Thanksgiving Lottery Ticket

Submitted into Contest #16 in response to: Write a story around the theme: Be careful what you wish for.... view prompt

361 comments

General

John Franklin bought a lottery ticket. He wished he could hit the jackpot on the Saturday night after Thanksgiving.


           He knew he might win three hundred million dollars with a single two-dollar ticket. Would John double his chances to win if he bought two tickets? No.


A quick look at odds shows he would have one chance in three hundred million to win. If he bought two, it’s two in three hundred million to win the Powerball or Mega Millions. Pretty small odds. What if he bought a hundred and fifty million tickets? Then his odds are two to one that he would win. That’s about the same thing as flipping a penny and betting everything on that single flip of the coin. Would you do that with your hundred and fifty million dollars? If you had that much money, would you need to?


           Look at the penny. If you bet five dollars on a flip and you lost. What are your chances that the next time, if you call the same side, that you will win? It’s still fifty-fifty. Yes, over an infinite number of flips, it will be half heads and half tails. But nothing says it can not be heads seven times in a row. Happens all the time in Vegas on red and black on the roulette wheel. If you doubled your bet after each loss of $5, on the seventh bet, you are gambling $740 that you will win and only break even. What kind of odds is that?


           Back to the lottery. Perhaps John is not dissuaded by the odds. So why? Maybe it’s fun for just a two-dollar ticket. The fun of saying, I have a horse in this race and WISH I could win. There are a lot of others running, but if you don’t have a horse, you certainly have zero chances to win.


           John did pull off a miracle and win. He hit the big one. His Thanksgiving wishes come true. Would John’s life change? Would yours? You bet your life it would. John’s life did change, after living through what he thought was a heart attack that Saturday night. He and his family were ecstatic. John quit his job the next day. He could buy almost anything he wanted on credit. Merchants were more than happy to extend it based on confirmation of John’s win. New car for him, wife and grown kids. Trips, luxury, and money is no object. That’s the life, huh?


           Let’s visit with John two years later. He is miserable. John says to a reporter, “It was great for a while to have all that money. But my wife and I had to get unlisted phone numbers to keep friends from calling and asking for money for a great investment, or for a worthy cause, or their dying relative that could be cured with a costly radical new drug or procedure. I gave money at first. You can’t imagine the anger when I finally said ‘No’ to them. It was terrible. Soon I had no friends. My kids hated me when I finally started saying ‘No’ to them as well. My new friends were shallow money-friends.”


           John shook his bowed head he now held between his hands. “You can’t imagine the burden that comes with a ten million dollar mansion in Florida and the staff to keep it going. Rip-off property managers. The insurance, taxes, and salaries of everyone. My Yacht captain keeping my ship in ready to run condition month after month. Now triple that for my other two places around the states and the private jet plane to get there.”


           John drew up a deep breath and exhaled as if he was glad to get it all off his chest. “My wife left me months ago and went back home to live with her parents in another state. Course she took half of what we had in the way of property and liquids left in the bank. Heck, she could afford the very best lawyer, and I ended up paying for him.”


           He looked at the reporter and said with a hollow stare in dark eye sockets, “So you ask me what it’s like to win the lottery? Not all it’s cracked up to be. I’ll be broke soon, and the bills may keep coming out of nowhere. To get any peace at all, I need to sell everything I own for a fraction of the price, but I still can’t be happy.”


“Everything that meant anything is gone. The life I had that I thought was hard. I had friends, family, and good times. Never again will I have a Saturday afternoon cookout with beer, friends and a game on the portable TV.”


           John drew one last huge cleansing breath and said, “Everything that ever brought me true joy is gone. Winning the lottery was not my dream wish come true. It was my worst nightmare.”

November 15, 2019 15:32

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361 comments

Attaq Makpah
09:01 Nov 27, 2022

This might look disbelieving to you but the truth is blessed are those that have not seen but yet they believe. I have suffered beyond measure to the point I almost committed suicide. For 16 years, I played the lottery without winning more than a thousand bucks. In the process of gambling, I lost my home and life became miserable to me. I will continue to appreciate the internet for connecting me with Dr Amber "the great" that made me a lottery winner with his sure winning numbers that he gets through his spells. Dr Amber made me who I am t...

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Thomas Gibson
19:52 Nov 26, 2022

I want to use this opportunity to tell the whole world on how I become rich and famous. I’m 93 years old. I was passing through difficulty in business and there was no hope of me coming out of my debt. I borrow money in my bank to do my business and I run at lost on the business I got frustrated and decided to be playing lottery to see if I can win and make my business grow and I have played for years now nothing good is coming my way on till I meet someone online talking about Dr Ayoola on the internet. He was taking about how this Dr ...

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Thomas Gibson
19:51 Nov 26, 2022

will be review to me in the dream. That night has I was sleeping I dream a number immediately he call me and gave me the same number I dream of and ask me to go and play the number. Today I’m here testifying of the good work he did for me I played the number and I won the sum of 1, 000,000 million dollars in a lotto max. You can contact Dr Ayoola for help if you want to win big in lottery game he has the gift of giving right number contact him today and thank me email him today Via email: drayoolasolutionhome@gmail. com or https://www.fac...

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Janet Willis
14:13 Nov 26, 2022

This is certainly a shocking and a genuine live Testimony!!!!. It was hard for me to believe when i saw a comment on the internet regarding how Dr Emmanuel help people winning lottery by sending them the winning numbers. This winning numbers are 100% guarantee that you must win the lottery. I give it a try and i won 39,000,000,00USD. My dreams came through when i email Dr Emmanuel and tell him i need the lottery numbers. i have come a long way spending money on ticket just to make sure i win. But i never know that winning was so easy until t...

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Janet Willis
14:13 Nov 26, 2022

This is certainly a shocking and a genuine live Testimony!!!!. It was hard for me to believe when i saw a comment on the internet regarding how Dr Emmanuel help people winning lottery by sending them the winning numbers. This winning numbers are 100% guarantee that you must win the lottery. I give it a try and i won 39,000,000,00USD. My dreams came through when i email Dr Emmanuel and tell him i need the lottery numbers. i have come a long way spending money on ticket just to make sure i win. But i never know that winning was so easy until t...

Reply

Show 0 replies
Janet Willis
14:13 Nov 26, 2022

This is certainly a shocking and a genuine live Testimony!!!!. It was hard for me to believe when i saw a comment on the internet regarding how Dr Emmanuel help people winning lottery by sending them the winning numbers. This winning numbers are 100% guarantee that you must win the lottery. I give it a try and i won 39,000,000,00USD. My dreams came through when i email Dr Emmanuel and tell him i need the lottery numbers. i have come a long way spending money on ticket just to make sure i win. But i never know that winning was so easy until t...

Reply

Show 0 replies
Janet Willis
14:13 Nov 26, 2022

This is certainly a shocking and a genuine live Testimony!!!!. It was hard for me to believe when i saw a comment on the internet regarding how Dr Emmanuel help people winning lottery by sending them the winning numbers. This winning numbers are 100% guarantee that you must win the lottery. I give it a try and i won 39,000,000,00USD. My dreams came through when i email Dr Emmanuel and tell him i need the lottery numbers. i have come a long way spending money on ticket just to make sure i win. But i never know that winning was so easy until t...

Reply

Show 0 replies
Janet Willis
14:13 Nov 26, 2022

This is certainly a shocking and a genuine live Testimony!!!!. It was hard for me to believe when i saw a comment on the internet regarding how Dr Emmanuel help people winning lottery by sending them the winning numbers. This winning numbers are 100% guarantee that you must win the lottery. I give it a try and i won 39,000,000,00USD. My dreams came through when i email Dr Emmanuel and tell him i need the lottery numbers. i have come a long way spending money on ticket just to make sure i win. But i never know that winning was so easy until t...

Reply

Show 0 replies
Janet Willis
14:13 Nov 26, 2022

This is certainly a shocking and a genuine live Testimony!!!!. It was hard for me to believe when i saw a comment on the internet regarding how Dr Emmanuel help people winning lottery by sending them the winning numbers. This winning numbers are 100% guarantee that you must win the lottery. I give it a try and i won 39,000,000,00USD. My dreams came through when i email Dr Emmanuel and tell him i need the lottery numbers. i have come a long way spending money on ticket just to make sure i win. But i never know that winning was so easy until t...

Reply

Show 0 replies
Nancy Conduelo
12:28 Nov 24, 2022

Top Secret Way To Win The Lottery With The Help Of A Magic Lottery spell caster called Dr Kumar.......I saw testimonies online on how Dr Kumar helped a lot of people in winning huge amounts in the lottery, so I decided to contact him for winning numbers. I contacted this man and he did a spell and he gave me the winning lottery numbers to play. Believe me when the draws were out I was among the winners. I won a $2.19 million jackpot. I have confirmed Dr Kumar and he is real and guaranteed. Now I am a living testimony of the good works of Dr ...

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Margaret Atwood
06:58 Nov 23, 2022

Hello everyone, I want to use this medium to thank a great spell caster called Dr Graceondu for transforming my life financially, i have been playing lottery game for long but have never won any reasonable amount, I contacted Dr Graceondu after i red about him on the internet on how he help a lady with a lottery winning numbers and the lady won a very big amount of money, so i contacted him and He instructed me on what to do which i did and he told me to give him some time to pray, on the second day he sent me some numbers and he said i shou...

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Margaret Atwood
06:58 Nov 23, 2022

Hello everyone, I want to use this medium to thank a great spell caster called Dr Graceondu for transforming my life financially, i have been playing lottery game for long but have never won any reasonable amount, I contacted Dr Graceondu after i red about him on the internet on how he help a lady with a lottery winning numbers and the lady won a very big amount of money, so i contacted him and He instructed me on what to do which i did and he told me to give him some time to pray, on the second day he sent me some numbers and he said i shou...

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Nancy Conduelo
23:29 Nov 22, 2022

Top Secret Way To Win The Lottery With The Help Of A Magic Lottery spell caster called Dr Kumar.......I saw testimonies online on how Dr Kumar helped a lot of people in winning huge amounts in the lottery, so I decided to contact him for winning numbers. I contacted this man and he did a spell and he gave me the winning lottery numbers to play. Believe me when the draws were out I was among the winners. I won a $2.19 million jackpot. I have confirmed Dr Kumar and he is real and guaranteed. Now I am a living testimony of the good works of Dr ...

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02:00 Nov 19, 2022

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Roxana Hills
02:00 Nov 19, 2022

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Roxana Hills
02:00 Nov 19, 2022

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Nancy Conduelo
12:22 Nov 15, 2022

Top Secret Way To Win The Lottery With The Help Of A Magic Lottery spell caster called Dr Kumar.......I saw testimonies online on how Dr Kumar helped a lot of people in winning huge amounts in the lottery, so I decided to contact him for winning numbers. I contacted this man and he did a spell and he gave me the winning lottery numbers to play. Believe me when the draws were out I was among the winners. I won a $2.19 million jackpot. I have confirmed Dr Kumar and he is real and guaranteed. Now I am a living testimony of the good works of Dr ...

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Nancy Conduelo
12:22 Nov 15, 2022

Top Secret Way To Win The Lottery With The Help Of A Magic Lottery spell caster called Dr Kumar.......I saw testimonies online on how Dr Kumar helped a lot of people in winning huge amounts in the lottery, so I decided to contact him for winning numbers. I contacted this man and he did a spell and he gave me the winning lottery numbers to play. Believe me when the draws were out I was among the winners. I won a $2.19 million jackpot. I have confirmed Dr Kumar and he is real and guaranteed. Now I am a living testimony of the good works of Dr ...

Reply

Show 0 replies
Margaret Atwood
01:52 Nov 15, 2022

Hello everyone, I want to use this medium to thank a great spell caster called Dr Graceondu for transforming my life financially, i have been playing lottery game for long but have never won any reasonable amount, I contacted Dr Graceondu after i red about him on the internet on how he help a lady with a lottery winning numbers and the lady won a very big amount of money, so i contacted him and He instructed me on what to do which i did and he told me to give him some time to pray, on the second day he sent me some numbers and he said i shou...

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