Does anybody out there waste money on scratch tickets from their state lottery? As a rule, I don't usually ever buy them, because of the obvious-I never win anything, except a dollar or two here and there.
That was until last week. On a whim, I bought a five dollar scratch ticket when I was cashing my check. I just "felt lucky". I won $20, and was pleased at my intuition. I figured if I was smart, I'd take the $15 profit and run.
What should I do with my winnings? I decided to use it at Trader Joe's, so I could splurge guilt-free at some of their more expensive seasonal treats. I wasn't going to fall into a trap of throwing away what I'd won on more tickets and end up with nothing.
A few days later, I bought a $2 scratch ticket on a whim at the 7-11. I told the clerk to give me a winner. How surprised I was when I actually won $40! The way they make these tickets, if you win anything, a lot of the numbers were winners. I think eight of the ten numbers were winners, but only for 5 bucks apiece. Still, I'm not complaining. Now I had another 40 bucks to put towards Christmas shopping. I waited until today to cash it in.
Just winning a couple of times can give you a false sense of security, and you feel invincible. It's kind of weird, but you start thinking crazy-like you might actually WIN the huge amounts of money that are underneath the non-winning numbers! It makes me sigh when I scratch off $100,000 and think of how nice it would be to win that! It's probably what makes people keep spending money on them.
I came back to earth today when I spent five more dollars on a Bruins scratch ticket. I was fully expecting to win, but that was a foolish expectation. At least it has a second chance drawing.
So, what would you do if you were me? At least with a scratch ticket, you know immediately whether you won or not. Half the time I bought a regular ticket like Power ball or Megabucks, I never took the time to check the numbers. Who knows, I may have an un-cashed ticket laying around somewhere. As Ed McMahon used to say, I may already be a winner!
So what's the point of this story? Do anything in moderation, and be realistic. I think there's ways to increase your chances of winning- I read you should buy a whole roll or several in a row of the same game to increase your chances, rather than one each of a bunch of different kinds. But even then , that's no guarantee. If you're meant to win, you'll win. If you feel lucky, go for it-who knows, maybe you'll win the big one! Good luck! But for now, I'm going to spend some of my winnings at Trader Joe's.
I came back to earth today when I spent five more dollars on a Bruins scratch ticket. I was fully expecting to win, but that was a foolish expectation. At least it has a second chance drawing.
So, what would you do if you were me? At least with a scratch ticket, you know immediately whether you won or not. Half the time I bought a regular ticket like Power ball or Megabucks, I never took the time to check the numbers. Who knows, I may have an un-cashed ticket laying around somewhere. As Ed McMahon used to say, I may already be a winner!
So what's the point of this story? Do anything in moderation, and be realistic. I think there's ways to increase your chances of winning- I read you should buy a whole roll or several in a row of the same game to increase your chances, rather than one each of a bunch of different kinds. But even then , that's no guarantee. If you're meant to win, you'll win. If you feel lucky, go for it-who knows, maybe you'll win the big one! Good luck! But for now, I'm going to spend some of my winnings at Trader Joe's.
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