How many times have you ever said “If I win the lottery …?”
Do you ever catch yourself daydreaming of being able to walk into work with a big-ass grin on your face and know you can walk into your boss and be like “I’m out.”
Do you think about the things you could buy or the places you could travel and not have to worry about time or price?
I’m pretty sure we all do.

But do you play the lotto?
So many people talk about winning the lottery and never play it. And I can get that. It’s basically throwing money to the wind. The odds are so far against you winning it’s not even funny. But, we all have those dreams.
I play the lotto – just not a lot.
It’s funny, too, as I don’t like gambling. If I go to a casino, I’ll usually limit myself to $20-$40 on the slots. Once that disappears, I am done. Or, if I win some, I tend to cash out and pocket it. I have friends who love gambling and casinos and they often do well. I just don’t have it in me.
I don’t bet on sports or anything like that, either. Sure, if I go watch some horse races, I might lay down a few small bets. But that’s just for the excitement. Goodness knows I have no idea what I am doing when it comes to betting.
But for the lotto, I like to give it a go. Until the numbers are drawn and I know I haven’t won, I can daydream about all sorts of things. Then the drawing happens, I don’t win and I go back to normal.
I try not to play unless it’s a bigger pot. It’s not that I couldn’t handle winning a 10 million pot – I would love it – but my disposable income just doesn’t get covered by playing the lotto every single day.
So I tend to play the big pots for Mega Millions and Powerball, and some days I also play Cash 4 Life, which gives you $1,000 per day for the rest of your life. That’s the one that I feel would be most beneficial. You’d bring in a salary of $365,000 per year – which would be life-altering money and also enough to likely walk away from your current job without blinking an eye. Though I might hold off a few years because of being in the state system.
At the same time …
While the money is nice and will allow you to be set for life, it isn’t so much of a lottery win where you’d have people crawling out of the woodwork to “remember how good of friends” you once were, such as if you won a $500 million powerball.
Either way, show me da money.
Not to be an advertisement, but I use an app called Jackpocket to play the lotto. Basically, you purchase tickets through the app and they buy the tickets for you (they send you the images etc.). If you win a big one, they get the ticket to you. If you win a small one, they pay you your winnings right in the app. What I like about this is I don’t have to worry about checking the numbers or losing tickets anymore – they are all there for me to see.
I also have a lot of restraint with home much I spend and such. For those who maybe wouldn’t be able to stop the impulse purchases, well, this might not be for you.
(If you play the lotto and this app is legal in your area and it interests you, you can use my link to sign up and we each get free money to play with. I think for that, though, you have to actually deposit money into the account etc. You can utilize my link at: https://jackpocket.com/referrals/3n3gao.)
In the end, I know the reality. I likely won’t win the big one. I looked back at the app and since I started using the app last January, I’ve won a total of $62, with the biggest being $10, which I’ve won twice. I can assure you I’m not breaking even.
But …
The dreams stay there. I can wish and hope and maybe one day … just one day … .those numbers will hit and they can show me da money!
This post is part of the 2022 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the links (intro I themes) if you’d like to see the setup and themes! You don’t have to do every theme if you don’t want to! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants!
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