Well, we've made it through the first quarter of 2008. So far, I have kept to my plan to play 5€ in the ONCE lottery every Friday. Statistically, I would expect to lose that 5€ on 18 of the first 20 weeks. Since, as every card player knows, there are 13 weeks every quarter, at this point, I would have predicted that I would have lost all but maybe one or two weeks. Well, guess what's happened? As if there were a wily carnie controlling the results, I won (aka. didn't lose) the first week, and have lost every single week since.
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Date
Balance
Gambled
Won
Delta
Total Delta
Jan 1, 2008
260 €
Jan 4, 2008
260 €
5 €
5 €
0 €
0 €
Jan 11, 2008
255 €
5 €
0 €
-5 €
-5 €
Jan 18, 2008
250 €
5 €
0 €
-5 €
-10 €
Jan 25, 2008
245 €
5 €
0 €
-5 €
-15 €
Feb 1, 2008
240 €
5 €
0 €
-5 €
-20 €
Feb 8, 2008
235 €
5 €
0 €
-5 €
-25 €
Feb 15, 2008
230 €
5 €
0 €
-5 €
-30 €
Feb 22, 2008
225 €
5 €
0 €
-5 €
-35 €
Feb 29, 2008
220 €
5 €
0 €
-5 €
-40 €
Mar 7, 2008
215 €
5 €
0 €
-5 €
-45 €
Mar 14, 2008
210 €
5 €
0 €
-5 €
-50 €
Mar 21, 2008
205 €
5 €
0 €
-5 €
-55 €
Mar 28, 2008
200 €
5 €
0 €
-5 €
-60 €
So there you have it. I've lost 60€ so far in this venture. At this rate, I'm looking at a total 240€ loss for the year. Note that I predicted "a likely loss of between 210 and 240 euros."
Wish me luck in the second quarter!