10 tips to improve your chances of winning scratch cards
Want to gamble easily without having to use much of your bankroll? Then scratch cards might be what you are looking for. They open up an avenue for you to make quick cash and are simple to play since they require little to no experience.
Scratch cards are reminiscent of the Lottery, which is a game of chance and luck. While you do not require much expertise in the field to win scratch cards, you can always use tips to improve your chances of winning scratch cards.
Whether you opt to play in a physical store or online at your convenience, CasinoTopsOnline is focused on greatly improving your chances of getting some euros for yourself. While this is not a winning strategy, it is about improving your chances of getting the win.
Be sure to take a look at the 10 tips to improve your chances of winning scratch cards below.
Cheap is expensive
There are plenty of different scratch cards out there for you to choose from. Currently, you can find scratch cards varying in price, brand, design, prizes, and more. While we would not want you to break your bank by buying the most expensive ones in bulk, try as much as possible to find the best scratch cards. If you decide to get the costly ones, ensure you get those that fit your budget.
The cheap scratch cards are always enticing, but there is a reason for their low monetary value. Their prize pools are lowly set, and if you want the chance to win bigger prizes, then you need to opt for the quality ones. Remember, quality reigns supreme over quantity.
Another tip is to know the prize the scratch card offers. The top prize might be listed on the card itself (in many scratch cards). However, the top prize listed is not the only prize you can win. Other prizes are listed at the back with the odds of winning the same. Choose a suitable one with a good prize pool.
Have a budget in place
This might sound like the previous tip, but it is different. Successful gamblers will tell you that sticking to your budget is one of the best hacks. With scratch cards being all about chance and luck, your win is not guaranteed. You need to have financial discipline so as not to spend and lose a lot of your money.
A good tip to achieve this will be to set a daily, weekly, or monthly budget and ensure that you don’t go way above that budget. It may seem tempting to keep buying a scratch card with the hope that the next one will be the one to win, but one golden piece of advice you will get from us is to never chase your losses. Always stop when you reach your budget limit.
Do an online background check
With your budget in check, you might be puzzled about buying the right scratch card. Remember, there are hundreds of them, and choosing the best one is not a walk in the park. Many scratch card stores have gone online, especially in the U.S.
With that information, you can decide the best fit for you. For example, if 500 prizes of €100 are available and 400 gamblers have already won, chances of winning will be low, and a great tip would be to check the next available game.
Have your preferred game
This is in line with the previous tip, where, after researching the best scratch card for you, settle on one game that you can play. We understand that many scratch cards are available and tempting to purchase, but a tip is that while on one game, if you win, good for you, but if you lose, the equation will have one less losing ticket. Therefore, this increases your chances of winning in the long run.
Let’s put it in practical terms. If, for example, you settle on a game with 1000 tickets and you manage to get 200 of them, it means that the chances of you landing on the top prize are 20%. However, if you settle on four games with 1000 tickets each and buy 50 tickets for each game, your chances of winning the top prize for each game will be 5%.
The moment you opt to be a ‘jack of all trades’ and spread your bankroll to different games is the moment your chances of losing will be at their highest.
Old is gold
Another tip to improve your chances of winning scratch cards is to keep hold of your old tickets. Yes. This is not hoarding but yet another strategy. This will help a keen gambler to see where they might have gone wrong and try to correct that mistake on the next ticket.
Some stores will stop the sale of scratch cards the moment all the top prizes are won. This will be a good deal to a player with a losing ticket since it will offer a second chance to win. How, you may ask? Smaller prizes that were not claimed will be set aside in a pool, and with the unused tickets destroyed, another lottery will be held, and this time, your ‘losing’ tickets will be the ones to be used.
In other cases, the scratch card jackpots may lack a winner, and the manufacturer requests those with losing tickets to submit them to pick the best loser. This actually happens. Imagine losing a whole jackpot since you shredded your losing ticket that might have been the winning one!
Go back for scanning even after ‘losing’
This, in a way, goes in line with the aforementioned tip. One of the major tips you should always remember as you play scratch cards is that the only way to confirm you have lost is when the tickets have been scanned.
The cards can be a bit confusing sometimes, which might have you missing clear winning combination details. Some cards might also have an error, and it doesn’t hurt to go back to the clerk to confirm. It’s better this way than having to overlook ‘winnings’.
Bring the ‘slot’ play with you
This is a subtle way, but you can do whatever it takes to win! You might have noticed that some gamblers hang around the free slots machines until the dry period hits. The trick here is, as the ‘losing’ plays are being made, chances of hitting the prize on the machine are getting closer.
When it gets to the scratch cards, you can hang around the store for a while as you wait for fellow gamblers to lose on the scratch-offs. This will increase your winning chances since some losing tickets will be off the equation. You can also approach the store clerk to find out if some winning tickets have been bought recently.
Another tip here would be to buy consecutive tickets to increase your winning chances. Instead of going for one ten-euro ticket, you can go for five two-euro tickets.
Scratch cards research
Does the Singleton Method ring a bell? This was a method discovered in 2003 by a Canadian geostatistician, Mohan Srivastava. The method decoded the randomness of some of the old lottery tickets he had. In his research, he noted that the tickets’ layouts and patterns would help in knowing if a ticket was a winning one or a losing one.
The card manufacturers use a certain algorithm that ensures control of the tickets circulating. While it may sound ‘random’, the tickets are not really random. Keeping your old tickets and going through them would most likely point to a certain algorithm from a manufacturer. Some of the algorithms are not hard, and it’s very easy to decode a winning ticket and a losing one just by looking at one.
Buy the cards in bulk
This is another strategy you can take to increase your chances of winning. The tactic sees a player get the tickets in bulk at the same time for one game as opposed to buying single tickets over time. The notion is that the chances of winning increase on your bulk tickets since the card manufacturers have placed wins anywhere on the cards.
It is very easy to get a win on your ten tickets than to get a win in one ticket that you purchase after some time. It is also important to remember to stick to your budget constraints.
Crucial information is in the small print
The small print on your ticket holds a lot of crucial information that may go a long way in increasing your chances of winning scratch cards. You will find information such as the odds of winning (for that card), and for newbies, this would help get more details about the game.
Top reasons to play scratch cards
Having gone through the tips to improve your chances of winning scratch cards, here are quick reasons you should play scratch cards;
Scratch cards are affordable.
Chances of winning big are high.
Can be played in a lottery store or online.
Scratch Cards are easy to play as they don’t rely mostly on ‘experience’.
They are available in many online casinos we have reviewed.
Scratch card FAQs
Here are some of the Scratch card-related questions that players frequently ask.
How to win on scratch cards?
Scratch cards are easy to play, and you may win big prizes if you correctly strategise and follow the 10 tips to improve your chances of winning scratch cards that we have highlighted in this guide. Also, remember that scratch cards are a game of luck, meaning you are never guaranteed a win.
Which scratch cards win the most?
We have noted that there are many scratch cards available but few stand out for various aspects. Some aspects would be the top prizes to win and the price of tickets. Some of the scratch cards you can opt for include; £4 million Red Scratchcard, Monopoly Scratchcard, and Instant Millionaire.
What scratch cards are the best to buy?
Choosing the best scratch card to buy will largely depend on the winning odds. Scratch cards with the best winning odds generally will make the cut, and they include: Gold Fever Scratchcard, Bingo Doubler Pink Scratchcard, Monopoly Jackpot Scratchcard, and Cash Millions Scratchcards.
Fact-checked by Julia Attard
Senior Author & Online Casino Expert