How To Win Virginia's Pick 4 Lottery

Or, I suppose, any state that has a Pick 4 Lottery.

Well...that's just the title, because my advice to you is... don't play the lottery!

But I'll tell you my story!

Tonight, I won $200, and while I'm relieved I'm also a leetle bit annoyed as well, and I'll explain why.

I've been playing the Pick 4 Lottery here in Virginia for about 2 months now. I had originally scoffed at it as having a too-low payout - the most you can win is $5,000, whereas other lotteries such as the Megamillions pays...well...millions.

But, it's incredibly difficult to win the Megamillions, and after pouring $400 down the drain, I decided it was time to give that up. (I'd been betting $30 and $40 at a time, when the pot got over the 80 million mark.)

However, because in the Pick 4 you only have to get 4 numbers right as opposed to 6, it's easier to win. And the payout is consequently smaller.

But, heck, $5,000 is a nice chunk of change.

So, I started playing Pick 4, and would bet my favorite numbers. And I poured probably more than $300 into it before getting my first $400 winner - ironically enough on an Easy Pick rather than my chosen numbers.

So I was about even on Pick 4, but still behind $400 on the Megamillions - but I'd written that off as expensive experience, and wasn't dedicating myself to trying to recoup that money...

Anyway, so I had this lump sum payout of $400...and I'm sure I bought some stuff I wanted with it...but I also probably poured at least $200 of that win back into the lottery trying to win again.

Then, about four days ago, I won again - another $400 pot, on another EZ pick.

And this time I thought to myself.... well, this is ridiculous. With this $400 pot, I've broken even...and if I keep betting like this - I'm only ever going to break even.

I'm just not a lucky person, I told myself, and it was time to accept it. (A lucky person is not someone who gets a $400 pot and just breaks even, a lucky person is someone who wins the whole bloody $5,000!)

Well, for the last week or so I'd been betting on the number 1213 every day. $1 on exact, 1 on Any (which gets that $400). (And I'd also spend $4 on other chosen numbers, and $5 on EZ picks.

And each day I've been telling myself - okay, this is dumb, this is the last time.

And I really meant it this afternoon, when I blew $20 on EZPicks and had two tickets, each that was just one number off.

But, I had to go to Williamsburg, VA, tonight, and I decided...oh, I've got to bet on my 1213. After having so much invested in it, I'd be really ticked off if it came in and I hadn't bet on it.

So after checking into my hotel I went out to buy my 1213. Now, what I did was this. Each wager slip has five columns so you can bet on 5 sets of numbers. So for the first 2 columns, I bet on 1213 and another number, and decided to choose the 50/50 option. (If you win exact you get $2,500, if you win "any" you get $200). And the remaining 3 columns, I bet the "Any" choice straight up.

Well, my 1213 came up - as 1123.

So instead of winning $400, once again I've only broken even, at $200.

So while on the hand I'm very happy - first of "my" number choice to win, and numbers I hadn't intended to bet on ever again... on the other hand I'm annoyed, because if I'd done the "Any" choice I'd be getting $400 right now...!!!!

So, I'm happy with that $200, which I will spend on various things at the Williamsburg Film Festival, and since my 1213 that I had invested so much money in has come up, I will now be able to stop betting on Pick 4 entirely.... because I hated to quit after having spent so much money on a certain number.

So overall, I'm still down several hundred dollars on this lottery thing, but since I've got these wins it's easier to accept that I've recouped a little of my loss, count it as another expensive lesson, and move on.

Let's face it, if you were lucky enough to win the lottery - you wouldn't need to play the lottery, because that luck would have shown through in other ways. And if your life sucks in other ways...well, you're not going to win the lottery anyway.

Unfortunately, it's just a fact of life.