Buying and scratching instant lottery tickets is something that almost everyone did previously or another. For some folks it’s probably something they do too often. I guess for me personally, the bad buying habit is junk food. If I’d spent my extra money on instant lottery tickets over time, I could have been rich by now in place of overweight. Like anything, whether it’s food or gambling one must do it in moderation, and that is often difficult to do.

In the state of Pennsylvania where I live, the very first scratch off ticket arrived on the scene in 1975, and they’ve been a large hit every since.

I have bought instant lottery tickets of each available price range in my own state. I usually choose the $1 – $2 tickets, but once in awhile I obtain a $5 – $10 ticket, and onetime, I purchased a $20 instant ticket. I won nothing on the $20 ticket, not $1 or perhaps a FREE ticket, so which was like throwing out my $20. You would believe with having to spend very much money, they would give everyone at least a FREE $1 ticket or something. I believed afterwards that I was type of foolish for spending and losing the $20 on a single ticket, but heck reported by users, “If you don’t play, you can’t win !”, it absolutely was a gamble, and I didn’t win that time. I’ve known two people who each won near $20,000 on instant lottery tickets. So I can say for certain, “yes, some folks do win it big.”

Unlike the live lottery that is usually drawn by picking numbers, the instant lottery is pre-determined months ahead of it’s release. The tickets are made and printed, then they’re distributed to the lottery retailers throughout the state. Most small convenience stores offer instant lottery tickets, in addition to the large chain stores. You are able to usually find them in a vending machine with multiple styles and selling prices to select from, or they’re at the cashiers area on the counter or behind a shielded section. Instant lottery tickets sell for as little as $1 and as high as $20 each in most states of the U.S. but some states may have tickets that sell for even more than $20 each.luckybet678

States do instant lotteries to help fund a variety of programs. For example in Pennsylvania, the lottery is employed to generate funds to benefit programs for the Commonwealth’s older residents. In Ohio, since 1974, the Lottery has provided more than $13 billion to public education. Annually, the lottery provides about 4.5 percent of the funding required for Ohio’s public education. In Missouri, approximately 27.3 cents of each dollar allocated to the Lottery benefits education programs; 61.6 cents dates back to players as prizes, 5 cents is useful for administrative costs and 6.1 cents goes to retailers in the form of commissions, incentives and bonuses. In most, more than 93 cents of each dollar stays in Missouri. It’s different for every single state, nevertheless the lottery is extremely beneficial despite the few problems it may cause with a, in the form of gambling addictions.

Most folks buy instant (scratch off) tickets, and should they don’t win anything, they throw the tickets in the trash. Did you understand that each time you throw a losing instant lottery ticket in the trash, you’re throwing money away ? Yes, you can find literally hundreds or even thousands of folks around the globe that will love to buy your tickets from you. I have seen losing lottery tickets sell for as high as $15 each, they were tickets that had no redeemable value. I once visited an area convenience store and asked them if I possibly could have a bag of losing instant lottery tickets I saw they’d on to the floor behind the counter. The clerk gladly gave them if you ask me, I took the tickets home and after checking through them, I found two that were $1 winners that were not redeemed, and I sold the rest of the losing tickets for $30, and the store was just going to throw them away.

Where did I sell them ? On eBay. I happened to look one day and I noticed there was losing instant lottery tickets available on the eBay auction website. You will find folks selling non-winning, so called ‘worthless’ lottery tickets on eBay most of the time. I just did a search now while writing this informative article, and I found over 100 different auction listings for them. Who buys these non-winning lottery tickets ? Collectors.

Instant Lottery Ticket collecting is fast becoming a big thing. You will find groups and individuals all around the globe, that love collecting lottery tickets. There are numerous websites, discussion groups and forums now just for lottery ticket collecting. Actually there is even a new term or term for an immediate lottery ticket collector: LOTOLOGIST, and the instant lottery ticket collecting hobby is known as: LOTOLOGY. To see how big this hobby has become just visit your preferred search engine, such as for instance GOOGLE, and do a seek out: lotologist OR lotology. And you will find many sites collecting, selling and buying used non-winning instant lottery tickets.

Winning the Lottery: The First National Lottery

At the center 18th century, a distinctive event occurred in France. Because of the possibility of fixing the outcome in privately operated lotteries, Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (1725 – 1798) persuaded Louis XV of France to found the very first state-owned monopoly lottery, the Loterie Royale of the Military School, which became the forerunner of the Loterie Nationale. All other lotteries in France were outlawed. The lottery was a Keno style game, where players could select 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 numbers between 1 and 90. (Incidentally, Casanova owned a pastime in the newest lottery and became wealthy as a result, but sold his interest shortly afterwards and lost the proceeds through unwise investments; sounds exactly like some modern lottery winners, doesn’t it?)

Origin of American Lotteries

In the 18th century, lotteries were well under way in America, primarily to fund some venture or as a means out of debt. The first began in Massachusetts in 1744 due to military debts. The first national lottery was started by the Continental Congress in 1776 to improve funds for the American Revolution. The Founding Fathers were concerned not so much with just how to win the lottery but with how to improve funds using lotteries. Lots of the Founding Fathers played and sponsored lotteries:

  • Benjamin Franklin used lotteries to finance cannons for the Revolutionary War.
  • Thomas Jefferson, who was $80,000 in debt by the end of his life, used a lottery to dispose of all of his property. Winning this lottery would have given you a priceless bit of American heritage!
  • John Hancock operated a lottery to finance the rebuild of historic Faneuil Hall in Boston.
  • George Washington financed construction of the Mountain Road, which opened expansion West of Virginia, by operating a lottery.

Additionally, public lotteries helped build several American universities, including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, Brown and Dartmouth. Winning these lotteries was a significant contribution to the continuing future of American education.