Let's talk 2nd chance lottery on scratch offsPrev TopicNext Topic

• NeedyNotGreedy

  

  The land of fantasy 5 and other daily draws
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  Mar 21, 2017, 12:32 am

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  I'm in a second chance state that allows one to scan their tickets for a chance to win sports cars and iPads and all that hooplah. Great. Seems to be a growing trend.

  Now, not to complain as I still have a decent amount of points and hope to win...but in my state, the give out is horrible. They pick like 1 or 2 winners for big prizes. And like 10 for the smaller prizes. 

  Aside from taking much of the info from here and using that to better judge my spending on scratchoffs, i think there could be invented a better second chance program. Since our tickets are considered educational spending, why not we scan these tickets for a chance to get a "refund disbursement" of some sort based on the amount of tickets we've spent on. Like maybe, a full repayment of al kept/entered tickets at return or some other quarterly time, like 4 times a year.

  i mean think about it, it would be like revolving credit. Give the players back the money we put in or atleast a percentage%. These second chance games are too much of a long shot. I think a revolving "credit" would even entice players to spend more.

  whnever I have to toss a few shiny scratchoffs, I feel appalled me how stingy the lottery can be versus casinos...that I've watched people play at. Free drinks, free hotel rooms, credits, etc. it's so easy to make it more fair, just don't know why it's not done.

  question: any long time players notice less wins with the intro of 2nd chance?
• Redd55

  

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  Mar 21, 2017, 9:49 am

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  The lottery would lose money, so I doubt they would do it. I agree that the second chance prizes are paltry. Even worse, a few years ago there were less than half the entries there are today. This is due to the scanning app. Someone here posted that they won several thousand dollars on second chance years ago, partially because there were only 9,000 entries. In my state they use to offer at the end of a game one top prize but they did away with it. They are also offering vacation packages. They cant be converted into cash nor sold or transferred.  For what people payout to buy scratchers, the prizes could be way better.
• Dracos

  

  Florida
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  February 7, 2016
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  Mar 22, 2017, 4:51 pm

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  In response to Redd55

  Quote: Originally posted by Redd55 on Mar 21, 2017

  The lottery would lose money, so I doubt they would do it. I agree that the second chance prizes are paltry. Even worse, a few years ago there were less than half the entries there are today. This is due to the scanning app. Someone here posted that they won several thousand dollars on second chance years ago, partially because there were only 9,000 entries. In my state they use to offer at the end of a game one top prize but they did away with it. They are also offering vacation packages. They cant be converted into cash nor sold or transferred.  For what people payout to buy scratchers, the prizes could be way better.

  I've only been playing scratchoffs for a bit over a year, but I have done my research. The abysmal returns that players are complaining about are due partially due to the pressures that the government places on the lottery for funding. Federal funding for education has declined with the anticipation that the lottery would bridge the gap in many states. The Florida Lottery's Bright Future scholarship continues to offer a lower percentage of tuition coverage despite the record number of ticket sales and profit that the lottery boasts about.

  The payouts aren't increasing, in fact, they are often decreasing in some stats. The New York Lottery is one of the largest, yet their middle tier prizes offer such horrible odds that makes the Florida Lottery seem generous in comparison. These 2nd chance promotions may allocate some of that prize payout to offer additional incentives to players, but as you've pointed out, the payout percentage is still minimal. The lotteries are still grossing a massive amount of profits in order to achieve their goal; funding education and other sectors where government funding may be falling short as a result of a system and perhaps even process that's expected to persist by stakeholders.
• NeedyNotGreedy

  

  The land of fantasy 5 and other daily draws
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  Mar 24, 2017, 4:23 am

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  That all makes sense. And of course, the lottery would lose money is fact of the matter. But still...how do casinos build brick and mortar skyscrapers yet still manage to give freebies here and there to make it worthwhile (though, let's not talk about the wins/losses that occur there lol)? Like it'd be cool if can we use a losing scratchoff ticket for a store credit for merchandise, but not for repurchasing a ticket, or maybe reduced gas (my car takes premium so I'd Buy more gas station scratchoffs If losing meant $.50 off per gallon, etc. etc.) After all..the stores are getting some of the money from the losing scratchoffs too.

  Not sure if my suggestions will ever come to fruition...but I can't understand why not. When I was in New York last year, I bought 5 $5 tickets from the same roll and all were losers. I think I even bought one more and it was a loser. I could not believe that. A nice 2nd chance would have been able to use those losing tickets to pay the $20 in tolls I had to pay between NYC and Connecticut lol. Instead I felt like I only spent 1 hour in New York and pretty much got tolled and taxed up the ass lol.
• txwinr

  

  Texas
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  Apr 10, 2017, 9:23 am

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  I'm in Texas and they've done this a lot this last year, I've won a prize package on almost every game and I've seen some ppl win packages on almost every drawing of the 2nd chances!   I like it, just wish the prizes were better - most of them have been sports related or collegiate themed and some of the stuff is just junk.  I have autographed pictures of baseball and basketball players, that are sitting in a box until I can find a good way to donate and get a tax deduction somewhere.  And you are correct, there are less prizes with second chance - what i've noticed is a lot more smaller wins, to make the ticket ineligible for entry into the drawings, and harder to win on a scratch off any larger prizes.  Must be a cash cow for the lottery ppl.

  and speaking to the scratch offs, not a second chance, but over the weekend I bought 8 of the $50 tix and ALL but one were losers ($100 winner).   which is rare.  So I went back and bought the next one in the roll and it was a $50 winner.  Guess the winners are all in the back of this pack (only 20 in a pack).
• NeedyNotGreedy

  

  The land of fantasy 5 and other daily draws
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  Apr 11, 2017, 4:53 am

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  A $50 scratch ticket is being sold in Texas? WTF...insanity. And 8 losers in a row? That's highway robbery. Whew, Thankyou for sharing that. That's why even though I've been tempted, I can't bring myself to budge more than $10 on 1 scratchoff. And having won decent $20/30 prizes off $5 tickets couple times, im not even trying to spend $10 anymore either. If they can't guarantee a win or "refund", I just can't take that chance. Of course, if one wins 5 million off of it, or even 1/8 of that...not a bad prize.

  Also what you said explains an interesting phenomenon I'm starting to realize. If I walk into a store and buy only ONE ticket, I tend to profit. When I buy 3, 4, 5 tickets...I either don't win anything or the earnings get ate up by the cost OR the first or 2nd ticket I bought was the winner, and the remainder were duds.

  I think Richard Lustigs old advice of buy 10 tickets from the same roll doesn't apply in every state or a post recession society lol. I've concluded its not worth buying more than 2 tickets from a roll, maybe 3 if it's a cheap ticket. Give a little room to win, but don't buy too many because it just eats the winning. Let other people buy out the losers and then come back the next day or week or whatever lol. 

  That doesn't guarantee a win, but atleast for me it'll prevent disappointment and give time to spread the luck out a little. And yes..I can't stand the tickets that win a free ticket...thus preventing from adding to the points.