Hello all! First of all, I'm new here - so I apologize in advance if my question seems ridiculous or obvious to any members.
I'm hoping you might offer me a little advice.
In the not too distant past, (last few months) I was lucky enough to win a Florida Fantasy Five jackpot. The total was just short of $100,000. Needless to say, I was beyond shocked. I'm not really a regular lottery player. Maybe a few Powerball or MegaMillions tickets now and then when the jackpots reach stratospheric heights with an occasional Fantasy Five thrown in, but that's about it. $70k after taxes was a very nice windfall.
Now comes the...well...weird part of my story. For some strange reason I decided to play a 'wheel' of numbers that night. I'd read about 'wheeling' on occasion, but never really gave it much thought. Again, can't explain why I did it, but that evening I played a 'full wheel' of nine numbers...sort of based on the frequency of appearance in recent draws. Some "hot" vs some "cold", that kind of thing. Just a fun kind of experiment with about a hundred disposable dollars. I likened it to how much I might spend in a cruise ship casino. (Where I've both won AND lost - no surprise there!)
When I checked the numbers the next morning, I didn't even need to check my tickets. I knew just enough about "wheeling" that I could see that my fun little experiment had paid off. All of the winning numbers were included in my wheel. I knew I held at least one jackpot winning ticket. Of course, I did pull out my stack of tickets (about 125 total) and checked. Sure enough, one of the series of numbers I picked was a jackpot winner! I was pleasantly surprised by finding that I also had about 15 or 20 second prize winners - each worth about $100, plus maybe 30 or 40 third prize winners of about $9.00 each. That was an extra $1,800 or so in non-jackpot prizes! I was very surprised. What are the odds of this happening - do many people win the first time they try a 'wheel'? My guess is: no. In fact, I'll answer my own question and say the odds are not good at all.
I wish I could tell you of lavish spending sprees in the weeks after my win, but I'm pretty boring when it comes to money. I didn't have much debt to speak of, but I paid off the few low balances I had on a couple of credit cards, added to my savings account and had a nice long weekend trip with my wife...during which we didn't really look at any bills we signed. (Not typical for us...we usually budget pretty carefully on trips). Apart from that, the majority is invested and won't be touched...a bit of a boost for our retirement accounts.
The point of my post is not to tell you this story. That just serves as background color for my question(s) for anyone who wants to reply.
Of course, I knew full well that this was an extremely rare occurrence. My day as a lottery winner had come, and gone. It was time to get up from the table and walk out with my winnings. Lightning doesn't strike twice...no matter how much we ask the lottery 'gods' to hit us again. But the very basic human emotion of greed is kind of powerful. So I admit that I've wasted some money in the months since my win and tried the 'wheeling' deal a number of times since. I've done the 'wheel' thing another 15 times or so. Each time, laying out about $125.00. So I've spent about $1,900.00 on lottery tix since my win. Hoping to win again, but expecting to lose what I'm spending. Well, I did lose most of those drawings...but...on two occasions, four winning numbers appeared in my wheels. Each of those times I had numerous second prize winners of $110-$130 each. Plus third prize winners too. All told, I've won an additional $4,300 during this time. After spending a ridiculous $1,900.00 on lottery tickets (which I would have considered insane just a few months ago), I find myself with an extra $2400 after accounting for my (by all accounts) irresponsible lotteryspending spree! I feel like I'm going a little crazy.
My question for you is: is this just more common than one would think? I kind of doubt it, otherwise I suspect lotteries would go bankrupt pretty quickly. But since I'm a total ignorant amateur in this field, I thought I'd get some advice from you good people.
Do I continue with these experiments? At this point, I'm playing with "house" money anyway, so I can absorb a $2000 loss without much guilt...do I tempt Lady Luck a little more? At the same time, I don't want to throw away a nice little windfall of $2k.
Greed dictates that another jackpot could be around the corner. Logic says another jackpot is all but impossible. Luck indicates that I won't know either way unless I play the game.
I know I'm overthinking this. It's just a game of chance.
What do you think?
(Please try to keep all replies civil and respectful. I didn't write any of this to offend, insult or otherwise incite anyone. I'm just looking for some honest, respectful feedback. Thanks.)