A couple of weeks ago, my mom bought a $5 scratch off lottery ticket. As she was finishing scratching off her numbers, she started freaking out.
My first reaction was to tell her to calm down, but I had no idea what had happened. She quickly showed me the lottery ticket. She had matched some numbers alright. $210 worth!!!
I never thought spending money on lottery tickets was a very smart idea because the odds of actually winning anything on those are slim to none. I mean people waste $5 to $10 every week on Powerball tickets in hopes of winning millions of dollars and never having to work another day in their lives, only to have their dreams crushed every Wednesday evening.
Ever since my mom won that money, I’ve had a more positive outlook on the matter. Who doesn’t like an extra $210? So Wednesday night while I’m at newspaper late night, I get a text message from my mom. I never even saw this coming. She won another $105 off of a scratch off lottery ticket.
I literally didn’t believe her. We had to be the most unlucky family when it comes to winning things. We’ve never won a raffle, auction, or even a free lottery ticket. I’m still in shock that we have won $315 in two weeks. It was a very exciting unexpected surprise.
I know that $315 doesn’t seem like a lot of money compared to the millions that the big lottery winners receive, but in this economy, and with my mom working at the University of Arkansas, any extra money helps since she only gets paid at the end of the month.
My view on lottery tickets has definitely taken a sharp turn. Instead of looking at it negatively, I now look at lottery tickets as an opportunity to get money in an easy way. I also think they allow people to be hopeful. I know that every time my mom gets a lottery ticket from now on, we will both be hoping that our luck hasn’t quite run out yet.