I seem to be making all the wrong decisions. Last week, I spent $40 on Giant Jumbo Bucks, just to make $5 (actually I lost $35), all at one sitting. I sat at the machine, and bought them 1 at a time, something that I generally avoid. I had been getting a lot of $15 winners on $5 Holiday Gifts, a new game, and I would usually buy 2 or 3 at a time, so if I won $15, and spent $15, I only broke even (I won on that game four times in a row, buying anywhere from 1 to 3 tickets at a time, at three different stores. I won every time. I think I spent $25 to make $40, a net gain of $15.
So I say to myself, self, I should just buy 1 at a time and hope for the best. For the last three times, I have only bought 1 at a time, and lost every single time. If you sit and scratch them off at the machines, you lose. If you just buy just one, you lose. I cannot seem to win to lose.
OK, I need to stay on target here. This is the cash 3 section. Today, I wrote out the played the following tickets straight/box: 235, 578, 350, 234, 507. I also filled out the following play slip, some straight/box, some just box: 130, 135, 257, 028 and 338, but decided not to play those last numbers, you know, the winning number. It would have added $3 to the grand total. I decided to just spend the $5, and not the extra $3. I had the winning number, but did not play it, because I wanted to save money. To save $3, I lost $40. I cannot believe it. A part of me started to play only the $3 ticket, but I was just stupid. I am just mentally kicking myself in the butt. It is killing me: it is eating me alive.
I will go ahead and share my current situation, I record my wins and losses, ticket number, and places purchased, as well as wins/loss month to date, and year to date. Then I end up withthe total total, also known as the grand total. I use a good electronic diary program to record my results, best of all, it is free. The name of the program is iDailyDiary. Here is my grand total, as of 10/31/2010:
CASH 3 -$5
-$5
SHELL SPR/POT:
HOLIDAY GIFTS #047 -$5
-$5
DAILY TOTALS:
TOTAL DRAW -$5
TOTAL SCRATCH -$5
SCRATCH MTD -$79
SCRATCH YTD -$64
DRAW MTD -$43
DRAW YTD -$58
TOTAL TOTAL MTD -$122
TOTAL TOTAL YTD -$122
Now contrast this with the following totals, from the first week in October:
DRAW:
CASH 3 -$5
MEGA MILLIONS -$5
-$10
QT RR/OC:
JACK-O-LANTERN CASH 280, 279, 273, 272 -$4
JACK-O-LANTERN CASH #279 +$100
+$96
DAILY TOTALS:
DRAW -$15
SCRATCH +$96
SCRATCH MTD +$54
SCRATCH YTD +$68
DRAW MTD +$14
DRAW YTD -$1.50
TOTAL TOTAL MTD +$68
TOTAL TOTAL YTD +$66.50
Anyone have any advice? I need to get things headed in the right direction. I know that quitting would be the only absolute way to guarantee not losing any more money playing, but that is very difficult for me (and just like most everyone here, I do not plan on quitting until I am ahead [at which time I will spend even more money, in the hopes of winning the big dollars]). I know the lottery has its ups and downs, but my understanding is that there are some folks who make a living at this, if not at least make some decent money, staying well ahead. Help!