I'm going to go ahead and post my KACHING Report since I don't plan on buying any scratchers tomorrow.

Saturday's slow playing (I'll talk about my change to this later in this post):

2 free tickets and $6 (3 x $2) on 3 $1 Quick 6

$8 ($8) on $5 $500,000 Player's Club

Free ticket and $50 ($5 + 15 x $3 via gold bar "win all") back-to-back on 2 $5 $500,000 Riches

Overall, it was a very nice $45 profit.

Tuesday:

$3 (3 x $1) on $1 Quick 6s

$3 ($3) and 2 free tickets on 3 $2 Stocking Stuffer

$3 and a free Win For Life quick pick (3 x $1 + WFL) on $2 Instant Win For Life

$2 (2 x $1) on $1 Holiday Cash

It was a $6 loss.

Wednesday:

$5 (Ace $2 + $1) and a free ticket back-to-back on 2 $2 Aces & 8s

$2 (3 of 6) on Win For Life (it was the free quick pick that I had on the Instant Win For Life)

It was a $3 profit that day*.

The KACHING Meter for December 12, 2008 (*assuming my Mega Millions doesn't win tomorrow night):  9.6

If I win anything on my Mega Millions tomorrow night, it'll be added to this week's KACHING Meter since the ticket was purchased this week (on Wednesday).

Ok, now a small change to something I call "slow playing" (sometimes jumbled together.....depends on my mood ).

Actually.......I was asked a few blog posts ago "What is slow playing?"  I'll go over the (lengthy) details first, then I'll talk about the changes that I used last week which paid off with that $50 winner in my previous blog post which I wouldn't have hit had I been using my previous method.

Number/symbol match (e.g. "Match your number to the winning number(s), win prize shown."):

What I do with these types of games is that I scratch off the "your numbers" first (but not the prizes):

If all numbers are unique and there are no special symbols present on the ticket:

I will scratch off all the prizes (being careful not to uncover the validation letters in the event it's a winner of $19 or less (different states do the validation letters differently -- GA does validation letters up to $19 and random letters with $20 or higher and duds))).  After the prizes are revealed, I'll then reveal the "winning numbers" to see if I have a winner.

If there are duplicate numbers in the "your numbers" area and/or special symbols are present:

I'll reveal the "winning numbers" first, then I'll scratch off the prizes of any numbers that DO NOT match.  Once those are out of the way and I'm done keeping myself in suspense over what I've won, I'll then scratch off the prizes of the matching numbers (or special symbol) and see what I won.

If it's the type of "winning number match" ticket that contains a "win all" symbol and I get a "win all" symbol:

I'll reveal the rest of the "your numbers" (if the "win all" symbol isn't the last item), then I'll reveal the "winning numbers" (even though it doesn't matter what they are at this point).  Once all that is revealed, I'll then reveal the prizes.

Special symbol games (e.g. "Get a Bill symbol, win prize under that symbol.  Get a Moneybag symbol, win 5 times the prize.  Get a Truck symbol, win all 15 prizes.")

First, all prizes on the ticket are revealed.  Then, all the information above the prizes are revealed.  It's that simple.

Games where you get something like 3 matching symbols in a single game and win prize shown for that game.

For these types of games (see the $1 Holiday Cash from the Georgia Lottery), I'll scratch off the first symbol in each game.  Next, I'll scratch off the prizes.  After that, I'll scratch off the 2nd symbol in each game (again, as with all games, being careful not to reveal the validation letters as to not spoil a possible win).  If a game doesn't have 2 matching symbols, I'll go ahead and scratch off the 3rd symbol (since it wouldn't be a winner in the example of the $1 Holiday Cash unless it's a candy cane for $25).  After this, I'll scratch off the 3rd symbol in each game and see if I have a winner.

I have no special methods of slow playing "extended play" games, such as bingo and crossword games.  These take long enough to scratch off as it is (at least, it's that way for me anyway).

Ok, now that I've probably put you to sleep......when you wake up, here's the changes I've made to my slow playing process.....

1.  I will play the same ticket until I hit a cash winner (even if it's a breakeven cash winner).  If I hit a free ticket, I'll get another ticket of that particular game and roll.  This is different from the past, where I'd switch to another kind of ticket (or another roll of the same game (if available) if it's a game I like to play) at the first winner, whether it was a cash winner or a free ticket.

2.  I scratch off the validation numbers at the bottom of the ticket before I scratch anything else.  This is just to add a few seconds to the slow playing.  That's the only purpose of this particular change to my slow playing.

I piloted this change during my slow playing session last Saturday.  As I mentioned earlier, had I not did this, I would not have hit that $50 winner in my previous blog post.  I also decided to do this after hitting the "free ticket, $100, free ticket" trifecta a couple of weekends ago on the $2 Stocking Stuffer tickets (although I wasn't slow playing then).  It does make me wonder how many nice winners I've possibly passed up from chickening out of the roll when I hit a free ticket.

Until next time, may you hit nothing but nice winners on your tickets.