Saturday:

For the 1st 2 winners, see last blog post.

Later on, I went with my mother and stepdad (after getting some tables and lamps for the living room) down to the Goodwill.  Actually, they went down to the Goodwill while I went down to that tobacco mart to slow play some more tickets and cash in the $30 and free ticket winners from earlier that morning.  The winners.....

Free ticket on $2 Jumbo Bucks Classic

$3 (3 x $1) on $2 Red Hot & Wild 7s

$7 ($7) on $2 Triple 777

$3 ($2 + $1) on $2 $50,000 Bling

$2 and a free Fantasy 5 quick pick ($2 + F5) on $2 Fast 5s (counts as $3 or 0.3 for the KACHING Meter)

Free ticket on $3 Mighty Mega Bucks

$6 ($5 + $1) on $3 Big Bucks

There were some losers in among those, but didn't lose too much dough.  I wound up being down $10 after it was all said and done (plus, this slow playing streak didn't last long.....they didn't stay in Goodwill for long).

Monday:

I decided to buy $10 worth of tickets in the form of a $5 $500,000 Hold 'Em Poker ticket, 2 $2 Jumbos, and a $1 Junior Jumbo Bucks.  I wound up with $10 ($10) on the poker ticket, $3 ($3), and a free ticket on the $2 Jumbos.

Friday:

Went to the Goodwill again.  Didn't hit too many winners this time, though.

$3 (3 x $1) on $2 Red Hot & Wild 7s

$4 ($2 + 2 x $1) on $3 Big Bucks

Free ticket on $1 GA Lottery 15th Anniversary

$3 (3 x $1) on $1 Junior Jumbo Bucks

Free ticket on $3 Mighty Mega Bucks

$5 (# $2 + $1) on $5 Green and Gold

While I was in there, there was another guy playing the new $20 tickets that GA has (I haven't tried one....yet).  The guy had just won $25 (from what I saw, it was $10 + 3 x $5) and decided to get another one from another roll.  He lost on that ticket.  He got another one.  He said, after getting that one, that he would call it quits after that one.  He didn't win on that one.  I was scratching off that $1 GA Lottery 15th Anniversary when he said that.  I told myself that I wasn't going to buy one of those $20 tickets today so I could extend my slowplaying for a while and not blow it all so quickly.  I had discovered that free ticket on that $1 GA Anniversary ticket and started to pull a $20 out of my wallet to buy one of those $20 tickets when.........the guy decided to buy the next one in line before I could get back over to the cashier.  I put the $20 back in my wallet (because I was going to be a vulture and swoop in and buy the next one in line after seeing 2 of those new $20 tickets in a row being duds had that guy walked out of the store ).  The guy scratched it off.......and you wouldn't believe what it was......

.....a $100 winner (the guy showed me the winner......it was $50 + $30 + $20).  Man.....so close to matching my biggest winner for the 6th time.   He bought one and, after not winning anything, actually called it quits and left.  I continued my slow playing for a bit longer until it was time to scram (still managing to not blow all the dough I bought with me for scratcher playing because, yet again, we weren't there very long).

Oh well......not the best of weeks.....but we all can't have big winners and profits every week.

The KACHING Meter for June 27, 2008:  9.1

Oh yeah......and forgive me if I'm telling you guys and gals stuff you already know here......but, FYI, here's how I "slow play" my scratchers.

For games where you "match your numbers to winning numbers" or something very similar:

I don't scratch off the "winning numbers" right away (1, 2, 3, 4, or however many you get depending on type of ticket).  Instead, I scratch off the "your numbers" and the prizes......very slowly scratching the number.....and then scratching off the prize....rinse, lather, repeat until they're all done.....then I scratch off the "winning numbers."  If I hit a symbol to multiply the prize automatically (e.g. a Jumbo symbol on a Jumbo Bucks), I don't scratch off that particular prize.....I wait until everything is all finished with the ticket before revealing the prize.  If I hit a "win all" symbol, I STOP scratching off the prizes and reveal all the other numbers, including the winning numbers FIRST (even though the numbers are pointless at that point).  THEN, I scratch off all the prizes.

For games like "Find a (symbol) symbol, win prize shown.  Find a (symbol), win (bonus).  Find a (symbol), win all x prizes automatically.":

I scratch off all the prizes FIRST.  Then, I reveal the numbers (and symbol(s) if it's a winner).

In either of those cases, if I hit a winner, I scratch off the entire play area clear of that paint that's on there.  However, if the play area starts getting damaged in any way after revealing everything, I immediately scratch off the validation numbers at the bottom (as delicately as I can) and cash it in as to not risk destroying the ticket and not being able to cash it.  It seems like the $5 Giant Jumbo Bucks here in GA are very moody about the play area wanting to come apart when you scratch it off.

Note that I scratch off the whole entire ticket clear of the latex paint stuff (or whatever it's called) ONLY when I'm slow playing tickets.  I did it Saturday on the $2 Jumbo $30 winner just because it had all 10 prizes being won.  Normally, if I take a picture of a big winner and it's not a "win all" situation, I just scratch off all the prizes (and numbers or symbols) clearly to try to make it look somewhat neat in that particular area.

Normally, if I'm in the car going somewhere and I stop and get some scratchers, I just scratch off the winning numbers and your numbers, only revealing the prizes if there's a number match, correct symbol, or multiplier/win all.  I can do a bunch of tickets quickly doing that.  But, when slow playing, I actually go slower than cars "driving behind the interstate pace car" known as a police car.

(and to finish that Larry the Cable Guy reference........"the police car pulls off at the next ramp and.......back to green flag racin'!" )

Until next time, may all your scratchers be big winners.