Scratch-Offs, Multi-Million Jackpots, and Now Lottery Raffles… Oh My!

Lottery raffles

Lottery Raffle – Another Opportunity to Win

People love to have more than one way to win buckets of money. Can you possibly blame them? I mean, who wouldn’t want to take advantage of an opportunity to win large amounts of money? Raffles are the latest addition to the numerous ways you can win pretty good money.

What Is a Raffle?

When you’re entering a raffle, you are given numbered tickets, and each of those tickets gives you the opportunity to win a prize. At a designated time, the winning tickets are drawn from a container that holds a copy of the ticket, as you see below. These tickets can be used at a variety of events that are organized by churches, schools, charities and other organizations. When a winning ticket is drawn, it is thrown out so that the same ticket cannot win again. Some raffles only allow you to enter one ticket per game, while others allow you to enter multiple tickets. This rule is usually stipulated when you purchase your ticket.

Lottery raffle

Lottery Raffles in the United States

Raffles are not year-round in the States; they are usually only offered around the holiday season. Not just that, but not every state follows the same rules or even offer a raffle. New Jersey, for example, does not offer a holiday raffle whereas other states do.

In order to participate in these raffles, a ticket cost can cost anywhere from $5 (like in Colorado) to $20 (as in Kansas), and you can purchase as many tickets you’d like from a lottery retailer; however, you won’t be able to choose your raffle numbers, as they are printed in sequential order. Like with all raffles, there are only so many tickets available, so if you happen to miss out on your state’s holiday raffle, you’re out of luck.

Every state differs when it comes to how many tickets are available for the raffle. For example, Colorado has 999,999 tickets available for their holiday raffle, whereas Kansas only has 175,000 tickets—which may explain why the ticket price is much higher. Also, each state has a different period in which you can claim your prize.

State Prize Payouts

The prize payout for these raffles also varies from state to state (surprised?). The nice thing about playing in a raffle is that in a single game, you will have a lot of opportunities to win something. For example, the Colorado top prize is $500,000, and the prizes trickle down from that amount. A total of 4,255 winning numbers are drawn. So, while you may not win a whole lot, a $5 ticket could get you a prize from a meager $50 to the top prize.

It’s not such a bad investment. Sure the odds are pretty high, but you can purchase more than one number for multiple chances to win. When you compare the chances of winning the raffle to the chances of winning the Pick 6 or another game with a massive jackpot, your chances seem to be in your favor.

Lottery Raffles in the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom only recently launched its Lottery Raffle. They held their first raffle in October of 2013 as a side game to the primary lotto game. The difference with the raffle in the UK is that it is free and it is automatically printed when you purchase a UK lotto ticket. So, that means you cannot play the raffle without playing the lottery. Also, because the raffle ticket is automatically printed with the main lottery ticket, you cannot opt out, nor can you purchase more than one raffle ticket—unless you are buying more than one lottery ticket.

Raffle Prizes in the UK

The UK raffle guarantees at least 50 winners per drawing. These winners will get £20,000! And in the event of the main UK lottery jackpot rolls over, the number of raffle prizes will increase. You may be wondering what your odds of winning the UK raffle are. Well, it depends on how many people are in the ADM (automated draw machine). So as you can imagine, the fewer the entrants, the better your odds.

You can check the results of the drawings (which are held every Wednesday and Saturday after the primary UK lottery drawing) on the official UK Lotto Raffle page. The number consists of a four-letter color and two sets of four digits, for example, TEAL 2421 5873. You have to be vigilant though when you are playing the raffle because you only have 180 days after the numbers are drawn to claim your prize.

Now, because the raffle is combined with the lottery ticket, you may be wondering if you win the lottery, is it possible to win the raffle as well. You will be happy to know that yes, you can win both the lottery and the raffle, so be sure that you check your ticket carefully!

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