I was behind an elderly black gentleman at a convenience store awhile back and he was buying lottery tickets. As he paid the clerk and pocketed his tickets he said “I been playing this number for two years now and it ain’t hit yet.” With that he left the store.
As I moved up to the counter to pay for my items, the Indian clerk looked out the door as the fella departed and said to me in his accented voice “I think he may be what you call very slow learner.”
As a rule I don’t play the lottery. Like most other suckers though, I will wait until it gets over say $300 million before I waste a couple dollars on it just to have something to talk and dream about for a day or two.
The latest Mega Million Hurricane has spun up because the lottery folks have made it even harder to win it. Hence, the jackpots are getting higher. And the Lottery folks did all this after they raised the ticket cost from $1 to $2. The following explains it in detail:
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| https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/10/20/mega-millions-jackpot-reaches-record-billion-after-no-winner-latest-drawing/?utm_term=.b8f788d51b0d |
Someone simplified the Mega Million approach by noting “Give me a dollar and try to pick out the seven of hearts from this deck of 52 cards. OK now give me two dollars and try to pick out the seven of hearts from say 62 cards.”
A friend of mine who has a “Neighborhood” Store told me that this past Friday he did over $3,000 in Mega Million sales of which he gets back a 5% commission. Customers coming into his business to buy a lottery ticket also purchased other items. Bottom line, he said Friday, thanks to the Lottery, was a very good day for him.
The next Mega Million drawing is set for Tuesday night. I will buy a ticket or two from my friend’s business so at least he will get something out of the deal when I don’t win. I usually play some variation of my kids’ and grandkid’s birthdates. However, the times that I have played, I think I may have actually had only one of the numbers pulled. And I have never had the Mega/Power Ball number match any of mine. Maybe I am the slow learner here.
Bruce has a very optimistic tune here about hope and dreams: