9 Reasons You’re Better off Playing Casino Games Than the Lottery

I can’t express to you how often I run into people that scoff at the idea of casino gambling as a waste of money while extolling all of the perceived benefits of the lottery.

They view casino gambling as void of any value because they don’t understand most players’ entertainment value. Some lottery players justify their gambling habits by only dropping a few dollars per week.

Regardless of your purposes or biases, here are nine reasons why you’re better off playing casino games than the lottery. Once you understand the value casino gambling affords players, those cheap scratch-offs and paper tabs will no longer fill the bill.

1 – Casino Games Challenge You

Lottery games are as straightforward as they come. The games are all based on 100% chance, and there’s not a single legal way to improve your overall odds.

You have no opportunities to employ strategy to help you gain any advantage; you’re entirely at the mercy of fate. Some scratch cards allow you a brief moment of entertainment as you reveal the symbols or prizes, but it’s over in an instant.

Many casino games require at least an elementary strategy to be the most successful. Even games of chance like roulette afford players an opportunity to make decisions on the game.

Blackjack players can use basic strategies to significantly reduce the house edge or employ card counting techniques to gain an advantage.

Poker players must exercise strategy from the moment they sit down at a table until they leave. Every move is calculated, and it creates a massive thrill for players.

Many gamblers can become bored when they have zero strategies in play. The lottery is void of any system, making it one of the most boring ways to gamble.

2 – Amazing People in the Casino

The social aspect of gambling is what draws many players through the door. Casinos are like one giant party where you have a chance of winning money.

Playing the lottery is almost exclusively a solitaire affair. I am constantly amazed when I step into a convenience store for a bottle of water or a quick snack and see someone sitting in their car, hunched over the center console, scratching a lottery ticket.

It’s borderline depressing, but to each their own. When you play the lottery, you’re on a solo trip.

I can appreciate the benefits of solitude more than most. However, casinos provide a fantastic setting for celebrating with old friends while making new friends.

The stark contrast between the casino craps table on a busy night and purchasing a lottery ticket from your local gas station is staggering.

Suppose you enjoy people, even on a limited basis. In that case, the casino is a vastly more enjoyable way to get your gambling fix.

3 – You Won’t Earn Freebies Playing Lotto

One of the often-overlooked benefits of casino gambling is the comps players who can earn for merely playing their favorite games.

These casino comps range from small gifts like neck pillows and canteens to the more significant scores like free trips or even cashback on the money you’re gambling. This is all for signing up for the casino’s rewards program.

However, let’s suppose that you do hit a huge payday. In that case, the casino will likely offer plenty of incentives to keep you at the casino as long as possible.

Depending on how much you’re losing, you may also be able to talk the casino into tossing you a free buffet or even a complimentary room.

There won’t be any freebies coming from the lottery. Players that look at these casino comps as offsetting their losses typically move much closer to breaking even.

4 – More Choices in the Casino

Lotteries are regularly adding new games, but you have two types of games for the most part. The scratch-offs and the drawings are the most common options.

Most of the games are uniquely their own, and it’s nearly impossible to be bored in a casino.

I recently had a lottery player point out the enormous variety of scratch games available, to which I pulled up a list of slot machines at a regionally local casino. That argument was quickly put to bed.

5 – The House Edge Is Insane

Some lottery players like to point out the house edge in casino games as the perfect reason to stay away. They never consider that the lotteries have a house edge that makes the worst casino games seem like a safe play.

The house edge for good casino games like baccarat and blackjack is below 2%. The popular but poor RTP, penny slots, have a house edge of between 9% to 12% in most casinos.

Keno is by far one of the worst games for the player when it comes to the house’s advantage at a staggering 20%. Clearly, some games are far better for players than others.

Yet, they all beat the socks off the lottery games. Most lotteries will keep up to half of every dollar played.

That works out to a house edge of a whopping 50%. Still, think the lottery is a good investment?

I’d call that the biggest sucker bet on the planet.

6 – Entertainment Experience

Casinos offer something that the lottery never could, a comprehensive entertainment experience. Casinos offer entertainment in every direction, and they have something for everyone.

Let’s say that casino gambling wasn’t enough for you. In that case, you could enjoy the fantastic nightlife with parties and clubs open until the wee hours of the morning.

Have the family with you?

Not a problem. Head down to the amazing water park, the arcade, or hit the amusement park rides for a relaxing afternoon with the kids.

There’s no short supply of world-class entertainment at the casinos.

7 – There Are No Advantage Lottery Techniques

One of the biggest problems I see with the lottery is that you’ve got no way to exploit the game’s weaknesses and gain an edge. That’s to say, for nearly 100% of players, there’s no way to sustain a profitable lottery system.

That alone is enough to have many gamblers turning their back on the lottery entirely. Sure, at some point, someone will win the insane jackpot.

It just won’t be you; it never is.

Unless you are fortunate enough to win a monumental prize, you’ll never profit from playing the lottery.

Even if you won $50,000 on a scratch-off, you’d end up in the hole by purchasing enough lottery tickets. On a smaller scale, if you are buying $100 of lottery tickets every week for one year, that’ll be a total investment of $5,200.

Having a house edge of close to 50% in the lottery, at the end of that year, you’ll be in the hole $2,600.

Poker players and card counters have favorable long-term expectations. Just look at how much money some professional poker players are worth; I’d say learning to play poker is a much better investment of your resources than the lottery.

8 – You Can Still Get Rich in the Casino

It’s true; casinos don’t have any games where you can win over $200 million for a $2 bet. Still, don’t act like the casinos can’t make you rich.

It will require a tiny bit more effort on your part but requires far less luck than the lottery.

Hitting a slot machine jackpot could make you a millionaire with a single spin of the reels. The progressives on blackjack are another avenue for adding up to $250,000 to your bank account.

Casinos aren’t in the business of making the players rich, and neither are the lotteries.

9 – The Casino Has Lottery Games

If your passion in life is picking numbers and watching as they’re drawn one at a time, I have got some fabulous news.

The casinos have what you’re looking for right there. Not only does keno closely mimic most casino games, but it also comes with a house edge that’s less than half of most lottery games.

For a few dollars at a time, you can gamble in the casino for hours without ever losing more than a couple of dollars.

Conclusion

There are way more than nine reasons you’re better off playing casino games than the lottery. The ones I’ve listed above should paint a relatively clear picture of why it’s time to stop wasting money on the lottery and start hitting the casino.