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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think scratchcards are a big con

92 replies

Sunshinegirls · 27/04/2017 23:09

I've never heard of anyone winning the big prize on a lottery scratch card.
I think there is no big prize just little teaser prizes to get you hooked.

OP posts:

DeleteOrDecay · 28/04/2017 10:07

They're not really a con are they? The people who make and sell them are honest about the odds. Most people do them knowing there's a big chance they won't win. It's no different to buying a lottery ticket.

I buy one once in a blue moon when I feel like it.

halcyondays · 28/04/2017 10:10

I'd rather buy a lottery ticket than a scratchcard.

jollyjester · 28/04/2017 10:10

I know a guy who won £5 million.

Bought a £1 one and won a tenner so bought a £10 one and got £5million.

Original poster

Sunshinegirls · 28/04/2017 11:04

I'm not sure if this thread is putting me off buying them ever again or making me want to rush out and buy a whole strip immediately

OP posts:

Biker47 · 28/04/2017 11:37

i know a £50k winner. She did nothing exciting with it whatsoever.

Would many people though? If I won that, majority would go on eradicating my debts, and maybe the rest on mortgage overpayments.

Don't play normal scratchcards but have played the online ones a few times before, started with about £20 then got it up to about £150 before I wasn't allowed to play anymore for 24 hours.

TheNaze73 · 28/04/2017 11:40

I shit you not, I know someone who won £4M on a £10 national lottery card.
I was of the same opinion until that happened though

witchofzog · 28/04/2017 11:40

I know someone who won a million on a scratch card. It cost her £10. She said it ruined her life. She bought a lovely house but it was out of the area she had always lived; and she lost most of her friends who she said started being grabby and jealous.

FairytalesAreBullshit · 28/04/2017 11:41

Definitely.

I don't get them any more.

Last time I asked DC each to pick a number between 1&10, the woman wouldn't sell me the cards, as I was encouraging minors to gamble.

Best not take your kids to bingo then.

AbernathysFringe · 30/04/2017 00:33

Biker, guess I don't really have debts, unless you count student loans (surely not?). I'd get some good holidays out of £50k. And a snazzy motorbike. :)

AbernathysFringe · 30/04/2017 00:35

Sorry, didn't mean that to sound braggy. I don't have a mortgage either though, so maybe I'd use the 50 to get me INTO debt with one!

Shockers · 30/04/2017 00:37

I know someone who won one million. He'd only originally gone into the shop for teabags.

LordAnthony · 30/04/2017 05:14

It isn't a con as such, but the odds are stacked against you and in favour of those running the lottery. For them to continue they have to take in more in profit than they give away in prizes.

BoomBoomsCousin · 30/04/2017 06:14

The very design of lotteries is, effectively a con - all lotteries are effectively. They are designed to payout only a percentage of the amount taken in. How else do you think they pay for themselves?

elkegel · 30/04/2017 06:20

memorably one guy who one at lunch time and then went back to work why??

I'd have to as I have clients expecting me to do things for them and I can't just drop them and run. Also even if I packed in my job, there is a three months notice period. Unless you invest it very wisely, you'd need more than £1m to never work again. I wouldn't burn my bridges.

footballmum · 30/04/2017 06:22

I often buy them and put them in birthday cards when it's a landmark birthday but for someone I wouldn't really buy a proper present for. A few years ago I put one in MIL's best friend's card for her 50th birthday and she won £300!! I was a super hero after that Hasn't happened since though. The best anyone has won is £5 but they've all thought it was a fun gift.

LedaP · 30/04/2017 06:43

Its gambling. So the odds are alwats in the houses (the house being the lottery, in this case).

Loads more people will lose than win. And big prizes are rarer than the low ones.

AwaywiththePixies27 · 30/04/2017 07:47

There was an article about this a couple of days ago in one of the red top rags. How a lot of the scratchcards are still allowed to be sold even after the jackpot has already been won.

I buy one on the odd occasion, the most I've ever won was £20, and that was six years ago.

AwaywiththePixies27 · 30/04/2017 07:52

Here > www.thesun.co.uk/money/3440022/how-the-jackpots-for-some-scratchcards-may-have-already-been-won/

Oysterbabe · 30/04/2017 08:01

I've never bought one but I know 2 people who have one £1000. That's about it.

mumthatruns · 30/04/2017 08:05

My friends brother won £250,000 a couple of years ago. Helped her out with a deposit for a flat for her family and a few bits for it (fiancé and two little ones they had already saved a large chunk) and then blew the rest. Hasn't got anything left! Didn't buy himself a property or anything.

Donthate · 30/04/2017 08:11

I know someone who won £4 million on one. They were the £10 ones.

onesupplied · 30/04/2017 08:13

I don't think Camelot would still exist if they lied about the prize winners.

The problem is that for every 'game' e.g. Scratch card theme there are literally one or two winning cards with the top prize. The cards are all produced and distributed at the same time but the winning cards could be anywhere so actually the prizes might have already been won by the time you buy.

Donthate · 30/04/2017 08:13

The Naze are you in the north west?

BarbaraofSeville · 30/04/2017 08:19

Does it matter if the jackpot has been won? There's still the smaller prizes available. Plenty of people would be chuffed to win £50 from a £1 scratchcard. Details of the prizes available and already won are available online if anyone is bothered.

I buy perhaps one a month and win 2/3 times a year. If I win less than a fiver I get more scratchcards as I consider my original £1 already spent and I never buy the more expensive ones with my own money, but will use winnings to get them. I tend to stick to the ones with smaller main prizes anyway (£10-20k max) as I'd rather have a bigger chance of winning that sort of amount than a tiny chance of winning a million.

Once I won 4 times in a row and just kept getting more scratchcards until I didn't win any more. If I win more than about a tenner, I will keep most of the money and get just a couple. The most I have ever won is £20 and I kept all of that, but one of my siblings has won about £500.

AwaywiththePixies27 · 30/04/2017 08:21

They're not lying though. The information is available for people to find. But how many people actually pause to check if the prize has been won before buying it on impulse?

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