我也从来没买过，我认为被雷击的可能性比中大奖还大。

若干美国经济学者说道，假如穷人每个月把买彩票的钱投入的话，很有可能就不用向政府要饭，福利彩票就失去了意义。当然贫穷的来由很多，但不得不承认，买彩票的钱就是打水漂了。

不过美国的彩票好像一中都是巨大的数额。很有诱惑力啊！

Here are two stories about Chinese migrant workers who won five million RMB (= 700,000 USD) in the lottery.

In particular, you can't read the first article without tears. The guy hit the lottery jackpot, but unfortunately, his lottery ticket expired while he went back to his hometown to tell his family the "once in a lifetime" good news. What a shame!

The second story is about a real happy guy. The peasant worker bought an eight-yuan lottery ticket in despair about the breakup with his girlfriend, and won five million. The girlfriend's parents rejected him because he is poor.

农民工买彩票中500万大奖 不知道过期兑奖遭拒绝
http://nv.qianlong.com/33530/2008/10/17/2400@4706972.htm

农民工失恋 赌气买彩票中五百万大奖
http://www.chinacs.net.cn/news/q/2007-12-07/12530.shtml

P/S These stories reminded me of an American Si-Fi TV show "The Six Million Dollar Man", hehe.

Questions: How much from the lottery goes to the 'welfare system' (as opposed to the handful of winners)?  What kind of welfare system does it go to?

I asked a teacher once about the ‘welfare' system in China (ok, maybe it was a hard question.)  Her response was: ‘If you are poor you should get a job'.  ‘Just say there are no jobs?' I say.  ‘Then you can ask the 街道 jiedao (lit: street, meaning local community or local government) for money'.  It's clearly a distasteful course of action.  ‘How much money do you get?' I ask.  ‘I think you get about 200 RMB per month' she says.  I calculated that one could stay alive on our street for about 15 RMB per day, without paying rent.  Breakfast of porridge and pickled vegetables, and a bottle of soy milk for 1.5 RMB.  Lunch of noodles for 5 RMB and dinner of shaokao for 8 RMB.  You would have to save up for baijiu and sleep with a friend.  200 RMB per month cuts my budget in half.  Doesn't sound like a lot of money.   But social security as far as I can establish only exists at the local government level except in the case of major catastrophe (eg. the May 2008 Sichuan Earthquake).  The support and no doubt the rules and regulations vary from place to place.  Does anyone know if social security arrangements are enshrined in the xianfa or whether they are tiaoli , local regulations; I suspect the latter.  Then there is the lack of confidence in the system - ordinary people think that the officials give out the money as favours.  Does anyone know where the proceeds of the welfare and the sports lottery go?  

这个福利彩票是什么时候开始的? 是不是从改革开放以后才开始的? 每年办几次?

I was trying to say:

If I was a lottery fan in China,I would choose unlucky numbers because less winners..bigger jackpot.

How should I have said that?

谢谢你给我们介绍两个农民工的故事。那个过期兑奖的人非常可怜，我觉得他们兑奖的时间太短了。