Reverse lottery

A reverse lottery is a concept that was introduced, but has existed in other forms well before, by Duncan Bannatyne on Channel Four's 8 out of 10 Cats.

Rules

1. Lottery tickets are given out for free to anyone who wants them. 
2. You fill in your numbers on the ticket, the quantity of numbers depending on the 
number of people playing. 
3. Give in, or register your numbers to a the quiz's database. 
4. If your numbers do not Appear on a standard prize draw, you win $1.
5. If your numbers do appear, you owe the lottery company $5 million, for example.

Problems

A very likely achievable incentive of $1 is not as great as the gambling incentive of a reward of more money from conventional lotteries. Also, people would not want to reveal their having 'won' the lottery, as they could hide the fact that they owe money. Also, Post Offices and agencies would be flooded with millions of people claiming small amounts of money.