Stopped by my local Shell today to check the Maryland $5 “Jurassic Park” and “Break the Bank” books in the lottery machine. There were 60 tickets left in Jurassic Park and 48 left in Break the Bank. Usually with these books you’re guaranteed certain wins — Jurassic Park has two $25s, and Break the Bank has a $25 and a $50. Bigger prizes are outliers.

I played one of each and realized the books were back-loaded (ticket 60 first, ticket 1 last). I kept playing, thinking the guaranteed bigger wins would be somewhere in the middle or toward the end like they usually are. But I kept hitting only $5s and $10s… so I ended up playing the whole book of both.

Wild part is: every big win was at the very beginning of the book. • Jurassic Park: ticket #7 ($25), #13 ($25), and #15 ($75 outlier) • Break the Bank: ticket #1 ($50) and #2 ($25)

I’ve hit back-to-back wins before, but never on ticket 1 and 2. If these books had been loaded in the normal order, I would’ve profited huge — or, honestly, I could’ve gotten there after someone else already hit them and lost a ton.

Just crazy how random and unpredictable some books are.