My wife says she's thinking about changing the "asset allocation" of her 401k. "What the hell is that?" I asked myself! Her statement got me to thinking about how much money I might have "allocated" to playing the lottery.
I've been playing regularly since Spring 2009. In the last six years, I mostly bought Take5, but I also played PB, MM, Lotto, Sweet Million, Cash4Life, I bought Connecticut Lucky for Life tickets, and both Connecticut and Pennsylvania Raffle tickets, not to mention an occasional scratch-off or two. My guess is that I spent $6,500 to $7,500 during that six year span. I won back maybe 500 bucks IF I'm lucky. So I'm at least $6,000 to $7,000 in the hole. (It may be more than that, but I really don't know)
While that's a nice chunk of change, and I'd love to have it all back, I asked myself "If I could get it back, what could/would I do with it? I could buy a used car with it. (Not much of a used car.) My wife and I could go on a cruise, but it would only pay for one of us. I could give it to my kids, and while they definitely can use it, it wouldn't last long for them because it'd be just a couple of thousand for each of them.
I understand that I might never see a dime of it again, but should I ever get lucky enough to win a T5 Jackpot, it's nice to know that I'll probably come out ahead. (A lot depends upon the size of any jackpot I might win)
Sometimes I don't know why I play. Really! I'm either a glutton for punishment or an eternal optimist, but don't ask me which one.
BTW, I Googled The PA, MD, DC, NC and SC Lottery's last night. Now I know which games I'm gonna play when we hit the road on Saturday. They all have their version of Take5, so I'll do those. You guys are gonna have to see my smilin' face on one of their websites, not The NY Lottery's!!! They better not try to tax me twice!! You know, their state tax and NY's!!! I aint a-gonna pay it!! G5