The Psychology of Choosing Scratchers Over Slots
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Scratch lottery tickets (or scratchers as they’re commonly referred) are wildly popular in every state where lottery sales are legal.
According to NPR, Americans spend more than $1,037 every year on lottery tickets.
So, why are these games so popular? And why do many Americans choose scratch tickets over playing slots?
Why Do People Choose Scratchers Over Slots?
Players choose scratchers over slots mostly because scratch tickets are pretty easy to purchase.
You can buy scratch tickets at most convenience stores, gas stations, and grocery stores.
Scratch cards are extremely gratifying to play because you get to scratch off the coating and see if you’ve won a prize! The rules are simple to understand (you can’t really mess up when you’re scratching most lottery tickets, just scratch and see your results).
Plus, the proceeds of lottery sales generally fund government programs, such as education.
Why Should You Choose Slots Over Scratchers?
Like scratch tickets, slot games are convenient.
You can play slots at real-money online casinos, sweepstakes casinos, and at land-based casinos (though the latter is a little less convenient than playing slots online).
The rules are very simple to follow: just choose how much you’d like to bet and spin the reels.
Some slot games offer complex features, such as wilds, expanding wilds, cascading reels, and bonus rounds. Despite the complexity of these features, you don’t need to do any heavy lifting. The game will calculate your wins. All you need to do is sit back, relax, and keep spinning.
One of the biggest reasons that slots are better than scratchers is that it’s easier to find out the odds of a slot game.
State lotteries post the odds of winning scratch tickets, but this information isn’t available at the time of sale, and lottery odds tables can be confusing to read.
Yet, the odds of slot games, which are called return-to-player percentages (RTPs) are readily available online.
Slot games also offer better odds: most slots offer RTPs of 96% and above, meaning that the game will pay out $0.96 on every $1 played over time.
Scratchers only offer odds of winning are 1 in 100,000 for every 10 tickets purchased.
So, Which Should I Play? Scratchers or Slots?
We happen to love both here at OddsSeeker, but we are partial to the convenience and better odds of winning when playing slots.
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Alicia is OddsSeeker's Lead Editor & Fact Checker! She's been reviewing online casinos, sportsbooks, and other gaming since 2021, but has well over a decade of experience writing and editing for some of the largest online magazines and brands since 2011! Over her career, Alicia has worked as a travel and entertainment writer & editor contributing to widely read digital publications such as The Spruce, The Balance and The Spruce Pets, VeryWell, and TripSavvy. Alicia makes sure our readers can trust every word - holding both our team & our gaming operator partners to the highest standard to ensure that our readers always have the best possible experiences playing gaming online! Beyond OddsSeeker, Alicia is a marketing expert, entrepreneur, and avid traveler based in Connecticut!
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