New Florida Lotto playslips a bother to some
Posted: 3/6/2008 11:35:34 AM
Some players annoyed by re-writing slips used 'for years'; don't understand new jackpot options
As the Florida Lottery made changes to its Lotto game, a Lauderhill woman claimed the $3 million jackpot from the March 1 game.
Melony Gregory, of Lauderhill, chose the one-time, lump-sum payment, and will receive $1,711,642 after taxes.
Meanwhile, Lotto players faced a slightly longer wait to purchase tickets for Wednesday night's drawing, the first since the Florida Lottery made changes to Lotto that rendered the old playslips obsolete.
The change allows players to spend $1 or $2 extra to increase the size of the Lotto jackpot.
Wednesday's jackpot was $3 million and a $1 ticket bought a chance to win that amount. Under the new setup, a player who spends $2 on a single set of numbers was playing for a $13 million jackpot and a player who wagered $3 on a single set of numbers was going for a $28 million pot.
Some retailers said players were much more aggravated by having to fill out new playslips than they were eager to spend an extra dollar or two to increase the size of the jackpot.
"They don't quite understand it and they are very annoyed because they had to change all their forms," said Daniel Nass, one of the owners of Old City Newsstand near A1A in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. "They will come in with five or more slips at a time already filled out and have been using it for years. You try and explain the $2 option or $3 option on six numbers, and when they finally understand it, they don't want to do it."
Nass said many of his customers are elderly and some think the new ticket options are a scheme that should be avoided.
"It needs time and Lotto needs to explain it with their advertising. It's not a bad system but people seem not to want to spend an extra $2 or $3 per line," he said.
Switching numbers from an old playslip to a new one isn't simple because the number grids are different.
Gregory's winning Lotto Quick Pick ticket was purchased at the Shop N Save at 4428 Inverrary Blvd. in Lauderhill. The retailer received a bonus incentive of $10,000 for selling the winning ticket. The winning numbers were: 02-20-23-33-43-50.
Source: Orlando Sentinel
