Do you love Scratchers or Lottery Tickets?

I know that this is a fairly tame topic for the site, but I will post anyway and you can all tell me I'm boring.
I have recently become OBSESSED with scratchers - the little lottery tickets that you play the little game to uncover a winning number then another group of nimbers to hopefully uncover a swell monitary prize. There is a poker game (huh huh, she said poke'er). That you get a list of cards - I want to say there's about 16 cards, then you match them up with a list of cards on the right. You have different hands that are worth different amount of loot. I have won at least 5 free tickets (woth $3) and another sraight up 15 in cash or so.

Does anyone else have this type of interest or love for the liquor store variety of gambling?

Also, I have only really been here in California, so if these work another way in other states, please elighten me.

These things are like a virus. I work in a 7-11 and people will go thru an entire book of them; books vary depending on the cost of the cost of individual tickets, $1 scratch tickets come in books of 300, $5 & $10 tickets come in books of 60. I'll play them occasionally and almost always loose my money. One thing that's equally horrible and cool, about a month or two before Revenge of the Sith was released, we got $2 Star Wars tickets, two different pictures for each movie. A bar tender friend of mine who buys way too many of the damn things told me they were only available here in Colorado, I hope not, I want to share that shame.

We have revenge of the shit.. sorry... sith scratch cards over here too.

They seel them in books? I haven't gotten that bad....

yet.

Thank you, come again....

No, they come in books and we load them into the display thing and tear them off from there. What I meant was people will come in buy a bunch, scratch them, cash in whatever their winnings were and buy some more. Worst one is an old lady who comes in, buys a bunch...eventually goes home to get her change and starts buying them with quarters and shit.

Neat, good to know

Nope they have then in California, too.

Lottery tickets pay more, but the odds suck.
Scratchys pay less but have better odds.
Pick your poison.
I pick lottery, i love the idea that i can go from shitty credit to ownin alot of shit in the matter of time it takes plastic numbered balls to pop up in a machine.
I love lottery.

I used to be really into them and used to win all the time, actual good amounts 50-500 dollars, I actually was unemployed one summer and got buy just on playing those things.

I figured out some common patterns of where big winners turned up on rolls and had a friend who worked at the place I bought them, so he'd let me buy certain series of numbers off the rolls.

I used to buy scratch-off tickets all the time until I started to like doing it too much. I refuse to be one of those people, and I already have problems with moderation. So I thought it was best to just forbid myself from buying them. I will buy a normal lottery ticket only if the Powerball jackpot is over $100 million.

My husband buys them,,, and since I was skeptical that he was actually coming out a head, I started to keep a spread sheet... he was always winning by like 20-45 dollars. I was surprised....now I don't bitch anymore when he buys them.

Oh this is in PA - BTW.

Michigan has the scratch-offs, too. Lots of people put them in Christmas cards and such. Even offices give them out to employees with Christmas bonuses or as a birthday gift. It's not a bad idea, since you can get a few for under $5, depending on the game. I'll buy one maybe once or twice per year. I've never really won anything substantial... maybe $5 or $10.

I like varying what I get. It's usually SuperLotto, Fantasy 5, and sometimes scratchers. For a while I was spending way to much money on SuperLotto with nothing to show for it. I started getting into Fantasy 5 which has a lower payout (starts at $50,000) but much better odds. But again with my horrible luck and all I never won anything over $10 so I've kind of stopped. I've never really gotten into scratchers very much. I actually just got my first one in a couple years the other night for shits and giggles. But of course I didn't get anything.

These things make me die a little inside. I really dislike gambling.

Love them! They're fun to buy and scratch with your significant other after grocery shopping. My favorite (which they have in VA and NY and probably other states) is the crossword puzzle style. You have a pool of letters which you scratch off in the play area. Your prize depends on the number of words you can complete. It takes long enough to play that, even if I don't win, I feel like I've gotten my $2 worth of entertainment.
I've won more then I've spent (not a lot), including $50 three times, $30, $25, and other small prizes. I actually have $50 worth of tickets that i need to cash in.

i think what's funny about the scratch off tickets is that people justify buying them becuase it says something like "1 out of 4 wins!" . They don't realize that it doens't mean that given any 4 out of that bundle, one will win. just means that for every 4 they printed, 1 of them was a winner. doh!