The tee industry is pretty cutthroat so there are always new concepts appearing and I guess that is what drove these guys to create Tee Lotto. They shot me over and email and I was noticed they were quick to tell me that it is not an actual lotto but it seems like a lotto to me. The only difference being that you can wear your lotto ticket. (Your t-shirt is your ticket. Come on guys! Keep up!) I guess the reason they are saying that it is not a lotto is that there are very strict rules about who can and how you can run a lotto. I think they are taking a risk but nothing ventured nothing gained as they say.

They are selling a limited number of t-shirts in a limited period of time. They will put $3 from every t-shirt “under the mattress” and at the end of the sales period or when all 33,333 t-shirts are sold out they will give one of the people who bought the t-shirt all the money from under the mattress. The t-shirt is not ugly and it sounds like a bit of fun.

The tees are $12 including shipping ($15 overseas) so it’s not a huge amount of money and while it is more expensive than a real lotto ticket the chances of winning are higher. You can increase your chances by buying more t-shirts too which leads to what I really think about this…

[This is Rude Retro’s opinion. He may be wrong. He doesn’t know everything after all.] It is a lotto. Saying it is not a lotto is like saying that sweater your aunt knit for you is not really a sweater. It may not look like a store bought sweater, the sleeves may not be the same length and you may not be able to fit your big cannonball head through the neck hole but that doesn’t change the fact that it is a sweater. Shakespeare put the concept much more eloquently than that but I won’t bother misquoting him here. Anyway, by calling the site Tee Lotto they are telling the world that they know what they are getting into. I am guessing they don’t have authorization to run a lotto so there is a chance that they will get in legal trouble. I don’t know what sort of punishment runs for illegal lottos in the States but I imagine it would be a fine or if you already have some racketeering convictions under your belt, maybe some jail time.

By purchasing a tee with tee lotto, you are agreeing to be held financially responsible for any taxes required for the winning of this tee lotto giveaway. 5quidink LLC is not held financially responsible for the gift provided to the tee wearer.

Let’s imagine they do get away with it though and you are the lucky customer. I noticed that on the About Page it says that you are liable for all taxes on this gift. Again, I don’t know specifically in the US but where I come from gift tax is pretty high, especially from a non-family member. You could easily lose 30%. Still if they sell all 33,333 tees that’s a bundle of cash that you didn’t have.

Do I think they will sell 33,333 t-shirts? No. And maybe that’s a good thing. The less tees that they sell the less likely they are to be noticed by the authorities and the more likely they are to get away with it and the bigger your chance of winning. As long as you don’t go crazy and spend all your savings on these 100% Fine Jersey cotton lotto tickets I don’t see the harm in it.

No I won’t be buying one. Yes, I do buy lotto tickets occasionally. I’d say that in the last ten years or so I have bought some lottery tickets once every two years.

Comments welcome.