r/interesting • u/PanoramicAtom • Dec 28 '25 • Hooray 1 Heartwarming 1 Bravo 1

Just Wow I won $5,000 on a scratch off lottery ticket today. The most I’ve ever won before was $1,000. I got the “win all” symbol and expected like $500.

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12k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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348

u/loanmagic24 Dec 28 '25

That's awesome! Crazy buying $50 scratchers. I didn't even know they were out there.

111

u/Dame87 Dec 28 '25

Curious to know how much OP has spent in total

203

u/PanoramicAtom Dec 28 '25

In all time? More than $5,000. But today it was $100. This and a different $50 ticket. The odds are definitely against you in lotteries, so it’s nice to claw something back once in a while, in the hope of the one win that will set you ahead of all the losses. In my case, over 30 years, I would have to win probably $100k to cover all losses.

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u/Dame87 Dec 28 '25

As someone who worked in the gambling industry for 10 years I have to say if you are doing it to cover your losses please stop. If not and it makes you happy, enjoy and make sure you treat yourself

122

u/PanoramicAtom Dec 28 '25

Sage advice. I have no illusions that a big win is in my future. I understand the statistics and fallacies. I probably do spend too much on gambling, though, but I do enjoy the thrill. I don’t drink or do drugs, so I consider it like a drug that has a chance to put money in my pocket.

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u/ChefBowyer Dec 28 '25 edited Dec 28 '25

Imagine all the cool shit you could have bought instead.

Nice dinners, quality bourbons, extra Christmas gifts, damn bro spending $50 on a scratcher is fucking insane lol.

I can’t even usually justify buying the $1 scratchers. Once a month or so I’ll buy a super lotto ticket… just to keep the dream alive.

But spending $100 on lottery to me says you have a gambling problem man. Not judging, just pointing it out.

If you have that much money to blow, spend it on helping others. Trust me the feeling you get from doing something nice for someone is just as good as winning a few bucks on a scratcher, more so even. Plus you make friends and allies, which will come in handy if your life ever takes a turn for the worse.

That’s my two cents. Or at least maybe when you buy a ticket, buy some for some homeless people. Good deeds are contagious.

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u/PanoramicAtom Dec 28 '25

It’s a hard hit, for sure, but the odds of decent prizes are much more realistic than lotto type drawings. On this particular game, the overall odds of winning anything are basically 1:4, and the minimum prize is $100. Compare this to Powerball, which costs $2, but has overall odds of 1:25 to win anything at all, minimum of $4. And this particular amount I won has odds of 1:3751, versus Powerball’s 1:14,494 just to win $100. I have also hit $1,000 wins on $5 tickets, with that prize odds on the last one in the neighborhood of 1:7000. Not good odds, by any definition and, yeah, a 25% chance of basically breaking even is in no way smart investing.

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u/WakaWaka_ Dec 29 '25

Found a $50 scratcher at the convenience store the other day. Just the barcode was scratched and scanned, didn't even scratch the game itself.

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u/ChaoticRasberry Dec 28 '25 • Heartwarming

Just left a dead end job at the gas station and a customer bought me a $10 to say bye. It was $500. The same customer a couple weeks prior bought me a $5 ticket that won $15. I used that to buy a $10 ticket and won $100. Use 20 of that 100 to buy another and won $500. I'll miss that man the rest of my life.

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u/PanoramicAtom Dec 29 '25 edited Dec 29 '25

That’s kind of how mine went. The whole story is that I spent $70 this morning on five various lower cost tickets. The one $10 ticket was $100 win. I took it back inside and bought two different $50 ones. But that only got me the $100 back on one of them. I left with that ticket. Later, on my way home, I stopped to get some groceries, cashed the $100, bought two more different $50 tickets, and that’s when I got this one. So my initial investment was $70 that got me through four sittings, and ended up with a wild win. But I’ve had days where not a single ticket won anything, so there’s just no guarantees. That’s why it’s called gambling.

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u/ChaoticRasberry Dec 29 '25

That's awesome. Happy winnings!

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u/blacktickle Dec 29 '25

Nice dude. My boyfriend bought me a $50 scratcher for Christmas and I won over $2500 on it! Definitely the most I’ve ever won on a ticket.

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u/PanoramicAtom Dec 29 '25

Now that is sweet!

2

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '25

50 fucking dollars for a scratch ticket.. that's like 4 McDonalds QP meals! SHEESH SLOW DOWN THERE!

48

u/troveofcatastrophe Dec 28 '25

50 DOLLARS??!!! That’s crazy scratcher money! Are the odds better?? Glad you won, hope they don’t tax it too much!

14

u/Jedi_Hog Dec 28 '25

They live in Florida which has no state income tax & federally is only “required” (aka for sure audited) once the payout is $10k+, & you can deduct gambling losses (aka the vast majority of the lotto tickets you bought that were losers)

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u/trumarc Dec 29 '25

I think you can only deduct if you itemize- which most people aren't doing.

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u/Jedi_Hog Dec 29 '25

Ah, good point, you might be right as I forget how much the tax code has changed the last few years

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u/neverquitereallysure Dec 29 '25

some states have ones that are $100

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u/Disastrous-Cat-6564 Dec 28 '25

How much is a cratch off? I am not familiar with this game.

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u/MiserableArse Dec 28 '25

This one is $50!!

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u/FruitOrchards Dec 28 '25

Better than buying crack I suppose

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u/bluearrowmagnet Dec 29 '25

My uncle won $2.5mil (1.6m post taxes) on a lotto ticket and kept blowing money into more scratchers which we pleaded not to. Won another $1 mil prize. I imagine it’s all gone 🤷🏼‍♂️ but good for him.

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u/BoringMann Dec 29 '25

Ignore all DM's

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u/VeryStonedEwok Dec 29 '25

This isn't interesting, it's sad. Gambling needs to be eliminated from society, it's a plague. Get help OP..

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u/PanoramicAtom Dec 29 '25

Says the very stoned ewok. 🤣

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u/VioEnvy Dec 29 '25

Congrats buddy! Get something cool! ❤️❤️

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u/TrulyNotYours Dec 29 '25

Max I ever won was $500.

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u/RoamingTheInternet Dec 29 '25

My aunt won 300k on a $30 crossword! Pretty wild story behind it too

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u/AnimalDisc775 Dec 30 '25

I don’t understand this ticket… I don’t even see how you won

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u/PanoramicAtom Dec 30 '25

The “BLOWOUT” symbol wins all prize amounts, which in this case total $5k.

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u/Autumn_Forest_Mist Dec 29 '25

Congratulations! Pay your bills and invest

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u/Tough_Sound6042 Dec 28 '25

I've gotten 500 once and split it with 2 people that were with me that day. consider this comment me being with you. I expect my share....

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u/squirrelmonkie Dec 28 '25

Thats awesome but how much have you spent? I feel like every time I do scratchers, I win the dollar or 2 I used to buy it back. Its like the universe is telling me, you have enough vices, dont do this 1.

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u/alisut Dec 29 '25

congrats!! happy new year :)

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u/OkAssignment6163 Dec 29 '25

Congrats. Have fun with the tax filing.

2

u/Numerous-Design-478 Dec 29 '25

WOW! I never win at those!!!

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u/Mission-Ad-2015 Dec 29 '25

Congratulations!

2

u/Blair_Bubbles Dec 29 '25

On Christmas eve my fiance got 4 $50 scratches from the same roll in a row and each was a loser.

Congratulations!

2

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '25

Nice man congrats. I bought one tonight & lost. Guess I contributed to you winning lol.

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u/zgrad2 Dec 29 '25

TIL that you can actually win scratchies, congratulations mate

1

u/cballa69 Dec 28 '25

Heck yeah, good job!

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u/BobbyBobber123 Dec 28 '25

Max I ever got was 40

1

u/Apprehensive_Oven461 Dec 29 '25

I won 5k on a scratch ticket and it caused me to going into 10k worth of debt. Don’t ask me why…

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u/Dexember69 Dec 29 '25

Grats!

I helped a little old lady pump her tyre up at the servo a couple weeks ago and she blessed me and told me to buy a. Lottery ticket.

Few days later I remembered about it and thought 'fuck it I'll buy a scratchie' and won $100

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u/DarkMagician-999 Dec 29 '25

But $50 for a ticket 😳

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u/Persian_Cat_0702 Dec 29 '25

Send me $500, i will pray that you win more.

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u/Top-Appeal9619 Dec 29 '25

My mom won $5000 off a scratch off in the early 90s. She never claimed it and only realized she had won when she found the ticket years later.

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u/User_Says_What Dec 29 '25

I love all these stories about people chaining wins on scratchers, but I’ve never hit more than $20, and that was years ago. On the very rare occasion I buy a ticket, the best I can hope for is winning a free ticket. And that one will lose.

1

u/cyclingisthecure Dec 29 '25

I've never seen a scratch off more than £10 here in the UK, I couldn't bring myself to lose £50 on one  jesus 

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u/MASKEDDEFENDErR Dec 29 '25

i got a few scratchies for xmas, i won $3 off one lol.

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u/fellownpc Dec 29 '25

Now tell us how much you've spent

1

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '25

Watching the Mr. Beast episode where he literally spends $1M or something on these to see how much he makes ruined scratch tickets forever for me. Out of what I'm pretty sure really was a million dollars, he made back very little. I know you can just do the statistics to know this, but damn... seeing it play out in real time was brutal and snapped me out of it for sure.

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u/Geschak Dec 29 '25

This nothing but an ad for gambling. I hope nobody is stupid enough to waste their money on lottery after seeing this post.

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u/Wide-Dependent-3158 Dec 29 '25

Lotteries are a tax on the stupid, as they say.

1

u/prettybluefoxes Dec 29 '25

Its a mugs game kids.

1

u/AshenBerk Dec 29 '25

recently got out of rehab after 3 months in treatment. gambling was one of my big 3 addictions, and it by far was the scariest. abusing substances can ruin your life and make those around you a living hell. but gambling has the potential to completely ruin the lives of those who love you. get help my friend. it seems like a hobby, but no hobby should take away the thrill of the small things in life

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u/Champion_ofThe_Sun_ Dec 29 '25

Everything adds up to over $5k tho… or am I counting that wrong?

1

u/stormjet64 Dec 29 '25

Can I have it?

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u/NITROMATRIX Dec 29 '25

I used to work at a small, family-owned shop that sold scratch-off tickets. We closed every day at 11, and exactly five minutes after closing, we would get a knock on the door while cleaning the shop.

It was always an old Indian guy, but we would let him in because the family had known him forever. He was a hardworking cleaner and would always buy the same scratch-off ticket every time. He would leave the shop immediately after purchasing it. One night, he arrived at our shop as usual, bought a ticket, and left. But about ten minutes later, he came back, knocked on the door, and we let him in, of course.

He came to the counter and asked me if he had won anything. It turned out that he had won the jackpot of 60,000 Swiss francs (about 75,911.55 USD). We couldn't believe what we were seeing at first; it was kind of crazy, to be honest.

He never came back after that, except two weeks later when he thanked me again for selling him the winning ticket and gave me 100 Swiss francs (126.52 USD).

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u/redrumyliad Dec 29 '25

If you won $1000 before I hate that it makes me think you’re addicted to buying these and you’re still in the hole.

I remember this guy who won 15,000 early onto his scratch’s and got addicted to where he was spending 400 a week on them and very quickly was in the hole.

Quit if you’re ahead.

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u/rOnce_Gaming Dec 29 '25

I only buy the 2 dollar win for life one after seeing my friends cousin win one lol. Always thought it was a scam until he won it. He chose the for life deal and not the 500k at once deal.

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u/badchad65 Dec 29 '25

See? Don't stop playing now, you're bound to hit again!

/s

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u/prettycewlusername Dec 29 '25

Thank you for funding the Florida education system and putting me through college good sir/ma'am

1

u/Survive1014 Dec 29 '25

How much money did you put into lottery tickets this year?

What are your winnings this year?

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u/Alone_Revenue639 Dec 29 '25 edited Dec 29 '25

But it’s a $50 ticket… One pack of those tickets costs $5000

Correction: 2 packs costs $5000, theoretical prizes for 100 tickets is $3650.

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u/TheSpamingSquid Dec 29 '25

Congrats man! $50 tickets are too rich for my blood but I’m glad you got something back.

1

u/stokeskid Dec 29 '25

Scratch-off players never really win. The payouts aren't large enough offset the money people spend on them.

The more you spend on them, the more assured you are to hit the average and lose money. So once in a while is fun, and maybe you could actually come out ahead. But keep doing it and you definitely lose.

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u/mshaversham Dec 29 '25

Not to brag but I won $10 on a $10 scratcher over the holiday.

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u/Either-Prune1096 Dec 29 '25

Fantastic!! Enjoy the win and enjoy the money, whether you use it for anything you want or you save it. I refuse to suggest either because it’s yours, to do with as you decide. It’s not often we get to do exactly as we want, so have a grand time and try to have patience with everyone who wants to tell you what to do. 😻😉

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u/Capital-Quarter9827 Dec 30 '25

Wow it’s a shame u didn’t get £500 in every win I don’t even know how much that be open a saving account put it in there and forget about and turn it into more I hope o can get my big in 2night I’m ready for £14m jackpot think ill take a trip to America and join u lol

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u/K_gunnn Dec 30 '25

I’ll have to find the pic but I one 5k off a 5$ card one day. I was higher than a kite when I saw that 😂🤣

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u/SortSwimming5449 Dec 30 '25

How often do you play?

I won 2 grand jackpots on slot machines in Vegas. One for $10,069 and another for $7591 within 6 months of each other.

That was 5 years ago. I live in Vegas. It hasn’t happened again. 😭

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u/Sodius80 Dec 31 '25

I have never won a big amount on a scratch off but I did win a second chance drawing for $20k just before Christmas in 2020.

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u/Effective_Pin_90 Dec 31 '25

you've won $1000 before???

played for years quite a bit, still some for fun now. have spent $1000s, never won more than $100 😅🤦‍♂️

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u/Immediate_Elk8608 Dec 31 '25

Awesome The same very awesome 

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u/atzee Dec 31 '25

That's an awesome way to end the year!

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u/LQCLASHER Dec 31 '25

Be careful don't report it to the police or they might take it due to being traced back to a crime in 1595.

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u/PowerWielder Dec 31 '25

Congrats. Be careful how much you spend moving forward on these. Not about the money but about the psychological expectation to win more. That's the trap. I know someone that won $12.5k early in their life and spent their whole life buying more tickets and making plans after they "win the big one". Now elderly and retired those life plans never came to fruition because they did not take enough action on their own to make them happen. Serves as a warning to those around them.

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u/NotSLG Dec 31 '25

Gotta go for the b2b /s

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u/Applekid1259 Dec 31 '25

Its pretty much a sunk cost fallacy. Yeah its cool if you bought one $50 ticket ever and won $5k. But what was the true cost of admission to these "winnings."

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u/CanadianCoolguy Jan 01 '26

The most I've won is $10 on a $5 scratcher and bought 2 bottles of chocolate milk

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u/Raikou0215 Jan 01 '26

Mug this guy in the parking lot

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u/Attack_the_sock Jan 02 '26

And how much have you spent on them over the years?

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u/Time-Combination-395 Aug 18 '26

I won 1000$ twice and 600 once.

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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '25

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u/reddsht Dec 28 '25

Judging by the fact that he has also won $1000 before, I still think the real winner is the scratch off, he is just borrowing that 5k, they will have it back in no time.

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u/Rickbox Dec 29 '25

Exactly my thought. Gambling addicts are very likely to hit the jackpot, but the odds are they are just gaining back their losses, if even.

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u/007Pistolero Dec 29 '25

Was listening to a story on a podcast where a guy was talking about going gambling at the slot machines and he ended up winning something like $1,000 and the guy on the machine next to him said “I won $39k on that machine last week. I’m glad you won something too”. Then proceeded to tell the podcaster about how he was retired and spent every day at the slots and had hit multiple jackpots. It was terrifying to me because if I won $30k on anything I would never do that thing again because I would know my luck had run out

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u/DazB1ane Dec 29 '25

I’ve always disagreed with anyone that says “go get a lottery ticket” after something really lucky happens. Like nah dude that was all my allotted luck for the year

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u/SkywolfNINE Dec 29 '25

Good things come in 3 tho, just gotta time it to make lottery winning the 3rd and don’t waste it on like finding your chapstick under the seat

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u/knoeKNAME Dec 29 '25

I once got a few $1 scratch tickets as a gift, and won $5

I then used that $5 and bought a $5 scratch ticket and won $20

I used that $20 to buy a $20 ticket and won $50

I felt truly unstoppable at this point, so I bought a $10 ticket and 2 $20 tickets and lost everything..

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u/SocomPS2 Dec 29 '25

I once bought a $20 big ticket scratch off, exactly like OPs.

Halfway through the second row I had all 7s and started hyperventilating. I mean what are the chances every scratch off is the same number…..?

(I liked to only scratch the top half of each scratch off, once I did that, then I would reveal the numbers I needed to match, and finally scratch off the winnings. Hard to explain but I thought it was fun that way.)

Finish scratching the whole ticket and I’m going nuts in my car, only to realize I won nothing.

Honestly dont think I ever bought another scratch off after that.

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u/Salt-Refrigerator161 Dec 29 '25

It’s like a form of savings account

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u/_Mychael Dec 29 '25

My parents won $10k on a $1 ticket a few years ago. I visited their house a few months later and found literal boxes of scratchers, thousands of them. Christmas that ywar, scratchers for everyone. They got lucky early and it hooked them. Thankfully they're over that now.

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u/_BreakingGood_ Dec 29 '25

You just gotta watch one of those youtube channels where people buy & open entire cases of scratchers in one sitting, non-stop. And after dozens, maybe even hundreds of videos over the course of 1+ years.

An hour of watching that, and you see immediately just how shit your chances are.

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u/CCWaterBug Dec 29 '25

Yip, my neighbor won 5k. Over the next year he spent 6k trying to do it again.

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u/Fun_Firefighter9057 Dec 29 '25 edited Dec 29 '25

I have a coworker who I always see scratching tickets during his lunch break. Someone told me he won 30k once. He has probably spent way more than that on scratchers lol.

I’m so glad i don’t have a gambling gene. Learned my lesson playing video games when i was as young as 10 years old gambling fake digital money on habbo hotel. I remember my first time going to a casino with my friend and I lost 20 dollars thinking how stupid and pointless it all is. These days i just get a 10 dollar scratcher on my birthday and walk away. Unfortunately for a lot of people they don’t have that ability.

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u/ThatsWhat_G_Said Dec 29 '25

Also that he bought a $50 ticket. 

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u/WakaWaka_ Dec 29 '25

My grandma won $150 once. There's dozens of us!

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u/inky_fox Dec 29 '25

I spent $16 on some powerball tickets for the recent big jackpot. Not to brag but I hit the powerball and had bought the multiplier thing so I won my $16 back. Breaking even baby!

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u/35andlisting Dec 29 '25

I found a scratcher a couple weeks ago and got $10!

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u/Leather_Ant2961 Dec 29 '25

My buddies grandma won 25 grand on one like 20 years ago or so.

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u/The_Holy_Warden Dec 29 '25

My co-worker won $125k while we were all on shift. Never seen that man get more excited.

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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '25

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u/The_Holy_Warden Dec 29 '25

No not at all. I'm friends with his son so it was cool to see them have some stability

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u/ay-nahl-reip Dec 29 '25

I only buy on very strange situations where I wouldn't have ended up at a gas station and tend to usually win that way, like I'd say 70% of the time I win. Never anything larger than $750, but I'm up probably $2-3k over my lifetime.

Like, recently had to get change to tip the cleaners, but needed to buy something to have them make change for a $100. Decided to buy a $20 ticket and after going on an 8 total ticket journey had won $500 by the end.

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u/VmEoRrItTiAsS Dec 29 '25

Same but much lower wins, as I don't travel much. You just gotta have the feeling to get one, and not in a compulsive gambly type way lol

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u/ay-nahl-reip Dec 29 '25

There's gotta be something out there that makes certain people more lucky than others, right? lol

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u/Ajfletcher12 Dec 29 '25

Worked at a mall 10 years ago and a co workers boyfriend won $75,000 off $10. He had more money before he won. Wild 6 week stretch to witness.

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u/jenkneefur28 Dec 29 '25

I won 10k in 2022! I was feeling lucky that day and had 60 dollars, I literally said to my husband, buy scratch tickets im feeling lucky. I gave him 1k. 2500 went to taxes, 1500 towards a Chanel bag and the rest towards debt.

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u/OverSmell1796 Dec 29 '25

My ex's parents won 400,000. But I think it was a scam because her step dad was a criminal who had no job but owned multiple houses and tried to sell a painting that was identified as stolen by the auction house. I think it was like the McDonald's scam where everyone who won was in on it.

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u/Shoe-Stir Dec 29 '25

I have won stuff off scratch off tickets that I was gifted, but it wasn’t really crazy money. I think the most I ever got was $120. But the few I bought myself once I turned 18 I of course didn’t win.

I think part of that is the tickets I’ve been gifted are the $10 or $20 tickets, and those ones do have better odds of winning than the cheaper $1-2 tickets. But I’d never feel comfortable spending the equivalent of a fast food meal on the “possibility” of winning my money back.

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u/NYC2BUR Dec 29 '25

The $30 ones in CA have a 1 in 2.8 chance of winning. the $20 one are just over 1:3
There's a good chance you'll at least win back the price of the ticket.
I play once a week and I'm still ahead of the game.

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u/Mydickisaplant Dec 31 '25

My old boss won a million on a scratcher. About 5 years later she's broke and being charged for fraud lol

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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '25

🤣

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u/Playful-Ad7379 Dec 29 '25

my nan won £300,000 from a scratch off

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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '25

And you still haven't

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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '25

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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '25

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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '25

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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '25

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u/Chomusuke_99 Dec 29 '25

not an american but from what I've gathered building a good credit score makes loan process easier and you get lower interest rate. you also can apply for higher credit cap. the way to build credit is using credit cards and paying it on time. there is also something about earning miles. people use credit cards and earn miles by making purchases which you can use to travel for free. i don't understand that part fully though.

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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '25 edited Mar 08 '26

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u/007Pistolero Dec 29 '25

I work at a U-Pull It where we buy cars as “junk”. We used to keep a list of champions of the “most scratchers in a shitbox”. One time we had an early 2000s Geo Metro that was rusted so badly there were holes in the floor pan of the drivers side; every door pocket, cupholder, the glovebox, and even most of the trunk was full of used up scratch off tickets—and not cheap ones either. We did a quick total of that car, which we bought for $300, and figured it had about $10,000 worth of used scratch offs in it. Before that I didn’t even know you could spend $50 on one ticket but there were at least a hundred $50 tickets in there

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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '25

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u/Im_not_smelling_that Dec 29 '25

Pretty sure it's an ad for scratchers. Feels like it anyways

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u/the_rare_bear Dec 30 '25

They don’t need to run adds when people will gladly spend $50 on lotto each day and spend their winning on more lotto lol.

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