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            <h2 class="text-center" style="margin-bottom:0; margin-top: 0px;">About Gift Ticket</h2>
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            <h3 class="faq_question">We're bringing the fun scratch-offs to gift-giving!</h3>
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                Imagine the flood of anticipation when they receive a physical scratch-off card. But unlike lottery scratch-off tickets, this one is rigged to win. The person gifting
                has fun toying with emotions while being on the receiving-end of enhanced gratitude. It's like a cash gift card without the risk of losing or wasting money!
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            <h3 class="faq_question">The Story</h3>


            <p><img src="/img/michael_2014_11_cropped_bw_square.jpg" class="img-responsive img-rounded" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px;">Hi! I’m Michael Lake and I’m the worst gift-giver <em>ever</em>. I once gave my girlfriend an electric toothbrush for Christmas. I've always felt like shopping for myself was hard enough, let alone trying to shop for other people!</p><p>Even if we knew what to get, the array of options is dizzying. We genuinely <em>want</em> to give good gifts, but the barrage of holidays, weddings, graduations and birthdays makes it nearly impossible to stay on-target.</p>

                <p>Also...I confess that I use that electric toothbrush about as much as she does!</p>

                <p>In spring of 2015, I was happy be at my nephew's high school graduation. I wasn't just excited for him, I was also glad that my gifting obligation would be simple: throw some bucks in a greeting card and BOOM, the perfect “uncle’s gift.” No stress about color, size, or whether he already has this or that. Just stop by the bank and get a crisp hundred-dollar bill.</p>

                <p>Not that he was ungrateful, but it did lack emotion. My generation LOVED getting cash...today's generation views cash as a gross, archaic old means to transmit germs!</p>

                <p>So, when another nephew of mine was having his 12th birthday, I asked myself what kind of gift he might want. After drawing a blank, I called up my sister to ask. What was her reply? “Money.”</p>

                <p>I recalled a failed gift idea for a co-worker. We went out for drinks and I picked up a lottery ticket from a nearby shop. It was a $1 investment and we could have fun with it. With a flair for theatrics, I drew out the anticipation for how that one lottery ticket might change his life. “What will you do with the money?? Pay off your debt? Buy a yacht? Strip naked and roll around in a big pile of twenties?” Coin-in-hand, the suspense was high as our co-workers watched and he scratched.</p>

                <p>None of those fanciful things happened. It was a dud.</p>

                <p>Then it struck me: “Why not create a lottery ticket that’s rigged?” A rigged ticket would give the giftee the suspense and anticipation, but also the thrill of winning. To receive something from dumb luck feels GREAT!</p>

                <p>So I set about making a fake lottery ticket to give to my nephew. My girlfriend created a convincing lotto ticket design while I figured out how to make DIY-scratch-off material using dish soap and watercolor paint. We wanted it to look convincing, so we perforated the edges and even screen-printed dollar signs over our brushed-on scratch area.</p>

                <p>We printed a greeting card that said “Sorry we couldn’t afford a real gift” and presented it to him at his party. We hypothesized it might draw a crowd and it certainly did! A dozen kids stopped eating their cake to watch him play. He was super excited that he actually won! I gave him cash on the spot and he was giggled that I’d tricked him.</p>

                <p>And now we're scaling up production of the Gift Ticket for retail distribution!</p>
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