It's been in the news, but
for those of you who don't know, Italy's lottery has rolled over for the umpteen-millionth time since January, making the jackpot about £113 million. Odds of winning are 660-odd million to one (6 balls from 90 I believe). According to the press there's some kind of nationwide brouhaha as people rush from all over Europe to buy tickets.

What particularly amused me though is that the Catholic church has publicly condemned the lottery for offering false hope to the millions that have bought tickets.
False hope? So...that's not at all like what the Catholic church offers, right?
(berk, Fri 14 Aug 2009, 14:27, 3 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

it's different
the catholic church talks about belief in something that you are very very unlikely to find out the truth of. whereas, come saturday (or whenever) everyone will know whether their hope was false or not.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Fri 14 Aug 2009, 14:39, Reply)

I win £1 every week
by not playing and awarding myself a £1 prize.
( Peej, Fri 14 Aug 2009, 14:47, Reply)

Meh
I'm not saying that the lottery - any lottery - doesn't give false hope to those who play it, I was just particuarly struck by the irony of some Bishop self righteously denouncing it, given that his statement could be just as easily applied to the organisation he belongs to depending on your viewpoint.

D'you suppose there are more Catholics in the world than there are people who play the lottery?
(berk, Fri 14 Aug 2009, 14:59, Reply)