Star Wars Land opening starts collectors hunting for scratch-off lottery tickets
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The new Star Wars Land which launched yesterday at Disneyland, and collector Dave Mannix (inset).
With the opening of Disneyland's Star Wars Land yesterday, keen collectors of all ages will be on the lookout for souvenir future investments. And that includes scratch-off lottery cards.
Dave Mannix with partner Sue and his Star Wars scratch-off tickets. PHOTO: Daily Mail/Mercury Press
Collectors with a new collector's book to fill and fellow collectors will be clamoring for copies of the first tickets from whatever lottery organisation produces them first.
The UK National Lottery produced a series of lottery scratch-off cards in 1994 for the Star Wars franchise.
And one collector who specialises in scratch-off cards had all the Star Wars cards as part of his 100,000-strong hobby.
It was one of the world's biggest scratch card collection in 2016, and cost British man Dave Mannix around £80,000 to build to this level.
But he could have been sitting on a goldmine.
How to get free scratchcards explained. VIDEO: Ultimate Lotologist
The hoard of cards could have made the collector millions of pounds richer if he had scratched the 10,000 new cards in the set, reports the Daily Mail.
But even though the tickets have almost all expired, he estimates the collection could still be worth up to £5 million.
In 2014 Dave put his cards, which are stored in a dedicated room in his Chesshire home, up for sale for £500,000.
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He said: 'I’ve got a designated room in my house where I keep them all in boxes so I know exactly which ones are where.'
The 42-year-old avid collector began the hobby in the 1980s when he used to gather phone cards.
His obsession turned to scratchcards when a friend gave him a batch of 400 in 1994.
'Apart from one I know of (a 1994 Christmas special edition), I’m pretty sure I’ve managed to get hold of all of the cards ever made and I’ve spent around £80,000 in doing so.' he said in 2016.
Many Star Wars scratch-off cards are also sold on eBay where prices make it a profitable hobby.
Like his fellow collectors of lottery tickets, Dave Mannix is considered a 'lotologist' and there are websites devoted to the topic.
The Ultimate Lotologist website explains the advantages of joining and becoming a member. SEE VIDEO
One site called the Ultimate Lotologist deals with lottery memorabilia.
According to the site, collectors can share pictures of lottery memorabilia, such as Lottery Instants (scratch cards) and Lottery Tickets, in their gallery.
This allows collectors to show their collection to other users from all over the world in a gallery.
The Ultimate Lotologist gallery of scratch-off tickets for sale. Ultimate Lotologist
The British based site also allows lotologists to convert gallery items into auctions so that they can auction off the most collectible cards and duplicates to the highest bidder.
Another early collector, 67-year-old retired U.S. Navy diver Dennis Morse (above), had more than 250,000 lottery tickets in 2006.
Although Morse has accumulated many tickets, the actual collection consists of about 30,000 unique tickets.
The remainder of the tickets are duplicates he kept for trading with other members of the Global Lottery Collector's Society.
The Global Lottery Collector's Society website: GLCS
This website says it allows members to receive scratch-off or sample and void tickets for the price of postage.
The GLCS maintains a complete ticket catalog of US and Canadian ticket issues. Members have access to the online ticket database and image library at lotology.net. Many other online ticket guides are also available.
The GLCS membership also includes access to the member lists and enables members to contact other members via email.
While there are many used tickets in collections, some collectors do collect and trade the more valuable unused tickets.
They consider unscratched tickets as more desirable because no one knows whether or not they could have a $10,000 instant winner.
READ MORE:
How to make money from home with lottery scratchcards: The Ultimate Lotologist.
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