Okay, this thread is sparked by the Friday the 13th one. I said I'd buy a lottery ticket because I felt "lucky" HAR! HAR! No, I didn't win (of course) or else I'd be in Hawaii right now. That wasn't surprising. What was sort of surprising was the fact that, out of two tries, not a single number that I chose came up. That's 12 attempts, I would think at least ONE number would be among the six chosen? I think I might be an actual real, living human cooler.

When I lived in Las Vegas, I lost every time I went out to gamble. That was probably good because as a result I didn't go gambling much because I knew what to expect, and had as much fun as dumping my wallet into the garbage.

Does anyone else have terrible luck gambling? Anyone here surprisingly lucky? Any gamblers among us?

I go on streaks of playing the big lottery. In Ohio we have Mega Millions (multi-state) and the Lotto Plus or something or other. I'd guess I've played 100 times. I always buy $5 worth. So that's 500 chances to win.

I've won twice--10 bucks one time, and 2 bucks (or was it three?) another. The thing is, they were both on consecutive weeks. And it was fairly recently--this year.

I have terrible "luck". I also play the scratch 'em lottery tickets and sometimes I do get lucky. I've won $50 bucks a few times. My son, however, has won much more than me in many, many less chances.

I decided to quit playing the lottery, which means I would have won last week...

I play quite a bit of poker online. I also used to play at the casinos in Mississippi before it was on ESPN and hardly anybody knew that hold'em was a version of poker.

I believe games like poker are based more on skill than luck. One reason is because you are playing against other players and not against the house(casino).

Now when it comes to casino games, the longer you keep playing, the more likely you are to lose.

As for my 'luck'. The only way I belive in good luck is through hard work. And it's not very hard work to gamble.

I know exactly how you feel. If I buy a lottery ticket I feel like there is a snowball's chance of me winning (which is logical and true). Yet when I get on an airplane I always feel like the plane I'm on will be the one that crashes. I guess I have more faith in bad luck than I do good.



That's why I'm not a happy gambler. I think my nature is too pragmatic to enjoy the "let it ride" mentality of many casino-goers.

My boyfriend and I went to Florida the end of Jan. to see his sister. We went to the Casino in Tampa and he won $1250.
He has never won any money at a Casino before. He has been to Vegas and we do have casinos in Ill. Never won at those.
We went to Reno back in March. Not a fat chance in Hell.
Before Tampa and Reno I think the last time we went to a casino was 10 yrs. ago and for good reasons. We don't win.
As for the lotto. We have Mega lotto here too and we only play when it is really up there. Over 100 mil, like 12 ( is where it starts) wouldn't be nice
The most I ever won was 9.00 on one of those. I think we have a better chance of being struck by lightning than winning the lotto.

I am a very lucky gambler. I don't go into casinos very often, literally a dozen times in my life or less, but I have never once walked out of a casino with less money than when I went in. (I highly recommend going to Monte Carlo, for the gambling and the scenery if you are ever in the area, spectacular)

I have also been playing the occasional game of poker recently. I don't play online as my skill is in reading people, but I have participated in four EPT tournaments so far, and have always come in the top 20%. I have another EPT tournament in 3 weeks in fact.

I won the lottery once when I was young, 150$ Canadian on a provincial draw. I almost never buy tickets though, my friends and I jokingly refer to the Lottery as an 'Idiot tax'.

This thread was revived just in time for my first ever bout of good luck!

Yesterday, I found a five dollar bill lying in the middle of the parking lot. I took it into the grocery store, broke it up and placed one dollar in the machine that sells scratch-out tickets. I won ten dollars! I took the ten and placed it in the machine and obtained another, more expensive ticket....and won twenty dollars! (yeah, I know, that's basically the ten I started with because the ticket cost ten....but still! )



That's a good term for it. Speaking of which, I think today I will pay a two dollar idiot tax and try for the big one. It's the first time since I started this thread and I'm feeling lucky again.

I've always said that if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. I'm not lucky at gambling or the lottery, and I'm too cheap to spend much at either. I think the most I've ever won at one time in Vegas was $125.


How funny - I found a $5 bill lying in the gutter in front of my house Sunday eve. I haven't spent it yet, but maybe I should head down to the local 7/11 and buy some scratchers.

I don't know if this counts but, this morning I grabbed a pair of jeans from my closet that I have not worn in at least several months. In one of the pockets was a $5 bill. Granted, it was my own money, but it could have sat in that pocket until next year easily... I think the lucky number is 5.

Any gamblers among us?

I probably spend $100 - 150 annually on lottery tickets. There are a couple reasons that I keep trying.

I frequently hit one or two numbers. About three or four times in the past 30 years, I've won enough to take my wife to dinner...

Then again, there was the lottery pool at work. The foreman of one crew that I worked on never kicked in. He didn't believe in it. He used to say, "I'd love to win the lottery, but I never want to waste my money on a ticket." The day came that he was retiring, and we decided to give him that week's lottery ticket. On Saturday; he won the state's largest jackpot to date. We read about it in Monday's newspaper where he told the reporter that it looked like his wife would be able to retire as well.

I have had a measure of good luck, come to think of it. During a rainy night in the '70s I was feeling blue and was broke. Came upon a five-spot (the magic number?) and had a burger and taps at a favorite little bar. That was a long time ago, but it sure lifted my spirits when they needed lifting.

This one was very strange: Went to hear a spiritual guy speak, cost five bucks (there it is again) each, thought it was a complete load of drivel, and found a five-spot under the car's floor mat right after. The corner of it was sticking out, and I knew somehow to tug on it. WTF? It was the '80s. I was in Boulder, but it wasn't a pipe dream. Spiritual auto-refund?

The parking lot angel gave me $20 in the '90s, and also in that decade, I won a progressive slot at Cripple Creek, got my picture on the cover of Gambling Times, or whatever that rag was called. It was pure, dumb luck, but the money sure came in handy cuz we'd just bought this placed and it needed lots of fixing up. The pot was 24 grand, could have bought a Harley . . . but no, it went into the house. Ah well, my carefree biking days are over. I was lucky to have had them.

There were plenty of other lucky times not involving money too. I count myself lucky to get through a canyon without a boulder falling on me. Every time the snowblower fires up, that's lucky. I've taken the Jeep where I really should not have, and got out. Lucky. Eh, some skill involved too, but mostly luck.

Right now I've been getting really good ideas for business, and part of that has been luck. Sure you have to go looking for it, but when the plan starts to come together, it's amazing how what you need pops right up. Other things on the spooky end of coincidence have been happening too. Maybe that spiritual guy I heard in the '80s wasn't so full of drivel after all.

After all, I got my money back and then some

I tend to be a fairly good poker player, but I don't indulge too often. I find it impossible to play poker without drinking Jack Daniels and I try to keep my drinking to a minimum. Otherwise, I have much more luck at finding money than winning it. I tend to come across random $5, $10, or $20 bills once or twice a month - usually in parking lots, though sometimes in the aisles of megamarts or convenience stores. Perhaps my eyes have some sort of heightened recognition factor for banknotes. Or maybe I'm just "lucky".

I have never had the impulse to buy a lottery ticket, though I have sometimes said "sure, why not?" when someone's asked if I want them to pick me up a ticket or scratch-card - or if I'd like to join a lottery pool - and I once won IR£400 or so through a "yeah, okay". I've done okay the few times I've been to the track or joined football pools and the like, but not well enough to induce me to make a habit of it. I've also visited a few casinos, but have never gambled in one. My parents - quite rightly, in my opinion - seemed to take a dimmer view of envy, wrath, vanity, greed, and sloth than they did of the sins of the flesh - and I was raised to believe that casinos were somewhat lower than brothels, as dens of iniquity go. Experience has rather borne that out: I've visited some very nice brothels - with very welcoming and relaxing atmospheres - but casinos all tend to have a certain smarminess to their allure and a general air of desperation and anxiety that I find uncomfortable. Or maybe I just like my thrills guaranteed.