Catholic Church criticises Italys £112 million lottery fever as idolatry

The Roman Catholic Church has criticised Italy’s lottery fever as millions across the country flocked to stores to buy tickets, tempted by the world record jackpot of £112 million.

|PIC1|The Catholic Church slammed the huge sum as “immoral” and warned the winner that it could lead to tragedy rather than the ‘dream life’ they might expect.

The world record amount has accumulated since January, the last time a top prize was claimed in the Super Enalotto lucky numbers draw. The amount rose massively over the past weeks as the country became gripped with lottery fever.

However, Monsignor Domenico Sigalini, from the Italian Catholic Bishops Conference, said: “This draw is immoral. It really has become a form of idol worship as here man really is worshipping money instead of God.

“It's a well-known fact that all those who have won a lot of money in the past have ended up being worse off - winning a lot of money is not a stroke of luck but a stroke of tragedy.”

The Archbishop of Lecce, Cosmo Franceso Ruppi, joined in the criticism, saying: “There should be an immediate law putting a cap on the size of the jackpot. This lottery fever must be stopped as soon as possible as it has created a form of idolatry.”

Other critics have tried to be constructive, suggesting that the top prize should be scrapped and be donated to the reconstruction project in Abruzzo where 300 people were killed and 50,000 left homeless in April’s devastating earthquake.

The temptation to try their luck in the lottery has not only affected regular Italians, but even thousands of tourists have reportedly entered the lottery this week.

Last week a total of 338 million six-number combinations were played, compared to 304.2 million the week before, a jump of 11.1 per cent.

The fever is good news for lottery organisers SuperEnalotto. So far this year they have already taken in 1.93 billion Euros, more than all of 2007, and are on course to easily surpass the 2.5 billion Euro collected last year.

The odds of winning the lottery are 622 million to one.