The most I ever won on a scratcher was $200 on NY's $10 Win For Life card, and I had bought two from the machine. The second card hit for $25! No kidding, that was the first time I took a chance and bought a $10 scratcher of any kind! I had a few extra bucks on me and I felt goofy, so I took the leap.
Unfortunately, I kinda got the bug about the variety of $10 cards, and picked them far too much over the past year, winning a $100 twice and quite a few $50s hits, but many many losers! So I'm off them again. I might take a chance if I see a guy buying a long strip, and see he comes up empty, then he might have primed the pump. But the scratcher game is a big losing proposition. The mere fact that there are like 4 to 6 million cards in initial launches, and more added as the state sees fit, and the key is that some computer is probably making sure the big prizes are distributed all around the state. No one can physically get to all the stores so you are stuck with what they sent to your region, and even more specifically, to that favorite store of yours.
The NY store I go to has 10 machines plus many rows of cards at the registers. They also do the "Quick Draw" game, which isa cash waterfall for them! This attracts a lot of traffic, so the card turnover is very high. This might be good, or it might even theres more competition for the few big prizes sent to that region. In any case, I think ofthat $10 dollars and the odds of cards vs the Pick 3 or Pick 4 game - even the Pick 5 game, and you are so much better placing bets with any of them over that scratch off. I might play NY's "Take5 $1 card because like every third card gives your dollar an actual Take 5 quick pick ticket so maybe your money isn't completely shot to hell.