The Middleman Lottery System (A type of pyramid scheme)

 

1. Members of the Middleman Lottery club buy books of lottery tickets from it. (For example, a book of 100 tickets costing 50 pence each, in other words, a book of 100 tickets for £50).
2. They sell each of the tickets to people at a higher price so that they can double their money. (For example, they sell them at a £1 each thus making £100)
3. The middleman lottery then just runs a lottery and awards a prize to the winner.
Ergo:
The middleman lottery gets money from the people who, motivated by the desire to double their money, buy their books of lottery tickets, they make a profit.
The club members who buy the books of tickets sell them at a higher price so they make a profit.
And someone wins the lottery so they make a profit

Isn't this just a normal lottery? : No, because the lottery company isnt making money from the people who are buying the tickets; they're making money from the people who are buying the books to sell tickets.

But aren't the people who sell the tickets like lottery agents or ordinary lottery retailers? : No they are not being paid a commission by a company for selling its tickets; they are getting all of the profit from selling them.
What is the appeal of this system?: If I would like to double my money, I can just buy a book of tickets and sell them.

What about the risk of forged lottery tickets? : If every single ticket has a unique number (and a date upon it) then only one person can have the winning ticket. If two or more people come forward with the winning ticket then only one of them can be genuine.

How do you stop people selling fake tickets? : Every member of the middleman lottery club would have a license to sell the tickets and a badge to prove that they are licensed.