Do you believe in Mouse Lotto Luck??

[5stljayhawks]

A few months ago I was coming out of the kids doctor office with my DS 4.75 and DD 2.7 and he found a two scratch off tickets. Wow the tickets had a 15 or 20 bucks in winnings, right off the ground. Over the last 2 months we have have been playing a prolonged scratchers, winning 10 here or 20 there, all to be reinvested into the more tickets until the money is gone and or we won. The wife suggested we put our largest winning yet($25) away and be happy, this was around labor day. Well I bought a few more ticket before we left and only won 15 and I was bummed out. It's amazing how excited kids can get just scratching and revealing #s, even not if it was not a winner.

I finally got around to cashing in the $15 today. Recently the MO state lotto came out with a $200K for life game scratcher and it cost $20, so I through in an extra $5 and came home. After I got done scratching, I was holding a $500 winner. Hot diggity, I headed back and got the $500, reinvested $20 in another ticket. The found ticket adventure is over as we didn't win on the last ticket, but come Christmas at WDW the DS gets to get him a nice toy!!!!
Maybe a train or some nice Pirate Booty!!!!!

 

[mamo-4-wdw]

That is so cool!!!!!!!

 

[4HppyCamprs]

That is so cool and what fun!!!

 

[SandrA9810]

That's cool. Pretty much all free money, and you've got yourself 500$ out of the deal.

It's fun to get it once, just make sure to be extremely happy with your 500$ and not try to see if you can go for more. Since the next ticket you bought was a loser ticket, I think it's time to give it up.

I also like buying lotto tickets, maybe two or three one week. And then not check it for a few weeks. Not even look at the numbers, and sometimes I'll even do the quick pick so I don't even know the numbers. I've only won 5$ once. I do it maybe once a year.

 

[Tink-aholic]

Interesting, because I just gave a series of lectures to my students about ethics. Many of the kids would never consider keeping $20 cash left on the floor outside their doctor's office, but if it was a gift card (or a lottery ticket if they were old enough), they would.

In this case, a lottery ticket is just like cash, so I don't see how it makes any difference.

OP, it was your choice to do what you wanted with it....did it occur to you that your kids were watching? Did you even try to find the rightful owner? Go back in and ask the staff if they noticed someone with some scratch tickets? Check around the lobby for someone who might look as if they had lost something?

Being a parent means also being a role model.

 

[Marionnette]

Lotteries are a tax on the mathematically impaired. Your more likely to loose money rather than come out ahead.

 

[EllenFrasier]

Interesting, because I just gave a series of lectures to my students about ethics. Many of the kids would never consider keeping $20 cash left on the floor outside their doctor's office, but if it was a gift card (or a lottery ticket if they were old enough), they would.

In this case, a lottery ticket is just like cash, so I don't see how it makes any difference.

OP, it was your choice to do what you wanted with it....did it occur to you that your kids were watching? Did you even try to find the rightful owner? Go back in and ask the staff if they noticed someone with some scratch tickets? Check around the lobby for someone who might look as if they had lost something?

Being a parent means also being a role model.

I found $50.00 in a store parking lot once. My mother was with me. She told me to keep the money. She said if I turned it in to the service desk, they would just keep it anyway. There was nobody in the parking lot and we went into the store, there were no customers at the service desk. The whole time I was in the store I was looking and listening for people talking about money or looking like they were looking on the ground for something. Not a thing.
So I chalked it up to my good fortune and kept the money. I still felt sorry for whomever had lost it though.
Now the tickets - you are right, same as money. But if nobody was around looking for them, they were his to keep in my opinion. If there was a way to identify the person who owned them, like a wallet would have ID for example, that is a different story all together.
Congratulations OP on your lucky find!

 

[Tink-aholic]

I found $50.00 in a store parking lot once. My mother was with me. She told me to keep the money. She said if I turned it in to the service desk, they would just keep it anyway.

How sad.

My son found $20 in a store. I would not even consider letting him keep it. He took it to the service desk, where they took down his name, address, and telephone number. They told him if no one had claimed it within 30 days, he could have it.

A month later, we walked up to the service desk and not only was the money still there, but the woman behind the counter remembered him! He took it home and that is all he talked about for days.

I feel that he got far more out of that day than just the money.

 

[allison443]

A few months ago I was coming out of the kids doctor office with my DS 4.75 and DD 2.7 and he found a two scratch off tickets. Wow the tickets had a 15 or 20 bucks in winnings, right off the ground. Over the last 2 months we have have been playing a prolonged scratchers, winning 10 here or 20 there, all to be reinvested into the more tickets until the money is gone and or we won. The wife suggested we put our largest winning yet($25) away and be happy, this was around labor day. Well I bought a few more ticket before we left and only won 15 and I was bummed out. It's amazing how excited kids can get just scratching and revealing #s, even not if it was not a winner.

I finally got around to cashing in the $15 today. Recently the MO state lotto came out with a $200K for life game scratcher and it cost $20, so I through in an extra $5 and came home. After I got done scratching, I was holding a $500 winner. Hot diggity, I headed back and got the $500, reinvested $20 in another ticket. The found ticket adventure is over as we didn't win on the last ticket, but come Christmas at WDW the DS gets to get him a nice toy!!!!
Maybe a train or some nice Pirate Booty!!!!!

OT but I've never heard anyone express their kids' ages in decimals before. It could be one of those parenting trends I missed out on. Your child is 2 and seven-tenths years old?

Anyway, congrats on your winnings! And enjoy your trip!

 

[bouncycat]

Congrats on the finding!!! That's awesome. Everytime I win on a scratch off, I always reinvest in more tickets too.

 

[Acklander]

Lotteries are a tax on the mathematically impaired. Your more likely to loose money rather than come out ahead.

Sure you're more likely to lose money rather than come out a head, however, where else can you spend $1.00 and get a whole week of dreaming?

 

[5stljayhawks]

Tink -I am a firm believer in what comes around goes around. Part of the Darwinism laws. There are many ways to provide lessons to your kids, in this instance the DS was picking up trash and cleaning the environment on his own accord and it just so happened to provide him with a winning lotto ticket. I am pretty sure a 5YO doesn't know what a scratch off is, expect it was a piece of trash with cool colors and graphics.

From the parent stand point, I know my kids are watching and listening to what I say. We were in the parking lot with no visible people around and the parking spots were empty around us. With 10 or 20 offices, I was not about to go to each one for $5 and the tickets appeared to have been sitting there for a number of days. Wet and dirty. In discussing ethics, Maybe it was the the owners intent to litter and through out the tickets, 2nd How does originally ticket owner's personal responsibly to maintain the tickets in a safe location affect one actions toward be ethical and returning the tickets? As a Darwinist, survival is of the fittest, lucky and those who can create opportunities for themselves, not others.


BTW If you want to talk about the $15,000 gold and diamond bracelet I found outside of Baskin Robins and later returned when I was about 10, I can provide you the details.


a443 - the DD is actually 2.78. Not a new thing, just something I do.

 

[Jax1023]

Really- who is going to claim 2 unscratched lottery tickets?

I found 40 dollars blowing down the middle of the street one Satruday morning while walking my dog at 6am. I kept it. What else would I do, go the police station and tell them I found 40 bucks stuck in a drain grate? They would probably laugh me out of the station, I live in a big city where the police deal with shootings and drugs, not lost cash

OP- congrats on your winnings. Dont get greedy and keep going for more, those little scratch offs can be addicting

 

[brergnat]

That's cool that you won, op. What's maybe not so cool is teaching your kids about gambling at such young ages. It's not something I'd do, personally, but that's your call to make.

I firmly believe that money just sitting on the ground (or lotto tickets without a name and address on them) are the property of the one who found it, provided there is no one around that seems to be looking for dropped money.

I've found quite a bit of money on the ground at Disneyland and DCA. It's a small hobby of mine. You wouldn't believe how much I've collected by just paying attention to what's on the ground in front of me. It's usually loose change and $1's, but I found a twenty once. That was cool. Paid for our lunch that day. I was also running one day and there was a $50 just sitting in the gutter. It was all wet and nasty, but I picked it up, took it home, and washed and dried it. Then, I spent it!

People need to be careful and pay attention to what they are doing. Anyone who drops money is being careless.

 

[pearlieq]

Sure you're more likely to lose money rather than come out a head, however, where else can you spend $1.00 and get a whole week of dreaming?

That's how my mom always explained it. She said you should look at gambling as an entertainment expense and nothing else.

If $1 buys you a whole week to dream, I figure that's a pretty good bargain. When we pay $20 for a night of bingo (we just get the basics) we consider it about equivalent to a movie--a nominal price for an evening of fun.

As for the whole "found money" issue, I figure it all evens out in the end. I've lost money, I've found money. My lifetime totals for each are probably about the same. If it's a small amount (under $40 or so) and you do a good look around for the rightful owner, after that it's yours to keep with a clear conscience.

 

[5stljayhawks]

Jax1023 -

The tickets 3 or 4 were already scratched. my thinking the person just pitched them, like people flick cigarette butts out their window.

 

[kydisneyfans]

I was taught by my grandmother at a very young age to pick up old lottery tickets sitting around and check them out. On occasion, I'll find a winner where the person didn't scratch the entire thing off. If they are losers, then I chalk it up as cleaning up litter.

The way I look at lottery is this-I can spend $2.25 on a Starbucks coffee, or I can spend $1.06 at Speedway for coffee, buy a $1 ticket, and still come out ahead with a chance to win something.

The people I shake my head at are the ones buying multiple $20 tickets at once, but almost everytime I see that, the person is driving a Cadillac. They must be doing something right.

 

[Jax1023]

Jax1023 -

The tickets 3 or 4 were already scratched. my thinking the person just pitched them, like people flick cigarette butts out their window.

I was replying to the people who said they would have turned them in. Turned them in to where? I would have done th exact same thing you did.

Oh and my parents always bought us scrat off tickets for stocking stuffers at christmas, even when we were little, so I see nothing wrong with letting your kids scartch them off.

 

[5stljayhawks]

I was brought into the world with scratch offs as well, just after I turned 18****. Cheap thrills and big dreams

I was replying to the people who said they would have turned them in. Turned them in to where? I would have done th exact same thing you did.

Oh and my parents always bought us scrat off tickets for stocking stuffers at christmas, even when we were little, so I see nothing wrong with letting your kids scartch them off.