Lottery Ticket Chain Letter: Help Me Understand

I detest chain letters about as much as I despise scammers. The electronic ones really get me. I mean, why would someone send me something and tell me I have 3.33 seconds after reading to distribute it to 214 people or I'll have 73 years of bad luck?

Today I received one in the mail from a friend outside the state, it included a scratch-off ticket. It's "not the typical chain letter," it's only distributed to five people and only two people are kept on the letter. It instructs to send the letter with a $1 scratch-off lottery ticket.

Ok, I'm a fan of scratch-off lottery tickets, I tucked them into my family's thank you cards after Christmas (though I don't think anyone won). But this is the thing I don't get. I'm suppose to pay $5 for lottery tickets plus $1.95 in postage to send this out. Now, if I actually win something with the $1 out-of-state ticket I just received, how do I get my money? And, if I receive 20 out-of-state lottery tickets, how do I receive my money? Do I spend another 39 cents and send it to the one who sent it to me, who will have to spend 39 cents to send me the dollar I win.

My brain is tired and I can't do the math, but it appears the only ones coming ahead are the post office and state lottery offices. Am I missing something?

Comments

Matthew said…
Hmm... perhaps I should mail you some Chinese scratch-off lotto tickets.