Once, the biggest dreams in Texas only cost a buck.
Now, Texas Lottery officials are upping the ante on instant miracles to $50.
That's the price of the state's newest scratch-off game, dubbed $130 Million Spectacular, which goes on sale Monday and offers nearly $134 million in prizes, including three grand prizes of $5 million.
A $50 game is the highest price for a scratch-off in the nation, according to lottery data. Kansas introduced the first $50 ticket two years ago and Michigan also will launch one on Monday. Compare that to California, where the most expensive scratch-off ticket is $5. In New York, it's $20.
Officials in Texas evidently believe their new game will do well; they're printing 3.7 million of the $50 tickets and are planning to soon introduce a second $50 game.
Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling, said the introduction of higher-priced games reflected an arms race among states for gambling dollars.
After Texas voters approved the creation of the state lottery, tickets for the agency's first game - a scratch-off called Lone Star Millions - sold for $1 apiece. Players now choose among online games and 80 or so popular scratch-offs, which have become the agency's meat and potatoes, generating $2.8 billion in sales last year.
The agency offered its first $3 scratch-off in 1997. By 2000, it had a $10 game; a $20 game in 2002 and a $30 game in 2004. Last year, $1 scratch-off tickets accounted for just 11 percent of all scratch-off sales, while nearly a third came from tickets priced between $10 and $30.
The $50 game comes with a 63 percent chance of losing.
Those odds won't deter Mike Swain, 44, a driver for a moving company who picked up $4 worth of scratch-offs in East Austin this week.
"I'll try it. I definitely could try it once. Sometimes I have $50 extra," he said.
Swain, who estimates taking home between $1,800 and $2,000 a month, said he plays scratch-off games daily, plopping down $4 to $6 at a time.
Gerald Busald, a math professor at San Antonio College who analyzes lottery practices, had this advice for those itching to wager 50 bucks on a single ticket: Don't.
Very $high$,I'LL buy one just to try my luck,you never know.
Good luck, I will only buy one if I win some money first lol.
Now the race is on for the nation's first $100.00 instant game..
Why not- there are $100.00 slot machines....
WOW!
Odds of winning
When I was growing up, we had an expression...."One in a million" which meant nearly impossible.
The lottery seems to have changed all that, since people obviously feel those odds are very good, and they certainly are compared to PB & MM and most state games. After all, I've been playing a 1 in 23M and a 1 in 3M game for years and haven't won yet.
However, how many people on this board spent $20 or more for raffle tickets this year? I know people who bought 10 of them and didn't win anything and the odds were very similar to this $50 scratch game. That being said, if I lived in Texas and had the "extra" money, maybe I would take a shot at it, hope for the top prize, be ecstatic if I won the second prize and very happy if I won the third prize. But I usually don't buy scratch tickets anyway.
I prefer this example. (more realistic) Looking it this way makes the chances seem a lot more bleak. There are over 23 million people living in Texas. I realize that includes children and people who never play, but it doesn't include the "undocumented" who also buy tickets or people from border states who play. So let's say even half of the population is eligible to buy tickets. Why would you be the one of the 9 lucky winners?
Instead of the states providing 50 dollar lottery tickets, how about stimulating job growth and encouraging business to expand and provide real income making opportunities.
Back in the day here In PA with the $20 dollar ticket you were gaurenteed some type of win on the ticket. Five etc... Is this the case here? $50 bucks is alot to drop all at once, be nice to get even a spit!!!!
Go to www.txlottery.org, front page, to see copy of the ticket and game details.
I would suspect that they might put at least a $2 winner on each tickets so no one would feel like a $50 loser(sucker), that way it would really be a $48 scratch-off tickets and the $48 losers wouldn't feel so bad about losing.
I doubt it would only be $2, RJOh.
The smallest 'win" I have seen on the $20 GA ticket is $20.
At the very least, one can get their original investment back, or at least I hope so.....
That's 50 times what I would be willing to spend!
Orangeman
I never thought I would say this, but I agree with the Christian group. $50 is way too much to spend on a single ticket. Think about what you would tell your family if you were to buy one of them and lose.
The most i am willing to spend on a scratcher is 10 dollars and that's if the jackpot is 200+ millions....
Which is what i think they should do..If they are going to charge 50 dollars the jackpot better be 800+ million dollars....
"The Truth is Out There....." from movie "The X-Files"
Sounds like these lottery tickets would be excellent candidates for a lottery pool investment. It's not unusual for players to form a lottery pool to buy $50 worth of lottery tickets.