The Lottery Experiment, August

 Week 33

I thought that I was going to have to work extra shifts this week so I figured I would buy my ticket on Tuesday. However I found out the person who was taking time off got their dates wrong, it's going to be next week. So I figure I will do the Friday thing I planned on doing last week.

I've been buying a ticket on Thursday morning to avoid the tourists and, well, to avoid hearing about what a great job the new station manager is doing. However big changes are coming so the guy had something to complain about, plus I slept in on Thursday, so I dropped by on Friday morning instead. It was just what I expected, the place was busy, the manager was complaining and big changes are going to be happening over the next few months. Gonna be fun.

This week I ended up with $30.17 in the Tip Jar so I considered my options, do I buy one of the second chance tickets? Do I buy one of the low end tickets? In the end I went with a new one. It's a $10 ticket with a potential payout of $10,000. However after I bought it I discovered that it was the first ticket out of the pack, #000. I never win with the first ticket, and I kept up my streak.

And the Powerball is creeping up. If nobody wins I may end up having to buy one before the end of the month. However since I've changed the rules and I'm not working at the station that sells the lottery tickets I may swap out the Powerball for my weekly scratch ticket. And since I'm only going around once a week I won't buy three of them in a single week. Perhaps getting sent to the different station was worth it.

Week 34

The Powerball hit a billion dollars, once it reaches this amount I feel obligated to buy a ticket, I mean $2 for a billion, that's a worthy risk. However I was going to have to work back to back double shifts. I wold be at work before the lottery selling station opened and I would get off work after the drawings started and the machines were shut down. Of course if nobody wins I can go buy one on Friday. In the end, someone won on Thursday and the Powerball was back down to $20 million. So I won't be buying a ticket this time around. 

When Friday rolled around I counted up the Tip Jar and had reached $33.88. I've bought all the available tickets, except the $20 ticket. I could choose from any of the available ones but which one? I should go with the new second chance ticket but I figured I would go with the lucky coin I spun it on the glass and it landed on the $5 ticket. The payout is $25,000 and there are still two jackpot tickets floating around. However I didn't get one, it was a loser. The tickets have a second chance option that could be worth up to a million dollars so at least I have a chance there.

Also this week they did two drawings for second chance tickets and I didn't win on either of them. Oh well, better luck next round.

Week 35

At the end of the week I had $40.77 in the Tip Jar so I rolled $20 into the Alternate Fund. Honestly, I've done better with found money than with lottery tickets and since I'm not working at the station that sells tickets I'm wasting a lot less money gambling. Anyhow they hadn't put out any new tickets so I bought the purple one, it's been around for a while and I think I bought one last year. Anyhow it was only a dollar so I'm not blowing through my funds. It had a jackpot of $500 however it wasn't a winner so my streak continues. I'm not even interested in buying them anymore, I'm just doing it to finish my experiment.

Week 36

This week I had $26.51 in the Tip Jar meaning I could buy any of the available tickets (I'm still avoiding the $20 one even though I can afford it). When I was handling the lottery I would try to get a good rotation of new tickets going but currently they have had the same tickets for at least 6 months. So I decided to go the dart board route for this week and it picked the ticket in the #21 slot. It's a $3 ticket with a potential jackpot of $10,000. The dart board lied to me and it was a loser. The good news is that it's a second chance ticket and I could win $10,000. Fingers crossed.

My August Total

I spent $170 on scratch tickets.

$14 on Powerball tickets.

 Won $104

Found a ticket good for a free $2 ticket

Was tipped a $5 ticket.

Got a $4 lottery tip. 

I entered 22 Second Chance tickets on line

At the end of the month I am down $56 in the regular lottery experiment. 

I also have $270.00 in the Alternate Fund


The Art Project≥I spent $20 on tickets.

I got one free ticket

I won $3

I'm down $17 but it's for art so....

So overall I'm down a total of $72, thanks to art.

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