The lottery machine was down at the grocery store this afternoon, so I could not buy a Powerball ticket. Ah, gentle reader, this is where I am in my career now: No full time job, but playing the lottery.
Ah, but the scratch-off vending machines were operational. My youngest doesn’t understand why I didn’t pick one of them. He’s just 18, and he bought a scratch-off himself once, but that’s all he’s interested in.
I’ve never been a fan of scratch-offs. Why? Because I’m not a Calvinist.
When you buy a scratch-off ticket, it is or it is not (probably not) a winner. But when you buy a numbers drawing ticket, you are not a loser until the numbers are drawn in the future. So you’re spending that (ever-increasing) dollar total on possibility, not actuality.
Perhaps the explanation was not the best.


