How many tickets do you buy and why?Prev Topic Next Topic

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mjhtan

United States
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January 18, 2011
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Jan 25, 2011, 1:23 am

Hello,

I have been playing scratch off tickets for a few months.... I started off buying 8 tickets of the same $5.00 game without much success.

I changed up my system and started buying 4 of two seperate games and have been doing quite well. I do this just because the odds are about 1 in 4 that you will have a winner. Not sure if this makes much sense to everyone else, but it seems pretty logical to me.

I'm wondering how much everyone else spends and how many tickets of each game you buy when you go in to buy your scratch off tickets.

Thanks!
sully16

25

Ringleader

Michigan
United States
Member #81,738
October 28, 2009
128,010 Posts
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Jan 25, 2011, 8:33 am

I used to get my dad 5 at a time, now I just get one with leftover change, it's usually a 2 dollar scratcher.
B$Rizzle

The Ville, FL
United States
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August 19, 2010
1,708 Posts
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Jan 25, 2011, 9:12 am

I rarely buy more than one at a time. Now if I decide to scratch it in the car and its a dud, and I have a gut feeling about another one, then ill return and buy the next.

My theory is, why buy more than one at a time, because if the first one is a winner, you may have just wasted your money on the rest.

Although it is very possible to win back to back, I just never really buy several in a row. What if you buy 8, and the fiorst is a $100 winner? The chances of the remaining 7 being winners is slim.
dallascowboyfan

Oklahoma
United States
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November 12, 2009
6,374 Posts
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Jan 25, 2011, 11:52 am

We usually buy 1 @ a time & like what B$Rizzle said if I have a gut feeling then I will go back and get the next ticket seeing that we only play when we go to Texas and we only play the BlockBuster or Superset for life which are $20.00 tickets we prefer the 1 at a time method....
James1

Florida
United States
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January 14, 2011
2,267 Posts
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Jan 25, 2011, 1:49 pm

1 at a time until that ticket wins.

2018 Biggest Win: $500 (multiple times but who cares about $500 right?)

All time Biggest Win: $4K ($5 Green & Gold)
the305scratcha

FLORIDA
United States
Member #93,469
June 30, 2010
68 Posts
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Jan 25, 2011, 2:16 pm

one ticket off each row tends to be costly but effective, usually comes out to about 90 bucks at my local place its funny cause ill get my money back on the 20 dollar and 10 dollar ones and get down to the 1 and 2 dollar tickets and pull 100 or 40s and most of the time if i dont finish ahead i make back what i spend which is good i guess
Jon D

Los Angeles, California
United States
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January 5, 2011
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Jan 25, 2011, 2:30 pm

I drop a $20 every few days or so and buy a bunch, mostly only buy the $5 games and maybe fill in a $2 or $3 game here and there. The $5 games are the highest we have in CA and they also have the best odds, on paper and in practice it seems.

I never scratch in the store, always take em home, and never go back the same day. Any winners go right back into buying more tickets. I'm playing with the goal of hitting a $1000 or higher or top prize, so I spread around my buying on different days and different stores. I'm going under the assumption that a top prize may never show up at any particular store and $1000 or higher may not likely be on the roll you are playing, so I figure the way I buy 2 or 3 tickets on each $5 roll at a few different stores is kind of like taking the shot gun approach. We'll see if this strategy works or not.

We also have a 2nd chance replay system here in CA so you can enter every losing ticket online for a end of game top prize drawing and also a $1000 drawing every 3 months. So my spending will keep me under $1000 every 3 months.
MattfromPA

SE PA
United States
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July 3, 2010
1,950 Posts
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Jan 25, 2011, 8:46 pm

I still often buy a couple or a few of different games. I also switch machines unless I'm looking for a certain number range. I usually spend $20-$40 each day, but go higher when the new tickets are out or if I win big.
wish626

FL
United States
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January 22, 2011
105 Posts
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Jan 25, 2011, 9:36 pm

My goal was to keep it between 100 - 200 dollars. November and December closer to 200 and then the rest of the year I would like to keep it closer to the 100 but so far in January I have exceeded the limits. I'm over 400, just went a little crazy and didn't follow my general strategies and also ignored a warning from James1 and he was right on with it. I guess the lottery got me since there were two 1 mil winners on Millionaire club and I gave it a shot against better judgement.

It seems it is definately better to get one ticket at a time, if a winner hits, move on, take it with you. Try another ticket or store but don't go for the next ticket.

It makes sense because 100.00 wins are rare, it's not likely that you will hit a 100.00 and play a few more tickets and get another 100.00 in the same day, same store, same game.
mjhtan

United States
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January 18, 2011
7 Posts
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Jan 25, 2011, 10:29 pm

wow. lots of different ideas. i personally dont like scratching them at the store but that does sound like a good method. i also wait until i get home.... that way i dont go overboard buying too many tickets.
Jon D

Los Angeles, California
United States
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January 5, 2011
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Jan 25, 2011, 11:11 pm

I also scratch at home to control costs, but also to spread the buying around to different days to hit different rolls/books or parts of them. If I got winners, I take them back to the store to cash in and buy more tickets the following day. Also, since we have the replay system here in CA, I take them home to enter the losing tickets online for the drawing. Most of them, about 3 in 4, will be losers....that's just the cold hard stats of it. But now since I have all the tickets at home, I'm also logging down the winners along with the losers in a spreadsheet to track where my spending vs winners are occurring, before taking them back to cash in.

Right now I'm going a little over my limit on one particular game that is nearing it's end but still has over 1/3 of the $1,000,000 top prizes and other high value prizes still out there, so dropping about $100 per week on that one.
mjhtan

United States
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January 18, 2011
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Jan 26, 2011, 11:04 pm

Millions in Cash? Yeah, I saw that also. That game has been out for a while and I'm not sure how much longer before its over (End of March maybe) but that is a good idea. I hope you do win!

Where at in CA do you live? Santa Clarita for me, so stay away from my scratchers up here!

Anyone else have any other ways they play scratchers?
Jon D

Los Angeles, California
United States
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January 5, 2011
1,530 Posts
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Jan 26, 2011, 11:33 pm

Yep, that's it: Millions in Cash.

Looks good in theory: game is ending pretty soon and still has 11 of 25 of the $1,000,000 top prizes left, and over 1/3 of other $1,000-$10,000 prizes left. And those numbers have not moved much recently.

Just going by some of the other games, if the entry deadline for the 2nd chance drawing is Apr 19, they may be ending the game in a few weeks? So I'm loading up on this one instead of other games. I still do some new games too, my logic says they must load up big prizes on the front end and back end of the games, or at a minimum must hold some towards the end to keep people buying.

Of course the winning tickets could be sitting in a warehouse somewhere, or spread around to stores in the boonies and not selling. But then why would they be ending it if there were a lot of tickets left?

Oh well, at least I'll be piling up more entries for the end of game 2nd chance drawing.
betop25pcent

Texas
United States
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September 24, 2010
605 Posts
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Feb 13, 2011, 11:43 am

I buy my tickets in texas. If I'm going to the store and know that I'm going to buy a scratch off I go to the texas online site and look to see what is new but I also look to see how the money is divided. They always have the amount and how many tickets are left along w/ the tiers in the groups. Tickets have different play outs (naturally) but some tickets have more pay outs on the lower amounts. I'm not unrealistic the odds that I'm going to win the "big" amount are just too small. So I buy a ticket to what is most likely going to pay something out. Its been working out pretty good. and in the end I still have a chance at winning the "big" pay out. I also check to see how many winning tickets have been sold.

I'm ready for pick 3 : )
Jay420

New York
United States
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January 28, 2011
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Feb 17, 2011, 7:37 pm

I've been guilty of buying way too many tickets quite often...

I'm talking $300-$400 of tickets from different locations and usually bring them home to scratch. It'll usually take me an hour by the time I'm done.

And occassionally, if I like the retailer, i'll buy one at a time until I get a prize. Oddly enough my biggest win was from doing so when I bought one #47 Win for Life Spectacular ($20), lost, bought the next one #46 and won $250. From now on I wont spend more than $30-$40 a week as I'm at least $6,000 down from losses

I've come to realize when its meant to happen it will, although a little persistence can't hurt.

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