SAN ANTONIO — Tens of millions of scratch-off tickets are bought in Texas every year. But some of them offer an extra chance to win that the lottery says many players don't know about.
It's called a second-chance lotto, or The Luck Zone.
If you don't win a prize on the front of the ticket, don't toss it out. On the back is another chance for you to hit it big. It just takes a little more work.
"If a player plays one of those tickets and they have a non-winning ticket, (meaning) they don't win a cash prize on the scratch ticket, then they can go again to the website or to the mobile app," said Ryan Mindell, a spokesperson for the Texas Lottery. "(From there you) enter a certain code from that ticket onto the site."
Within a few weeks to a couple of months, that player could be notified that they are a huge second-chance winner.
"There's no reason not to if you already bought your ticket and you didn't win that primary prize," Mindell added. "Definitely enter it."
Some players are a testament to having good fortune on the second go-around. Among them: Jeff Baumgaertner, his good friend Michelle, Rick and, finally, Mandi, Rick's niece. All of them love scratch-off lottery tickets. And like many of us, after scratching away the entire card they came up with nothing.
But unlike many lottery players, they didn't just stop there and throw away the card. They flipped those cards and entered the Luck Zone and came away big-time winners.
"I'd just buy them because there's second chances, and there's only a handful," Baumgaertner said. "There were other prizes and then things just happened to win the top prize."
That top prize: a trip to see Luke Combs, thanks to the Living Lucky with Luke Combs $10 scratcher.
Rick Leal got to tag along, calling it a memorable experience complete with good hosts and hotel service that "treated us like royalty."
All in all, it amounted to a $13,000 all-expenses paid trip.
Not a bad haul for spending just $10.
Each scratch-off ticket entered in a Luck Zone drawing can only be used one time. Once you fill out the back and send it in, you don't have to keep the rest of the ticket. You can throw it away so you don't have to keep track of it.
And you can enter any Luck Zone drawing as many times as you wish. But you have to buy a new scratcher each time.
Our winners' advice about playing the second chance games?
"It's a free chance to win something else," Leal said. "A lot of people just discard those tickets. Don't do that."
Visit the Texas Lottery website to find out more about The Luck Zone and your second chance at winning.
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