There are some things you should know about scratch tickets, also called instant games, that might help your understanding of the system as a total.
The games start out as an idea. A committee is formed to figure out some ideas about prizes, maybe do some research about what is current or would sell well. Things like cars or certain types of motorcycles are the usual bait where this is concerned, no one ever lost money offering a Harley plus cash as a grand prize. This team works with the vendor for instant tickets to decide on the actual structure of the prizes, the artwork, and the layout.
You would be surprised how complicated this part can get. There are experts called in to give advice about how to lay out the tickets in such a way to ensure maximum appeal so that you psychologically can’t help but consider buying a ticket. They figure that if they can get you to at least think about buying one, it’s just a matter of time until you do.
Once the art and prizes are finalized, the tickets themselves are printed all at once in a high security, off-site location, owned and operated by an outside vendor. The lotteries never print the tickets themselves, too much chance of internal fraud. I’ve been asked before if the printing is done in stages so that the winners are printed toward the end. I have to admit that this would make some sense if the big prizes are all taken in the first few weeks then who would actually play the game? There are some things wrong with that thinking, though.
First of all, it’s a rare thing when someone actually checks the prizes online. Even though the information is readily available, and an up to date list is kept, very few people will go out of their way to see if the top prizes in any given game are already gone. Instant tickets are an impulse buy, to say the least, so it’s in the lottery’s best interest to make the tickets appealing so that you don’t think about checking. The more rational thought that goes into your decision to buy lottery tickets, the more planning, the less money they make.
On the other hand, regular players are very sensitive to patterns. So if the lottery decided to start saving the big prizes for the end, people would get wise eventually and only buy tickets closer to the expiration dates. This would hurt instant ticket sales in general and make people more rational about their purchases, neither of which the lottery wants.
Mostly, though, it is not possible for security reasons. They print all the tickets in a game at once so they can keep very strict tabs on them. Once the printing is done, that’s it, the game is set and the tickets or the structure of the game is not changed. So, it would be possible for every top prize to be claimed in the first few weeks of play, but not exactly likely. If a game is not popular, and the top prizes are not claimed, it’s possible for the prize to remain available till the end of the tickets’ expirations. Every instant ticket has an expiration date, predetermined of course. New instant games are brought in every quarter or so, which means that old games have to be phased out.
The responsibility of printing the scratch tickets falls on to a very select group of companies. While in some ways it would make sense to have several manufacturers print the tickets, the lottery industry is based on trust and government contracts. The two biggest operations in the country are GTECH and Scientific Games for both instant tickets and draw games. These guys have done the leg work to get the important contracts and made a mint from these little pieces of paper.
The whole process is insanely expensive, which is another reason only a few companies actually choose to do this. Not only do you have the printing costs but the extra layers of security are not negotiable. Also, the quality control in these facilities is second to none since they have to make sure the machines don’t mess up. A mistake with the machine or algorithm could cost the Lottery millions which, if traced back to the printers, would be devastating financially. That’s why they test the tickets consistently (although some perhaps not as consistently as others) to make sure the quality of any given batch stays within the parameters. The software running the machines and making the tickets really does all the hard work in randomizing the prizes and distribution. Checking the tickets themselves is just a formality, to make sure the machines don’t go off and start messing up. If it does mess up, it’s pretty easy to reprint a batch, the software takes care of that.
Almost everyone asks me if it’s even worth playing because they know the odds are long, but they all have a sinking feeling that the odds are worse than they imagine. They are right. The odds are terrible for you to win and chances are you won’t pick up a winner on your way home from getting groceries. But then again, you could pop a state lottery draw winner for $5 million when you least expect it. That’s the game, and it’s a game of chance.
I get to talk with some of the winners from time to time and there was one guy I remember who on the spur of the moment decided to splurge and buy a $10 instant ticket. He ended up winning $500,000 and paid off his house, car, debt, everything. He’s feeling pretty good about his decision right now, but it could have easily gone the other way. He could have bought the ticket, scratched away in the hope that the lucky combo would have been revealed, and in the end, he could have been left with a worthless piece of paper. That’s not what happened but it’s something to keep in mind.