Brooke is my favorite scratching friend

My friend, and roomate, has always been my favorite scratch ticket companion. She likes them as much as I do. Whenever we are both in Connecticut we find time to buy tickets at Mobil and scratch until we win something. Brooke is in the picture above. Over Christmas we went to get some tickets. I bought a 10 dollar ticket that was total crap. Brooke bought me two snowflake cashwords because she owed me six bucks. Luckily, one of those lovely snowflakes won 5 dollars. So I really only lost 5 dollars in the whole transaction. Feliz Navidad!

Tis the Season to get scratch ticket presents

 To my surprise there were scratch tickets taped to my present from my sister Carly! At first I just thought they were part of the Justin Beiber wrapping paper she had used, but no, there was a bonus. They were two $5 tickets called "Holiday Gold." Really one of them was only paper because it was a loser but the other won ten bucks! Praise Jesus.

My sister's fiance was clued into my love for scratching so he brought me a "Holiday Spectacular" from New Jersey. I don't think I have ever scratched a New Jersey ticket. I did not have beginners luck, and Jersey did not bring me millions. You can actually see Charlie in the background of this picture admiring my collection of tickets. You will also notice that there are a couple of $1 tickets mixed in there. Those were stocking stuffers from Santa. Scratch tickets make the BEST STOCKING STUFFERS. It's almost like being handed money for no reason. Unfortunately "Holiday Greetings" and "Casino Kings" were all duds. It's funny that all of the scratch tickets start with "Holiday...something." Can't there just be all sorts of Christmas, Hannukkah, Kwanza, etc. tickets? That would be more fun. I would love to scratch something with some sort of dradle game. Instead we are stuck with blah holiday.

NYC es terrible

Lost a 2 dollar cash word at the Bronx bodega. This was followed by an epic binge a few days later. I spent $20 at the news stand down the block and I only won a measly dollar back. $19 gone in just a few brief moments of hopeful scratching. I bought one $10 ticket titled "Make Me Rich" hoping that it would do just that. Still poor. I also bought ten $1 tickets called "Loose Change." Again, I only won a dollar back.

I really appreciate the CT lottery when I'm in shiteous NY

Whew!

So I took those fabulous fives and bought 7 more.  I won $15.00 on a $1.00 ticket.  That's a pretty good score.  I also won $1.00 on three more of the tickets.  So $18.00 in total.  Of the 18 I kept 10 to even my score and spent 8 on some more 1 dollar tickets.  I'm into the 1 dollar tickets right now they are quick and dirty.  Lost the last 8.  BUT over all of the thanksgiving scratching I broke even- can't complain.

I am thankful for the lottery

Back in Connecticut for the holiday I decided to pick up some cashwords. I bought 12 dollars worth (4 tickets) one of them being a special snowball edition cashword. I love how the lottery comes up with ways to suck people in. Let's turn the cashword into a snowball and the gamblers will not be able to resist trying it out. This time the holiday edition did not upset- which is unusual because I feel like they are more for show and they are total lotto placebos.  Snowball won 10 bucks and one of the regular cashwords won 3 dollars.  In total, at this point, I was up by a dollar. Spent 12, went home with 13.

And by went home I mean I took a couple hours off and then went right back to the mobil station to spend my 13 dollars on more tickets. I use the holiday as an excuse to do everything in excess- mainly eat, drink wine, and gamble. After much contemplation and holding up the line at the mini mart I settled on a 10 dollar cashword (crazy...I didn't want to do it but the girl behind the counter made me) and a regular 3 dollar cashword.

This is the 10 dollar ticket. It is extra big making it extra tempting to buy. When it comes to lottery, size is everything. The bigger the ticket, the more chances to win and the higher the prizes. However, I ALWAYS seem to lose the 5 and 10 dollar cashwords. Clearly I have not learned my lesson.

These are the remains of my precious 12 dollars that I started with. Nothing to show for it. This obviously pissed me off and led me to rationalize spending another 5 dollars on some 1 dollar tickets. Fabulous Fives!

Fabulous Fives were somewhat fabulous. After spending 5 dollars on fabulous fives (I thought that by buying 5 I would have some weird cosmic luck) I left with 7 dollars. Now that brings me to a total of a 10 dollar loss this thanksgiving season- correct me if I fucked up the math but I'm pretty sure that's right. These fabulous five winners are sitting in my car right now as I am typing this. Will I resist buying more tickets with the 7 dollars? Probably not.

Lightning don't strike twice

Foolishly I picked up another cashword in the Bronx because I was riding the high from my last win. Lost two bucks on a cashword doubler. Today feels like a good day to pick up some tickets- it's been awhile. 

Stats

-25.00 (previous balance) - 5.00 (24 store trip 1) - 6.00 (24 store trip 2) = -36.00


-36.00 + 10.00 (also from 24 store trip 2) = -26.00 (current balance)


One good win would make it all worthwhile. 

Lotto In the Bronx

This here is the 24 Store. It is conveniently located right next to my bus stop at school where I am often lingering around waiting for the BxM10 bus which is chronically late. Lingering near a store that sells lotto is not great for my budget. On this day I bought 5 dollars worth of tickets. One powerball (lost), one megamillions (lost), and a one dollar scratcher (lost). So far, not good. I even had my friend John bless my tickets with his good luck and.. no dice.

                                                                        HOWEVER

The next time at the bus stop I bought $6.00 worth of scratchers and my Cashword doubler won $10.00! See below.

I got 5 words: Owe, Myth, Tilt, Hit, and Big
Sometimes Cashwords do win! In this case it helped with my lotto debt a bit. Made up for the impulsive bus stop purchases- for the most part. The candy you see in the background is from a different convenience store where I retrieved my 10 dollars and did not succumb to buying more tickets even though the bodega man was yelling at me to "gamble gamble gamble." Aggressive.

The Powerball

The stakes are high. Rumor has it that the POWERBALL jackpot will rise above 300 million for Saturday's drawing. I will be buying some tickets...will you? What would you do with 300 million? I can think of a few things I would like. First I would pay off all of my evil student loans. After that...I have no idea...some great real estate? A few homes in a few different locations, probably. Would have to give some (a lot) to charity. I don't think anyone NEEDS that much money. I would be happy with 200 million :)

Stats

-42.00 + 17.00 = -25.00


I see myself breaking even soon.

More Birthday Fun

Word really got out this year that I love scratch tickets.  Guess I can thank the blog for publicizing my love of small-time gambling.

This is Lizzy.  She bought me 4 cashwords valued at $5 each.  We scratched them together with high hopes.  Usually if you have a string of tickets this long, one of them is bound to be a winner.  Not so much this time.  Funny that there is a toilet in the background of this picture because that is where these devil cashwords belong.  I am really starting to lose faith in cashwords.  Dan says that he has never seen me win a single cashword.  I need to get over the fact that they are fun.  It is not fun losing money.

HOWEVER...I bought a $3 cashword in Connecticut on my birthday as a gift to myself and I won 20 bucks!  Guess I had some birthday luck after all.  That is the only thing I will be adding to the Stats because the rest were gifts so they don't count.

My friend Sarah also bought me some tickets with a lovely card.  3 out of the 5 were winners!  17 dollars of profit in total.  I don't have a picture here because they won and I turned them in.  Thanks Sarah!

Last but not least my parents (after shaming me for my gambling habit) bought me this CT Powerball for tomorrow night.  The numbers are my horoscope and the Powerball number is 25, which is how old I just turned.  Can't wait to win millions.  Keep your fingers crossed!

Schblogisbord

My birthday this year has been full of gambling and scratch tickets.  Thankfully most of the tickets were gifts.  Pictured here we have Stuart, Natalie, Dan, and Darren outside of the Trump Plaza in Atlantic City.  What a shitty hotel.  If you ever find yourself in AC, the Trump Taj Mahal is the same price and its a nicer casino/hotel.  Everything was black and gold...the trashiest of colors according to Natalie.  Bed spreads were ugly.  HOWEVER, the view was decent.  As you can see. 

So, given that our casino was tiny and did not have a WHEEL, we went to the casino at Cesar's Palace. Way better.  The WHEEL is a very important game.  A casino without a WHEEL is not a proper casino. In case you don't know, the WHEEL is kind of like "wheel of fortune" where you have a Vanna White type person spin the wheel.  You make bets on odds and you hope that the wheel lands on where you bet.  The WHEEL generates a lot of anxiety and excitement.  Unfortunately it is also where I lost most of my money.  I left Atlantic City without my $500.00.

This is the WHEEL.  The woman who held my future in her hands is named Sally.  She went from being my best friend to being my mortal enemy.  She was the sweetest old lady you have ever met.  She even gave psychology lessons about Pavlov's dogs.  She was there until the end...around 3AM when we threw in the towel.  By the end I was furious with Sally and her inability to provide me with winning spins.  I think she was a foreign spy dressed up as a sweet old lady...sent from abroad to rob me blind.

Scratch tickets also happened in AC.  Dan surprised me with $70.00 worth of tickets.  There were $1 tickets, $5 tickets, cashwords, and a $30 ticket!  I have never scratched a 30 dollar scratcher in my life.  It was really exciting.  And we won $40 on it.  I scratched all of the tickets in one sitting and ended up with $67 in profits.  Dan said that he should have just handed me 70 bucks because it would be the same thing.  But scratching is the best part!!

Natalie and Stuart brought this guy up from Maryland.  I like it.  It's totally appropriate.  Super Slots for Atlantic City.  But...it was a loser.  These super slots were just not loose enough.

Overall Atlantic City was a blast.  Wasn't too bummed about the loss because I had such a great time with my friends.

Massholes

This is a $10 ticket from Massachusetts "100,000 a year for life." I was just talking about how the Mass lotto is typically better than the NY lotto but not this time. Luckily this was a gift from Dan so I didn't really lose anything. Nobody ever wins 100,000 a year for life. I will believe it when I see it. I just looked it up and the chances of winning are 1 in 4,032,000. Those odds suck ass. But hey, theres over 1,000,000 prizes from $50.00 to $500.00. I would happily accept 500 thanks.

Stats

-51.00 + 9.00 = -42.00

Still in the red. But maybe things are looking up?

CT > NY

I have decided that the Connecticut lottery is superior to the New York lottery. Finally, after blogging for what seems like forever about bunk scratchers I finally won more than my money back on a ticket. Where was the ticket from? The Mobil station in New Canaan, CT. In fact, I have had a couple $100 wins from this gas station in the past. Unfortunately this time I only won $10.00 and it was on a $3.00 cashword. So I gained $7.00 (up-to-date stats coming soon). The New York lottery is shit. I never seem to win. When I lived in Boston the Mass lotto treated me well. What the fuck New York? My theory is that the gigantic population of New York contributes to less winning lottery tickets. Logistically I am not sure why- if anyone has a better understanding of it I would love to know. For now, CT has my attention.

!!!

$2.00 scratcher brought me $4.00

praise jesus

Gold from the golden state?

Scratch tickets all the way from California. Oh. My. God. These are from my great friend Tess (Thanks Tess). This is the note she sent me with the tickets. So, what does "set for life" mean anyway? 

Well I will kill the suspense and tell you that I am not set for life. This $5.00 ticket did not deliver. I am beginning to think the whole "set for life" lottery thing is a myth. Have you ever heard of anyone winning $100,000 a year for 20 years? What happens if you drop dead after the first year? Do they pay your family out for the other 19 years? Doubtful. I bet there are all kinds of weird rules designed to screw you if you actually win. Still wish I had won though. 

MOOlah! Tess I cannot think of a more appropriate scratch ticket for me (Moo, is one of my many nicknames). Happy cows come from California. Any hey, its a winner. Unfortunately it's not a cash winner, we just won another one dollar moo ticket. You may think that with the price of stamps that it is not worth sending this back to California to be exchanged for a new one but I am no quitter. Tess, be looking out for your mail because we are getting another god damn moo ticket. But let's change this up a bit. I want you to scratch it, write a short summary about your experience with the scratching, and then I will post you as a guest blogger on this page. Be careful...you might get addicted. 

Stats:

Current Total Losses:   -51.00 dollars

Hangovers = poor impulse control

Really not feeling so hot this morning. Made it to brunch with Dan and the two mimosas didn't have the effect I was hoping for. Instead, in a boozy haze I ended up at that street stand that I blogged about previously. There were two nice ladies ahead of me turning in their winning scratchers and obviously buying more with the winnings helloooo addiction. The lady before me bought a "take 5" quick pick for tonight and one for tomorrow night. I copied her and did the same. Might as well try out a different form of lotto. Couldn't dig in without buying an exorbitant amount of cashwords, however. Went for the $10.00 ticket as well as 2 $5.00 tickets and a $2.00 ticket. That's 24 dollars in total in case your wondering (including those quick picks which I intend on winning). Good news! I didn't lose every single ticket which seems to be the trend since I started the blog. I won $10.00 on one of the $5.00 tickets and my money back on the $2.00 one. That is a grand total of $12.00. So I won half of my money back. Not so great, but better than losing $24.00. I will be back to report that I won the quick pick, you just wait and see. 

Natalie from NoVa

This is a letter I received from my dear friend Natalie who lives in the wretched state of Virginia. Enclosed in this letter were two Virginia scratch tickets! How exciting! Getting my mail is starting to be fun again- usually its just filled with crap mail or unpaid bills. I really liked the last part of this letter "p.s. even if you win a dollar you better split those earnings with me." I can literally see and hear those words coming out of Natalie's mouth. That's the deal with this mailing me scratch tickets from other states (yes there should be 2 on their way from California thank you Conor and Tess) if I win anything, I mail back the ticket and split the winnings with the buyer. Yes Natalie if I win a dollar you will be obligated to send me 50 cents in the mail. In other words, YOU better split those earnings with ME.

This is the first ticket in Natalie's gift. It is a one dollar scratcher called 7 come 11 which I find hilarious in itself. Welp, unfortunately 7 didn't come and neither did 11. Maybe they just weren't in the mood.

On to Money Tree. Here you are required to uncover acorns in order to win any cash. My money tree had a rose, a lemon, a banana, a bundle of grapes, a bell (didn't know you could grow a bell), an apple, a pineapple, ice cream (?!), a crown, and a cherry. Not one single acorn. Then I scratched the bonus spot where I was hoping to find a squirrel. What did I get? Fire. WTF.

Thanks Nat for the effort but I'm not surprised that Virginia let us down. I don't think I won a single scratch ticket in my 8 months living there. Maybe DC or Maryland has better luck.

Random Loss

Just bought another blue one.  Thought maybe because it was a random bodega in the east village my luck would be different.  I'm boycotting the blue from here on out.

Next post is for Natalie Waggaman...got your VA scratchies in the mail today will post in detail later.

Tack negative 3 onto the total losses.

Help from the Internet (getting desperate here)

http://www.theatlantic.com/personal/archive/2011/02/how-i-beat-scratch-off-lottery-tickets/70686/

Joshua Green, a columnist writes about his strategy for winning scratch tickets (click link above).  Too bad I don't work at a 7/11.  I also don't really feel like hanging out with scratchers more degenerate than I.  Probably a bad influence. 

Slingo Gold

This is bingo.  Not sure why they called it Slingo but that's besides the point.  This ticket was kindly purchased for me by my boyfriend (thanks Dan) when we were visiting Rhode Island.  Turns out the Rhode Island Lottery sucks just as much as all of the other states.  Slingo was a no-go and the losing streak persists. At least the liquor store that sold us the ticket also had a nice box of sangria for me to drink.  

I'm not including this is my losing/winning numbers because technically I did not buy it. 

A different Approach

In an attempt to beat the losing streak I shelled out $10.00 on one ticket.  The odds of winning are generally better the more you spend on an individual ticket.  Not this dog.  Zero.  The bonus puzzle (smaller one to the middle-right) is always crap.  Never in all of my years scratching have I won the bonus puzzle or the bonus word for that matter.  It's just there to lure you in.  Witchery. 

-$36.00 FML

Binge

This little setup here is located on 2nd ave between 79th and 80th.  It torments me every time I go out to run an errand.  You will notice some bystanders who also gave into the call of the New York Lotto.  Hope that's not me in 40 years.  Anyway, I went on a binge and bought $13.00 worth of tickets in one go.  My thought process was like this:  "If I buy six tickets instead of the normal one or two, I will at least win my money back on one of them."  Moral of the story: lotto binge will not help you break the bad luck cycle.  

I have now lost $26.00 

Stats:

Right now I am $13.00 in the hole since I started this blog...just wanted to clarify.

10 for NY
3 for CT
0 for moi

Broken Dreams

Well, this is all I've got from the past two weeks or so. At least it feels like 2 weeks. Thought I would try my luck on a Bingo scratcher because it is time consuming (like the cashword) and rewarding just to play...even if you lose like I did.  Blue NY cashword...dud.  I have been having especially bad luck with those blue guys but I keep coming back to them like a pathetic abused spouse. Also mixed up the variety with some "loose change" $1 tickets.  These ones give you cent amounts and they have to add up to a dollar or more, or else you lose. One of them added up to 92 cents (tease) and the other 72 cents. Thanks NY lotto for continuing to eat my soul and my paycheck. Really hurting for a winner.

NY lotto +6
Me         -6

Hurricanes don't stop the Lotto

This is a Connecticut cashword that I picked up for $3.00 when I was doing my last minute booze run before Hurricane Irene. We lost power so I needed to use a flashlight to take this picture. Long story short I lost again...3 more dollars in the red.

Here are my stats since I started the blog:

New York Lotto:  -$6.00
CT Lotto:             -$3.00

I could have done a lot with that nine dollars.

A non traditional cashword

I bought this ticket at the same time as the previous one, also for two dollars. I got really mad when I lost so I ripped it up. So today I lost $4.00 in total. These ones always seem to lose but I keep going back to them because of the one time I won $40.00 on this brand of ticket. That's the thing about gambling. The wins always keep you coming back for more. The other day I won $20.00 on a ticket in Connecticut (bought it for $3.00...cashwords more expensive in CT) and now I'm on a bit of a rampage. I should probably take a break. I've been losing pretty bad in NYC recently.

On average I probably buy anywhere from 2-10 dollars worth of tickets per week. Usually happens when I have cash on hand which is often given that I am a waitress. When I spend any more than that I feel like a total idiot...unless I win. So I rationalize it.

Here Goes Nothing

This is a classic cashword that I bought for 2 dollars at my local bodega. Things looked good in the beginning with three vowels (vowels are good because they are in a lot of words ). The whole point of a cashword is to scratch "your letters" and then find them in the puzzle wherever they may be and scratch them in the puzzle. You need to make words. The more words, the more cash you win :)

Needless to say this ticket was a piece of shit. I lost. New York Lotto 1, Molly 0