Scratch and Win Entertainment

Another day goes by and I say to myself. Why not me? I see all these people winning instant jackpots from scratch and wins and ask myself. Why not me? I buy multiple scratch and win tickets only to lose and feel bad about spending my money and ask my self. WHY ME?

It’s that little addiction I like to call the Scratch and Win Lottery ticket frenzy. It’s the guilty little pleasure people have sometimes when they walk into a party store for a drink and find yourself with an extra buck in change after your purchase. Maybe it’s when you go to get a quick snack at a gas station while your pumping gas into your vehicle. Or even if you grab an extra dollar out of your pocket when you go for your lottery ticket. Either way,there’s always that temptation to buy a scratch and win ticket for a quick fix and to possible earn a little more cash in your pocket. After all, the odds to win something for a dollar or two are a lot better then an actual lottery ticket. That’s when you pay for your scratch and win and hope you get something to win. Sometimes you scratch it in your car or maybe you scratch it when you get home. How about being that person that sits there at the cash register chatting with the clerk about how much your going to win all the while scratching away at the ticket with the free penny from the take a penny give a penny plate.

We’ve all seen those people right? The stack of tickets, scratching away when your in line waiting for the person in front while every bodies watching the same person scratch away. What’s he do with the tickets? Most likely he keeps buying more hoping to roll into the big one and leave the store and set up an appointment to collect his big winnings. Everybody has had the urge to do that, don’t lie. I’m not saying you would, I’m just saying that you’d love to win something on the tickets but you won’t spend a penny.

The other day I purchased about 5 of those Red Wings scratch and wins all together. Two of them gave me my money back and the other 3 lost. Good. I wanted to lose so I could send them in for an extra drawing to win the fantasy trip or TV. So today I’m handed 5 bucks especially for scratch and wins. Couldn’t spend it on anything else, so I go for the 2 for 1 ticket and 2 American Idol scratch and wins. All lost, but of course the American Idol one has the buy 3 non-winning tickets and get into a drawing for the finale or chance to win a 47″ screen TV. That meant of course I had to buy a 3rd American Idol ticket which I promptly did. For the first time in my life, I was that guy everybody see’s scratching a ticket while others are paying for their gas and looking to see if I was winning. Why you ask? Well I just needed 1 more losing ticket and worst case scenario, I get it. Best case scenario, I either earn my money back to buy another, or win a bigger pot and maybe fill up my tank of gas for the week! Well, I lost. I was happy. Now it’s on it’s way to the drawing for me to win a grand prize of a TV hopefully. I honestly don’t care enough to want to go to the finale since I’m not a fan of the show, but maybe I could sell it if I have no choice…..maybe buy some more scratch and wins.

But as always, I got my mega millions ticket for a chance to win 28 million!! Since I was given the money, but had to buy scratch and win tickets…i’m still going to technically put them on my money spent list for scratch and win tickets. Also on a totally unrelated note.. I picked up 3 Nintendo tooth brushes….old school.

March 16th, 2007 Estimated Jackpot $28 Million

Total Spent to date on Michigan Mega Millions: $20
Total Won to date on Michigan Mega Millions: $0
Total Profit to date on Michigan Mega Millions: $-20

Total Spent on Scratch and Wins: $35
Total Won on Scratch and Wins: $9
Total Profit on Scratch and Wins: $-26

Another one bites the dust

Another ticket bites the dust for last nights mega millions estimated at 19 million. The ups and downs of this? Of course the ups are always the raising of the jackpot!! To the tune of an estimated 28 million dollars! That’s a nice little spot of change wouldn’t you say? I gotta say, I had a good feeling about this small mega millions jackpot. Kind of like being an over night millionaire under the radar. I did happen to get 2 of the numbers in white balls, but they don’t count. Still excited since 2 numbers is about the highest I’ve gotten this year. It almost seems as if I’ll be going down deep and not earning any in the black, but only time will tell!!  I still need to package up my Detroit Red Wings Scratch and Wins and send those off to get some free swag and hopefully a big screen TV.

Tuesday, March 13th, 2007 Winning Numbers
07   11   16   38   49   35
My losing Numbers
01   11   16   37   55   25

March 16th, 2007 Estimated Jackpot $28 Million

Total Spent to date on Michigan Mega Millions: $19
Total Won to date on Michigan Mega Millions: $0
Total Profit to date on Michigan Mega Millions: $-19

Total Spent on Scratch and Wins: $28
Total Won on Scratch and Wins: $9
Total Profit on Scratch and Wins: $-19

Got a dollar? Feel Invincible!

What a great day today! I spent the entire day driving around the area enjoying the good weather. Who didn’t? I bet people called off work and even took the day off from school. What’s my story? I don’t work, so I really didn’t have anything else to do. I’d sure love to spend my life talking about the lottery but that’s not really going to pay the bills now will it? Well, if I win the big one and buy air time to talk about it or start my own business, radio station… ok, maybe not, but at least i’d be richer. Where exactly was I driving? Driving around from Dearborn all the way to Ann Arbor day dreaming about houses I can one day buy with my winnings.

Sound crazy? Any sane logical person will think I’m crazy, but I believe that the Michigan Mega Millions is a part of me. A part of me that helps me get through the day. I’m one of hundreds of thousands of people who think they have a shoot. A dollar every drawing not only gives you a chance to win millions and change your life, but it gives you hope. The hope that gets you through the day. The dream that makes that yelling boss and incompetent co-workers go in one ear and out the other. This is what my theory comes down too.

The dollar for a day or 2 of feeling invincible theory.

What exactly is this theory? This theory is that for only a dollar until the next lottery drawing, you can feel as if nothing can touch you. That nothing else matters. Who cares if people yell at you all day at work, if customers treat you like dirt when your forced to put on a smile or lose the job you hate but need, who cares if your boss thinks you are a screw up 24/7 even though he couldn’t do your days work in a month. Who cares about that big credit card bill looming over your head that you needed to pay a crooked mechanic so you can get to the job you hate to pay it off and one day retire. This theory keeps every one of those people that just have a horrible job and a horrible life and gives them hope. They feel that nothing can hurt them because if they win multi-millions, then they can get out of their rut and finally live life in retirement or go to college and find a job you’d love to come in to everyday. You’d have the money to spend a sunny weekday in the summer without a cloud in the sky driving around in your car or on a beach while everybody else is at work. This theory is what I hold to be true to myself. I feel for only a dollar every drawing, my life’s worries go away. That’s not to say I sit there and day dream, i’m still applying for jobs, looking for work and making things stay together, but it’s that dollar that makes it bearable to go day to day.

Just a theory of mine. Most people buy it to retire or just go in on an office pool for fun and never expect anything. Some just don’t bother spending a dime thinking it’s a waste of time. To a lot, that’s true. To me, it’s life. Not an addictive life, more of a hobby. To try out all the lottery games that are offered in Michigan. Ok, I think I may of went overboard with the millionaire raffle, that was a problem!! Big problem. But now I can only not do it again and just hope I win.

In other news, I finally picked up my 3rd losing Red Wings scratch and win ticket. Send 3 in and you can be entered in a drawing to win a chance at a dream trip grand prize or 47″ LCD TV grand prize. I’m currently going to stuff it in the envelope and hope I get something out of the drawing.

The drawing tonight is for 19 million. So get your dollars handy and go out and buy a mega millions ticket today!! The pot will grow the more tickets we buy. A waste you say? Well pfft on you guys then! What kind of lottery fanatics are you sitting there and not helping the pot raise up higher? 19 mill is a lot of money still!! If you need at least 300 million dollars to think about spending a dollar then I almost question …..how fast you’d blow through a small jackpot of 19 million?

March 13th, 2007 Estimated Jackpot $19 Million

Total Spent to date on Michigan Mega Millions: $19
Total Won to date on Michigan Mega Millions: $0
Total Profit to date on Michigan Mega Millions: $-19

Total Spent on Scratch and Wins: $28
Total Won on Scratch and Wins: $9
Total Profit on Scratch and Wins: $-19

Michigan Millionaire Raffle Begins!!

It has begun folks! Officially at 12am this morning Millionaire Raffle tickets were being sold. Although only 24 hour gas stations and party stores sold them that early and there’s not that many except for a few gas stations. But I finally decided to go balls deep and balls out and rock it with 7 tickets. I like to think of it as a tax refund investment from a refund that I’m waiting for and don’t remember what I was getting except at least triple what I spent on it. $140 bucks on lottery tickets. I’ve had many offers to split many of the numbers that I will more then likely be taking up, but I still have that little hope that maybe this could pan out into something good, but I may just not and keep it to myself. . Either way, the entire tax refund will be put aside for this years lottery playing. Mega millions tickets, scratch and wins and all that stuff set a side so I’m not dipping into anything that I can’t afford. At any rate, the drawing for the Millionaire Raffle will be  April 20th, 2007!! How fast are these tickets going? Well in the 10 seconds it took to print up, my first number was 48590 and my 7th number was 48669. Minus my 7 tickets, a total of 72 tickets were purchased in the 10 seconds I got mine. Wow. That’s all I got to say! They were purchase around noon. So 12 hours into the drawing and its already 50,000 tickets deep and 550,000 left to be bought. But it’s almost 2 hours since then so who knows how long these will last. A lot more will probably go after people get off of work or as the lunch hour goes on. So if your thinking about waiting to the last minute, then you might want to think twice and head on down to your local lotto dealer and pick up your tickets!! All tickets are sold individually, so you can’t group them in a pool like the mega millions.

Along with buying the raffle tickets I picked up the obligatory mega millions ticket worth an estimated 19 million along with 3 hopeful losing Detroit Red Wings Scratch and Win tickets. Well, 2 of them were losers and the 3rd was a $2 win. So a total of 6 bucks spent and 2 bucks won. Making 4 bucks in the hole, and no chance for a drawing for a grand prize of a dream trip or 47″ LCD TV  or a lower prize of at least a jersey, and at last a hat. At least it’d all be worth the 6 bucks. So time to trade that winning ticket in for a losing ticket!! Never thought I’d say that.

March 13th, 2007 Estimated Jackpot $19 Million

Total Spent to date on Michigan Mega Millions: $19
Total Won to date on Michigan Mega Millions: $0
Total Profit to date on Michigan Mega Millions: $-19

Total Spent on Scratch and Wins: $26
Total Won on Scratch and Wins: $9
Total Profit on Scratch and Wins: $-17

The not so Mega Millions

The bummers still kind of in a small haze settling around me still about the estimated 390 million dollar jackpot that was won the other day. That’s a hell of a lot of money. But that has all passed and 2 lucky people have actually won it. A trucker from Georgia and somebody from New Jersey who from last I heard has yet to step up to claim the prize. Was it me who bought that ticket? Well if I did I’d sure tell you people!! But I sure wouldn’t drive that far for a lottery ticket. The farthest I’ve traveled is about 40 miles in a trip around many cities to try and find that faithful 267 million dollar lottery ticket. It started out in my city and spanned about 6 different cities while I was traveling with a friend to go half on a winning ticket. We wound up picking some ho dunk gas station in the middle of no where’s ville and staked claim there. Was it worth it? Well of course not, but it was fun and that’s all that really mattered. If we were to win it big then it would of been worth every drop of gas used to get it. Back to the no so Mega Millions pot though. Tonight it’s an estimated 12 million dollars. I’m still not exactly sure how the calculations are done for the lump sum, but I do know that there’s a max 34% federal tax and 4% state tax on the money. What’s that mean? A big 38% chunk of your winnings down the tube? That’s right, they get your money and that’s not even including the lump sum! Once I figure that out, I’ll be adding the calculations into the routine.

So so far we have 12 million dollars on a rough estimate, 38% (34%federal tax, 4% state tax) is taken out at the end of the year. But does that mean it’s taken out of the entire thing at the end of one year? Not likely, I’d assume that if you took the lump sum, they’d take it from the whole. If you take annuity, you’d only pay the tax on what you earned that year from the annuity. Make sense? So 12 million after taxes is already. 4,560,000 dollars taken out. Leaving you with 7,440,000 left in cash. This is what you’d get over a period of 26 years. In other words, after tax you get $23,846.15 a month. That’s not quite bad if you think about it. Pay a buck to get 23k a month for the next 26 years. With lump sum, I’m not exactly sure.

In other news I know I promised and swore never to buy another scratch and win ticket, but I had no choice!! I was feeling to adventurous to not buy a scratch and win. Especially one that I haven’t seen before! It’s the Detroit Red Wings ticket that allows you to win up to $20,000! So I just had to at least try it out. What do I get for my time? 2 bucks won! OK, ok. It cost 2 bucks for the ticket, but I think it’s a good equal out opportunity. The best part about this particular scratch and win? If you send in 3 non-winning tickets, you enter yourself into a drawing for red wings merchandise as well as a chance to win an NHL Dream Trip for Two!! To quote the ticket:

For each Bonus Drawing there will be one (1) winner of a Grand Prize NHL Dream Trip and 169 winners of prize packs consisting of officially licensed Detroit Red Wings merchandise (Two (2) Hockey Jerseys, Baseball style jacket, polo shirt, commemorative plaque, windbreaker, and cap) Dream trip winners will have their choice of a Red Wings Home Game Getaway package, Road Trip Getaway package ora Sony 46 inch LCD wide screen television.

Drawing dates will be held March 6, 2007, March 27,2007, April 17, 2007 and May 8th 2007. Entries must be recieved seven days prior to a drawing. Entries discarded after each drawing. Tickets may continue to be sold after the last second chance drawing.

That about sums up the prizes. So for a lowly 6 bucks, that’s a pretty damn good shot at winning the dream trip or at least some sweet official merchandise of a great hockey team. Now on the back of the ticket there claims to be a withholding of 25% federal and 3.9% for state taxes. I’m curious, since I’ve been told 34% for fed max and 4% for state. Am I getting my facts mixed around? I’ll be sure to email someone in the Michigan lottery commission or somewhere to get to the bottom of this! So I did win the 2 bucks back, which brings me to my next goal of getting 3 non-winning tickets for my chance at a dream trip! All depends on the kind of trip. If it’s free hotel lodging, free eats, free seats in one of those suites, i’m all for the dream trip! If not, I think I’d rock out with the 46 LCD TV. Always wanted a big screen but could never afford it. Wish me luck in that everybody! But what are the odds of cash payout? Well according to the Michigan website, it’s as follows:

1 - $20,000
3 - $1,000
295 - $100

There are exactly 299 chances left to win a cash prize $100 bucks and over. Will you bet that one? You never know!

Friday March 9th, 2007 Estimated Jackpot $12 Million

Total Spent to date on Michigan Mega Millions: $18
Total Won to date on Michigan Mega Millions: $0
Total Profit to date on Michigan Mega Millions: $-18

Total Spent on Scratch and Wins: $20
Total Won on Scratch and Wins: $7
Total Profit on Scratch and Wins: $-13