Have You Ever Won A Contest, A Prize, The Lottery, Etc?

Discussion in 'Not Sure Where it Goes' started by Babs Hunt, Apr 18, 2016.

  1. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    I'm playing Albertson's Monopoly game right now along with one of my daughters. I don't know if they have Albertson's everywhere so I will just say it is a big Grocery store here where I live. Every year for the past few years they have a Monopoly game where you can win big prizes, money, etc. or a free food item. You get a free Monopoly game board and you get the monopoly tickets to fill in the board with when you purchase your groceries. When you fill in the whole square...you can win the prize in that square. Of course we've never won any big prizes but then it cost us nothing to play the game since we don't purchase anything but the normal things we buy there anyway. The first year I played I won quite a few food items and a few Red Box movies. And I win quite a few extra tickets. Today, I was typing in ticket numbers at Albertson's website to see if I won anymore free tickets. This is the part I don't like because even if your numbers end up giving you two free tickets...you have to use up your printer ink to print those winning numbers off and then tape your number ticket to the printed page next to those numbers that you won on. I think your numbers also get entered for oher prizes. It really can end up being more time consuming than it is worth...but you certainly can't win if you don't play! :) Anyway, doing this today made me wonder if anyone has ever won anything...so I thought I would ask you this question. Have you won anything? And if so what did you win?
     
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  2. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    I've never won anything big. Ten dollars here, twenty dollars there, a few free products, but never a big win.
     
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  3. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    For Christmas my husband always puts scratch off lottery tickets in my mini stocking and I once won $40. off of one of those tickets. :) One of my son-in-law's sisters got some of those tickets in her stocking and actually won $10,000.00!
     
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  4. Mari North

    Mari North Veteran Member
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    I've had some wins, yes. I won a $1,000 online shopping spree about 12 years ago and it got me interested in entering blog giveaways... and then I won quite a bit from those.

    Funny thing about the "big" win is that my ever-skeptical self figured it was somehow a scam because it was a national thing and I thought I didn't have a chance when I entered. I got a certified letter with the notification and simply didn't believe it. I figured I'd go to the bank for the requested affidavit and the bank would confirm it was a scam and know how to report it to proper authorities, but it wasn't a scam. :)

    So then I got the bug and started entering blog giveaways. I was sure to enter only for cash and gift cards and the wins shocked me every time. I kept track in 2013 and my winnings of gift cards and cash amounted to $1,001.60. Added another $450.00 until July of 2014 and then stopped keeping track and eventually got so busy with work that I stopped doing them for the most part.

    I've wanted to try a few again, but I've seen that the whole dynamic is different now... in just a couple of years, it changed drastically... too much social media requirement going on now, so I'm not sure I'll bother.
     
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  5. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    Quite a few years back my cousin's wife's parents won the Lottery. I don't know how much they won because I was not living in Louisiana at the time. But it was plenty enough that they set their win up so that every year they and all their children got so much from that winning. :) One year my Mom's air conditioning and heating system went out completely and my Cousin and his wife used part of their share of the winnings to buy her a brand new system.
     
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  6. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    How many of you buy lottery tickets? I buy one every now and then, but no more than one or two a month, if that. So far, I might win ten bucks or so every now or then, which simply goes part way toward reimbursing me for the tickets I've bought.
     
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  7. Mari North

    Mari North Veteran Member
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    Not I... never. I did buy two or three of them about 25 years ago, but I'm sure that doesn't count. :rolleyes:
     
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  8. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    My husband probably spends a few dollars on them every week. I will buy a ticket when the jackpot gets real high. My husband has won a few of his bucks back and I think once I won $3 or something like that for having so many of the numbers that were of the winning ones. I'm not really a gambler per say...but when the jackpot gets really high...I'll take a chance because someone has to win that jackpot, it only takes one ticket with the right numbers to win it, and there is absolutely no chance of winning if you don't buy a ticket. :)
     
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  9. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    We live in a state that doessn't allow the lottery, so unless we drove up into Tennessee, there is no way to buy a ticket. Huntsville is not that far from the state line; but since we have no other reason to go up there, we won't go that far just to buy a lottery ticket.
    If we do have to go to Tennessee for some reason, then we will stop at the closest store that sells tickets and buy a couple of them.
    So far, we have never even won anything from buying the tickets; but if they decide to sell them here in Alabama, then we would probably try our luck more often.

    I have been trying to remember if I have ever won anything, and it must not have been much if I did, because I would remember that.
    When I was a teenager, our local radio station had some kind of a Valentine's Day contest , where we had to make a valentines card and send it to our favorite DJ.
    Since I was in rifle range at the time, and a pretty good shot as well; I took one of my best bullseye targets and made up some sort of a little rhyming verse about how he "really scores a bullseye " with me. It was definitely unique, and probably the world's only valentine card with bullet holes in it.
    I won the prize, but I can't remember what I won anymore. I think probably a box of valentine's candy, or maybe tickets to the local theater.
    I was just proud to have won and have my valentine card read over the air.
     
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  10. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Babs Hunt

    Have You Ever Won A Contest, A Prize, The Lottery, Etc?

    Never, ever. Not even the slightest give-away. I DID, though, successfully knock down every single moving little mechanical "ducky" on the backstop of a shooting gallery my Dad took me to at maybe age 10. It used (GASP!) real ammunition fired from REAL RIFLES, small, scaled to the size of 10-year olds' arms!

    It taught marksmanship, acuity, self-control. I never heard of a shooting accident related to arcades, back then. So, what do you think has changed in the basic American Psyche to impose generalized FEAR in every-ones' hearts? Frank
     
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  11. K E Gordon

    K E Gordon Veteran Member
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    I have won a few things mostly small, but I once one an all expenses paid trip to Florida from a former workplace. It was nice because it included airfare for two and free accommodations. Truthfully, I might have liked the second prize better 500 dollars in cash. I am pretty good at pop music trivia, and I used to follow this radio station around that had a cash booth set up in various locations...You would go in after answering the question right and grab all the swirling money you could. It was a lot of fun.
     
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  12. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    I actually forgot that one of my grandchildren was selling raffle tickets for her school and we always buy some. I won a pretty big prize in that. The prize consisted of a weekend hunting camping trip all expenses paid for two people (I gave that part to my two son-in-laws), some premium meat (which we cooked for a Thanksgiving holiday, an electric drill (I kept that)...and a few other things too. I was totally surprised when I won that and very happy that I got to share the stuff in it with my family.

    As for the Monopoly game I am still playing from Albertson's, today I opened a ticket and won a free bag of Ghirardelli candy squares...since I love the chocolate caramel ones...I am happy about this!
     
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  13. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    Oh, my gosh ! ! After reading this post, I just realized that I actually "won" lots of things. I just didn't even think about it, since it was from where I worked, and not just by entering a contest.

    When I sold insurance for Combined Insurance Company, they were ALWAYS having contests, just about every other week was Presidents Day, Founder's Day, or some other special promotion. And there were all kinds of prizes that you could win, depending on how much insurance you sold that week.
    While I am actually not competitively motivated, I have always had a great Team Spirit, and I tried hard to do my best for my team.
    Most of the things that I won were smaller prizes, like silver 2oz coins; but some of them were more useful items. (Robin still has a stack of the silver "dollars" that I would give her each week when I won them.)

    One thing that I won, and LOVED, but never ever wore was a full-length faux blue fox coat and matching hat.
    The best thing that I ever won was a trip to Palm Springs for several days, for two people , all expenses paid.
    We stayed in a gorgeous hotel, ate sumptuous meals, rode the (tram?) carrier that took us from the hot desert up into the blizzarding snow at the top of the huge mountain just outside of the city.

    Working for Combined was actually probably one of the best times of my life, and I learned a lot about attitude, that has helped to shape my life since then.
     
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    Last edited: Apr 29, 2016
  14. Dave Sun

    Dave Sun Veteran Member
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    Biggest so far, $400.00 on a Florida scratch off. A t-shirt once. It was printed, "I'm a good egg," with a picture of a smiling egg on it.
    I use to enter tons of contests, the write in kind, but postage got too expensive. I play the Florida lucky numbers game twice a week. Biggest prize is $500,000 weekly..Still waiting on that one.o_O
     
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  15. Diane Lane

    Diane Lane Veteran Member
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    My biggest win was $1,000 in a church drawing. The most I've won on the lottery itself was $400, but that was split 4 ways, because co-workers and I always purchased season tickets for a few different games. I won a bicycle, a La-Z-Boy recliner, and my most recent win was a space heater. I am a firm believer in entering to win, because it gives me hope, and that's in short supply these days.

    I used to buy lots of 3"x5" index cards, envelopes, and stamps. Back then, I could afford to purchase rolls of stamps, which were necessary, since that was the only way to enter sweepstakes and contests. Nowadays, I can skip those items and enter for free online, which I enjoy doing.

    I spend around $4/month on lottery. Occasionally, if I'm feeling flush, I'll double that, particularly if I've won a few dollars with my initial $4 investment. I currently have a ticket from last night to check and two more for tonight's drawings, and my fingers are crossed. I tossed some salt over my left shoulder earlier while I was making breakfast, so I think I have a good chance of winning with one of those tickets.
     
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