"The day I almost won the lottery"

"The day I almost won the lottery"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

I buy lotto tickets once in awhile when the pot is high enough and when I see that people are forming long lines in hopes of winning it all. I have always gotten 3 numbers out of 6 which means that I get 20 pesos or Balik taya. 20 pesos that I could cast into the unknown again or keep when I need jeepney fare. I have never gotten 4 digits or even 5 for that matter but all that changed one weekend when I checked the lotto results and slowly ticked off 5 numbers on the result screen. I simply could not believe it so I had to check. Twice. I was so happy to get 5 numbers that I forgot to feel sorry that I did not get 6 numbers. I really thought that there would be a glitch. I would later find out that there would be 79 of us who would get 5 numbers. All 79 had a chance of getting that elusive 6th number but somehow we did not. 

A little later it dawned on me that I could have won much more. Had I gotten the final number I would have been 3 million bucks richer!(And this is assuming that I have a unique set of numbers and would then be able to enjoy the winnings) 

What would have happened if I got that 3 million? 3 million would have gone into a house or a business but I was not about to quit my day job. 3 million maybe a lot of money but expenses have a nasty way of catching up with you if you are not careful. Without a steady form of income that 3 million peso well will dry up soon. 

When I went to the PCSO , which was now in Roxas Boulevard instead of being near De Los Santos in E.Rodriguez I learned a couple of things. First would be that the complex is huge and the people  would be giving me my money were happy to do so.These were not people who were asking for money anywhere.Not a single charity case in sight.

I did feel a bit sorry for the old woman who were hawking Sweepstakes.I imagine that she has been doing this for a very long time and her hair has turned grey and she will probably die while still doing this. I find that sad. Very sad indeed. 

The other thing that I learned is that while I thought that my number combination was very unique , I found that it was more common than I imagined. I mean 79 other people getting 5 digits and each one had equal chances of winning the big one. 79 other people have the same combination. The numbers in lotto are from one to 49 , this means that there would be 48 other winners if you ever win the grand prize. This is also not counting the people who choose a Lucky Pick where the machine decides for you because you don't have a set of numbers that you are already taking care of. Time to rethink my numbers then.

As it turns out the decision wasn't all that bad. I will choose to stick with my numbers.I still cast my line to the sea in hopes that one of these days I would look at a lotto result and will be checking every number twice and realize that I am holding a ticket that has all 6 numbers on that computer screen.