Scratchcards vs. Lottery Draws

Although it used to be the case that life changing amounts of money could only be won by participating in main lottery draws, times have changed. The top prizes in scratchcard games are getting larger every year. In the UK the top prize for one game was £40,000 per year for life, and for another it was a cool £1,000,000.

The gap between the top prize in a scratchcard game and a second tier prize in a regular lottery game is closing so fast that even some non-scratchcard players are wondering whether it might make sense to play a card occasionally. And when you actually sit down to compare the two forms, there’s a lot to be said for scratchcards that many lottery players never recognise.

• Starting with the most obvious point, scratchcards allow you to play when and where you like, regardless of the day or time. You can buy a ticket first thing in the morning, put it in your pocket or purse and play it during your lunch hour or at the very end of the day.
  
  
• The odds of winning a top prize in a scratchcard can be much better than the odds of you winning a second- or first-tier prize in a regular lottery. For example, the chance of you matching five numbers and the bonus ball in the UK Lotto is just 1 in 2,330,636, and this is a lot smaller than the chance of you winning the top prize in many scratchcard games.
  
  
• Top prizes in scratchcard prizes are still generally less than those offered in regular lottery games, but they are guaranteed. If you win the top prize in a scratchcard game then you know exactly how much you will receive. This isn't the case in most lottery draws, where prizes tend to depend on the total number of winners and the size of the jackpot fund.
  
  
• Scratchcards offer more variety than regular lottery games. You can pick and choose the game you play from a huge range of options, and either play for a smaller top prize with a bigger chance of winning or for a larger top prize with a smaller chance of winning.

Whilst scratchcards will never replace regular lottery games because they will never be able to offer quite the same level of excitement and the profit potential of rollover jackpots, they are well worth playing in their own right. If you don’t already scratch a card or two from time to time because you’ve never recognised their advantages, maybe this article will have given you something to think about. And who knows... it just might have put you onto a winner!

14 June, 2007