7 Strategies for Scratch-Off Ticket Fans
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Scratch-off tickets are a fun way to pass the time. You go into a gas station and buy a couple from time to time, but does anyone ever make money from them? They obviously don’t want you to, but if you’re smart, you can have a good time while still walking away with a good chance of winning.
The way they work is pretty simple. You can buy scratch-off lottery tickets from your local convenience store, then use a hard object to scratch-off the foil and reveal prize money. It may even be big prize money. You can also do more than just make your money back. You can make $100, $500, $1,000, or possibly even more.
Our first piece of advice? Don’t give up right away. Read the rest of our scratch-off ticket strategies below.
1 – Don’t Give Up
You may get frustrated if your first ticket doesn’t reveal anything. I’ve scratched off tickets and revealed absolutely nothing more times than I can count, but I don’t give up when I get a dud.
Scratch-offs can feel particularly frustrating when you don’t win, especially when you spend a lot of time scratching for all you’re worth. But that’s part of the fun! The problem with scratch-offs is that you can wear yourself out scratching the day away, but just like any other game of chance, there’s always a winner somewhere.
Keep scratching even if you have a dud. You never know which ticket will be the winning one. There’s a ticket somewhere in there with $1,000 in it. And a few duds is worth it if you get the big ticket.
2 – See If the Big Fish Is in the Pond
Don’t buy scratch-offs to a game that’s already been won. Many of the biggest prizes are already won while the cards are still for sale. You don’t want to buy a card if there’s no chance of reeling in the big one.
Check your state’s website to see what prizes have already been claimed, then you’ll know which tickets are worth dropping a little money on and which tickets are duds just waiting for a sucker to come along.
The average scratch-off player probably never checks a state’s website to see if the prize is still available. If you do, you’ll be one step ahead of the next guy. And that just means you’ll be one step closer to winning.
There are different websites for every state. You need to find the website for your state that shows your claimed scratch-offs.
3 – Read the Fine Print
Check the fine print for any scratch-off cards you buy. Scratch-off makers put lots of rules on the back of the cards. If you’re smart, you can figure out how to get the best odds and ensure you’re buying the tickets most likely to win.
Remember, playing scratch-offs is the same as playing any other game of chance. If you want more of a sure thing, go for the card with better odds. It’s better to win a little bit here and there than to keep trying for the big money (where the odds are definitely not in your favor).
Of all the recommendations I have for you, this is the big one. Choosing the right scratch-off game is critical to long-term success.
Think about professional gamblers. What games do they play? They play the games that are most in their favor. Now, I’m not talking about people who have tons of money from some other source and just gamble a lot. I’m talking about the people who gamble for a living, who keep the lights on with the money they win or lose.
These guys and gals choose games like real money blackjack, games where they can scrape away at the house’s edge through skill and walk away with much better odds. Believe it or not, you can do the same when it comes to scratch-offs.
Because the odds can vary so much from game to game, the most important decision you can make is choosing which game to play.
Start by playing a variety of games. Read the fine print on the back and see what the odds are. Make a note of games that have particularly good odds because those might end up being your go-to game.
Once you have that list, start narrowing it down. Figure out which games have the absolute best odds, then measure that against the games you really enjoy playing. Remember, there’s no point to all of this if you’re not having any fun!
You can also find out other helpful information on the back of scratch-offs. You can be smart and gain an advantage by being educated when you buy. So many people don’t read the fine print and just buy whatever the guy behind the counter has in stock. Be smarter than those other guys—educate yourself.
4 – Buy Stacks of Cards
Don’t go into the convenience store and just buy one scratch-off card. That’s what they want you to do. The manufacturers expect consumers to only buy one card at a time because they know their odds of winning are higher when you’re only buying one or two of them.
I used to go into the convenience store and buy one scratch-off ticket at a time, sometimes, it was all I could afford. I’d put all my money into one scratch-off card and hope that it would pay off. Then, when I had another clunker, I would tear it up and throw it in the trash.
I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong. I was reading the fine print on the cards. I was playing the active games that still had big prizes available. I never gave up. I would buy four tickets in a row, one at a time, and not win anything. I was ready to pull my hair out.
Buy as many cards as you can afford at a time. Don’t order one card at a time like I used to. Go to the counter and ask for as many cards as your budget (and good common sense) allows. Let me explain why this works better.
The manufacturers spread out the winning cards when they deliver them to the convenience store. So, if you buy one card at a time, you don’t have a good chance of winning. You’ll be stuck buying one card at a time all night like a sucker. If you buy in bulk, you increase your chances of winning because you are much more likely to burn through the duds and hit the winner.
Buy as many cards as your budget allows (within reason). You want to have a good size stack in your hands. The bigger the stack, the better your odds of getting a winner.
5 – Submit Your Tickets Even If You Think You Lost
One of the biggest problems with scratch-off tickets is that it’s sometimes unclear whether you’ve won or lost. Especially for some tickets (like bingo games), you can easily make a mistake, miss a number, and totally miss the fact that you actually had a winning ticket.
The only way to be absolutely certain whether you won or lost is to submit the ticket. Every ticket has a code on it that can be scanned by the cashier. If you made a mistake (and believe me, this happens more often than I’d like to admit), then you’ll catch yourself (and ensure you get the big win) by submitting every ticket.
6 – Study the Lay of the Land
This strategy always helps me. I go into convenience stores and buy my first ticket. Sometimes, I win big on the first one. But whether or not I win, I like to hang around and see what the tickets have been like that day.
If you’re walking into a convenience store or other outlet that has a lot of traffic and a lot of purchases, that means more people are buying tickets (and you have a lower chance of winning).
The stores that have little traffic have the winning cards in there somewhere. If you’re continually purchasing your cards at just this store, and few people are buying cards in between you and your next purchase, you’re much more likely to hit the win.
7 – Look for Second Chance Lottos
The lotto is a little different from scratch-off tickets, but you can definitely still win even if the big prize gets picked up—and some people find the lotto a lot more fun than scratch-offs.
Did you know some lottery tickets have second chance lottos? 43 of the 44 states that hold lotteries have second chance lotteries. This could be another chance for you to win big.
“A Kansas woman won $25,000 in Home Depot gift cards, a Georgia man won a Kia sedan and a California woman won $500,000 all within two weeks.”
Just because you lose the big prize doesn’t mean you can’t win in a second chance lottery.
Conclusion
Scratch-off tickets are widely available at convenience stores around the world. You won’t win every time you play, but if you’re smart, you can increase the odds. If you use these seven tips for winning scratch-offs, you can make all your friends jealous of your scratch-off success.
Tell us which of these tips you use the most in the comments.
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