I Almost Won The Lottery

Emphasis on the word “almost”.

Remember the other day when I wrote a blog post about being able to sense things before they happen? I ended that post with something along the lines of, “Don’t ask me to pick your lottery numbers.”

Well, a couple of days after I posted that, I found myself in a shopping mall dodging strollers. Or as we call it in the Western world – Christmas shopping. (Let me know if you want a blog post about it.)

And as I was walking through the mall I passed by a lottery stand and thought, “I feel lucky today.”

So I picked six numbers and waited.

Last night was the draw. I checked the numbers this morning.

The numbers I selected were: 10-12-17-27-31-33

The winning numbers were: 9-11-26-27-32-34

I got one number right and was one number away on four others.

WHAT!?

Even the number I got right, 27, was one number away from 26.

You don’t win anything for getting one number right. But for getting five numbers right, you get thousands of dollars.

THOUSANDS.

I selected my six numbers based on “feel” and because I wore number 10 and 12 when I played softball as a kid.

So if you have a “feeling” and a jersey number from your youth athletics days, go with that feeling and then add or subtract one. That’s how you’ll win the lottery.

This happened to me before, about 4 years ago.

I was at a hockey game, which I attended for free, and bought a 50/50 where 50% of the money raised went to charity and the other 50% went to a fan in the audience.

The arena only held about 3000 people so for the first time in my life I bought a 50/50 ticket, thinking my chances of winning were never going to be that good. And I wanted to donate to charity, of course.

I bought 3 tickets, but they weren’t in sequential order.

The winning ticket number was read – it was about 7 digits long – and I got the first six digits right. The remaining number was one off.

ONE. NUMBER. OFF.

Since then, it’s been difficult for me to by another 50/50 ticket at any sporting event.

Earlier this week, I was at another hockey game. The lady sitting in front of me won the 50/50 draw and $18,000. She left before the game was over. It brought back bad memories for me.

And now this happens.

I know, one number off on four numbers isn’t exactly “close” to winning the lottery, but it’s the closest I’ve ever gotten.

I’m gonna go throw up now.

Have you ever been close to winning the lottery? Did you feel sick afterwards? Have you ever won the lottery? Have you ever won anything?