He lost $800 of theoretical money. But he gained $200 of real help — and a rule he never forgot:
Then he remembered something from a Young Sheldon episode he’d watched — the one where Sheldon calculates the expected value of a lottery ticket and declares it a “tax on people who are bad at math.” Sheldon was annoying, but he wasn’t wrong. The real value wasn’t the ticket. It was knowing when a “lucky break” was actually a distraction. young sheldon s05e14 h255
He scratched.
Leo sold the ticket to a neighbor for $200 cash. The neighbor had a truck and free time. Leo’s family bought groceries, a secondhand tire for the truck, and a library card (so Leo could use their computers for schoolwork). He lost $800 of theoretical money