You just spent five bucks on a scratch-off, rubbed the silver gunk all over your kitchen table, and—nothing. It’s a loser. Most people just toss those tickets in the trash or leave them in a crumpled heap in the cup holder of their car. But if you’re doing that in Tennessee, you’re basically throwing away a second lottery ticket. Honestly, it’s one of the most overlooked perks in the state.
The program is officially called Play It Again!, and it lives over at tennessee lottery com play it again (or more specifically, the VIP Rewards portal). It’s not a scam, and it’s not some complicated math equation. It’s a way to take a non-winning instant ticket and give it a fresh shot at a top prize.
Why Tennessee Lottery Com Play It Again Actually Matters
Most players don't realize that every scratch-off game has a set number of top prizes. Sometimes a game ends, but the last top prize was never claimed because the ticket was lost, ruined, or simply never sold. Instead of the lottery just pocketing that cash, they throw it into a special drawing.
That’s what this program does. It gathers up all those "ghost" prizes and awards them to people who bothered to register their losing tickets. We aren't talking about small change here. People have won $1 million, $4 million, and even smaller (but still life-changing) amounts like $100,000 just by scanning a ticket they thought was worth zero.
How to Get Started Without Losing Your Mind
If you want to use tennessee lottery com play it again, you’ve gotta have a VIP Rewards account. You can’t just walk into a gas station and hand them a losing ticket to "play it again." It doesn’t work like that.
- Head to the VIP Rewards site: This is usually linked directly from the main Tennessee Lottery website.
- Register: You’ll need to give them your real info. If you win $200,000, they need to know you're actually you.
- The App is better: Seriously, download the official TN Lottery App. Manually typing in 12-digit ticket numbers and 10-digit entry codes is a nightmare. The app lets you scan the barcode, and boom—you’re entered.
Once you scan a non-winning instant ticket, two things happen. First, you get VIP Rewards Points. These can be used for separate "Points for Drawings" where you can win things like cash, trips, or electronics. Second, that ticket is automatically entered into the next Play It Again! drawing. You don't have to do anything else.
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The Weird Rules Most People Miss
Here is where it gets a bit nuanced. You can’t just scan every single ticket you find on the ground (well, technically you can, but there are limits).
The 5,000 Point Cap
The Tennessee Lottery limits you to 5,000 VIP Rewards points per month. If you’re a heavy player, you might hit this. But here is the kicker: even if you hit your points cap, you can still enter tickets for the Play It Again! drawings. You just won't get the extra points for the rewards store.
Eligible Games
Not every single ticket is eligible forever. There’s an "Eligible Games" list on the site. If a game has been closed for a long time, the drawing for it might have already happened. It’s usually best to scan your tickets within a week or two of buying them so you don't miss the window.
Keep Your Tickets?
This is the big question. In the old days, you had to keep the physical ticket to claim a second-chance prize. Today, the Tennessee Lottery explicitly states that for Play It Again! drawings, you usually don't need to present the physical ticket to claim your prize if you’ve already registered it in your account. That said, I’m a paranoid person. I’d keep any ticket that has a high entry value in a shoebox just in case. Better safe than sorry when a million bucks is on the line.
What Are the Odds, Really?
Let’s be real: your odds of winning a second-chance drawing are still long. But they are significantly better than the odds of finding a winning ticket on the sidewalk. Think about how many people are too lazy to scan their tickets. Every person who throws a losing ticket away is effectively increasing your slice of the pie.
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Drawings don't happen every week. They usually occur about three times a year. The lottery waits until a bunch of games have officially ended before they tally up the unclaimed prizes and run the drawing. This means you might scan a ticket in January and not hear anything until June.
Real Winners, Real Cash
In the last few years, the program has paid out over $39 million.
- Errol M. won $4,000,000 via a Play It Again! drawing.
- Trevecca O. took home $3,000,000.
- Dozens of others have grabbed $50,000 or $100,000 prizes.
These aren't "marketing" winners. These are people who took thirty seconds to scan a "loser" through the tennessee lottery com play it again system.
Actionable Steps to Maximize Your Chances
Don't just scan blindly. If you want to actually make this a habit that might pay off, follow this logic.
Scan everything immediately.
The "Invalid Entry" message is the enemy. Usually, this happens because you're trying to enter a ticket that actually is a winner (even a $2 winner) or because the game is so old it's been purged. If you scan immediately after scratching, you avoid the headache of "is this ticket still good?"
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Check the "Points for Drawings" section.
While you’re waiting for the big Play It Again! event, use those points you’ve accumulated. They expire eventually, and people often let thousands of points vanish because they forgot they had them. You can use them to enter smaller drawings for $500 or $1,000, which have much better odds than the multi-million dollar ones.
Watch your email.
If you win, the Tennessee Lottery will contact you via the info in your VIP profile. They won't hunt you down via carrier pigeon. Make sure your email address is current and that lottery emails aren't going to your spam folder.
Basically, the tennessee lottery com play it again program is a free insurance policy on your gambling. You already paid for the ticket. You might as well get every cent of value out of it. It’s the difference between a total loss and a second chance at the jackpot.
Your To-Do List for Today
- Download the TN Lottery App from the App Store or Google Play. It’s much faster than the web portal.
- Create your VIP Rewards account using your legal name as it appears on your ID.
- Gather any unscratched or non-winning tickets from your house and scan them all at once.
- Check the "Eligible Games" list on the website to see which drawings are coming up next.
Stop throwing away potential millions. The next drawing is coming, and that crumpled ticket in your pocket might be the one they pull.