Update II 11.18.09: You're recommending WHAT?

I thought I would never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never neverdo what I am about to do.

My current recommendation ($1) Candy Cane Cash.

BUT EXILED YANKEE (You shout at your monitor) YOU ALWAYS SAID THAT $1 CARDS ARE A RIPOFF! YOU SAID SAVE YOUR MONEY AND GO AHEAD AND BUY A $2 CARD! Well I did, it's true. but a unique set of circumstances has presented itself.

1. My old STRONG BUY recommendation ($3) $50,000 Holiday Cash. Has shed one of its top prizes and is no longer as attractive as it was. 
2. NONE of the $2 tier of cards are lightning my world on fire right now. Including the ($2) Arkansas Riches card that needs to be drug out into a field and shot.
3. The $5 cards are nice, but they are $5 and not everyone has that all the time.
4. The $10 card is AWESOME, but it's $10, which even I think is pushing the envelope on how much you should pay for a scratcher.
5. The ($1) Candy Cane Cash, was just RECHARGED and has a TON of prizes available and hey, it IS only a buck, even *I* can afford that right now!

So I guess the moral is never ever say never ever! If you have a buck or two, pick up one of these little gems!

Reported by: Cecillea Pond-Mayo, KARK 4 News

The Arkansas Lottery Commission approved 3 new games to begin early 2010. They include Cash 4, MegaMillions, and an instant win add-on to draw games.

So what does this mean. Well along with the Cash 3 (pick three numbers, should be a daily game) we are going to get a Cash 4 (pick four numbers, again should be daily), Mega Millions (Like Powerball with better odds, say the odds of an ice cube in hell rather than the odds of a snow cone in hell), and an instant win add-on to draw games (actually kind of a neat idea, I saw it last summer in New York if it is what I am thinking of. When you buy a Cash 3 ticket for example, if you buy the instant win booster then the machine prints out a quickie game piece right on your ticket for the possibility of an instant win). Do not know the odds of those add ons yet, but I have applauded the transparency of the Arkansas Lottery so far in such matters, so when they post the odds I will analyze them for you.

NEW SCRATCHERS are already coming in on December 1st. (yep, that soon!) From what I can cull so far they are...

• MONEY MANIA (unknown dollar amount, unknown top prize) Looks to be another premium card however.
• WILD CHERRY DOUBLER (unknown dollar amount and prize)
• ALL THE MONEY (unknown dollar amount and prize) presumably not "All The Money" however.
• BEAT THE DEALER (Looks to be a $1 card, unknown prize) I have a soft spot in my heart for all poker based cards, we'll see what the numbers look like!

Odds Should be released on November 27th, so take a break from Black Friday shopping and check out my recommendations!

Update 11.16.09: Second Chance Drawing dealine announced!

You know that pile of loser scratch-offs that are just lying around your dwelling. You keep saying to yourself, YEAH, I need to enter those into the second chance website one of these days... Well that "one of these days" is drawing close, QUICK!

you have until November 20th, (Friday) to get the tickets registered for the following games to be registered for the following prizes.

One prize of $100,000 to be drawn from $100,000 CASH BONANZA entries;
One prize of $25,000 to be drawn from JUMBO BUCKS entries;
One prize of $20,000 to be drawn from ARKANSAS RICHES entries;
One prize of $3,000 to be drawn from 3 TIMES LUCKY entries;
One prize of $2,000 to be drawn from MONEY BAGS entries.

So register and good luck! Numbers did not do enough moving over the weekend to quantify a Recommendation change on any level. So for now we are keeping them right there.

EDIT: OOPS! What I meant to say was, the $5 $uper 7s scratcher has a $1,000 Hot Spot, still a hold on the card but if you feel like gambling, there is a plethora of $1,000 prizes on this card right now!