Yesterday was the last day you could purchase a number in the Spanish Christmas Lottery which runs December 22nd every year. Millions of euros are paid by thousands of people expecting to get one of the prizes. Then, today, all TV channels play the same news, happy people celebrating they were "lucky" to get a chunk of the prize pie.

I receive some participation as a present as many shops and businesses purchase one of the tickets and give away small amounts to their customers. Some relatives also give tickets as Christmas presents, but I never directly purchase them.

Governments need money to run their scams too

For many years, prizes were tax-free, as you purchase with money (from salaries) it has been already taxed, plus, VAT is paid when you purchase, but several years ago the government decided to also tax the prizes if you are one of the lucky ones. I wonder when will a company or citizen decide to sue the government for that, it is pretty clear they will win the battle. Governments, and their "workers" make mistakes, directly stealing money from the people with their ruling, yet, the politicians may get punished but never the company they belong to (the governing party). We are starting to witness a change of power between some of the players (governments, big banking, consumers), and I hope 2024 brings more of that power change.