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• Think

  

  Marquette, MI
  United States
  Member #20,540
  August 20, 2005
  1,220 Posts
  Offline
  Nov 15, 2016, 3:26 pm

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  I went to the biggest state websites and saw some tickets I would buy if I could mail order them.
• ScratchSmarter

  

  Skippack, PA
  United States
  Member #139,385
  February 21, 2013
  140 Posts
  Offline
  Nov 16, 2016, 12:03 am

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  I'm sure I'll get a lot of grief for posting this, but since ScratchSmarter tracks every scratch off game in every state (where we can) we have a huge database of information.  We started to generate some reports for ourselves, just out of curiosity, a few years ago on which states were the BEST STATES to buy scratch off games from (unfortunately, IL and NE don't rank because of their poor data publishing standards on their websites, and FL is suspect in this list because it only posts the prizes remaining on the very top prize point for each game.)

  However, based on the publishing standards across all of the other state lotteries, the consistency of their data, the games they leave out for sale when top prizes are remaining, and the games they pull when top prizes are all gone, we can generate a list of where states rank based on fairness to the consumers and where you have the best chances of winning top prizes for you $$ spent.

  (I know this isn't exactly what this thread poll is about, but we thought you might find it interesting)

  This weeks rankings for scratch off games, from best state to worst are:

  state	ScratchSmarter Score
  VT	1673.0952
  WI	1658.1359
  FL	1606.125
  WV	1551.5968
  CO	1518.069
  NM	1357.525
  RI	1350.8696
  MN	1275.8158
  NJ	1274.6554
  OR	1245.7544
  WA	1244.3462
  ME	1240.2083
  DC	1240.1842
  VA	1239.4824
  TX	1238.6892
  MI	1225.5882
  IA	1216.9608
  OK	1208.8421
  SC	1204.7632
  KS	1145.6757
  MD	1141.6341
  MA	1138.9
  AR	1136.5306
  AZ	1134.7297
  CT	1134.1325
  GA	1132.1963
  DE	1121.7647
  IN	1117.7308
  NY	1106.7857
  NC	1089.8167
  MO	1064.1125
  KY	952.3415
  LA	929.7429
  CA	927
  NH	897.9487
  PA	877.8065
  OH	834.875
  TN	491.1625
  ID	197.2143

  Learn to ScratchSmarter
• Lsmith1535

  

  United States
  Member #154,229
  April 8, 2014
  1,464 Posts
  Offline
  Nov 16, 2016, 8:29 am

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  I figured NC would be low on the list.  Probably the only state where you can by a 20 buck ticket and scratch a 20x win and think you won big only to scratch under it and see 1.00.   That has happened to me twice.
• PikaPal4ever

  

  Colorado Springs, Colorado
  United States
  Member #144,648
  July 12, 2013
  49 Posts
  Offline
  Nov 17, 2016, 8:13 am

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  Colorado does the same thing and it's 5th on the list. Really does stink. You win 5 times on a 5 dollar ticket, and they are 1 dollar winners. Never scratched tickets anywhere else, so I'd probably buy them from somewhere else if they have better odds.
• ScratchSmarter

  

  Skippack, PA
  United States
  Member #139,385
  February 21, 2013
  140 Posts
  Offline
  Nov 17, 2016, 11:07 am

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  In response to PikaPal4ever

  Quote: Originally posted by PikaPal4ever on Nov 17, 2016

  Colorado does the same thing and it's 5th on the list. Really does stink. You win 5 times on a 5 dollar ticket, and they are 1 dollar winners. Never scratched tickets anywhere else, so I'd probably buy them from somewhere else if they have better odds.

  Colorado ranks high on our list because, in general, they dont' rip off players like other states.  They appear to pull games when no top prizes remain, unlike other states that will continue to sell tickets when all top prizes have been won.   Personally, I haven't played there, but the data for CO is consistently published on line and they appear to be pretty transparent for game analysis.

  Learn to ScratchSmarter
• abjorik

  

  New York
  United States
  Member #156,863
  July 2, 2014
  109 Posts
  Offline
  Jan 12, 2017, 7:41 pm

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  In response to ScratchSmarter

  Quote: Originally posted by ScratchSmarter on Nov 17, 2016

  Colorado ranks high on our list because, in general, they dont' rip off players like other states.  They appear to pull games when no top prizes remain, unlike other states that will continue to sell tickets when all top prizes have been won.   Personally, I haven't played there, but the data for CO is consistently published on line and they appear to be pretty transparent for game analysis.

  Well, CT pulls out games only after all top prizes have been claimed. Why is it so low in your rankings?
• Shimmergloom1x

  

  United States
  Member #176,972
  September 4, 2016
  2 Posts
  Offline
  Jan 14, 2017, 4:08 pm

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  NC is about to end multiple games that still have multiple top prizes un-sold/claimed.  Including Multiplier Spectacular which still has half the top prizes unclaimed and hasn't had a top prize win since Feb 2015.  I'm guessing that affects its score.