The day after a major jackpot is won tends to be a downer for many avid lotto players. Go to any message board and you will see regrets from players for either spending so much money or wishing they had played different numbers. I'll be honest, it used to be a very black day for me, having been yanked from my lotto dreams back down into reality.

Over the past year though, I have begun to not let a loss get to me anymore. I accomplish this by looking at things from a different perspective.

1.) Let's face it, the likelyhood that anyone of us will win Powerball or Mega Millions during our lifetimes is exceedingly remote.

2.) Some non-players often call the lotto a "tax on the poor" or some other players see it as an investment, I disagree. I see it as a couple of dollars buying a dream. If I want to invest, I'll go contribute to a 401(k) or buy some shares.

3.) I don't ever regret parting with the money that I spend on the lottery. Once it has left my hands and I am holding a ticket, I consider it as money spent on entertainment. When I was in the ARMY, some of my fellow soldiers used to go spend half their paychecks on girls and booze over the weekend. Parting with a few dollars every draw is far less expensive, plus I don't have to deal with the unpleasant side effects of the more expensive habit (STDs and liver disease).

One strategy that I have started to employ to play more combinations without spending an extra dollar during these recordbreaking jackpots, is to purchase my plays with winning scratchers and other small dollar lotto winnings that I have saved up. For example in Tuesdays Mega Millions jackpot, I played 15 sets covering all Megaballs and included the Megaplier. These were bought with winning scratch tickets of $20, $4, $4 and $2 that I had been lucky enough to get earlier this year.

The $5 that I ended up winning this drawing will go towards the next major jackpot, I don't see it as money that I won but rather as free plays gained from my prior entertainment expenses.