There is no law against it in Georgia, but I don't know about other states. Now that does not mean that it is not against the retailer's rules. One store owner told me that he would not hire anyone that played the lottery. A clerk at another store told me that they are not allowed to play and the owner would watch the tapes and fire anyone that played. Most clerks say they don't play, but I think a good number of them do, especially station owners. What are they going to do? Fire themselves? I knew a cashier at Winn Dixie many years ago who won $2,000 and $10,000 in scratch-offs from the same machine within a few days. I don't know if she was working at the time or not. I wish I could be so lucky. I think I am going to get a job at a gas station, as long as I can sit down. I have a bad back and can't stand for hours on end.
There has got to be some reason that I have not had a significant win. My best win by odds was $100 on a $1 ticket. It was a game the year before last year around Halloween called Jack O Lantern Cash. If I remember correctly, that was odds of 1 in 4,800, maybe even worse. If I won at odds like that with a $20 ticket, I would win $1,000 or more depending on the game. None of the newer $1 games have those odds.
Let me give you an example: a $1 ticket, Ruby Riches has odds of 1 in 60,000 of winning $100. The $10 Game $100 Million Cash Blast has odds of 1 in 33 of winning $100. The $20 game Game Maximum Green has odds of 1 in 32 of winning $100. You might say to yourself why not buy the $10 ticket, after all you get the same odds of winning $100 for half the price. Now lets go to odds of winning $250. The $10 game has odds of 1 in 1,101, while the $20 game has odds of 1 in 275. Now let's go to the odds of winning $500 in those two tickets. The $10 ticket has odds of 1 in 3,000, while the $20 game has odds of 1 in 545. For $1,000, the $10 ticket has odds of 1 in 6,000 and the $20 ticket has odds of 1 in 2,000. Now lets go to $10,000. The $10 game has odds of 1 in 60,000, while the $20 ticket has odds of 1 in 30,000. OK that is even in terms of dollars per odds. The top pay for the $10 ticket is $1,000,000 with odds of 1 in 2,400,000. The $20 game has odds of winning $1,000,000 of 1 in 840,000, and a top prize of $5,000,000 with odds of 1 in 3,360,000. That same $1 Game, Ruby Riches, has a top prize of $9,000 with odds of 1 in 1,200,000. Yo get odds of 1 in 133 to win $10!
That is why it is extremely rare that I purchase a ticket under $5. I spend 80% of my money on $20 tickets, 15% on $10 tickets, and 4.95% on $5 tickets, and less than .05% on tickets less than $5.