Wise words Jasefan.
I'll be the first to admit I spent alot of money on Super Millions to find that one $100k win. Yes, it put me ahead by alot. If I didn't find that win, I would have been in the hole easily by $15,000-$20,000 with the amount of money I was spending on scratchers. If I were to continue spending $300-$500/month on scratchoffs, I know I could very easily be in the negative again 5-10 years from now assuming the poor returns I've been experiencing recently. (Like $40-$75 back after $300 spent)
When I was tracking stores that had books, making phone calls, I felt really interested in that 730k- 737k book range. I was lucky the store owners were willing to put those books aside from me. My decision to drive to Lake City to pick up those books could have easily been swayed. I even had to resort to getting cashback by buying candy from Walmart to get the rest of the money I needed because my bank was closed, and there wasn't an ATM near where I was driving. That's how you know you're a hardcore scratchoff addict when you're calling stores, requesting lottery reports, and speculating. I was spending alot of money going through books of Super Millions, and I would have been happy with just a $5k, $10k, or $20k win. The $100k was an unpleasant surprise, especially with it being a single digit match I didn't think it still existed. There was definitely a huge element of luck in buying books from the right store, and those books that I bought had either come from the warehouse or another store which kept it in inventory for months and decided to send it back.
I do think researching games, odds, prizes remaining, and looking at instant liability reports and inventory reports can increase someone's chances at finding big wins, but I also think it can result in such a narrow focus that they miss out on other games (particularly newer ones). I think newer games are the best games to play early on when you know all the top prizes are out there. Many of us see how books end up disappearing the longer a game is out, and they end up competing for shelf space with other games. Look at the $5 Winning Streak that has 9/20 top prizes remaining, and hasn't had a jackpot claimed in almost a year.
The $5 Cash Fall game seems to have maybe 400 books remaining across the state with 2/8 unclaimed prizes. Whether one of those exists or not is questionable. I keep mentioning that game because it isn't a terrible option to wager since there's still plenty of unclaimed $1ks, $2k, a few $10k prizes, and possibly the elusive big one.
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We know Adam won the $2M Holiday Gifts, and the $100k on Gold Rush Doubler. The statistical likelihood of him winning the $2M Holiday Gifts was far more favorable and understandable because the game was over 90% sold through with the two unclaimed prizes, yet still the odds were massive. The $100k win on Gold Rush Doubler (odds 1 in 2.5m) is really the win we all should be like "wow!!!" about. Winning 4-5 jackpots in the span of one year, however, means he's either one of the luckiest men on the planet, or...aliens!