Benefits of Scratch-Off ticketsPrev TopicNext Topic

• WilliamJohns

  

  Connecticut
  United States
  Member #83,646
  December 12, 2009
  27 Posts
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  Nov 21, 2010, 8:39 am

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  Is it fair to say that, generally, with scratch-off tickets you are more likely to win many of the smaller prizes but have less of a chance (statistically - dollar for dollar) of hitting the "life-changing" huge jackpot you'd get with jackpot games like MegaMillions and Lotto ?
• MattfromPA

  

  SE PA
  United States
  Member #93,578
  July 3, 2010
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  Nov 21, 2010, 7:25 pm

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  In PA, it's hard to win much of anything anymore on the scratch-offs. I have really cut down (usually spend no more than $20-$30 of non-winning cash at a time.) I guess the Powerball and Megaball are much harder to win, but the difference seems smaller here in PA. Still, I play an occassional Powerball and Megaball and haven't won in months. You also have to get more than 3 numbers to get much, so that's why I haven't switched to non-instants.
• muppet

  

  Mountain Park, OK
  United States
  Member #101,092
  November 26, 2010
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  Nov 26, 2010, 1:50 am

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  The ratios are 1:4 for scratch-offs and 1:16,000,000 for jackpot games, at best. I prefer to break even occasionally and the instant gratification is good with a scratch-off. Powerball slips pile up and get checked about 3 months later. I've won very little on Lotto/PB/MM games.  I matched 4 balls out of 6 - once.

  I can win $20 on a $2 scratcher, get cash, a few more tix and keep going. The odds and the psychological factor are more rewarding. I spend less money.

  Personally, I prefer the small wins, even though I rarely buy scratch tix.

   

  The short answer is yes, the odds of winning are much better and the overall expenditure is less.
• sully16

  

  25

  Ringleader

  Michigan
  United States
  Member #81,738
  October 28, 2009
  128,035 Posts
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  Dec 5, 2010, 10:49 am

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  we had a guy here in Mich hit a million dollar scratcher twice. other than that I don't hear of anyone winning more that $1000.00

   
• kovirtuoso

  United States
  Member #97,680
  September 21, 2010
  16 Posts
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  Dec 7, 2010, 7:39 pm

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  I've been thinking about the same thing and can only say so far that winning any BIG prize is just going to be rare, whether it is scratch-offs, powerball, or lotto.

  (Big Prize Raffles have the best odds but looks like FLA isn't doing a Holiday Millionaire raflle this year, winning a Mil there can be 1 in less than 300,000)

  Here are some numbers I"ve been watching and playing around with.

  Powerball,  is 1 in 5Million to win 200,000 (or win 1Million if you pay for the $2 "plus" ticket) and 1 in 200Million for the jackpot.

  Most Scratch-offs are about 1 in 1.5Million to win their Jackpot of 200,000 (This would be a common $5.00 scratchoff) and I've see 1 in 2.5Million for the 3MillionMonopoly scratcher in FLA for it's 3Mil jackpot.

  So, looking at that, the Scratch offs seem to have slightly better odds.

  I can add that I haven't one a dime on Powerball (spent about 100.00 got nothing) but with the minor prizes in scratch-offs, I put in 100.00 and win maybe 50.00 which ends up going for more scratchers but it's better than paying the whole 150.00 getting nothing back and at least getting the feeling that a winner may come along sometime.

  So, again, it's best to play with money that you will probably lose but money that you are spending specifically for the purpose of taking a chance to win a bigger prize.  Scratchers may provide littler prizes along the way and instantly knowing what is going on.

  I will say that I sometimes forget to check the Powerball numbers or it seems like a chore or maybe it's just because I haven't even gotten close to winning anything in Powerball, so I'm getting tired of playing it and sticking with Scratchoffs more.

  I just grabbed a few Cruise For Cash and felt pretty good about getting 50.00 in tickets winning 30.00 and getting more tickets with that, which all go into the 2nd Chance Drawing and tonight is the last night so tomorrow I'll find out if any 2nd chancers hit.
• CarHauler

  

  United States
  Member #97,725
  September 22, 2010
  321 Posts
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  Dec 8, 2010, 12:59 am

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  I have won far more money on instant games. You have much better odds of winning sizeable amounts in the range of 1 to 5 million on the instant games than on winning that amount on a jackpot game, but if amounts in that range are not adequate for you, you should play jackpot games. In Georgia, we do not have any instant games with top prizes over $5,000,000. Fantasy 5 can win amounts as low as $50,000, and as high as $3,000,000. Therefore, I have decided to include the instant tickets with the best odds of winning in each dollar amount, with a minimum of $50,000, to fairly compare it to Fantasy 5. Note that there are no $1 games, as no $1 game in Georgia has a top payout of over $12,000.

  Here are some examples:

  Best odds of winning top prizes from instant games that are $2:
  $50,000......1 in 1,000,800, Jumbo Bucks Classic

  Best odds of winning top prizes from instant games that are $3:
  $75,000......1 in 1,200,000, $75,000 Cashword
  $80,000......1 in 2,000,000, Bingo Bingo
  $100,000.....1 in 960,000, Big Bucks, Mighty Mega Bucks
  $120,000.....1 in 1,500,000, Shamrock 7s
  $150,000.....1 in 2,700,000, The Price is Right

  Best odds of winning top prizes from instant games that are $5:
  $50,000......1 in 1,008,000, $200,000 Bonus Bingo
  $150,000.....1 in 780,000, Giant Jumbo Bucks
  $200,000.....1 in 1,008,000, $200,000 Bonus Bingo
  $300,000.....1 in 1,440,000, Sapphires & Gold
  $377,777.....1 in 2,040,000, Red White & Blue 7s
  $400,000.....1 in 1,800,000, 20X the Money
  $300,000 taxes paid..1 in 1,520,000, $300,000 Taxes Paid
  $500,000.....1 in 1,620,000, Atlanta Falcons $500,000 Score
  Top Prize....1 in 780,000, Giant Jumbo Bucks

  Best odds of winning top prizes from instant games that are $10:
  $50,000....1 in 504,000, Big Payout
  $77,777....1 in 720,000, Super Lucky 7s
  $250,000...1 in 376,000, $150,000,000 Slots of Luck
  $500,000...1 in 720,000, Jumbo Jumbo Bucks
  $750,000...1 in 1,560,000, Jingle Jumbo Bucks
  $777,777...1 in 1,440,000, Super Lucky 7s
  $1,000,000.1 in 1,680,000, Big Payout, Extreme Green, Millionaire Celebration

  Best odds of winning top prizes from instant games that are $20:
  $50,000.....1 in 504,000, Maximum Green
  $250,000....1 in 1,008,000, Millionaire Jumbo Bucks
  $1,000,000..1 in 840,000, Maximum Green
  $2,500,000..1 in 2,016,000, Millionaire Jumbo Bucks
  $5,000,000..1 in 3,360,000, Maximum Green

  Odds of winning the Jackpot in the following games:
  Mega Millions 1 in 175,711,536
  Powerball 1 in 195,249,054
  Win For Life ($1,000 a week for life) 1 in 5,245,786
  Fantasy 5 (Jackpots are usually between $50,000 and $500,000) 1 in 575,757
• sully16

  

  25

  Ringleader

  Michigan
  United States
  Member #81,738
  October 28, 2009
  128,035 Posts
  Online
  Dec 8, 2010, 7:03 am

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  wow some of those are pretty good odds.