When buying scratch tickets do you buy one or at least two or more of the same ticket at a time?

Hi,

I was wondering about people's buying habits for scratch tickets.  For instance I'm torn when it comes to scratch tickets on either buying one ticket or buying 2 tickets from the same game at a time. Lately I've been buying 2 tickets in a row from games hoping that if the first ticket wasn't a winner the second one would be. The downside to this is that lots of times neither tickets are winners and I've lost more money than I would have if I just bought one ticket.  I know I could just buy one ticket scratch it in the store and then buy another (I've done that a few times with no luck). Usually I don't like to scratch the tickets in the store and prefer to take them home, the reason being is that when I get into an addiction on scratchers it's much worse for me to do that than take them home and not spend any more money for the day. Sometimes I save my scratchers for a few days in order to stop me from buying any.

I always buy just two at a time, in addition to finding out what the next starting number is.

Never scratch anything in a store, don't want to look like some pathetic lottery loser lunatic.

Sometimes I take a peek into the wastebasket right next to the lotto vending machines, and see if I can spot a few sequencing tickets.

(ex. #042, 043, 044 are all in the basket. Many times I'll purchase a ticket from the machine and next ticket # is 045, and a winner).

Hi mcginnin,

Thanks for your response. So you also buy two tickets at a time. Sometimes if I'm deciding on what tickets to buy and I see someone who was buying a ticket and scratched it in the store and won on that ticket will not buy the next ticket.

If you start buying 5 tickets at a time (10 is better) you wont have to dig through the garbage dumpster, or watch other people or calculate ticket numbers...... just scratch and win on every 4-5 tickets. Try it and see.

going to buy 10 $1 tickets today, will post results.

Thanks for the advice Ronnie. My tickets of choice are $10-20 scratchers, which have odds of between 1:3, and 1:4 of hitting a winner.

Buying 5+ tickets would definitely almost guarantee you a winner, but if getting $20 scratchers, that's spending $100-200 a pop; little pricey for me.

Hi,

Since you buy the 10 and 20 dollar tickets and buy 2 at a time how is that working for you. When I buy a 20 dollar ticket always buy one at a time due to the cost (I usually buy the 2 and 5 dollar tickets).

On average out of 10 purchases, I usually hit 6-7 times. Long ago when I picked up just one ticket at a time, I was lucky to get 2 hits.

I don't even bother with $1-2 tickets, a lot of chump change winners. If I play $5 scratchers, I will sometimes get 3-4 at a time. Although I haven't

had a lot of luck in general with the $5 scratchers.

Why do you want to prolong the suffering of losing. Play shotgun style by buying a $10 scratch off instead of 10 $1 scratch off games . How about a $20, $30, or a $50 scratch off.

I hate the lottery so much that I play 5, or 10 lines in one shot.

Hi,

Wow to hit 6 to 7 times out of 10 purchases is fantastic. I find certain tickets are better than others. What I find to be a big dissapointment is when I buy a 20 dollar ticket and win nothing. There are many 20 dollar tickets that I've never won anything on, when that continues to happen I stop buying those tickets and wait a few months before trying my luck on them again. I just heard of a guy who won 10 million dollars on the mega cash at a Wegman's supermarket in Northboro, MA (that isn't even that far from me) why couldn't that have been me, lol.

"I hate the lottery so much that I play 5, or 10 lines in one shot."

Thrifty......

are you bi-polar?

You keep saying the lottery is rigged, you hate the lottery, save your money don't play, yada,yada. But you keep playing. Very confusing.

We all hate playing the lottery but some of us do not want to admit it.

I think they have a name for it. Gambling addiction.

Great post Thrifty. I love your wisdom!!

I buy the $20, tickets as well.

It is pricey but I buy 10 every once in a while because I'm happy to loose a $100. for a chance at $500,000. The last time I bought 10 my win was $135. so I was happy..... No wait, I hated it....... No wait, I was happy............ No wait............. I'm not sure.

Just flip a coin. What are the odds you'll be happy.