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Playing the Minnesota Lottery
Playing the Minnesota Lottery
If you are in need of a good pick-me-up, nothing can beat the thrill of scratching off a Minnesota lottery ticket, especially if it happens to be a winner. The Minnesota state lottery has much to offer in the way of instant win games and also weekly and daily drawing games. From Powerball to Hot Lotto and Northstar Cash, you can’t go wrong with the Minnesota lottery.
If you like the thrill of watching a televised drawing and you enjoy picking out your lucky lottery numbers, then Hot Lotto just might be the game for you. The jackpot for the game starts at one million dollars, and the prize money is rolled over each time no one wins the drawing. The game involves picking five numbers between one and thirty-nine and one additional number called the HOT ball. This number must fall between one and nineteen. The Hot Lotto game is played among several different states, including Iowa, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, West Virginia and South Dakota in addition to in Minnesota. Your odds for winning any prize in this Minnesota lottery game are one in sixteen. However, if you will only be happy with the jackpot, your odds stack up to be a bit more grim, at one in eleven million.
However, there is more to the Minnesota state lottery than meets the eye. Other than that going to prize money, the majority of the proceeds from the Minnesota lottery go toward a state environmental trust fund that supports national resources, gaming and fishing and other environmental issues. This makes purchasing a lottery ticket worth a lot more than just a dollar, even if you do not ever win a penny. Every time you purchase a Minnesota lottery ticket, you can rest assured that your money is going to a good cause, and who knows? You just might end up winning something after all.
While the Minnesota lottery offers decent odds you may want to consider playing other state lotteries. There are several reputable websites offering online lottery ticket sales. Minnesota is one of several Powerball states that have chosen to add the popular Mega Millions lottery to its lotto lineup. Due to federal laws and regulations the Minnesota lottery does not allow players to buy online lottery tickets. Once federal regulations are clarified many lottery experts believe it will only be a matter of time before most state lotteries allow players to buy lotto tickets online.
Check Those Tickets But Be Careful!
Check Those Tickets But Be Careful
Those of us who play the lottery know there are several ways to check for a winning ticket. Most state lotteries maintain a website where winning numbers can be checked. Newspapers also print daily winning lottery numbers. Winning lottery numbers are also announced on evening news programs on television. Other lottery players rely on checking their numbers at the lottery terminal where they purchased their tickets.
Recent news from Minnesota suggests that relying on the honesty of the clerk at the lottery terminal may not be such a good idea. Five convenience store employees and their accomplices are charged with lottery fraud after the Minnesota Alcohol & Gambling Enforcement Division set up a sting operation. Undercover officers presented decoy tickets that appeared to be large winners to clerks and asked them to verify it was a winning ticket. They also wanted to know if the clerk would tell them to take the ticket to the state lottery office in Roseville. Winning lottery tickets worth over $599 must be redeemed at the state lottery office.
In a few cases the clerks said the decoy lottery ticket was not a winner and offered to dispose of it. They would then send an accomplice to the state lottery office to cash it. Although the number of incidents was small it reinforces the fact that lottery players need to be cautious and check winning lottery numbers from a reputable source.
In all eight convenience store clerks were charged with fraud. Although fewer than 3% of the clerks tested violated the law incidents like these should make lottery players everywhere cautious. Lottery players need to check their lottery tickets with reputable sources. Probably the most trustworthy source of all is the official state lottery website that all states with a lottery maintain.
Some states are considering the implementation of online lottery ticket sales. Players can log on to a lottery website and purchase online lottery tickets with a debit or credit card or use one of the many ewallet services. Players could also check for the latest lottery results which could eliminate the kind of fraud that took place in Minnesota. Winners could be notified by email saving a trip to a lottery terminal to check numbers. In Europe the sale of online lottery tickets has been well received. Players say they appreciate the convenience of online lottery tickets. Giving players the ability to buy lottery tickets online is an idea whose time has come.