Here’s an interesting comment from a player about scratch games and InstaPlay games. The man said he definitely believes that winning scratch tickets are random, but he doesn’t accept that’s the case with InstaPlay games.
I’m thinking the distinction could have to do with the types of tickets involved in the two product groups, but that’s just a guess. In any case, here’s the background about InstaPlay tickets:
InstaPlay games share features with both lotto and scratch games. For example, InstaPlay tickets are sold on demand from lottery terminals and self-service kiosks, just like tickets in lotto games.
But there is a preset supply of tickets in an InstaPlay game, just like in a scratch game. It’s just that the plays in an InstaPlay game are left in electronic form rather than being pre-printed into a supply of tickets like they are in a scratch game.
You Get The Next Available Play
Lottery retail locations all across the state sell tickets from the same universe of electronic plays in a particular InstaPlay game. So as you’re buying a ticket at one store, a player at another store may be buying a ticket in that same game. The lottery’s central gaming system, which links all 2,500 lottery retail locations in the state, tracks InstaPlay purchases in real time and provides the next available play in the game when a request is made for a ticket.
Even if the plays are made just a fraction of a second apart, the central gaming system accurately tracks them and provides the next available play from the top of the stack in that particular game. It’s like a photo-finish at the racetrack!
No One Knows Where The Next Win Will Hit
Winning tickets, including progressive jackpot winners, are randomly distributed throughout an InstaPlay game so that no one, not even those of us who work at the Iowa Lottery, knows where the next win will hit.
There is the background about InstaPlay games! Does it match up with your understanding of how they work?
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