Waiting in line at the Lottery. By the way, Brazilians love the lottery. Winning the national lottery Is a common theme in the telenovelas (serial soap operas), jornais (news coverage), and national mythology. The lottery is Brazil's rags-to-riches story. I find fascinating (and more than a little disturbing) that the national lottery office is the same place that you go to pay electricity, health insurance, and all sorts of other bills. You can pay them other places, but if the bill is overdue the Lottery is the only place you're allowed to go. If you're low-income, there's a child welfare check you can receive to help make sure that your kids get the school books and food that they need. If you don't have a bank account, where can you go to collect your bolsa familia? The Lottery, of course. I wonder which came first. Were the collections placed in the lotteries because everyone went there anyway? Or did the lotteries start offering it as a way to draw people in? Now they seem to be permanently linked. This is a nation that depends on its Lottery for a variety of reasons.