Ohio Lottery to sell $30 ticket that offers a chance to win $10 million

Jan 14, 2014, 10:17 am (22 comments)

Ohio Lottery

CLEVELAND, Ohio — To celebrate its 40th anniversary, the Ohio Lottery will debut a $30 instant scratch-off ticket on Thursday.

The ticket for 40th Anniversary Millions is the most expensive — and offers the largest instant prize — in Ohio Lottery history.

Five $10 million prizes and 35 $1 million prizes will be awarded.

The lottery began with the Buckeye 300, a weekly drawing. Today, it is operating racinos, is involved in multi-state lotteries and offers instant games, draw games, EZPLAY games, and KENO.

"It is an interesting time for the industry as a whole," said lottery director Dennis Berg, who has been with the agency for 22 years.

He recalled 50-cent tickets and top prizes in the thousands, not tens of millions.

"A $100 million jackpot was unheard of," Berg said.

The biggest changes have been due to technology, which will also dictate the future he said. In Europe, people can now play games online, with virtual scratch-off tickets — something that will one day be in Ohio, he said.

Until Thursday, the most expensive scratch-off ticket was $20, he said.

Prizes in the 40th Anniversary game also range from $10 to $50,000.

According to the game rules, the $1 million prize award can be $40,000 a year for 25 years before taxes or a cash option of $500,000 before taxes.

The $10 million prize is $400,000 a year for 25 years before taxes or a cash option of $5 million before taxes.

The tickets contain six "Winning Numbers" and 25 "Your Numbers" each which contain 25 prize values.

If one or more of the "Your Numbers" match the "Winning Numbers" the player wins the corresponding amount.

There are also "2X," "5X," "10X" and "20X" symbols in "Your Numbers" spots, which multiplies any winning combinations.

If the player reveals a "40th" symbol in any of the "Your Numbers" play spots, the player automatically wins all 25 prizes shown.

Plain Dealer

Comments

sully16's avatarsully16

Might be worth the trip to Ohio.

rdgrnr's avatarrdgrnr

Quote: Originally posted by sully16 on Jan 14, 2014

Might be worth the trip to Ohio.

Easy for you to say.

I have to go through Kentucky... BanditConeheadStoogesCrazyGuitarWhat?TwitchBandit

RedStang's avatarRedStang

Tried a few in CT and won nothing. Your better off buying ten bags of boiled peanuts.

fwlawrence's avatarfwlawrence

The next time I'm in Ohio, I'm buying one.

sully16's avatarsully16

Quote: Originally posted by rdgrnr on Jan 14, 2014

Easy for you to say.

I have to go through Kentucky... BanditConeheadStoogesCrazyGuitarWhat?TwitchBandit

lol, Party at Tiggs house.Party

mrcraft's avatarmrcraft

After reading through the article, this $30 scratcher game isn't as good as it sounded by reading the title and first few paragraphs.  One, it uses annuity values to advertise the two top prizes.  Second, the prizes start at $10, considerably lower than the face value of the ticket.

It's one thing to advertise scratcher top prizes using annuity values for games that have prizes like "$5,000 a week for life" but this is misleading. 

This Ohio $30 game seems more akin to our $20 game.  Our advertised $5 million top prize in our $20 game is $5 million cash value before taxes.

Jani Norman's avatarJani Norman

Hey if you want to save on gas (pm) me and send the money and i'll mail you a ticket.....because that ticket is too expensive for my blood....

 

IPlayWeekly's avatarIPlayWeekly

I'm horrible at scratch off's but my thinking is there will be a lot of early winners because it's a new game.  The most expensive scratch I've bought was $5... Most ever won was $5.  This year I am scratch free... Just will focus on the draw games.

HaveABall's avatarHaveABall

Quote: Originally posted by mrcraft on Jan 14, 2014

After reading through the article, this $30 scratcher game isn't as good as it sounded by reading the title and first few paragraphs.  One, it uses annuity values to advertise the two top prizes.  Second, the prizes start at $10, considerably lower than the face value of the ticket.

It's one thing to advertise scratcher top prizes using annuity values for games that have prizes like "$5,000 a week for life" but this is misleading. 

This Ohio $30 game seems more akin to our $20 game.  Our advertised $5 million top prize in our $20 game is $5 million cash value before taxes.

I Agree!, mrcraft, that is exactly the problem with the multi-million dollar 1st place prizes with most of these scratch-off lottery tickets!  It is SUPER difficult to determine if the $2M-$10M prize is CASH or ANNUITY.  I've even gone to, for example, the Illinois Lottery website and they don't feel the need to inform -- and I click on every conceivable link per specific scratch-off game ... usually no mention of if CASH or ANNUITY!  Shameful behavior, so I will reward this dishonesty/discourtesy by not playing the high-priced scratch-offs!

Thumbs Down

larry3100's avatarlarry3100

Five $10 million and 35 $ 1 million prizes. A nice way to spread the wealth. Cheers

dallascowboyfan's avatardallascowboyfan

I know Texas has a $50 ticket to win $7.5 million so this is better ticket.

Lucky4Life's avatarLucky4Life

Quote: Originally posted by rdgrnr on Jan 14, 2014

Easy for you to say.

I have to go through Kentucky... BanditConeheadStoogesCrazyGuitarWhat?TwitchBandit

ha!!!!!!!!!!

nope i wouldn't do it.  $20 is my limit on a ticket.  I only want about a million anyway.

RJOh's avatarRJOh

Personally I think spending a $1 for a Classic Lotto tickets gets you better odds.

Quinto's avatarQuinto

Quote: Originally posted by Jani Norman on Jan 14, 2014

Hey if you want to save on gas (pm) me and send the money and i'll mail you a ticket.....because that ticket is too expensive for my blood....

 

Good idea! Was thinking the same thing to offer, then you can mail it in to claim even $30 prizes. I always play florida fantasy 5 for a week when I am there and mail it in to claim even a few bucks and they send a check in about 2 weeks usually.

Subscribe to this news story