LLoyd, I don't think I'm braver than anyone else. If I don't violate my own rule, once I hit a winner (any) I leave. If that means leaving a $500 or $1K to the next person, so be it. I won't be greedy and hopefully will hit it when it's my time.
Maybe it was a fluke with 100X but except for I think 1 winner, everything was above $25, either $40, $50, or $100.
Think of it this way. Let's say you bought 1 $25 ticket and it's a loser. OK, you bought 1 ticket and lost, not the end of the world. That's the chance everyone takes.
Next you buy a 2nd ticket. That one happens to be $25 winner. Not great since you are still down $25, but it's no different than had you just scratched off 1 loser and been out $25, but you got to scratch 2 tickets off for the price of 1.
Let's say that 2nd ticket was a $50 winner. Great, now you're back to even as if you hadn't played anything that night, so it's like a "do-over" and if you were willing to take the chance the first time, then taking the exact same chance again shouldn't be an issue.
Even better if the first ticket you play is a winner, then you get a buffer to abosrb any potential losing streaks to stay above the profit line or end back at where you started, which means you get multiple chances to play for $5M/$1M or other 2nd tier prizes for free.
The thing I think helps is to play 1 ticket at a time and not buy in bulk. If someone snaps up the next ticket while your scratching your one and you can't tell if they had a winner or loser, then leave the location and try somewhere new, whether you win or lose on the ticket you are scratching. But avoid buying in bulk, live 3 or 4 in a roll because it will suck to get a $100 winner on the first ticket only to have losers following it wiping out the profit. I'd rather take the odds and pick up the big winner, then go for another roll at another location.
It seems the $20 games might have better odds in FF and GRT and Monopoly which is why I played those on Wednesday.
Also, one thing I also did when I traveled is I'm a little numbers paranoid. Although there probably is no pattern, I think the safest series of tickets run between #011-#20, especially on the $20. Sure, there could be exceptions to the rule. High amounts can be found anywhere, but those dry streaks seem to be less riskier here, even if all there are is even-money winners. If the ticket #'s were higher than #025, I usually didn't play at that location. I do like the low numbers as well and thought they were good too, that was until I ran into GRT #002-#008 last Wednesday, which were all losers.