So I'm a new scratch player (about 2-3 weeks now). I'm hooked! I've kinda given up on random number draws because I wasn't hitting since I started earlier this year doing lottery for the first time.
However, I'm conflicted sometimes with buying by intuition versus just impulse. I know it sounds crazy and I'm not suggesting any kind of phenomenon, as well as the fact that I understand (but not fully) that gambling tends to have all sorts of addictive tendencies which can appear to be rational but aren't.
I notice when I think about playing for a few minutes, I always win. When I just randomly grab a ticket because of an urge, I lose. I also find myself seeking out certain gas stations as well. If it's crowded, I never buy a ticket. I feel embarrassed and don't want to hold up the line, and I also like to take time to look at whats Availabile, recent winners, etc. I also win usually when I buy something else in the store. So whenever I go someplace, I try to give myself a reason to pick something up...even if it's just $.79
I have 2 gut feelings: one that gets nervous because I'll win, and the other that says don't waste your money. Yesterday, I ignored the don't waste your money feeling and bought 2 $5 from a machine that was repelling me. Sure enough, no winners. However, in previous times I thought about it, bought 2 tickets and won. I even ended up winning $35, and then $10 on the next ticket.
And is it just me...but the stores run by certain foreigners tend to trigger my "stay away from" alert. I don't know why, but I've never won at those. Of course it could just be my strategy needs tuning. But, reading about stories where people cheat the machines, I have my reservations. Even if they don't "cheat", how do we know they aren't using their free time and register money to buy ticket after ticket until they hit a win, and then the roll is useless?
Does any of this mean anything? P.S., I'm in traveling sales and mainly only allowing myself to buy scratch tickets as souvenirs.