# Lottery Sharks and Swindles explained — The Humbugs of the World

> Chapter companion for The Humbugs of the World by P. T. Barnum.

## What happens

Barnum exposes the fraudulent practices of lottery sharks, detailing how they use deceptive circulars and letters to exploit the greedy and credulous. He presents two sets of examples: one from Boult and his associates using identical lithographed letters, and another from a group of six swindlers who all claim to have moved to 'No. 17 Merchants Exchange' and use identical prize lists. Barnum satirizes the victims' foolishness and calls for honest work as the only remedy.

## Themes in this chapter

### Gullibility and Human Nature

Barnum highlights how greed and laziness make people easy prey for lottery sharks, calling victims 'silly and credulous' or 'lazy'.

### Universality of Deception

The chapter shows how widespread these swindles are, with multiple fraudulent companies operating from various locations.

### Advertising and Showmanship

The swindlers use lithographed circulars and printed handbills to create an appearance of legitimacy, a form of deceptive advertising.

## Character check-ins

### Mr. Barnum

Author and expositor of the lottery swindles, analyzing the letters and circulars.

## Key lines

> These fellows⁠—Boult and the rest of them, I mean⁠—are lottery sharks. Now, those who buy lottery tickets are very silly and credulous, or very lazy, or both. They want to get money without earning it.

Barnum calls Boult and his associates lottery sharks, and says that people who buy lottery tickets are foolish, gullible, or lazy because they want unearned money.

_Barnum's blunt assessment of both the swindlers and their victims._

> The only means of stopping such trickery is to diffuse the conviction that the best way to get a living is, to go to work like a man and earn it honestly.

Barnum concludes that the only way to prevent these scams is to promote the idea that honest work is the proper way to earn a living.

_Barnum's moral conclusion advocating for honest labor over get-rich-quick schemes._

## Links

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- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_humbugs_of_the_world_se/chapters