Legend:   After being tricked into believing he's won the lottery, a fellow tells his wife that not only is he divorcing her, but he's been having sex with her sister for years.

Example:   [Collected on the Internet, 1996]

A couple goes out to a restaurant. The woman calls the waiter aside and says, "My boyfriend's bound to ask you what numbers won the lottery. These are the numbers he bet on. Will you tell him they won?" The waiter agrees. Sure enough, the boyfriend asks which numbers won. "Okay," says the waiter, "we've got a telly in the kitchen; I'll go and find out." He tells the boyfriend his numbers won. Calmly, the man puts his car keys on the table and says to the woman: "The car and the house are yours. I'm shagging your sister." Somehow, they tell him he hasn't really won. He walks out and hasn't been seen since.

Origins:   What would you do if you won the lottery? Would it change who you are? Would it cause you to perhaps reveal who you really are?

Tales like this one play on our fear of being abandoned by the ones we love and trust, and the idea that if circumstances in their lives were suddenly and greatly improved we'd be cast aside in a chicken minute. In most tellings, it's not enough that the man announces his intention to divorce his wife; he also feels compelled to reveal that he's been cheating on her these many years. (Always with her sister, too; that detail makes him all the slimier.)

Barbara "whole lotto shaking" Mikkelson

Last updated:   1 July 2007

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