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There are a number of ways to win money instantly, or at least try to. In fact many of the ways to win that we cover on RealMoney.games do offer the prospect of instant cash returns.
Examples include playing poker games which can give rapid results. Online tournaments are great fun although by their nature take longer to play out. Anyone playing casino games like slots or any of the card games variations will see any winnings in their account in the blink of an eye. And even with some sports bets you don’t have to wait long before knowing the fate of your bet.
When we talk about instant cash games though, it’s online scratchcards that often spring to mind. They’re not known as instant win scratchcards for nothing.
You’ll probably have got your first exposure to them by playing on lotteries. You’ll often see banks of them at the tills where you fill in lottery tickets.
But over the last few years they’ve grown in popularity and are now found online on many websites such as TopScratch and others.
They definitely don’t fall into the bracket of games where you can win money using skill, and with similar chances to winning as playing a lottery – at least for the bigger prizes anyway – they’re not one of my favourite winning money methods. I’d advise anyone looking to play them to do so cautiously.
If you are cautious and don’t get pulled into the potential for becoming addicted to them, they do at least deserve a place in any comprehensive list of real money games with which you can win real money online instantly….
It couldn’t be simpler! Just the same as if you buy a card in a store and scratch off the silver coating, to play for instant cash wins online you’ll be buying one or more scratchcards using money in your account, and then using your mouse to point and click to reveal the symbols.
Get the match (which will be shown in the rules on the site) and win the corresponding amount.
Most sites will tell you somewhere how many times on average you’re likely to get a winning card. Often this works out at around 1 in 3, but bear in mind this doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll actually win 1 in 3 but the more you play the closer you can expect to get to this on average.
As long as you’re of the specified legal age, and living in a country or region where online scratchcards are allowed, then you’re legally able to play instant win games with cash prizes.
You will of course need an account at one of the scratchcard websites and have deposited some money covering the cost, and be able to use a deposit method that allows you to transfer money to the site you want to play at. This is unlikely to be a problem unless you are living in a jurisdiction where online betting is frowned upon or illegal, and you’ll normally find plenty of different deposit options.
With so many variations it’s nigh on impossible to list the different game types. This resource at PlayScratchCards.co.uk is a great place to visit for some examples.
There are a few well know software manufacturers that operate in the scratchcards arena, with the best known being:
There really are dozens of online sites where you can play cash prize scratchcards. Virtually every bookie has a section for these types of games, and there are many lottery operators as well as dedicated scratchcard sites.
Here are a few that are worth a look:
There really isn’t a great deal of strategy you can put in which would give you improved chances of winning. It’s just luck, and doesn’t matter how you reveal the symbols.
There are a few ways you can improve the odds though:
Different scratch ticket games require the players to rub off different amounts of scratch areas. If the game rules for your scratch card require exposing 2 out of 4 areas, you will invalidate your card if you make a mistake and expose 3 of the 4 possible prize areas.
If you happen to have a losing scratch ticket, that kind of mistake is no big deal. But imagine the pain if you rubbed off the two winning areas, and mistakenly rubbed off a third that turned your winning ticket into a loser.
It’s rare that this could happen with an online card though because the winning amount would automatically get credited once it had been revealed.
If there is a way to find out if the particular game that your scratch card represents has already had a grand prize winner, then why not do it?
Game tickets will continue to be sold by the ticket retailers until the print runs run out, so it is possible to buy a ticket for a game that no longer offers the highest levels of prizes. If the top prize has already been claimed, and the game offers only one of them, then avoid playing that game unless you will be satisfied with winning lower amounts.
Clearly the more you buy, the more you’re likely to win.
Of course this is not always great advice, and I’d recommend you only try this with money you can definitely afford to lose. Remember the odds in games like this are always against you. Sure you might get lucky, but more than likely you’ll lose.
Many scratchcard operators will offer bonuses to new account holders, often doubling the amount you deposit or more. In some cases, you may even be able to play free scratch cards if the operator offers a no deposit bonus.
Obviously with more money in your account (and some of it ‘free’) you can buy more cards and increase your winning chances.
We’ve seen before though that bonuses are not what they seem. There will be terms and conditions attached which will force you to keep playing and play through any winning amount before you can withdraw.
Not all scratch ticket games are created equal. Each game has different odds, and often the higher priced cards offer a better probability of winning.
If you have a choice between buying 10 one-dollar scratch cards, each of which has a 1 in 10 chance of winning, or buying one ten-dollar scratch ticket that has a 1 in 3 chance of winning, which purchase has the better odds?
Many people think that buying 10 different tickets means that they are improving their chances of winning, but that is not statistically accurate. The reality is that each one-dollar ticket has only a 1 in 10 chance of winning. In other words, the odds for each one-dollar tickets remain the same: 1 in 10. So if you are planning on spending ten dollars, in this case, the ten-dollar ticket really does have better odds.
It’s wise not to tempt fate. If you get a reasonably sized win sometimes it can make you feel lucky….and the chances are you’ll lose the lot. Be prepared to take your winnings and withdraw them.
This video titled ‘top ten skill games’ shows just some of the games you can play for cash prizes.
Out of all the real money games we’ve covered, playing scratchcards is the simplest. The only rules to be aware of are those around eligibility to play (you wouldn’t want to win a jackpot then find out you couldn’t get the money for one reason or another, would you?) and around what consititutes a winning ticket.
The rest is easy – buy the cards and scratch away.
In the US, you need to be careful with any form of gaming for real money prizes. It’s well known that you can legally buy cards that run alongside lotteries, however given that scratchies are based on pure luck they will fall under US laws designed to prevent gambling.
Throughout the rest of the world the regulations around online gambling vary from region to region. Wherever you are, before playing you should check any website’s Terms and Conditions page for specific details and be aware of the regulations of the country that you reside in.
Hmmmm. Are they ‘fair’ is a good question.
Certainly they’re fair from a perspective of anyone who buys one having an equal chance to win (with the proviso that specific higher amounts may already have been one and therefore would no longer be available).
Are they fair from an ‘odds of winning’ perspective is another question. They’re pure games of chance, and will always have been designed so that the operator running them will take in more in purchase fees than they’ll have to pay out.
Definitely the odds of winning a jackpot-type figure are heavily against you.
Many of the scratchcard operators run promotions. These can be offers in the form of bonuses on top of a first deposit for a new player or perhaps reload bonuses on subsequent deposits. Or it could be something like free cards every now and then for regular players.
This site has a good list of current offers.
There are a number of pros and cons for playing scratchcard games. They’ve become popular for a number of reasons:
On the drawbacks side they:
There’s not a great deal an operator can do to be innovative with their cards, they are what they are.
Most differences in cards focus around their design and the types of symbols that are displayed.
But there is one innovation that’s been thrown up from the world of mobile gaming – the ability to shake off symbols rather than erase with point and click.
The scratchcard game to watch for here is called ‘Pan for Gold’, and was released by a company called Core Gaming in late 2015. It lets you choose from one of six locations to go gold hunting, and then shake or swipe your mobile device to reveal the symbols. Get three matching and you win the cash shown.
Not one of the greatest real money games, however scratchcards do have their place in the list. You’re unlikely to get rich playing them, but the buy-in to play can often be low and there are good chances of at least winning small instant cash prizes.
With plenty of places to play and hundreds of variations, if you are keen to have a go there should be some good options to play around with.
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Making money is a universal interest for most people. Even a casual browser of MoneyPantry knows that I, too, share that passion!
I also like free money, which is why I have talked about, and listed 40 companies that give you practically free money, before.
But today, I’m not going to talk about making money or somebody giving it for free.
Instead, let’s talk about winning money!
That’s right, today I’m going to talk about how to win money online. Whether it is contests, sweepstakes, or lotteries, we’d all like to win something once in a while. So this article is dedicated to those ways you can get money that are more unlikely, but have greater rewards than normal.
While there are several ways to go about it, winning money online isn’t quite as easy as making it. That is because there is such a limited number of options to “win” compared to the very broad idea of “making” money.
But rest assured, there are ways to win.
The best way to is to enter sweepstakes, which we’ll talk about in a moment.
Now there is a difference between sweepstakes and contests, or lotteries. It is most definitely a sweepstakes which will give you the most bang for your buck.
Below, I’ll list some options for winning money. These should give you some ideas behind the process and help get you started!
I’ll put this one front-and-center because it is the most tried and direct method of simply winning money.
What do you do?
You enter the sweepstakes. Then you hope you win. That’s it.
A sweepstakes is different from a contest or a lottery in that it is the most “free.” A contest requires some kind of entry, usually a display of skill like writing an essay. A lottery requires that you purchase participation. Sweepstakes, on the other hand, are free entry and free payout (the best of both worlds!)
If you want to get going with sweepstakes, here are some legitimate places to enter:
While we know that this isn’t the absolute best option, it is a definitely way to win money online.
Do be careful and make sure you scam-check the site before participating. A quick Google search for “(site name) + scam” will tell you what you need to know.
Make sure not to sink too much money by participating in online lotteries. The goal here is to leave with more money!
As you may recall in my list of ways to earn extra cash in 2016, there are sites where you (and others) come together to bet on your own weight loss.
The premise is simple: bet your money, set your goal, lose that weight. If you don’t meet your goal, you lose the money. If you win, you win the money. It’s a win-win.
MoneyCroc has an interesting premise: refresh the page until you earn money. You can choose what amount you’re trying to win, and you have a higher chance of success with lower amounts of money.
The public opinion on MoneyCroc is split. On one hand, there are no explicit complaints of scamming. On the other hand, there are few explicit statements of winning money. This one is undecided, but you may as well take a look for yourself.
An option just for you SwagBucks users out there. A few SwagBucks will get you an entry into one of their sweepstakes, which will net smaller gains than a normal sweepstakes, but also have less competition.
This is a good option for the more prudent readers out there, who are interested in making small gains. If you are already a SB user, there’s no reason not to enter these periodically and try your luck.
While I can’t directly recommend that you go gamble online (the legality varies by area,) I must point out that there are ways to do it.
In the US particularly, there have been movements in the last decade to limit or eliminate online gambling. So if you are a US resident, read up very carefully before you start!
Furthermore, I must point out that this is a risky option. Losing money is the opposite of what you want to accomplish here, so be careful! However, if you would like to read more, this website has a lot of good information.
My parting thoughts are that it is absolutely possible to win money online! There aren’t quite as many ways to do it as I’d like, but it is good to know that it is possible.
While I did list some non-free options up above, I must reiterate to never spend more than a few dollars on this sort of thing. There is nothing wrong with dropping a few bucks for a chance at much more, but if you take farther than that, you might end up getting burned.
However, there’s no reason not to sign up for all the sweepstakes in the world. So if you get the opportunity, do it! Though, you might want to make a separate email account.