Stay away from lottery scratch cards ... long story short - and I can't get into great detail here because it would require a different topic matter and therefore new thread, which I don't mind doing for you if you're interested in hearing it in case you didn't know - but scratch cards are not in fact random gambling or a true random lottery at all as a state run lottery would have you believe in the advertising and promotion. Just talk with an employee of G-Tech or Scientific Games, the 2 companies that make almost all of the 45 states or so lottery scratch off cards in the United States and your eyes, mouth and mind will " gag " open from the shock and anger once you find out how these scratch cards are manipulated ( at the state lottery's request - after all, they are the paying customer asking the factory to create the card for them ) during the creation and production process at the factory and so are you the buying public into thinking that you are buying a random chance when you buy one of these cards. Sort of like how ball draw games are manipulated unethically with pre-draws and set change outs, just in a different way of not exactly being truthful about it's claim of total and absolute randomness.
It all has to do with a little known mathematical concept called an " algorithm ". If you are not the brightest person in the world in higher mathematics, and I wasn't claiming to be either earlier so I decided to educate myself on this subject matter further due to interest, then you'll need to google the term - learn what it means and how state run governmental lotteries use this mathematical application in a discreet way to ensure that a scratch game never goes " bust ", that they don't lose money on a particular card game and to give you the consumer the impression that you are playing a 100 % totally random game with a chance to win the big jackpot on any purchase. The algorithm ensures that they will always make money and not lose money. In other words the purchasing public will always lose in the life of the game and the state will always earn positive revenue and not a loss. Just do it when you have some time ..... google " scratch cards lottery algorithm truth secret, etc. " , read up on it, and then go get a smart college math student to explain to you how an algorithm is used this way. Trust me, afterwards, you'll be floored if you are an ordinary Joe like me. But then again, we're talking about your state government here managing a gambling department of the government, right ? Try taking this to a lottery official at their fair tent or at their lottery offices and ask them to explain and they will do their darndest to deny, lie or change the subject rather than look you in the eye and explain how the algorithm is used in the scratch cards they sell. Would be glad to explain and talk further with you on this but out of respect for LP, I won't go any further since this would be considered different subject matter. Just thought I'd elaborate on it a bit since it was already brought up.