How to boost your chances of winning a £2million scratchcard jackpot and the ones to NEVER buy
But there are ways you can boost your chances of winning with a few crucial steps, thanks to scratchcard expert Patrick Wareing's tips.
4
Patrick runs the website scratchcard-winners.co.uk and has been dishing out top tips on how to bag a big prize since 2015.
He also helps players work out which online scratchcards are best to play.
Scratchcards offer life changing wins of up to £2million for punters and are sold at supermarkets, as well as garages and other convenience shops.
National Lottery scratchcards cost between £1 to £5, depending on which one you choose.
You can also buy online through the National Lottery website.
Anyone 18-years or over can buy a scratchcard and play.
Here's what you need to know before playing.
Make sure you gamble responsibly.
Track down the odds
4
Scratchcard odds can be found on the back of the slip, on the game procedures document or the National Lottery website.
They can also be found on in-store screens at the till in shops.
Typically, the more expensive the scratchcard, the better the odds - but this isn't always the case.
The odds of winning on the Sapphire 7s Doubler scratchcard, which costs £2, is one in 3.37, whereas the odds of winning the Diamond Maze scratchcard, which is £5, is one in 3.58.
Odds show how likely you are to win any particular prize - the lower the number, the better the odds.
This means you have a better chance of winning with the £2 game compared to the more expensive £5 game.
Of course, there's no guarantee you will win on your scratchcard, even if you buy many to increase your odds of winning.
4
Patrick said: "If you buy a scratchcard with odds of one in four, and you buy four scratchcards, you'd assume you get a winner.
"Yet the odds are calculated on all scratchcards in circulation, which means that you aren't guaranteed a winner in this scenario.
"It can work in your favour though, as you could equally win on all four scratchcards."
A better method of calculating the likelihood of winning can be to take a look at what "return to player" rate is.
This is what gambling experts define as the percentage of money that will be paid back to players from total scratchcard sales. It's essentially the pay out rate on scratchcards.
National Lottery scratchcards usually pay out at a rate of between 60-70%.
So say, for example, that the total of all the scratchcards sold was £1 million.
A 65% pay out rate would mean that £650,000 would be paid out to players, with the remaining £350,000 going to National Lottery.
The £100,000 A Month For A Year scratchcard has pay out rate of 70.02%.
The £100,000 Multiplier Yellow scratchcard has an pay out rate of 61.75%.
That's a difference of nearly 10% and can make a big difference to your chance of getting winnings.
You can find information on prize rates on the game procedure documents, which are on the National Lottery website for each scratchcard.
The scratchcards you can NEVER win the jackpot
Before you buy your scratchcard, check whether the top jackpot prizes have already been won.
The number of jackpot prizes available varies depending on what type of scratchcard you pick.
Many people don't realise you can still buy National Lottery scratchcards even after all the top prizes have been won.
For cards with a jackpot above £121,000, no new packs of scratchcards will be put on sale when the last top prize has been won.
However, scratchcards that are already on display can continue to be sold.
Information about remaining prizes is available on in-store National Lottery scratchcard terminals, but these can be easy to miss so make sure you visit the National Lottery website too.
There won't be a breakdown of other winnings still up for grabs.
Jackpot information is only every weekday, so there could be a delay if prizes are claimed on the weekend or on bank holidays.
The National Lottery site currently shows that five out of around 50 scratchcard games on sale have already had the top prizes claimed.
Use this nifty site
If you're not sure which scratchcard to choose with the best chance of winning, this handy website could help.
Smartscratchcard.co.uk ranks which scratchcards are best to buy based on the chances of scoring the top prize.
It uses an algorithm to give a rating out of 100 on popular scratchcards.
It takes into account factors such as the price of the card, whether the top prize is still available to be won, how many cards are still available to buy, and the odds of winning.
It also lists how much you might have to spend to win the jackpot statistically.
The scratchcard rated the top buy on the site is currently Run For Your Money.
It costs £5 and the jackpot is £1 million.
The return to player rate is 70.12%, and two out of three jackpots have been won.
Shockingly, statistically speaking, you could have to spend £4,990,920 on cards to win.
Don't throw away a loser
You may not believe it, but it's easier to lose track of a winning scratchcard then you might think.
More than £57.6m worth of prizes went unclaimed by Lotto, EuroMillions and scratchcard players in the ten months to the end of January 2024.
The National Lottery recommends you always sign a scratchcard and keep it safe if you have a winner.
It sounds obvious, but make sure your card is definitely not a winner before chucking.
This is more likely to happen with scratchcards featuring letters and numbers, such as the Bingo and Crossword styles.
Patrick adds: "The National Lottery often changes the rules between new releases - even if they look similar to the ones before them."
Even if you think you have a loser, it's a good idea to take it to a shop where they can check.
Then you can be completely sure you don't throw away any winners.
Don't leave it too late
It's really important to know that all scratchcards have an expiry date.
Even if you have a winner, you won't be able to claim your prize if the card is out of date.
Prizes must be claimed before the end of the 180th day after the closing date of the game.
This gives you roughly six months after the game has closed.
But here's the catch, the closure dates are influenced by how many prizes are left.
So to avoid missing out, cash in your prize as soon as you realise you have a winner.
Remember, only gamble with money you can afford to lose, and set a spending limit before you play.
Visit gamcare.org.uk or GambleAware.org if you need help.
SCRATCHCARD winner Matthew Harding won a £500,000 jackpot, and revealed his secret to scooping the mega win.
Shop assistant Matthew, from Nottingham, won big on the Pink Multiplier National Scratchcard in 2023.
He said he always bought two scratchcards in a row because he heard that this makes you more likely to win.
His tactic paid off, and he scooped the top jackpot.
Matthew said at the time of winning: 'I treat myself to a scratchcard or two every month after payday and scratch them on my way home.
'I have seen a few customers in the shop winning £20 or £40 here and there so I thought I would give this particular one a go.
'I have always been told to buy two in a row as you are more likely to win.
'There may be no real logic in that but that's exactly what I do – I always buy them in a set.
Matthew stuffed the card in his sock to keep it safe.
He bought it from Greasley General Stores, Eastwood - the store he worked at the time.
He made sure to sign the back of the card and didn't fold it so he could keep the card safe.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South Wales Argus
4 hours ago
- South Wales Argus
New playground in Devauden, Monmouthshire, re-opens
The upgraded playground in Devauden officially reopened on Saturday, July 5, following a seven-week closure as part of a major refurbishment project. Catherine Fookes MP unveiled commemorative plaques at the event, which took place during the fête at Hood Memorial Hall. Ms Fookes said: "I have always envied Devauden's community spirit which is very special and this amazing playground gives credit to the committee of local volunteers who made it possible." The project was funded through two National Lottery grants: a £55,000 People and Places award, which went towards the equipment, and a £9,800 Awards for All grant, which paid for new perimeter fencing. Devauden Hall contributed £25,000, with an additional £4,000 raised through community donations and fundraising. Richard May, chair of Devauden Hall, said the scheme shows what volunteer-led projects can achieve. Mr May said: "This magnificent playground is a wonderful example of what communities and volunteers can do. "The happy faces of children today show that they more than exceeded expectations." The playground was redesigned following consultations with local families, who requested equipment for younger children and those with disabilities or sensory needs.
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
Sudoku 6,959 medium
Click here to access the print version. Fill the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the numbers 1 to 9. To see the completed puzzle, buy the next issue of the Guardian (for puzzles published Monday to Thursday). Solutions to Friday and Saturday puzzles are given in either Saturday's or Monday's edition.
BBC News
5 hours ago
- BBC News
Mobile phones: Children under-14 advised against smartphones
Parents of thousands of children have been asked not to give them a smartphone until at least 14-years-old amid fears some were using devices for eight hours a dayMany schools have already banned smartphones on site but one part of the UK thinks it will be the first to have a countywide policy advising parents against giving children smartphones at mobiles is already banned in schools in Monmouthshire, south Wales, but due to a rise in cyber-bullying reports and fears phone use at home is affecting schoolwork, schools are going a step further."We've got reports of students who are online at two, three, four in the morning," said headteacher Hugo Hutchinson. "We get a lot of wellbeing issues, as do all schools, that come from social media activity online over the weekend, or when they should be asleep," added the head of Monmouth Hutchinson said schools had worked on "robust" phone policies but pointed out ultimately children's time was largely spent outside of school, where many still had unrestricted access to teachers in Monmouthshire acknowledge they can't force parents not to give smartphones to their under-14 children, schools have taken a "big step" to give advice about what parent should do in their own in some areas of the UK have already asked parents not to get their under-14s smartphones - like in St Albans, Belfast and Solihull in the West Midlands. 'I was worried my son would feel left out' But Monmouthshire believe they're the first county in the UK where all secondary and primary teachers in both state and private schools are advising against smartphones for more than 9,000 children under the age of of those parents being advised not to give their children a smartphone is Emma who said she felt like "the worst parent in the world" after continuously telling her 12-year-old son Monty he wasn't allowed one."He was feeling left out," she said. "He would be sitting on the school bus without a phone and everybody else would be doing the journey with a phone. He found that quite difficult. I think for boys it's more about games on the phone."The mum-of-three is worried what her son could be exposed to online and how "addictive" devices were but offered Monty a "brick phone" – a term to describe older models that can't connect to the internet and is only capable of calls and the thought of giving Monty a smartphone when he reached secondary school had become one of her "biggest fears", she and other parents said they were relieved schools are taking ownership. Schools hope the intervention of teachers would help those parents that were worried saying no to a smartphone would mean their child was "left out".But other some argued their children had been using smartphones without any Dorkings' son, who is moving up to secondary school in September, had his own smartphone when he was eight-years-old."He's always sort of been on one," he said. "It's like a calming thing, or [something to use] out of boredom. He's not on it that much, he's more of a TV boy. He doesn't pull it out his pocket every five minutes, he can put it down and just leave it."Nicholas said he could understand why schools wanted to get involved, but he believed smartphones had become essential to how young people Lili's primary school class is one of the first to be targeted by the new policy, after teachers wrote to their parents urging them to consider "brick phones" - if they felt their child needed something for travelling to school. 'Most kids around here have smartphones' Lili said she felt "14 to 15" was about the right age for children to get their first smartphone as by then they might stand a better chance of knowing if something they read online "wasn't true"."We found out that one in four children have been cyber-bullied within our school, which is really strange," said the year six pupil. "It shouldn't be right, there shouldn't be the chance for people to be cyber-bullied, because we're really young."Lili's classmate Morgan said she had got a smartphone but had decided to stop using it after learning more about them in school."Most kids around here have smartphones," said the 11-year-old. "They are just 100% always on it. When kids come over to play at some households they just go on their smartphones and just text.""I used to go on it to just scroll but I got bored - but then I'd also get bored not being on my smartphone. I just decided to stop scrolling to read a book or the trampoline." Are mobile phones being banned in UK schools? Schools in Northern Ireland are advised to restrict pupils from using phones, in Scotland teachers are backed to introduce phone bans while in Wales, headteachers have been told smartphones shouldn't be banned "outright".In England, the children's commissioner has said banning phones should be a decision for head teachers but insisted parents had "the real power" to alter how their children used phones with more time spent on them outside of now every parent of all of Monmouthshire's state and private schools will be told about the county's new smartphone over the coming months. 'People have an addiction to smartphones' "This is not a school issue. This is a whole community and society issue," added Mr Hutchinson, whose comprehensive school in Monmouth has 1,700 pupils. "Like all schools, we are experiencing much higher levels of mental health issues as a result. Addiction to smartphones, addiction to being online."We have students who on average are spending six, seven, eight hours a day online outside school. We've got reports of students who are online at two, three, four in the morning. "So the impact on their school day, the impact on their learning and the impact on their life chances is really fundamental." In a token of solidarity to their son Monty and to encourage their two younger daughters, Emma Manchand and her husband Kev offered give up their own smartphones."We do 24-hours without the phone, which has been quite a challenging," she said."Sometimes we might slightly fail. But the first time I did it, although I was nervous, I felt like I'd had a little mini break."The kids love it as well, because of course they get to be the ones telling us to put our phones down."
