 |
| My loser ticket. I don't feel need for another |
At
that time, I’ll be able to tell them they lost again – at Powerball. Although I’m
sure they already realize they’re not big winners, they didn’t win that drawing
last week.
THE
ONE THAT could have paid out about $800 million!
Which
results in the prize rolling over, and some estimates saying it could be a $1.4
billion prize to a single winner when the next drawing is held.
Now
my interest in this is literally that I’m holding a Powerball ticket from the Saturday
drawing that nobody won. In my case, I bought five chances (a $10 bet) and only
came up with one matching number.
I
bought the ticket for my father, who literally called me from Las Vegas on
Saturday to ask me to make the purchase.
MAYBE
HE THOUGHT he’d have something big to come home to if his losing streak in
Nevada continued throughout the weekend. It seems I placed a crummy bet.
Which
is why I have to admit all the enthusiasm and ecstasy that some people feel
about gambling is totally lost on me. I don’t get why people are so eager to
dump a few bucks of their hard-earned money on tickets.
As
I see it, the $800 million promise of last weekend was a myth. Whereas the $10
bill I had in my wallet was real, and all I have to show for it now is a slip
of paper laced with some sort of chemical that if I tried to eat my losses, I’d
get a rancid taste in my mouth.
Then
again, it’s not just lottery tickets that lose me. The whole casino experience
leaves me dry – even though the last time I set foot in one, I actually walked
out with about $50 more than I walked in there with.
MY
THANKS TO the people of the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Ind., for that little
financial boost. Although I also have embedded in my mind the sight of a woman
who tried three different credit cards in a cash machine and wound up having
all of them rejected – because she had bet so much and lost.
Thank
goodness for the activist-types who often get derided for ruining people’s fun
for saving that woman from losing even more cash that day.
In
my own case, part of my lack of enthusiasm for gambling is that I’m cheap. You
have to be willing to bet big, and often, in order to boost your chances of
winning a significant prize – and I’m just not willing to do that.
Realize
that I’m fully aware of the fact that my step-mother (if she ever reads this)
will regard such thoughts as heresy. For all I know, I may get disowned from
the family. Or at least uninvited to the next family get-together.
AFTER
ALL, THE reason she and my father were in Las Vegas this past weekend was a
birthday celebration. I won’t find out until Tuesday whether she really had a
Happy Birthday!, but I suspect somehow she did.
She
really does find a joy in the casino experience that is just lost on me. Or on
the gambling experience in general. Somehow, seeing “dream books” piled up by
the Illinois Lottery ticket machine at the convenience store in suburban Hazel
Crest where I bought last week’s Powerball ticket just seemed sad.
Which
is why I won’t be among those getting all giddy at the thought of a Wednesday
prize that could make me a billionaire!?! Because all I’d get was another loser
because I didn’t buy a dream book to tell me what number I should play because
I dreamed of my brother, Chris, and I sitting in the stands at a ballgame.
Maybe
if I had, my father would have some winnings to come home to.
-30-
No comments:
Post a Comment