]]'': In one episode, the neighborhood believed they won the lottery but learned their bet wasn't placed on time for that drawing.

* One of the old ''[[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.

 

== Real Life ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Money Tropes]]

[[Category:Plots]]

[[Category:Gambling and Games of Chance]]