Many people confuse lottos with lotteries both in speech and in playing. Well, it's hard not to if you consider the fact that the term lotto looks like the short form for lottery.
The truth is that the difference between these two games of chance is much more than in their spelling. Keep reading to discover how lotto differs from lottery and gain a clear perspective as to how the two actually work.
You might have seen people buying scratch cards and recently purchasing online tickets from a local charity sweepstake. Now that’s a perfect example of a lottery. It is a game of chance where participants purchase tickets containing random numbers hoping they can win whatever the prize is once their ticket matches the winning numbers.
Lotteries are normally run by charities and governments rather than individuals or private companies. The aim is usually to raise money to support a common cause, such as funding public development or helping people in need.
The UK, the US, and Germany, are good examples of countries with national lotteries, where citizens participate in hopes of becoming millionaires.
Lotto is a recent development in the gambling industry, having been inspired by the national lotteries in various countries. Lotto betting involves predicting the outcome of a lottery draw for the same prize money as in the official lottery. For instance, if you bet on international lottery results at Lottoland and luckily win, you’d take home the same prize money being offered in the official lottery draw.
Similar to lotteries, participants pick random numbers, which should match the winning numbers in the official lottery draw in order to win. It gives participants a chance to play the outcomes of various lotteries even if they aren't actual lottery participants.
You might be wondering how lotto betting companies manage to settle huge jackpot wins. Well, companies like Lottoland have special insurance policies in place that help them settle huge payouts in case a player hits the jackpot. For smaller wins, these companies use the ticket sales proceeds to pay winners.
Here’s what makes these two games of chance different from each other.
Normally, non-profit organisations and governments operate lotteries to raise money for the public good. On the other hand, most private companies run lottos for profit. Therefore, if you won a lottery, you would collect your money from the government. On the other hand, you would collect your prize from an independent company if you win a lotto bet.
Furthermore, lottery prizes usually come from the organisation's kitty or government coffers funded by taxpayers. However, lottos get their money from sales proceeds and insurance companies. When a participant wins the mega jackpot, the lotto company instructs their insurance to pay the winner on their behalf.
It's necessary to clarify that local or national governments host most lotteries to raise funds for good causes. This means the citizens of that country or region are the only legal participants in those lotteries. In Germany, for example, you won’t be allowed to buy tickets to the national lottery if you are a foreigner.
However, you can still bet on the same lotteries and win through independent lotto betting companies like Lottoland if you are a foreigner.
Another major difference between the two is the chances of winning. For lotteries, the odds are stretched out over millions of citizens, making your chances of picking the correct numbers very slim. In contrast, lotto participants are only competing against the number of tickets purchased.
In most cases, lottery participants only compete for one prize, which is the mega jackpot. Lottos, on the other hand, offer participants a chance to win smaller prizes alongside the main jackpot.
Don't let the similarities between "lotto" and "lottery" confuse you. There's more than meets the eye. Lotto betting is the same as buying lottery tickets, except you are not buying the ticket in the official draw. It's basically visiting an independent online gambling site and predicting the outcome of a specific lottery game. That's the main difference between these two games of chance.
