I used to have a serious lottery addiction. I admit it. There are six daily “jackpot” drawings per week here in Massachusetts, and I bought one ticket for each drawing without fail. That was it, just one per drawing, and I didn’t play the scratch tickets or the daily numbers or the big mega-state games. But I had to have those stupid tickets. I worked my schedule around making sure I got to the store at least twice a week for my “fix.” It was an addiction, because I got all anxious if I missed one–Murphy’s Law, that would be the one I would have won! And the resentment and stress I felt every time I didn’t win was…well, it was ridiculous. It wasn’t the biggest gambling addiction on earth, but it was costing me $416 per year, and I never won more than $250, and that was only once.
I already kept a very tight budget, I track every last penny (literally!) in a huge spreadsheet. But when I quit my job this summer to become a small business owner, I decided there were a few unnecessary expenditures I could cut down or out. I broke my lottery jones. Not quite cold turkey, but I cut back buying tickets at the start of July, and by August I wasn’t buying them at all. What a relief.
But I totally disavow any responsibility whatsoever for the phenomenon reported in today’s Boston Globe!!!
Lottery revenue drop worries officials: $71m decline in first 5 months
I wasn’t spending that much! Honest! It’s kind of a weird concidence, though. I mean, my reasons for stopping don’t have much to do with external circumstances, and people tend to buy more lottery tickets when times are tough. Go figure.