from the "almost rich" dept.

I'd been using the same Lotto 6/49 numbers since -- good Lord -- something like 1982. Well, that's not totally true. I'd been using one six-digit set since '82. A combination of my Mom's, my uncles and my birthdates:

3-4-5-26-35-37

These numbers came close to making me "rich" whilst at college. I had 4 out of 6 and was one off on each of the remaining two digits.

It happened again in April 2001. I was using the same numbers for the BC 49 draw. And I had 5 out of 6, with the final number being only a few off. My bad statistical averaging tells me that I had a 1:11 chance of either pocketing $50k or a cool $1 million. I walked away with $500. Not bad, but if it had been the 6/49, I would have won a few grand.

A few years ago, I added a second set of numbers:

4-11-14-26-38-39

This was a combination of my birthdate, the birthdate of a woman from Toronto, and our ages when we met.

These numbers did squat.

But I still played them, once or twice a week, thinking that the one time I failed to play, they would come up.

Boy, has British Columbia lotteries ever got me hooked.

Anyway, when I went galavanting around Serbia this past May, I bought plays for those two numbers for each draw I was gone. It cost me $56, and I won something like $10.

Nice return on investment.

So I decided to stop. No, not stop playing (and paying the stupid tax), but to stop playing those numbers. They rarely paid anything, not even the $10 minimum "keep you hooked prize".

I know I have no luck gambling. That has been proved in Vegas. There is zero chance I will become a VLT addict.

Several weeks ago I started playing random numbers... generated by the lottery machine. And guess what? I started winning. Not a lot: but $10 here and $20 there. More than I was paying out. Which is as it should be.

Today, I busted my ass to get tickets (I was working and running behind schedule as usual).

I just checked them and... I won squat in the 6/49, but I had 4 out of 6 in the BC 49. That equals a gift of $75. Not a ton, but a good return on a $2 investment.

What's ahead? Probably not much. But who knows. As the brain washing commercials say "everybody's got a dream..."

Cheers!