Scratcher tricks to success

Just giving folks a heads up that have proven to be quite profitable for me.  This may depend on your state  but  hopefully you'd be able to get some information that will help.

1.  Stay away from buying a single $1 ticket.  Chances are you will lose.  You should buy these tickets in multiples of at least 4.

2.  Read the entire ticket!  You can see the odds of winning, but it will also tell you the odds of a cash winning.  For instance, The ticket may say  odds of winning are 1 to 3.35  but reading closer will reveal that the odds of winning a CASH prize is  1 to 9.46

3.  Do not think that just because the ticket says 1 in 9.46 is a cash winning doesn't mean that you will win money.  The odds are OVERALL, not just the section you buy.

4.  Check your state's websites.  If your state lottery offer weekly updates, follow them.  Do not buy tickets with fewer than 1000 remaining large winnings.  The exeption to this rule is if you live in a very small city with very few retailers.

5.  AND MY PERSONAL FAVORITE.  WHEN YOU WIN ON A TICKET, EVEN A "FREE TICKET"  UNLESS YOU ARE GOING TO CASHOUT, DO NOT BUY MORE TICKETS OF THE SAME TYPE,  YOU WILL NOT WIN.  THAT WINNER IS PART OF THE ODDS AND YOU WILL BE STARTING ALL OVER AGAIN.  EITHER BUY A TOTALLY DIFFERENT TICKET, CASHOUT, OR GO TO ANOTHER STORE AND PURCHASE THE SAME TICKET.

6.  Now, this is a guess on my part but so far its shown to be correct ( in my experience).  If your retailer ran out of tickets and he/she offers to open a new pack for you.  UNLESS THEY ARE WILLING TO GIVE YOU A TICKET FROM THE MIDDLE, don't buy the first ticket.  I don't know why, buy I have yet to get a winner from the very first ticket.

If anyone has any other tricks or if you have had a different experience please respond.

Scratch tickets winnings are random.I've won on the first ticket in the pack.I've won on the last ticket in the pack.I've won on three consecutive tickets.Here in Iowa they seldom have 1000 or more top prizes on a scratch ticket,so that rule wouldn't apply here.If I get a "free ticket" I don't play that game again,if the prize isn't cash I don't play.

I once saw a woman win $7500 on a scratch ticket.For three days the clerks at the store advised everyone that was buying tickets not to buy from that game because of the win.Finally the woman came back and bought the very next ticket...you guessed it...she won another $2500.My point is:You never know which ticket is going to be a winner.

yes mike how about the billion dollar tickets from MASS.  They are giving out 130 million ## prizes and 10 million $$ prizes and 1 prize of a million $$ for life.  The ticket costs $20.00  Go to the MASS website and let me know if these tickets are good odds. thanks rich

A few years back, I bought one $2 Win-for-Life ticket in NY. It was a $2.00 winner. So, I bought the next one. Another $2 winner. I got the next one, and it was a $100 winner. Another time, in NJ, I bought 5 $2 tickets, and 4 were winners.

I believe it's just superstition that there can't be more than one consecutive winner.

Here are a couple of tips that I think can be useful to most scratchoff players

I've been doing a lot of research lately on scratchoffs and I've found that lower priced games have a disadvantage to the player in the 33% to 40% range. When you start playing games that are $10 or $20 or more the advantage to the state drops down to about 22%-25%.

Also, games that have a prize of a free ticket give the state a little bit more of an edge. In the prize payout calculations these are figured in at face value. If you buy a $1.00 ticket and win $1.00 that is better than winning a free $1.00 ticket. Why? The actual value of that ticket is only about $.67 in most cases because you will get back about $.67 for every $1.00 you spend on these games because the state has a 33% advantage.

Do the analysis on the remaining prizes, it is easy to find the best tickets with some Excel skills and the remaining prize statistics for your state. Playing the right game can change the states advantage from as much as 45% down to as little as 4%.

lottocalgal makes some excellent points above. However, I have to disagree with #1, if you have $4.00 to spend you should spend it on a higher priced ticket, either a $4 or $5 or even two $2 tickets would give you a better chance in most cases.

Also #4, she says, "Do not buy tickets with fewer than 1000 remaining large winnings". This statement would depend on how many tickets haven't been sold. A game with fewer than 1000 remaining top prizes is probably a good investment if 80% of the tickets have been sold and 4 of 5 grand prizes are still unclaimed.

Good Luck!!!

I have sold tickets for TN since the beginning.   #6 does not apply to TN.  Many of times the first -fifth ticket of a new roll has the $1000 winner on the $10 ticket and  $500 on the Jumbo ticket.

So skipping them will help assure you that you will not get that prize on that particular game.

I once saw a woman win $7500 on a scratch ticket.For three days the clerks at the store advised everyone that was buying tickets not to buy from that game because of the win.Finally the woman came back and bought the very next ticket...you guessed it...she won another $2500.My point is:You never know which ticket is going to be a winner.

 Wow.. three days later and nothing sold from a pack.  We do not tell the shift behind us which pack got hit.  We are there to move the packs. 

First, I'm from NC & my number 1 rule is - don't play scratchers in NC.

Now, since I live just a short drive from VA - I play mostly $5 & $10 tickets with an occasional $20 mixed in... I bounce from game to game and if I hit I'll play a follower if and only if my gut or Dad says to play the next one, otherwise it's bouncing to the next one. If I haven't hit anything within 3 consequtive tickets I go to the next game as well, because you'll only hit a break even ticket if you're lucky. VA tickets like to have winners at the very beginning of the roll tickets 39, 38, or 37, but they used to hit better at tickets 2,1, or 0. Good Luck to all, Pogo

Last week I bought 4 - $5 tickets on the same roll, but they were losers. I bought the next four more.  Guess what, all were winners.  Winners can happen at any number.  I try to buy from the same roll. You are bound to hit something.

That's true... I really prefer to buy a new roll of either $5 or $10 tickets... I usually end up spending $200 and winning between $170 & $220. BTW, I like the 4 wins in a row - WTG, Pogo