Comments on: Results of the $100 Scratch Off Lottery Project!

By: TJ

TJ — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 00:01:05 +0000

Haha, I don’t care – go for it!

I haven’t had any luck since the first time. Ive mostly done the $5 scratchers the past couple months. Maybe I should go back to the $2 scratchers. :)

By: J. Money

J. Money — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 02:30:29 +0000

HAH! Ya see that ;) So cool to read all this though, it can get addicting huh? I’ve actually stopped buying them every week like I used to. Although I’ve also stopped going grocery shopping lately too, which probably has more to do with it. Haha…

I might post up your findings into a new blog post later – you cool with that?

By: TJ

TJ — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 01:41:07 +0000

So I said I wasnt gonna go back but I figured what the heck – see if I can win again…today not so much luck. But it was a few hours of entertainment and something like 40% goes to support schools right? :D

By: TJ

TJ — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 02:22:38 +0000

I was inspired by J Money!

I was bored on this Thursday night so I decided I’d do a little experiment with CA Lotto scratchers. I took $60 out of the ATM and was going to buy 60 $1 scratchers just to see what happens….Who knows I could get one that wins thousands of bucks right? Why 60? Just because i had some extra cash in one of my checking accounts earning no interest and I was too lazy to transfer it to savings.

The machine was out of the $1 lotto tickets, so instead I chose three different $2 “games”

The nice thing about $2 tickets is I only had 30 tickets to scratch off instead of 60. I really had no idea what to expect…and even though the results were pleasing, I do not plan on purchasing any more scratchers any time soon either.

Game #1: Lucky Tripler:

Spent $20

I “Won” $38

What I Really Won: $18

Odds of winning on back of ticket 1:4.83
my actual winning percentage: 20%
My winning tickets:

Ticket 1 = 3x $1 = $3
Ticket 2 – $7 + $11 + $3 +7 + $7..this one I couldn’t believe – one of the winning numbers was 10, and it showed up like 4 times on the ticket – the other number showed up too.

Probably my first 6 or 7 tickets were all losers, my hopes and expectations were dwindling, then when I got the $35 winning ticket, I was stoked because it just paid for half of my spending!

Xtreme Green:

Spent $20
“Won” $24
Actually won: $4

Odds of winning on back of ticket: 1:5.48
My actual winning %: 30%

two tickets – both won $6
one ticket – “win all” – $1 + $1 + $1 + $2 + $1 +1 +$1 + $2 +1 +1 – I was really excited to see the “win all” on this ticket – of course it figures that they were all low number, but who cares, I broke even on this game too.

Jeweled $7:

Won:
2 free tickets (valued at $2 each)
“Won” $21
Really won: $1 + 2 free $2 lotto tickets

Odds on back of ticket: 1:4.37
My actual wining %: 40%

My winning tickets:

2 of them – free tickets
1 – 7x $2 = +$14
1 = matching number = +$7

On this game, my first three tickets were winnerse, although two fo them were the “free ticket” wins which I don’t consider REALLY winning (but hey – I could redeem it for the $17,000 winner!)

Then, for all my losing tickets – I have the 2nd chance draw at calottery.com/REPLAY which I doubt will go anywhere.:

I totally expected to lose $ – but I made $ on every game! cool beans.

By: J. Money

J. Money — Mon, 31 May 2010 18:42:35 +0000

LOVE IT!!! I’m always super fascinated by all things lottery & gambling so I REALLY appreciate you dropping that by :) It’s a shame all my comments got wiped away from my WordPress conversion here as there were some great discussions going on…

Thanks again!

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Tue, 25 May 2010 20:30:14 +0000

I used the lottery to try and teach a former coworker about odds. It was fun and I got to do a little extra math and made a nifty spreadsheet with the price, printed, odds and then the actual odds of winning one of the top 3 prizes in each scratch off. The Texas lottery updates claims daily (ish) so you can see how many #1 prizes are out there and how many people have already snagged them. I haven’t hit anything big but the psychology and math are interesting. It was fun.
This is what I learned:
The odds on at least breaking even go up as you spend more $ unless it’s branded.
Branded games (movie tie-in, sports team, etc.) have the worst odds. you end up paying $5 prices for $1 odds. but people spring for it because they like the brand.
The games that are always there are popular for a reason. They may not have the highest prizes (or be fun) but the odds of hitting something are better than the other tickets in that price range.
and naturally, the best time to play a scratch off is within the first weeks of its release. They’ll keep selling them even if most of the big prizes have been claimed.

By: J. Money

J. Money — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:04:00 +0000

Yeah, I know right! Def good stuff…makes the lottery not as "bad" ;)