My Family Has Screwed Up The Holidays.

[doreen]

You’re comparing apples to oranges, doreen. Yes, lottery tickets can be appropriate gift, for individuals who gamble. That would include the specific people you and Jess mentioned.
However, the OP said her entire family decided to exchange tickets, regardless of whether they all gamble or not. That is the very definition of tacky. It shows that her family is completely unwilling to exped the slightest effort to buy anyone else a personal gift they might genuinely want and use. They’d rather just stop at the gas station and spend 10$.

Yes, but people didn’t say that the family agreeing to buy the same specific gift for everyone regardless of the recipient’s wants or needs is tacky- they said lottery tickets were a tacky gift. The OP’s example would have been just as tacky if the mandatory gift was gloves or gift cards or Jacuzzis. The tackiness is not in the gift, it’s in the arrangement. Which is why I said

First off, why exactly are lottery tickets a tacky gift ? I mean sure, under some circumstances they can be tacky, but under others I think they can be fine. (emphasis added)