Karma, Or Perhaps Just Coincidence

Mrs. Hillbilly Mom has been in a scratching slump. The lottery has not been showering her with riches as usual. Switching denominations, switching tickets, reducing outlay, increasing outlay...nothing has proved a solution. These slumps happen. You can ride it out, or you can take a break. Right now, Mrs. HM is riding. Just like a winning streak doesn't last forever, neither does a slump. The odds will always even out.

I keep notes of winner and loser numbers, and a record of where I buy them. That way I don't go back and try for a good win after I've already gotten most likely the best ticket from that roll, barring a giant jackpot, which is random and can't be odd-ified like knowing there are 20 tickets in a roll, and 7 winners, one of them being a $100.

So put-upon by The Universe was I feeling that I checked my winner/loser notes yesterday, back to September 9. Would you believe that I had EXACTLY the right number of winners vs losers according to the odds for that ticket? So I figured today would be a clean slate. The odds are 1 in 2.82. So that's the chance I had of winning on any given ticket. That's always the odds, but streaks are funny things. As of yesterday, my wins had been evened out by my slump.

Today I stopped by Country Mart to buy tickets from their two vending machines. I put my money in the machine on the left, got two tickets ( my favorite Golden Ticket, and a lesser denomination), and saw that there was $1 left. That's impossible! I put in an even amount. Exact money for my two tickets. I'm no novice. I know what they cost. I can tell my bills apart. Somebody had left $1 in that machine!

You know the devil and the angel that movie people have sitting on their shoulders, giving them conflicting advice? I didn't have that. Not because I'm a bastion of honesty. Because I don't play the $1 tickets. That dollar meant nothing to me. The machines don't give change. In fact, the workers have taped a red sign above the bill slot on the machine on the right side. MACHINE DOESN'T GIVE CHANGE. You have to know what you want, what money you're putting in, and be prepared to pick a second choice if a ticket runs out.

I could have pushed a button and gotten myself a free $1 ticket, but I didn't. I couldn't cash it out and give it to the service desk. They'd looked at me like I had two heads that time I found a $1 ticket laying in the trough, and turned it in to them. So I just went about my business. I stepped over to the right machine, and bought my two tickets.

A lady came up behind me, then went over to the left machine. I figure she saw the extra $1. Maybe it was hers to start with. She didn't ask me if I'd left some money in it, though she most likely saw me at that machine first. OR she might have left the dollar in there as well.

Let the record show that when I got home and scratched my tickets, a ticket from the left machine won $50. And a ticket from the right machine won $100.

 The slump is over, baby! At least for today.

Looks like I won't be buying out of the right side machine for a while, since there are 18 more tickets that are NOT a $100 winner! (From 000 to 019 is how they're numbered, and my winner was 001)