The lottery industry is an enormous enterprise. Every year, Americans devote over $60 billion to gaming that offers them the chance to win big money – the average American may not make their living through gambling, yet some still try their luck by purchasing scratch-off tickets with long odds against them – in fact a statistician recently revealed that your odds may even outstrip those of being struck by lightning!
Reason being, many state lotteries and private companies that print scratch-off tickets do not actually give out all advertised grand prizes; rather they keep some to cover expenses and profit margins before splitting it among winners (usually state residents) of scratch-off tickets sold by them.
Michigan isn’t alone when it comes to this practice – in fact, most states have similar policies in place so as not to provoke outrage among players who feel misled. That doesn’t mean lottery players don’t have every right to express their displeasure over it!
NBC 5 Investigates found several Illinois Lottery games being sold at convenience stores for weeks after their top prize had already been claimed, leaving many scratch-off buyers unaware that prizes had already been won long before purchasing tickets from this lottery. Scientific Games – who prints these tickets – has declined to disclose how it selects which cards will win big prizes but has stated they use standard industry methods instead.
Indiana, where the Hoosier Lottery was privatized in 2012, witnessed over 51 percent of high-prize games go unclaimed – significantly higher than rates at comparable lotteries. As well as adjusting odds on individual games and decreasing the total number of big prize lotteries offered in Indiana, Hoosier Lottery implemented new policy that any high-prize scratch-off games with an unclaimed top prize offer a second-chance drawing so players have another shot at claiming top prizes.
As such, Indiana experiences similar rates of unclaimed high-dollar prizes to other major states; however, even if a top prize is unavailable there may still be lesser secondary awards that can be claimed.
Before purchasing lottery tickets online, always do some preliminary research on their odds online to gauge how many tickets have been printed for each game. That way you can identify discontinued titles while focusing your efforts on those worth your time – and if any particular game offers less-than-ideal odds than usual, consider shifting your funds toward another that offers better chances; the lottery should provide entertainment after all!