Further to my previous comment…
If, however, I felt led by the Holy Spirit to purchase a lottery ticket one day, and lo and behold, I won…I would definitely give a generous tithe of the first fruits to my church as an act of thanksgiving to and faith in my one true God, but I would do it anonymously, so as not to drag the Church into controversy or sin. Since I do NOT make a routine practice of gambling or purchasing lottery tickets, I would consider the leading to purchase one an act of God.
However, I do make tithing a routine practice. God has taught me much in the exercise of my faith in that regard.
One more thought, why is it some people are more than willing to give their hard earned money away to the government on the off chance of getting something in return, but they won’t give it freely to their own church first? Faith…or lack thereof. And greed. If everyone who bought lottery tickets on a regular basis gave that money to a church instead, how much more good would that do in our nation? Heck, if we just gave it outright to the government, we could retire the national debt, or at least slow it down, because there would be no future annuities to pay out to the lottery commissions. Just something to think about…
A few website stats…
http://www.newsmax.com/US/MegaMillions-lottery-jackpot/2012/03/31/id/434409/
http://jpupdates.com/2012/11/28/how-much-is-spent-on-lottery-tickets-each-year/
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/05/31/poor-people-spend-9-of-income-on-lottery-tickets-heres-why/