Like Carrot Top and Ugg boots, the Virginia Lottery's Lotto South has fallen in the latter category.
Today will be the last drawing for the nearly 5-year-old game with roots dating to 1990. If no one wins the final $4.5 million jackpot, all secondary prizes from $5 to $1,000 will be doubled.
Virginia Lottery officials say many of today's lottery players have turned their backs on Lotto South in favor of multistate games such as Mega Millions and Powerball that seduce with huge jackpots. Powerball created a frenzy last weekend with a record $365 million jackpot. Mega Millions offered an alluring $212 million in Friday's drawing.
Because these games are played in several states (Mega Millions, for instance, is played in Virginia and 11 other states) they draw more players, meaning a higher jackpot than with games sponsored by a single state or just a few — as well as more challenging odds. Chance of winning the jackpot in Mega Millions is 1 in 176 million.
Lotto South, according to the Virginia Lottery's 2005 annual report, went from a high of selling 86.7 million tickets in 2002 to 66.6 million in 2005. Virginia shares Lotto South with Georgia and Kentucky.
Hazel Garrison passed on a Lotto South ticket at the Quick-Ette in Fincastle this week after cashier Sharon Painter told her the night's jackpot was a mere $4 million.
"That's not enough," said Garrison, who works at Koyo Steering Systems USA.
Lotto South will be replaced with Win for Life, beginning Wednesday. Instead of a minimum $2 million jackpot, winners get $1,000 per week for the rest of their lives.
Win for Life players choose six numbers, from one to 42. The Free Ball is a seventh number drawn from remaining numbers that helps to determine lower-level prizes, which range from $2 to $52,000.
Virginia Lottery officials hope Win for Life will foster Mega Millions-level excitement while giving players better odds at taking the top prize, said Virginia Lottery spokeswoman Jennifer Mullen. Odds of winning the top prize in Win for Life will be 1 in 5.2 million, compared with 1 in 14 million for Lotto South.
The Virginia Lottery selected Win For Life as its new game after working with focus groups. "They really liked the idea of a supplemental income," Mullen said.
The idea of winning a huge jackpot prize may sound like a universal dream, but some players find it intimidating, explained Jill Vaughan, communication director for the Virginia Lottery.
Stories in the media have featured jackpot winners telling stories of being beleaguered by requests for money, mismanaging their funds and watching marriages disintegrate over money arguments.
With Win for Life, players probably don't risk that situation.
"This isn't a life-changing prize," Vaughan said. "It's a nice cushion."
As with Lotto South, the Virginia Lottery will partner with Georgia and Kentucky for Win for Life.
Ken Bandy of Fincastle bought a Lotto South ticket for Wednesday's drawing. He's a regular player, but wasn't traumatized to hear the game will soon be history.
"I never won nothing anyway," he said.
James Kyle, a salesman for Virginia Truck Center, regularly plays Lotto South with the same two sets of numbers. He stays up to watch the nightly lottery drawing on television, a ritual he calls "his little thrill."
But the death of Lotto South won't be a big whoop for Kyle either. He plans to play the same two sets of numbers with Win for Life.
About 13,500 people had subscriptions to Lotto South, meaning they paid in advance for numerous lottery drawings, according to Mullen. They've received the option of transferring their subscription to a Mega Millions subscription or receiving a refund for their remaining plays.
For most gambling addicts the Virginia Lottery's decision to replace Lotto South with Win for Life won't help to nip their problem, according to Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling.
He compared it to the idea that an alcoholic will give up drinking if a favorite brand of vodka is discontinued.
"Generally the deeper problems people have, the less they're influenced by game design," Whyte said.
Lotto South evolved from Virginia's pick-six Lotto game, which began in 1990.
In 2005, the Virginia Lottery turned over more than $423 million for education.
LS was not perfect (IMO the matrix was too small) but it will be missed when compared with Lose for Life. The new game won't last as long as LS, especially since GA (still don't know about KY and VA) won't offer a cash option.
Interesting. So they're going to pay out a jackpot that barely puts a person over the poverty level because giving millions of dollars to a person is too intimidating and may lead to money mismanagement and divorces?
These people are so nice, aren't they? Always looking out for our best interests. But isn't there still a chance a $1000/week could lead to money mismanagement and divorces, too? Better lower the payments to $500/week, just to be sure. [/sarcasm]
Lets discuss the real reason they're cancelling Lotto South: to make more money for the lottery commissions. That's it. Nothing more.
Let me give ya'll an example of how this works, using a fictitional jackpot game:
Assume the lottery commissions keep 50% of the sales from this jackpot game and the jackpot sales were $8 million per month in 2004 and $6 million per month in 2005:
2004 ($8 million/month in sales)
$4 million/month -- Goes to the lottery commissions
$4 million/month -- Paid to the lottery players
2005 ($6 million/month in sales)
$3 million/month -- Goes to the lottery commissions
$3 million/month -- Paid to the lottery players
Notice that the lottery commissions made $4 million per month in 2004, but only $3 million per month in 2005.
So what's their solution? Simple: just make a new game that takes more than 50%. For example, lets assume they make a new game that takes 67%. Here's how the numbers would work if they made $6 million in sales as they did in 2005:
New Game ($6 million/month in sales)
$4 million/month -- Goes to the lottery commissions
$2 million/month -- Paid to the lottery players
Do you see what just happened here? The lottery commissions are now back to making $4 million per month, just as they did in 2004. But, the lottery players are only getting half of what the got in 2004.
They only thing I can't figure out is, don't all states have regulations that compel them to pay out a certain percentage of the lottery sales? Or do only a few states have these regulations?
If no one wins the jackpot, what happens to the money ?
It will be rolled into the secondary prizes, as the article said... they apparently will be doubled.
Unless they're going to do something with the money that isn' mentioned in the article, it looks like the correct answer may be that a lot of it is going to stay in the state coffers. If Kentucky lists the number of winners on their website they don't do it in a very obvious place. I'm not going to spend a lot of time looking, but based on the numbers for Virginia and Georgia it looks like doubling the payouts for lower prizes won't even come close to using all of the money from the jackpot prize pool.
For the last draw the total payout for Virginia and Georgia was about 287 grand, so unless Kentucky has really huge lottery sales, the total payout for all three states wouldn't have been more than perhaps 500 grand. Doubling the payout for the last draw would then require an extra 500 grand, but the cash value of the jackpot is about 2.25 million. That sounds like the states may be pocketing about 1.75 million from money that's in the prize pool. The 2nd place prize paid $1665 in the last draw, but the article says that prizes up to $1000 will be doubled. If that's the case, I guess they'll be keeping even more.
according to a wikipedia post about Win For Life, there is lump sum offer, but its on the guaranteed 10 yr payout ($520,000), now it may not say what states offer it, but then GA doesn't even have a page about win for life on its website, and wikipedia is as reliable as it is unreliable.
How does Lotto South have roots dating back to 1990? Was that the old Lotto games on those states?
Lotto South morphed from the Virginia Lottery, and both Kentucky and Georgia which had 6 number lotto games killed theirs and joined into something with longer odds, smaller payouts than Lotto Georgia at its worst.
In Georgia we had no studies or group feedback that I was ever aware of and our discontinuing Lotto Georgia was a singular pronouncement that it was over.
according to a wikipedia post about Win For Life, there is lump sum offer, but its on the guaranteed 10 yr payout ($520,000), now it may not say what states offer it, but then GA doesn't even have a page about win for life on its website, and wikipedia is as reliable as it is unreliable.
GA won't offer a cash option. I don't know for sure about KY or VA.
according to a wikipedia post about Win For Life, there is lump sum offer, but its on the guaranteed 10 yr payout ($520,000), now it may not say what states offer it, but then GA doesn't even have a page about win for life on its website, and wikipedia is as reliable as it is unreliable.
GA won't offer a cash option. I don't know for sure about KY or VA.
Supposed to go on sale today but no information on the Georgia Lottery site yet, only a notation about it in their daily updates email.
However, am happier about the lower matrix.
Now I wonder if they're going to lower the Fantasy 5 matrix back to the original 5/35 one. Bet they'd get more players and old players returning if they did.
according to a wikipedia post about Win For Life, there is lump sum offer, but its on the guaranteed 10 yr payout ($520,000), now it may not say what states offer it, but then GA doesn't even have a page about win for life on its website, and wikipedia is as reliable as it is unreliable.
GA won't offer a cash option. I don't know for sure about KY or VA.
Virginia will offer the $520,000 cash option; still don't know about KY.
according to a wikipedia post about Win For Life, there is lump sum offer, but its on the guaranteed 10 yr payout ($520,000), now it may not say what states offer it, but then GA doesn't even have a page about win for life on its website, and wikipedia is as reliable as it is unreliable.
GA won't offer a cash option. I don't know for sure about KY or VA.
Virginia will offer the $520,000 cash option; still don't know about KY.
Hubby said he heard them announce on tv that there will be a cash option or cash buyout in Georgia for Win For Life, but since the media as a whole makes so many mistakes would rather see it in print when the Georgia Lottery puts it up on their site.
Right now they seem to be changing out some of the phone software because they've gone from a computer generated voice recording to real voices giving results, plus delays in getting results posted so something is up in that area.
Since Ms. DeFrancisco has taken the helm we have much faster online results plus much more forthcoming information. Thanks to New York for letting us have her!!
according to a wikipedia post about Win For Life, there is lump sum offer, but its on the guaranteed 10 yr payout ($520,000), now it may not say what states offer it, but then GA doesn't even have a page about win for life on its website, and wikipedia is as reliable as it is unreliable.
GA won't offer a cash option. I don't know for sure about KY or VA.
Virginia will offer the $520,000 cash option; still don't know about KY.
Hubby said he heard them announce on tv that there will be a cash option or cash buyout in Georgia for Win For Life, but since the media as a whole makes so many mistakes would rather see it in print when the Georgia Lottery puts it up on their site.
Right now they seem to be changing out some of the phone software because they've gone from a computer generated voice recording to real voices giving results, plus delays in getting results posted so something is up in that area.
Since Ms. DeFrancisco has taken the helm we have much faster online results plus much more forthcoming information. Thanks to New York for letting us have her!!
I e-mailed the GA Lottery several weeks ago, and they said GA will _not_ be offering a cash option for Lose for Life winners. Ms DeFrancisco (sic?) ran the corrupt (numerous scratch games are annuity-only, including FOUR versions of Debt for Life) NY Lottery, so it was not a total surprise that GA said there would not be a cash option.
Maybe the term "cash buyout" was correct by not prohibiting an annuity purchasing company from doing a discounted buyout. Conjecture only until we see it in print because of the great potential in reporting errors.
The New York Lottery is apparently structured differently than Georgia which provides more flexibility as to how things are run, and that may be the difference in what you experienced and what we're seeing so far.
Lottery officials did hear some concerns about the new game from older people, Vaughan said, but a 10-year payout is guaranteed, and a winner can also take a $520,000 cash option.
The cash value of the first prize is competitive with the second prize in the Mega Millions game. It seems that they're targeting those who don't wish to play the Big 2 games because of the odds and less frequent prizes, hence the extra ball to determine extra prizes.
Lottery officials did hear some concerns about the new game from older people, Vaughan said, but a 10-year payout is guaranteed, and a winner can also take a $520,000 cash option.
The cash value of the first prize is competitive with the second prize in the Mega Millions game. It seems that they're targeting those who don't wish to play the Big 2 games because of the odds and less frequent prizes, hence the extra ball to determine extra prizes.
True in Virginia and _maybe_ KY. Apparently GA turned a deaf ear to its elderly, since GA will not be offering a cash option.
Well, no one won last night's jackpot, so it looks like KY Floyd is correct- a lot of money is going back into the State's coffers.
I did hit 3 of 6 thanks to Califdude's predictions...
DD
It looks like the total payout for Virginia and Georgia was almost 930 grand this time around, so that means they paid just under 465 grand from the jackpot prize pool. Evenallowing for the unlikely possibility that Kentucky's sales equal the combined sales of Virginia and Georgia, the total additional payou would still be under 1 million, or about 44% of what they should have collected.
Based on the odds and the number of winners for the lowest prize the combined sales for Virginia and Georgia may have been a bit over 2.5 million tickets (44612 winners times a 1/57 chance of winning = 2,542,884 number of tickets sold that would be expected to result in that number of winners). If just 20% of sales revenue goes towards the jackpot the sales from this draw alone paid for the bonus payout. Unless the remainder is going towards some other prize, the states are pocketing a big chunk of what was supposed to be paid out to winners.
Well, no one won last night's jackpot, so it looks like KY Floyd is correct- a lot of money is going back into the State's coffers.
I did hit 3 of 6 thanks to Califdude's predictions...
DD
It looks like the total payout for Virginia and Georgia was almost 930 grand this time around, so that means they paid just under 465 grand from the jackpot prize pool. Evenallowing for the unlikely possibility that Kentucky's sales equal the combined sales of Virginia and Georgia, the total additional payou would still be under 1 million, or about 44% of what they should have collected.
Based on the odds and the number of winners for the lowest prize the combined sales for Virginia and Georgia may have been a bit over 2.5 million tickets (44612 winners times a 1/57 chance of winning = 2,542,884 number of tickets sold that would be expected to result in that number of winners). If just 20% of sales revenue goes towards the jackpot the sales from this draw alone paid for the bonus payout. Unless the remainder is going towards some other prize, the states are pocketing a big chunk of what was supposed to be paid out to winners.
KY Floyd,
The Virginia Lottery website includes the payouts for all three states (the Georgia Lottery website only includes the payouts for Georgia). The total payout for Lotto South last Saturday was $654,544.
The new Win For Life is a joke, in the state of VA there are 2 scratchers, one called "win for life" and another called "weekly grand". The "weekly grand"'s top prize is $1k/wk for 10 years, the game costs $2, "Win for life" costs $5. Now, why does the VA lottery say the new "Win for life" game is guaranteed for only 10 years, should be called "weekly grand" and have higher odds, not 1 in 5.2 million. In PA, "Win for life" is guaranteed for $1 million, not by years, which makes it more reasonable. If you take the cash option for VA's "win for life" its $520k BEFORE taxes, might as well play another game with much higher odds. Its not $1k a week, its $700 a week, after taxes, which is $36k a year. I am 21, if i live to be 80, will they pay $1k/wk for 59 years? I dont think so.
The new Win For Life is a joke, in the state of VA there are 2 scratchers, one called "win for life" and another called "weekly grand". The "weekly grand"'s top prize is $1k/wk for 10 years, the game costs $2, "Win for life" costs $5. Now, why does the VA lottery say the new "Win for life" game is guaranteed for only 10 years, should be called "weekly grand" and have higher odds, not 1 in 5.2 million. In PA, "Win for life" is guaranteed for $1 million, not by years, which makes it more reasonable. If you take the cash option for VA's "win for life" its $520k BEFORE taxes, might as well play another game with much higher odds. Its not $1k a week, its $700 a week, after taxes, which is $36k a year. I am 21, if i live to be 80, will they pay $1k/wk for 59 years? I dont think so.
At least Virginia has the decency to offer a cash option, which should really be $750,000 like in the Washington (state) scratch Lucky for Life (still don't know about KY). I would consider playing this game only if the cash option is hiked.
I'm sad to see this game go.
Question:
If no one wins the jackpot, what happens to the money ?
Question:
If no one wins the jackpot, what happens to the money ?
It will be rolled into the secondary prizes, as the article said... they apparently will be doubled.
I have posted my predictions for the final draw on the Prediction Page.
LS was not perfect (IMO the matrix was too small) but it will be missed when compared with Lose for Life. The new game won't last as long as LS, especially since GA (still don't know about KY and VA) won't offer a cash option.
Interesting. So they're going to pay out a jackpot that barely puts a person over the poverty level because giving millions of dollars to a person is too intimidating and may lead to money mismanagement and divorces?
These people are so nice, aren't they? Always looking out for our best interests. But isn't there still a chance a $1000/week could lead to money mismanagement and divorces, too? Better lower the payments to $500/week, just to be sure. [/sarcasm]
Lets discuss the real reason they're cancelling Lotto South: to make more money for the lottery commissions. That's it. Nothing more.
Let me give ya'll an example of how this works, using a fictitional jackpot game:
Assume the lottery commissions keep 50% of the sales from this jackpot game and the jackpot sales were $8 million per month in 2004 and $6 million per month in 2005:
2004 ($8 million/month in sales)
$4 million/month -- Goes to the lottery commissions
$4 million/month -- Paid to the lottery players
2005 ($6 million/month in sales)
$3 million/month -- Goes to the lottery commissions
$3 million/month -- Paid to the lottery players
Notice that the lottery commissions made $4 million per month in 2004, but only $3 million per month in 2005.
So what's their solution? Simple: just make a new game that takes more than 50%. For example, lets assume they make a new game that takes 67%. Here's how the numbers would work if they made $6 million in sales as they did in 2005:
New Game ($6 million/month in sales)
$4 million/month -- Goes to the lottery commissions
$2 million/month -- Paid to the lottery players
Do you see what just happened here? The lottery commissions are now back to making $4 million per month, just as they did in 2004. But, the lottery players are only getting half of what the got in 2004.
They only thing I can't figure out is, don't all states have regulations that compel them to pay out a certain percentage of the lottery sales? Or do only a few states have these regulations?
How does Lotto South have roots dating back to 1990? Was that the old Lotto games on those states?
Question:
If no one wins the jackpot, what happens to the money ?
It will be rolled into the secondary prizes, as the article said... they apparently will be doubled.
Unless they're going to do something with the money that isn' mentioned in the article, it looks like the correct answer may be that a lot of it is going to stay in the state coffers. If Kentucky lists the number of winners on their website they don't do it in a very obvious place. I'm not going to spend a lot of time looking, but based on the numbers for Virginia and Georgia it looks like doubling the payouts for lower prizes won't even come close to using all of the money from the jackpot prize pool.
For the last draw the total payout for Virginia and Georgia was about 287 grand, so unless Kentucky has really huge lottery sales, the total payout for all three states wouldn't have been more than perhaps 500 grand. Doubling the payout for the last draw would then require an extra 500 grand, but the cash value of the jackpot is about 2.25 million. That sounds like the states may be pocketing about 1.75 million from money that's in the prize pool. The 2nd place prize paid $1665 in the last draw, but the article says that prizes up to $1000 will be doubled. If that's the case, I guess they'll be keeping even more.
according to a wikipedia post about Win For Life, there is lump sum offer, but its on the guaranteed 10 yr payout ($520,000), now it may not say what states offer it, but then GA doesn't even have a page about win for life on its website, and wikipedia is as reliable as it is unreliable.
i will miss this game. whenever i was in va i would play. never won but i did play a lot.
I'm sad to see this game go.
me too.i would've played it had the offered it here in tennessee.....
How does Lotto South have roots dating back to 1990? Was that the old Lotto games on those states?
Lotto South morphed from the Virginia Lottery, and both Kentucky and Georgia which had 6 number lotto games killed theirs and joined into something with longer odds, smaller payouts than Lotto Georgia at its worst.
In Georgia we had no studies or group feedback that I was ever aware of and our discontinuing Lotto Georgia was a singular pronouncement that it was over.
according to a wikipedia post about Win For Life, there is lump sum offer, but its on the guaranteed 10 yr payout ($520,000), now it may not say what states offer it, but then GA doesn't even have a page about win for life on its website, and wikipedia is as reliable as it is unreliable.
GA won't offer a cash option. I don't know for sure about KY or VA.
according to a wikipedia post about Win For Life, there is lump sum offer, but its on the guaranteed 10 yr payout ($520,000), now it may not say what states offer it, but then GA doesn't even have a page about win for life on its website, and wikipedia is as reliable as it is unreliable.
GA won't offer a cash option. I don't know for sure about KY or VA.
Supposed to go on sale today but no information on the Georgia Lottery site yet, only a notation about it in their daily updates email.
However, am happier about the lower matrix.
Now I wonder if they're going to lower the Fantasy 5 matrix back to the original 5/35 one. Bet they'd get more players and old players returning if they did.
according to a wikipedia post about Win For Life, there is lump sum offer, but its on the guaranteed 10 yr payout ($520,000), now it may not say what states offer it, but then GA doesn't even have a page about win for life on its website, and wikipedia is as reliable as it is unreliable.
GA won't offer a cash option. I don't know for sure about KY or VA.
Virginia will offer the $520,000 cash option; still don't know about KY.
according to a wikipedia post about Win For Life, there is lump sum offer, but its on the guaranteed 10 yr payout ($520,000), now it may not say what states offer it, but then GA doesn't even have a page about win for life on its website, and wikipedia is as reliable as it is unreliable.
GA won't offer a cash option. I don't know for sure about KY or VA.
Virginia will offer the $520,000 cash option; still don't know about KY.
Hubby said he heard them announce on tv that there will be a cash option or cash buyout in Georgia for Win For Life, but since the media as a whole makes so many mistakes would rather see it in print when the Georgia Lottery puts it up on their site.
Right now they seem to be changing out some of the phone software because they've gone from a computer generated voice recording to real voices giving results, plus delays in getting results posted so something is up in that area.
Since Ms. DeFrancisco has taken the helm we have much faster online results plus much more forthcoming information. Thanks to New York for letting us have her!!
according to a wikipedia post about Win For Life, there is lump sum offer, but its on the guaranteed 10 yr payout ($520,000), now it may not say what states offer it, but then GA doesn't even have a page about win for life on its website, and wikipedia is as reliable as it is unreliable.
GA won't offer a cash option. I don't know for sure about KY or VA.
Virginia will offer the $520,000 cash option; still don't know about KY.
Hubby said he heard them announce on tv that there will be a cash option or cash buyout in Georgia for Win For Life, but since the media as a whole makes so many mistakes would rather see it in print when the Georgia Lottery puts it up on their site.
Right now they seem to be changing out some of the phone software because they've gone from a computer generated voice recording to real voices giving results, plus delays in getting results posted so something is up in that area.
Since Ms. DeFrancisco has taken the helm we have much faster online results plus much more forthcoming information. Thanks to New York for letting us have her!!
I e-mailed the GA Lottery several weeks ago, and they said GA will _not_ be offering a cash option for Lose for Life winners. Ms DeFrancisco (sic?) ran the corrupt (numerous scratch games are annuity-only, including FOUR versions of Debt for Life) NY Lottery, so it was not a total surprise that GA said there would not be a cash option.
Maybe the term "cash buyout" was correct by not prohibiting an annuity purchasing company from doing a discounted buyout. Conjecture only until we see it in print because of the great potential in reporting errors.
The New York Lottery is apparently structured differently than Georgia which provides more flexibility as to how things are run, and that may be the difference in what you experienced and what we're seeing so far.
Lottery officials did hear some concerns about the new game from older people, Vaughan said, but a 10-year payout is guaranteed, and a winner can also take a $520,000 cash option.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137834256405&path=!news&s=1045855934842
The cash value of the first prize is competitive with the second prize in the Mega Millions game. It seems that they're targeting those who don't wish to play the Big 2 games because of the odds and less frequent prizes, hence the extra ball to determine extra prizes.
Lottery officials did hear some concerns about the new game from older people, Vaughan said, but a 10-year payout is guaranteed, and a winner can also take a $520,000 cash option.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137834256405&path=!news&s=1045855934842
The cash value of the first prize is competitive with the second prize in the Mega Millions game. It seems that they're targeting those who don't wish to play the Big 2 games because of the odds and less frequent prizes, hence the extra ball to determine extra prizes.
True in Virginia and _maybe_ KY. Apparently GA turned a deaf ear to its elderly, since GA will not be offering a cash option.
Well, no one won last night's jackpot, so it looks like KY Floyd is correct- a lot of money is going back into the State's coffers.
I did hit 3 of 6 thanks to Califdude's predictions...
DD
way to go doubledown!!
Well, no one won last night's jackpot, so it looks like KY Floyd is correct- a lot of money is going back into the State's coffers.
I did hit 3 of 6 thanks to Califdude's predictions...
DD
Did you share your winnings with Califdude?
Well, no one won last night's jackpot, so it looks like KY Floyd is correct- a lot of money is going back into the State's coffers.
I did hit 3 of 6 thanks to Califdude's predictions...
DD
Did you share your winnings with Califdude?
Was I supposed to ?
Well, no one won last night's jackpot, so it looks like KY Floyd is correct- a lot of money is going back into the State's coffers.
I did hit 3 of 6 thanks to Califdude's predictions...
DD
It looks like the total payout for Virginia and Georgia was almost 930 grand this time around, so that means they paid just under 465 grand from the jackpot prize pool. Evenallowing for the unlikely possibility that Kentucky's sales equal the combined sales of Virginia and Georgia, the total additional payou would still be under 1 million, or about 44% of what they should have collected.
Based on the odds and the number of winners for the lowest prize the combined sales for Virginia and Georgia may have been a bit over 2.5 million tickets (44612 winners times a 1/57 chance of winning = 2,542,884 number of tickets sold that would be expected to result in that number of winners). If just 20% of sales revenue goes towards the jackpot the sales from this draw alone paid for the bonus payout. Unless the remainder is going towards some other prize, the states are pocketing a big chunk of what was supposed to be paid out to winners.
Well, no one won last night's jackpot, so it looks like KY Floyd is correct- a lot of money is going back into the State's coffers.
I did hit 3 of 6 thanks to Califdude's predictions...
DD
It looks like the total payout for Virginia and Georgia was almost 930 grand this time around, so that means they paid just under 465 grand from the jackpot prize pool. Evenallowing for the unlikely possibility that Kentucky's sales equal the combined sales of Virginia and Georgia, the total additional payou would still be under 1 million, or about 44% of what they should have collected.
Based on the odds and the number of winners for the lowest prize the combined sales for Virginia and Georgia may have been a bit over 2.5 million tickets (44612 winners times a 1/57 chance of winning = 2,542,884 number of tickets sold that would be expected to result in that number of winners). If just 20% of sales revenue goes towards the jackpot the sales from this draw alone paid for the bonus payout. Unless the remainder is going towards some other prize, the states are pocketing a big chunk of what was supposed to be paid out to winners.
KY Floyd,
The Virginia Lottery website includes the payouts for all three states (the Georgia Lottery website only includes the payouts for Georgia). The total payout for Lotto South last Saturday was $654,544.
$60 of that was mine.
The total payout for Lotto South last Saturday was $654,544.
What do you suppose they did with the rest of the $$$ ?
The cash option should have been over 2 million.
DD
The new Win For Life is a joke, in the state of VA there are 2 scratchers, one called "win for life" and another called "weekly grand". The "weekly grand"'s top prize is $1k/wk for 10 years, the game costs $2, "Win for life" costs $5. Now, why does the VA lottery say the new "Win for life" game is guaranteed for only 10 years, should be called "weekly grand" and have higher odds, not 1 in 5.2 million. In PA, "Win for life" is guaranteed for $1 million, not by years, which makes it more reasonable. If you take the cash option for VA's "win for life" its $520k BEFORE taxes, might as well play another game with much higher odds. Its not $1k a week, its $700 a week, after taxes, which is $36k a year. I am 21, if i live to be 80, will they pay $1k/wk for 59 years? I dont think so.
The new Win For Life is a joke, in the state of VA there are 2 scratchers, one called "win for life" and another called "weekly grand". The "weekly grand"'s top prize is $1k/wk for 10 years, the game costs $2, "Win for life" costs $5. Now, why does the VA lottery say the new "Win for life" game is guaranteed for only 10 years, should be called "weekly grand" and have higher odds, not 1 in 5.2 million. In PA, "Win for life" is guaranteed for $1 million, not by years, which makes it more reasonable. If you take the cash option for VA's "win for life" its $520k BEFORE taxes, might as well play another game with much higher odds. Its not $1k a week, its $700 a week, after taxes, which is $36k a year. I am 21, if i live to be 80, will they pay $1k/wk for 59 years? I dont think so.
At least Virginia has the decency to offer a cash option, which should really be $750,000 like in the Washington (state) scratch Lucky for Life (still don't know about KY). I would consider playing this game only if the cash option is hiked.