Tony:

You need to push for Tennessee to join Lotto South or Hot Lotto.

I agree, I run up to Kentucky to buy lotto south tickets

Quote: Originally posted by tony95 on April 7, 2005

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The current odds of 120m-to-1 are depressing as it stands and odds of 146m-to-1 are ridiculous at best.  Even the Mega Millions is better at 130m-to-1 which has been described as infinitesimal by statisticians.... I hope the powerball officials are not doing this just because the numbers were hit early a few times, because that can happen again at 146m-to-1, and if it does, are they going to raise them again?  I don't think the public needs to have 200-400 million dollar jackpots to be attracted to the lottery.... (it doesn't need to be an astronomical amount). 

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tony95,

The vast majority of lottery players are largely oblivious to the odds of the games. I can't explain it, but evidently, many players get excited about playing for a super-size jackpot that they have virtually no chance of winning. Longer odds and larger jackpots basically mean that there will be fewer winners less often. Maybe the excitement of that lies in a pathological, selective , euphoric ideation of gambling action. It could be that the vast majority of lottery players just don't care about the odds.

Beyond the entertainment aspect, lottery games aren't a very good bet anyway, and people who don't play tend to think that all of us who do play are stupid fools. Maybe we are foolish for thinking that luck will smile on us in a big way or that we'll be smart enough to beat the odds.

I've been foolish long enough at odds of about 120million to one. When they implement the change to the PowerBall game, I'm switching my foolish allegiance to the 13million to one odds of Hoosier Lotto and LOTTO South.

Well, maybe I'll buy just one Quick Pick on PowerBall when the jackpot gets really big, but I'm not counting on it being very exciting... unless I win.

Good luck,

aye'

I just can't see changing the matrix. It is difficult enough now to just win $3....much less the BIG ONE!!!! This is all about GREED from the smaller states. When the jackpot is hit(and just by luck) numerous times over the last 3-4 months..states with small populations lose $30-$50 million/month just in lost revenue, only because the jackpots are not escalating to enourmous amounts. I think this change will "turn off" many players....and like ME, will stick to the smaller payouts, like Pick3 and Pick4.   Hey!!! who couldn't use $500 for a straight play on Pick3?? I'll take it any and every day!!!!!!!

I would like to know just how many of the 29 lotteries in the PB game actually voted FOR changing the game?????

I have to believe that there are a lot of people out there who know the odds are very long at 120m-to-1 and this will push them away from the powerball.  I doubt that I am much different than any other person as I set a budget for the lottery and try buy my plays toward the back end (after the pot has been built up a bit).  If those pots are 50 million dollars or 200 million makes very little difference to the average guy.  I am not going to go take out a bank loan just because the lottery has gone 34 plays and is up to 350 million dollars, in fact I will see it as evidence that thing is unwinnable.  At 120m-to-1 the powerball seemed to be working very well.  The jackpot was being hit about once a month, which to me seems reasonable.  Now we are likely not to see a winner for 2 or more months and that does not say good things about a lottery in which so many people participate.  And all the powerball officials are offering is a 5 million dollar carrot on the front end which will make almost no difference by the time someone gets around to winning it.

Sorry to rant, but one last reason this change is bad for Powerball.  Before the change, Powerball had better odds than MegaMillions (130m:1 vs 120m:1).  Now MegaMillions has a substantial advantage (130m:1 vs 146m:1).  People on the border may decide to play MegaMillions over Powerball.  I won't feel sorry for them if sales drop, especially since this change was motivated by greed on the part of the lottery officials and not on making the game better for the players.  They should have left it alone.  This has just been a year of disappointments for me, first EA kills the ESPN NFL Football series by purchasing exclusive rights to NFL names and likenesses and now Powerball odds have been jacked up to an insulting level.  I mean I could have tollerated a slight increase, but a 21 percent increase in the odds.. please.

Does anyone know when this will take effect?

good question....by the way i agree with the person who would rather play pick five,i could use 100,000 dollars as much as i could 10 million and by the time i buy ten pick five tickets that would equal buying a hundred powerball tickets to get to the same odds,i ,ight spend one dollar on powerball maybe but my main allegiance will be to games that are winnable on a daily basis like pick 5,a winner won on pick 5 last night in memphis where i live,all the more reason to stick with pick 5....

also i would love lottosouth,if we could get that here in tennessee i'd quit powerball forever....

Quote: Originally posted by LOTTOMIKE on April 8, 2005

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good question....by the way i agree with the person who would rather play pick five,i could use 100,000 dollars as much as i could 10 million and by the time i buy ten pick five tickets that would equal buying a hundred powerball tickets to get to the same odds,i ,ight spend one dollar on powerball maybe but my main allegiance will be to games that are winnable on a daily basis like pick 5,a winner won on pick 5 last night in memphis where i live,all the more reason to stick with pick 5....

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Even though they plan to drop two new numbered balls into the mixing hopper on August 29, it certainly won't keep me from continuing to regularly play favorite old number sets.  My main concern is the type of drawing conducted regardless of tweaking the odds. I'm just relieved and thankful that Powerball didn't change to computerized draws.

... the lottery never fails to surprise!

that would be commercial suicide if powerball went computerized,that would ruin the magic of the game......

jimmysand i agree,i wish we had prizes for matching two on lotto five but then again that would mean a lot more money they would be paying out and you know how stingy they are with prize payouts......

I just went to the powerball page and noticed that this is not the first time they have made the odds worse. Apparently it started off with 49 numbers. (Click the news and info link, and then click "History of Multistate Lottery Association")