How To Win Playing Scratch Off Lottery Tickets
The overall odds of winning are the odds of winning ANY prize in a scratch off game. The overall odds remain the same throughout the life of a game and are typically printed on the back of a MA scratch ticket. If you want to know the best chances to win anything on your scratch off, the overall odds are the way to go. Caribbean Lottery Instant Scratch games are fun to play, and best of all, they give you a chance to win lots of cash instantly! Instant Scratch games offer prizes ranging from free ticket to more than $250,000, with many other prize levels on each ticket, too. With our wide variety of games to choose from, you could play a different game every day.
Just about everyone is familiar with the concept of the lottery, especially the big drawings that are held daily or every few days anyway. You select some numbers and hope to match them up to the ones that are drawn at random.
We’ve heard about the record-breaking jackpots and how office pools made an entire group of co-workers instant millionaires. Powerball and Mega Millions are the two biggies in the US and EuroMillions is Europe’s big millionaire making game.
Scratch-off tickets, though, have also created their share of nouveau riche. You don’t typically consider these instant win versions to be real contenders for providing big money, but you’d be surprised.
The Origin of Scratch-Off Tickets
Lottery draws have been a mainstay in the US since the 17th century and in other areas around the globe, well before that. In fact, lotteries were responsible for much of the original infrastructure in the new colonies and also helped to build the District of Columbia.
Scratch tickets don’t have nearly as rich of a history as they’ve only been around since the 1970s. Maryland was the first state to introduce them, but the concept didn’t kick into high gear until the 1980s, and now you can find them everywhere draw tickets are sold which, in the United States, is in 44 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.
How Do They Work?
Scratch-offs or “scratchers” have some game play attached to them. Originally, you would have to do something basic like match up your number with the winning number or reveal three like prize amounts to be successful.
However, these days, the games are getting to be more and more intricate and involved, and it’s for a good reason. Lottery sales started to decline, but officials began to recognize that the longer the players were involved in the game, the more likely they were to buy more.
So, these days there are all kinds of extended play versions. For example, you could get a bingo scratcher and play through a full game of bingo scratching off each called number and then trying to match it to your number. Or there are crossword puzzles where you scratch off one letter at a time attempting to fill in actual words as each word equates to a prize payout.
It’s still a basic instant win premise as you’re not waiting for numbers to be drawn on a particular day, but it takes longer to get to the ticket result as you’re actively engaged in playing the game.
What Kind of Money Can You Win From Scratch-Offs?
You hear about someone winning $2, $5 or even $20 here and there, but there is big money potential in these types of tickets, but it all boils down to the actual game itself. There are dozens, and dozens of ever-changing game variations and every one has a different prize pool.
A $1 ticket may have a maximum prize of $500 or sometimes $5,000 with higher odds. One ticket may have a higher top prize and not as many lower level ones. Another game may offer a plethora of smaller prizes, so your odds of winning are much greater.
Whereas a lottery draw has a standard price like $1 or $2 per chance, scratch-offs offer multiple denominations. You’ll find $1, $2, $3, $5, $10, and even $50 or $100. You would think that those pricier versions would sit on the shelf, but you’d be amazed at how many people play those larger amounts. The odds of winning swings much higher in your favor at higher buy-ins and payouts can be $1 million or even more.
You won’t see these prizes reach the billion dollar mark as Powerball has before, but I wouldn’t turn up my nose to a few million.
A Winning Story
Speaking of those multi-million dollar wins, how about a $4 million dollar birthday present?
In 2014, a teen (yes, a teen) in Illinois scratched off a ticket given to her as a birthday present and ended up with a $4 million dollar gift. That $25 Target gift card I put in an envelope now pales in comparison.
The ticket’s grand prize was $100 million, so there is big-time money out there waiting to be revealed… literally.
A Winning Strategy
If I had a truly successful formula to winning big on lottery scratch offs, I would probably opt to keep it to myself but, there’s never a sure thing to gambling and especially when it comes to lotteries.
However, there are a few considerations that you may want to pay attention to if you’re heading out to buy some tickets.
The odds of winning are included on the back of every scratch off ticket, and you can also do some advance research online. The state lottery websites will provide you with all of the pertinent details about every game they offer.
You can pull up any game and take a look at the odds of winning. You’ll find some may have higher odds like a 5 to 1 but some tickets can even come in under 3 to 1. The other thing you’ll note when you access this information is the actual breakdown of the prize pool. You can see which games have more top awards and exactly how many prizes at each level are being offered.
Let’s take that a step further. If you are serious about bettering your odds, you can study the different games, and the lottery commission even updates the prizes that are claimed. So, you might see a $50,000 top prize game that had 20 of the $50,000 prizes available but 16 have already been issued, or you may note that a similar payout ticket has all 20 of those big winning tickets still out there in circulation.
You can truly give yourself at least a slightly better chance by doing your homework.
I, personally, can attest that I have better luck in winning on scratch offs when the game is brand new. I scour the titles until I see a recently released game and I do usually have better luck in at least winning something. A push is better than a loss any day.
Another thing to consider is that buying more consecutive tickets can give you a better chance to at least get some prize win. At 3 to 1 or 4 to 1 odds of winning, it does make sense to buy ten of the same ticket in a row rather than ten different one-offs. No, that isn’t a proven method either, but we’re talking about tipping the scales in your favor any way you can.
Not Convinced?
In case you’re skeptical about the really big payouts from a tiny scratch-off ticket, let’s take a quick look at Joan Ginther.
Are you not familiar with her name?
She made headlines for winning an incredible amount on scratch-off tickets including a $10 million award in 2010 on a $50 ticket, making it her fourth million-plus prize from lottery scratchers.
Now, a player like Ginther is not your typical customer as she’s investing big money. In fact, four wins prompted suspicion from the lottery commissions, so the legitimacy was investigated, but all of the payouts were found to be valid.
How did she do it? She bought a lot of tickets, maybe even a few million dollars worth. Her net payout wasn’t as great, but she certainly increased her odds by sheer volume.
Now, most of us don’t have a few million to throw around on scratchers but, it only takes one. Case and point, the Illinois teen who is now a millionaire courtesy of one relatively small birthday present.
If you thought that your scratch-off lottery ticket was a loser because it didn’t have any winning number, then you might want to change your mind.
There are a lot of people who won manydifferent things because of their losing scratch-off ticket, and how is whatyou’re going to find out next.
The lottery isn’t just a win-or-lose game; it actually gives you a lot of chances to win even when you lose with your scratch-off lottery ticket.
If you don’t believe me, then let me tellyou these three words: the second chance lottery.
So if you’ve been wondering what to do withyour losing scratch-off lottery ticket, here’s your answer: KEEP IT.
You will need it in the second chancelottery.
Whatare second chance lotteries?
If you have never heard of a second chancelottery then today is your lucky day.
If you lose at the big game and didn’t haveany of the winning numbers, then you might have another chance at winning inthe second chance lottery.
Second chance lotteriesare bonus draws that give people higher chances and higher odds to win evenwith a losing ticket.
You get to enter the losing scratch-off lottery ticket or any losing lottery ticket in the drawing of the second chance lottery to win different prizes and different amount of cash even though you lost the first time.
Not every lottery company and state givesother people the chance to play another time to win, so they don’t offer thesebonus draws.
Whydoes the lottery offer second chances?
You might think it’s a scam so far, I meanwhy would the state offer you a second chance of winning?
Why would they risk losing more money?
Well, simply, because whatever you win, thestate wins more.
Keeping the process of lottery going longerhelps the state win more revenue and more money overall.
If the state stops the lottery on the firstround once someone wins, there will be no more tickets sold, no more revenueraking in, and no more money for the state.
Second chance lotteries help the state sellmore tickets by convincing people that they can still win large prizes and a bigamount of cash, and the more they sell, the more the state wins.
Even if the secondary lottery games don’toffer big prizes, people still get motivated to take part of them and buy moretickets with the extended drawing period, some people still participate to wineven points for gift cards or small prizes.
And, since you get to pay taxes on everyticket you buy, that means even more money for the state at the end of thelottery.
Whatare the odds of you winning?
In a lottery, your chances of winning arevery slim, even slimmer to none, if you get to pick 6 numbers out of 49numbers, your chances of winning are 1 in 12,983,816 for the jackpot.
Which means that winning in a normallottery is chance of 1 shot in 13 million, and some other lotteries have evenworse case scenarios which mean, lower odds of winning.
But, the good news is that in second-chancelotteries you’ve got higher chances in winning.
Why is that?
Simply because there are a lot of peoplewho don’t even know about second chances in the first place, and even thoughsome people know, they don’t even bother participating because they’re lackingthe thrill of the biggest prize.
Because of all these factors,you’ve got higher chances in winning the second chance lottery than you do inthe first one.
In some states, an online list ofprizes is provided which shows the odds of winning them depending on how manyentries that have been received.
So if you live in one of thesestates, checking your odds will help you determine where to put your money in.
How To Buy Winning Scratch Off Lottery Tickets
In which states you get a second chance lottery?
How To Win Playing Scratch Off Lottery Tickets Ticket Time
If you’re convinced ofparticipating in the second chance lottery, then you need to make sure you livein one of these states:
- Alaska
- Hawaii
- Nevada
- Mississippi
- Alabama
- Utah
If you’re looking for moreinformation concerning the second chance lottery, then the website of thelottery of your state will have more information.
How do second chance lotteries work?
Each state has its own set ofrules when it comes to second-chance lotteries, but there are some generalrules that every state has that you’ll have to follow.
Even if you don’t live in the laststates that were mentioned, in 44 states there are 43 states that have otherforms of second chances.
So depending on the form, therules change.
You first need to give a visit toyour state’s lottery website to check if they have any other form of secondchance drawings and find out their rules.
You need to check if the games areeligible, the entry deadlines and how many drawings occur to make sure you’vecollected all information concerning this.
To join these games, you’ll haveto visit the website, create an account with your information (name, last name,date of birth, email address) and simply follow the instructions.
In some states there’s no onlineentry system, so you’ll have to email your ticket and information if you wantto participate.
CheckingYour Account Status
The great thing about registering online is that you cancheck back the information you’ve entered at any given moment to check ifthey’re correct or not.
You don’t want to enter an incorrect name and let anotherperson win with your ticket, isn’t that right?
To let all odds in your favor, recheck your account andmake sure you’ve entered the tickets and the information correctly.
Some sites will send you a notification on your email forconfirmation to make sure everything’s correct.
How To Win Playing Scratch Off Lottery Tickets Ticketmaster
Make sure to check the website’s guideline and rules to getan idea of how you’ll be informed in case you win, even though most websiteswill do it either by phone or email.
But just give the website a look to avoid any surprises.
Avoidscams
Since second chance lotteries are for people who lost thefirst time, there are a lot of prying eyes on it.
Scammers prey on second-chance lottery players sincethey’re more likely to believe them because they’re looking for an easy way outwith a small prize rather than look for the big one.
To avoid scammers simply look for these signs:
● Emails with spelling mistakes
● Emails asking you for money or personal information
● Any form of communication that includes spelling mistakesand that ask for personal information and money
When in doubt, ask for someone to check if the email isscammy or not or simply check the website for further information.
Even though you might think that all hopes are lost once you lose the jackpot and don’t have any winning number, second chance lottery comes for rescue and gives you another chance to win extra draws, so make sure you always keep your scratch-off lottery ticket.
Second chance lotteries are not only beneficial for thestate, but for you too since you’ll be able to have higher chances of winningprizes with less competition, so if you’re looking for an easy way out withsome interesting prizes or cash involved, make sure to participate in them.