If you are going to spend $100, you might try my power buying strategy, but I would only buy $5 tickets, and read the rolls. If you get a $20 winner, then 3 or 4 losers, then a $10 or $15 winner, then I would say you are not near a big prize. If you are going to buy more than one of each ticket, it may be worthwhile to buy them until you hit the overall odds, but then you are stuck with whether to give up, or keep trying. I think you are more likely to find a bigger prize in the bigger tickets, but you take more of a risk.
I have done just the opposite of what a lot of folks, including myself, have done in the past. I used to buy 6 losers in a row and say oh well and give up, thinking that this roll must be a dud. Now I am more likely to believe that in such a scenario, a big winner might just be in there. I really do believe that the lottery will put roughly the same amount of winnings in each roll. Not the exact same amount, but close to it, and of course there are exceptions. Whether that means $15 winners every three tickets, or 7 losing tickets, two free tickets, then a $100 winner, with the rest of the roll small amounts. That may be the secret: determining whether the roll has a bunch of average sized winners, or it goes a long time without paying, and the winners are all small. You must be the judge.
If I hadn't spent so much money on two books of tickets, I may have never made this correlation. If you get a big winner, use the money to experiment. If I ever win at least $1,000 I will definitely buy a whole $300 book of tickets. I know I have said this before, but I do not expect to get all of my money back, if I do great, if not oh well. But at least I will learn the pattern of that ticket. It may verify what I already think I know, or t may debunk some of my myths. I am willing to bet that a sizeable portion of the top prize winners buy many books of tickets. Sure some of them are lucky, and just bought one ticket, but I think the majority of big winners are power players. They may say they bought one or two tickets, but I don't believe it for one second. They are just like us, but spend $500, when we would spend $50. Do I have any proof of this? Nope, this is just my guess.
I like Holiday Gifts because I have done pretty well overall on it. I won the $150 out of the machine, and I had just purchased two tickets. As you already know, the first hit for $10, and the next for $150. Now I wonder if some poor soul didn't just spend $50 on that game, didn't win a thing, or won a free ticket, and they just gave up. Sometimes it makes sense to keep buying, other times it doesn't. It just depends on each unique situation. Let’s say for example that I had bought 4 tickets each from the 3 rolls of Jumbo Jingle Bucks, instead of keeping on playing the same book. I might have hit $100 much sooner in another roll, or I might have spent all of my money and walked away with nothing. That is where keeping records of each book come into play.
I am sorry that you have been having such bad luck. Keep in minds that it will get better, but you might be fighting against someone who is keeping records, and you are just buying his duds. He might be winning off of your losses. I am certain that it has happened to me in the past. That would explain all of my initial losses at Jingle Jumbo Bucks, and it may explain your losses. I really hate to type in all of the information that I do, I really do hate it, but I believe it has helped me win more money than would otherwise be possible. Only crazy people talk to themselves, so that is why there are message boards.