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MN state. The MN state lottery is not posting the results of your number one pick gold and silver crossword in the unclaimed prisez are. What does this mean?

You’re correct, it’s no longer on the page:
But the detail page (where we pull our info from) is still valid
The game is still listed on the “Claimable” game page:
With an END Date of 10/2/2018.
At the top of that page it states:

“The following Minnesota State Lottery instant scratch games are prize claim eligible. This list includes both active and previous scratch games. 

Players have one year from each game’s end date to claim prizes for that game.

Scratch tickets are only valid to be claimed up to one year after the game’s end date. 

If a ticket is not on this list, it has passed its end date and may no longer be validated and claimed.”
But that’s a little deceiving because on this page:
https://www.mnlottery.com/winners/unclaimed-prizes
they clearly state that all winners have 1 year to CLAIM a prize AFTER the END Date!
Heres their text:

Unclaimed Scratch Game Prizes

Scratch tickets expire one year from the end date of the game. If the one-year deadline falls on a weekend, holiday, or a day that Minnesota State Lottery offices are closed due to a legal holiday, you have until the end of the next business day to claim a prize. Prizes claimed by mail must be received by the Lottery within the claim period. The Lottery recommends that players use registered mail to send Tickets and Ticket Claim forms to the Lottery and that players keep a copy of the front and back of any Ticket sent. Only prizes of $500 or more are listed here with the exception of games that have no larger prizes. 

So, they pull “Ended” game from the unclaimed prizes page but there’s a big difference between END Date and Last Day to claim.  We keep games on our report until the ‘last day to claim’ in case you find it for sale anywhere.   It’s all explained here:

Is there any place where we can see the scratch off cards so we know how it is played?

We do not provide gameplay directions on any of the games we analyze.
The very best place to find this information is on each of the state lottery websites.  There is usually a page set up for each game with instructions on how that game is played.  For example:
You’ll have to search for each game the lottery website.
For Wisconsin – start here:
For Michigan – start here:
For your particular state, start at your state lottery’s website and go to the INSTANT or Scratch-off games section and look for your game there.

How do you determine what percentage of tickets have been sold in a particular game?

The % of Tickets sold on our Best Games to Play report is just an estimate, but a fairly accurate

For most states, we use this equation:
Sum of all prizes claimed for each game DIVIDED BY the SUM of all Potential prizes from the game details page.
For states that don’t publish as much data for ALL prize levels, we have to use a SUM of the top six prizes claimed divided by the sum of the potential prizes for the published prize levels.
This is why it’s only an estimate.  If we cannot get the exact number of prizes available for all prize levels OR the exact number of prizes remaining or prizes claimed, we use the data that is available.
Why do we provide it?  Customers asked for that calculation explicitly.  It helps customers realize how difficult a game might be to find in their local area.  Usually, anything above 90% Est sold, will start to become difficult to find.

PA-The $3,000,000 Extreme Green game is listed as your 11th best game to play but the PA lottery site says this game has had additional cards printed. Is this factored into the analysis?

THIS ANSWER IS TIME SENSITIVE AND ONLY APPLIES TO OUR PENNSYLVANIA REPORT FOR THE WEEK OF 10/5/18
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The quick answer is YES – we always account for ticket reprints. REPRINTS are one of the FIRST BIG SECRETS we discovered which led us to start ScratchSmarter.  We built our entire algorithm around this issue and have it fully integrated into our reporting process.
How do we account for it?  Its based on two things:  1) how we calculate the SmartFactor and 2) how we gather the data every day.
So, when the reprint occurs, the outstanding prizes is updated on the PA Lottery website.  We pull those numbers daily and add them to our database.  When we see the very top prize change from a low number to a higher number, it indicates a reprint.  Our SmartFactor value for that game will change, usually from a RED value to a higher red OR yellow value.  However over time, that game can potentially change to a green game, like  Extreme Green has done recently.    This is, after all, why the lottery did the reprint.  They want a hot selling game to continue selling and they can’t do it until the odds get better.

In Pa the lottery website shows the lottery game Whole Lotta 500s as being closed. However, I know a retailer who is still selling those tickets. Should I still try to purchase those tickets?

PLEASE NOTE THIS QUESTION IS ONLY RELATIVE TO THIS WEEKS REPORT (10/5/18)

YES – if you can find this game, you should play it!  If you win on these games, the ticket is valid until the LAST DAY TO CLAIM, not the Game End date.  Read about these two important dates here: GAME END DATE vs LAST DATE TO CLAIM

I am moving to another state. Do I have to buy a new subscription for that state or can you change my state?

We’ll honor your current subscription and move it to your new state!  Just email Info@ScratchSmarter.com and tell us what state you’re moving to and when you’re ready for us to change your subscription to the new state!

I am a Widow, I live in FL. I don’t have a membership yet, but am considering it. I don’t play religiously, but when I do, I usually get a winner & seem to stay on a roll w/o spending any more “House Money” for a while, & I’d like to do more of that; Maybe even build a little nest egg for me if possible. The question: How do you know how many to purchase? My “usual” rule of thumb is I’d look at the odds from your report & purchase 1 or 2 more if possible. As you don’t know where those “odds” started. What about ascending & descending numbers. How is that handled & why is this important? I did read the secrets… Thank You, Arden A

First, the lottery is designed for you to lose money. PLEASE DO NOT EVER plan on it being a nest egg of any kind.  While our reports are built to help our subscribers try to win the big prizes, the odds are not in anyone’s favor and should never be used as a type of financial retirement plan.
Overall odds don’t change for a game throughout the life of the game.  The detailed odds for the top three prizes definitely DO change over the life of the game.  That’s what we track.  Sometimes the odds of winning one of those top three prizes changes by a factor of 5 or 10 times better.  So, if you’re going to gamble, you should only gamble on the games where the odds of winning a big prize are considerably better in your favor.
How much to spend totally depends on your disposable income.  Do not spend more than you can afford to lose.  As for how much to buy, yes, if you look at the overall odds and buy 2 or three more tickets that the overall odds, then you’re probably going to win something.  It might not be a huge win, but will probably (but not guaranteed) payback for at least one of the tickets you’re buying.

I go on vacation to another state, how come I cannot check the best buy of scratch tickets in that state?

There are a few reasons why our reports are state specific for each subscription:

1) Each state has a separate website.  We have to build and maintain special scraping software for each state
2) Each state reports the game data differently, so we have to map each data set to our database for standardized processing.
Because of these two, rather large investments in time and software,  we sell subscriptions to each state separately to cover our costs.
Finally, To stay under the radar of the lotteries, we limit the number of subscriptions to each state.
You can buy a 3-month subscription for each state and simply cancel the subscription when you’re no longer need that report.