My Twenty Dollar Lottery Experiment: Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Lose

During the last couple of weeks the Mega Millions Lottery Jackpot has risen to $270 Million dollars which prompted a lot of people to play. At work we did a couple of lottery pools where we each gave $5 to buy tickets. Combine we had over 70 chances to win. No big deal but we thought that the more times we entered the better our chances. The first time we did this the jackpot was $220 million. We won only $12 from our tickets which we reinvested into more tickets and when no one won again that's when the jackpot increased to $270. There was a total of three times that we played to no avail. Someone won in another state.

So with this experiment I purchased $20 worth of scratch offs to see if I would win anything. I did budget for this experiment because I do not believe in sacrificing bill money for the mere chance of winning the lottery. That is just foolish. And although I have heard of people who won on a single ticket they got from scrounging change, I know that it could happen.

One time several years ago, I was in Detroit, Michigan visiting my best friend. We went into a packaged goods store and along with our purchase I got a couple of scratch offs. I vowed in my head that if I won, I would give the person outside begging for change a dollar. My friend was so mad at me because when I scratched off the ticket and found out I won $50.00, I had to go back in the store. She argued that if I gave him money, it would just support his habit. After I got my $50, I treated my friend to breakfast and we laughed it off.

For this experiment I am did not want to buy the tickets from one place. I spread my purchases over places that I visit, some urban some suburban. When I was living in Irvington, New Jersey which is next to Newark, I brought a single scratch off on a whim while at the grocery store. Later on I found out that I won $500. That prize because it was under a certain amount, I was able to claim from any lottery retailer in full without any paperwork. If you win over a certain amount, you have to fill out a claim and mail it in and wait for your check.