Last drawing on Dec. 26
By Todd Northrop
The states involved in the Monopoly Millionaires' Club lottery game have decided to halt ticket sales for the game as of Dec. 26.
Twenty-two states plus the District of Columbia current offer the multi-state lottery game, which started just two months ago.
The decision means players in the participating states can buy tickets for the game until Dec. 26. Three more drawings will be held, including those scheduled for Dec. 12, Dec. 19, and Dec. 26.
"Lotteries developed the Monopoly Millionaires' Club game concept based on feedback from players across the nation who desired a game with the potential to make many people millionaires rather than just one person winning many millions," said Alice Garland, executive director of the N.C. Education Lottery.
But sales have disappointed the participating lottery agencies, Garland said. The focus now will be on reviewing and improving the game to create one "truly entertaining to our players and one that they will really enjoy," Garland said.
All prizes won in the next three drawings will be awarded to those who buy tickets. Monopoly Millionaires' Club players will have the customary number of days in their state from the date of the drawings in which they win prizes to claim them.
Officials from state lotteries said they plan to continue to research the concepts behind the current game.
"We've repeatedly heard from players who say they want to see more people have a share of the winnings rather than just one gigantic top prize," said Terry Rich, president of the North American Lottery Group and CEO of the Iowa Lottery. "That was the inspiration for the current game, but players didn't respond to it as well as we'd hoped. We'll continue to review this concept, much like other ideas are evaluated and evolve over time."
"We've discussed the fact that lotteries are trying following the same successful business model on the draw-game side that we've used for years with scratch games: We offer different games at different price points to provide the variety and choices that today's consumers want," Rich said. "We remain committed to developing games that will offer value to our players and mirror the success we've seen in other lottery games nationwide."
Monopoly Millionaire's Club is a multi-state game that has been in the works for several years. (See Biggest lottery game ever in the works?, Lottery Post, Jan. 25, 2013.)
Perhaps it is a case of creating a game that tries to appeal to everyone, rather than focusing on specific types of players.
One thing is for sure: judging from the tremendous amount of time and effort put into this game by the states, and its subsequent short lifespan, the lotteries will be dissecting this train wreck for some time to come.
They may also be a bit uneasy about launching another game of this magnitude in the foreseeable future.
While some lottery critics may cheer, players and fans of the lottery may feel otherwise.
Maybe make a game that is easier to understand the rules and doesn't involve sitting in front of the tv...
This game was terrible in numerous ways from the start. It took years to develop and this was the best they could do? All these states are making a smart decision. This game in it's current format will be quickly forgotten.
The concept of creating several millionaires is a good idea if implemented right. Maybe a format similar to the Lucky For Life game and the Cash 4 Life game would work better, particularly the Cash 4 Life game offered in New York and New Jersey. Perhaps they can base a new format on the board game Life instead of Monopoly?
LOTTERY PLAYERS HAVE BEATEN THE LOTTERY BY NOT PLAYING.
I'm not surprise, I said as much back in October when I read about this game coming on line.
https://www.lotterypost.com/news/281732/3827028
Maybe the lotteries should consult with me before bringing a new game online.
"One thing is for sure: judging from the tremendous amount of time and effort put into this game by the states, and its subsequent short lifespan, the lotteries will be dissecting this train wreck for some time to come."
Ohio had a similar train-wreck some years back when they decided to limit the amount one ticket could win in their Super Lotto game. At the time it was paying out jackpots of $40M+ and many of them were being won by players from out of states. Shortly there after the neighboring states got PowerBall and BigGame and out of state players stop coming to Ohio to play and Super Lotto couldn't survive without them.
I'm wondering if they will lower the ticket price or give out better prize amounts. The cap of 25 million doesn't seem very good for the $5.00 dollar price and the fact that millionaires are only made if someone is lucky enough to hit the jackpot in the first place is something that should be changed to maybe making millionaires every drawing. I don't really know but something obviously didn't work since not many people were playing.
Almost everything (99.9%) done by govt. bureaucrats is typically a pile of sh1t, this pile of excrement was no different, I told you this game was a rip off and would not be supported.
Baddabing, buh bye Monopoly! See ya!!!!!!! Glad I didn't spend a dime on ya!!!!!!!!
They had no choice, they couldn't fund the prizes..........unrealistic participation estimates, this pig could not float, it was funded from direct participation, no one plays, no prize pool. The game is different from the ACA, in that the ACA can steal, print, fund money from the tax payers that aren't in it, if the ACA had to fund itself it would have been over a long time ago.........................
Time. It was just a matter of time, a very short time.
Geez, wonder why this game didn't work?
Let's see...
...$5 price tag
...25 Million dollar annuity
...nobody wins a mill unless somebody wins the annuity
...can't pick the monopoly property
...and probably the 52 ball matrix had a bit to do with it.
Still there was the chance to be on TV!
Trainwreck? More like a clusterf*rt, if you ask me.
G
Looked like a stupid game and $5 per play, terrible odds and the inability to pick your own property probably clinched it. This explains why California took down the page with all the bells and whistles announcing the game without notice. Was due to premiere in February here.
Bye bye and good riddance to an awful game. It won't be missed.
i just bought 3 tickets in DC, sure hope I'm one of the winners before it closes, sure can use some XMAS money, what are the chances of someone winning in DC and MD slim to none, LOL, come on MD lottery show some love to DC and MD players
I'm sorry, but what did they expect?
This game could have stood a chance had they gone for a cheaper ticket price and a simpler format. It ain't rocket science.
Good luck!
The people that were on the committee that designed this game should all be fired. The end result was almost as sure as death and taxes.
"Enter the code on your ticket and if your 20-digit code matches the one drawn, you will be entered in one of seven additional drawings to compete for one of several spots on our upcoming game show!"
"Lotteries developed the Monopoly Millionaires' Club game concept based on feedback from players across the nation who desired a game with the potential to make many people millionaires rather than just one person winning many millions," said Alice Garland, executive director of the N.C. Education Lottery.
Just another example of how lottery illiterate some of these executive directors are. How can many people become millionaires when 25% in Federal taxes are deducted before the players get their check?
Well, they couldn't just say "Enter a drawing to win $655,364.42!" right?
Who had the brilliant idea for this Monopoly game and how much was wasted putting this rip off together??????? They should all be fired, all monies returned, and all benefits, pensions, salaries etc.. be returned. ASAP. NOW!!
This game really did peak my interest. I am sad to see it be dumped so early. The Objective goals were there. Create more millionaires. Why is that so hard to grasp for some here? Meaning- You all say 100 million dollars is to much for one person ...."share the wealth" is some folks motto, well, that is what this game was targeting to do. Yet let GREED by the Lottery and even some of the players, and the games gets flushed.
I will admit I have broken even or even come out a head on this game each play. So it has been the best one yet for staying ahead of the eight ball. I personally think if they are cancelling the game then make the last draw be for the million dollar payout to the 18-22 players of the states that saw it to the end. The rules nor the announcement make sure a claim, yet by golly, we who have played would like to see a positive ending to a game :)
Does this also mean that the game show in Vegas will be cancelled before it even had a chance to go into production? Dang even that would have been fun to watch. ....Ohh well...
A lot of people were referencing the fact they couldn't pick their own properties... I assume nobody knew that when you input the code on your ticket online, the property you were given was tied in to the game-show portion of the game, and if you collected all properties of a color, you got X number of entries into it. If you had the ability to pick your own properties, then people would just pick the ones associated with the groups that gave you the most entries, which would kinda defeat that purpose of it.
I understood the game just fine. I think the $5 price point for what was a Powerball/Mega Millions clone (with a couple fun extras if they got activated) was what turned off most people. Oh well. I wonder just how much $$ they lost on this game...
Since they already had one drawing and probably contacted the winners of it, perhaps I'll have 1 taping (or 2, since the drawings that still are going should cover the 2nd draw period) and air it like originally planned? Would be fun to watch at least.
I'm with you on this one. The people bashing the game were complaining about the low top prize cap. This game was never meant to compete with PB and MM. The whole point was that more people would win millions of dollars vs one person winning a huge jackpot. My interest in this game was based on the somewhat realistic chance of winning a $1M vs the impossible odds of winning a PB or MM jackpot. A million after taxes is still life changing money even if I wont retire right away.
The game was poorly marketed and poorly executed. I regret giving it a shot now that my second chance tickets are worthless and the anticipated low player participation for the last few drawings will make it likely that nobody will hit the top prize hence there will be no million dollar prizes awarded when the game ends. That is the equivalent of stopping sales on the PB or MM when the jackpot hits $500M and telling players thanks for trying - nobody wins the big prize.
In any event, I think the game show will be cancelled and the people who won the Vegas trip will be given their prize but without an appearance on the game show (or some nominal $$ consolation prize for not being on the show).
"feedback from players across the nation who desired a game with the potential to make many people millionaires"
I haven't seen the "feedback" but I'm guessing most people wanted a game where the many millionaires were real instead of "potential". How do they expect to develop games that will be successful if they do the research and still don't know what people are asking for?
PB and MM have been reliably making millionaires since the 2nd place prizes were increased to $1 million. If they honestly believe that players will buy tickets for a game that offers a modest jackpot and a relatively high number of $1 million prizes they should start with the PB and MM model and tweak that for a game with a smaller jackpot but more 2nd place millionaires. Of course the problem is that they need to collect a million bucks for the state and also pay some mother prizes for every $1 million prize they hand out. Figure that means they need to collect $3 to $5 million, so it has to be a game with an expensive ticket and/or odds that aren't really that great. Even then I suspect that a lot more people whine about wanting a lot of smaller winners than actually buy tickets for games that don't offer big jackpots.
Well, do you think they figured out that $5 for a one line ticket was a little extreme? Hardly for the faint of wallet!
I gave up playing the Powerball because it went to $2 a ticket and am thinking of giving up the MM at a $1 per ticket, just cause you're looking to get struck by lightening like 10x over on that one to win considering the odds with 5/75 and 1/15! And then take into account something like 25 plus states are involved.. get real.
They just don't want anyone to win but they want the money for the sales. Not much fun playing when you don't even barely even win a GB and then what do you get... a dollar? Pitiful. And anymore the scratch offs aren't much better it seems... all losers.
Guess this month I am just real disappointed with the lottery!
LottoMomma
YOU cant win in Tennessee on any game and you want people to play a 5 dollars ,per draw....when you dont do people right everything you do will fail.
when do i get to be a star on TV
You still have Mega Millions and Powerball to play. The lottery would have to pay back more than 50% prizes in order to make an easier game.
Surprised at the rapid response to halt the sales. Guess Texas carries a lot of weight in the lottery scheme of generating money for the Government.
I feel that the game show feature complicated things for many lottery players. I was very impressed, when the jackpot was hit at $21M and triggered $14M in prizes to some players.
I am waiting for you to hit the jackpot with a self pick, so I can ask you for some advise. Lottery needs to hire a Wall Street consulting firm to teach them how not to lose millions of dollars.
The soul of this game has departed planet earth to another world. I think that this game is done after damaging the Monopoly Game brand.
THE LOTTERY WAS CREATED BY THE GOVERNMENT?
It feels great to see the lottery losing their own money other than the players' $. I say this, because this game sales were not covering the payouts in prizes.
May I say I told you so....lol. I never bought a ticket and it seemed a little "complicated" for a numbers game. I think it would have been better as a scratch off ticket. $5 is too much for a single "pick numbers" ticket. People are still recovering from $3 for PB with powerplay.
Who do you think profits from it and runs it? Thrifty what world do you live in? Who do think the lottery officials' pay checks and pensions come from????
Who do state officials work for?
http://www.star-telegram.com/news/politics-government/article4359882.html
"Lottery sales are ending the year at a record-breaking pace in Texas, and state officials are striving to keep the revenue rising with a new game.
Still, the growth isn’t enough to keep some lawmakers from pressing forward with a study on whether the state should cash out of the lottery, even though the games pump more than $1 billion a year into schools and veterans programs.
Lottery officials hope to strengthen their hand by enticing Texans to join the club — the Monopoly Millionaires’ Club, that is."
I feel that people play the lottery to win money, there is no love for the lottery. The lottery is not entertainment , because losing money is not fun. I bet you that they are not having fun after losing Millions on this Monopoly Millionaires' Club lottery game.
The lottery was created by the government to generate money not to give money. Lottery pays back $50,000 in prizes to lottery players for every $100,000 it collects from sales.
I do think some people play for 5 seconds of entertainment and I enjoy picking my numbers. But I would prefer my time be spent picking my numbers, not trying to understand the rules. This game had too many contingencies. It is like the new pick 5 VA game (money ball) that costs $2. You are paying for a chance to win $100,000 unless they draw some extra million dollar ball. You might as well play cash 5 for $1.
Lottery players are spending $5, $10, $20, $30 and $50 on Instant Scratch Off Games?
$5 for a lottery draw game is not a big deal?
You are a lottery player who was not a fan of this game. I can't blame you, I was beginning to like MMC though.
So they are thinking of ways to change or re-vamp the game?
If these "geniuses" even think of bringing it back with the word Monopoly
back in it with the stigma it now carries they should just quit life.
Also hope that someone hits the JP before they pull the plug to really "sink their ship"
"While some lottery critics may cheer, players and fans of the lottery may feel otherwise." Todd
I am a loyal player and fan of the lottery.
I will play the last two drawings of this lottery game.
I will buy 1 ticket for the last two drawings. I really feel sorry fo the lottery, therefore I am donating $10 to the lottery.
It only takes 1 lottery ticket to win, but you can spend more than $5 to increase your chances of winning. Two more drawings to go. Good Luck.
So NOW it "was created by the government", case closed, think thriftily before replying. And to generate money for who or what.......... ?????????
Monopoly Millionaires' Club lottery game gives 1 second of entertainment for $5. Are you playing? I am donating $10 for the last drawings. Wish me some LUCK.
I was being sarcastic about the lottery, when I ask you the question.
You have to use time travel to beat MMC.
Perfectly stated
<---ME
MMC--->
OK, I didn't see the sarcasm, but obviously no sarcasm here, the govts. are out solely for themselves and are not FOR THE PEOPLE anymore. Public service is no more, it is...................... SELF SERVICE.
They would have been fired, if the lottery was ran by the private sector instead of the government.
Excellent point.
THE LOTTERY MONOPOLY LOST MONEY PLAYING THE MONOPOLY MILLIONAIRES' CLUB LOTTERY GAME.
Other lotteries have successfully motivated players to play consistently even when jackpots are low by including the raffle feature that MMC has. The MMC raffle is complicated somewhat. If MMC guaranteed one ticket will win $1M every drawing regardless of whether there is a top prize winner or not, then maybe they stand a chance to save this doomed game.
UK has the raffle feature in its Euro Millions and in every drawing, someone wins £1M. That would be enough motivation for me to play consistently if I lived over there. Neither MM nor PB guarantees there will be $1M in every draw. I've seen MM go for 4 draws in a raw without a $1M winner
OK HERE IS MY SOLUTION FOR THE MONOPOLY MILLIONAIRE CLUB
The biggest problem with the monopoly millionaires club is the name . The name has to be changed from the monopoly millionaires club to the "new monopoly Billionaires club" . So why does this matter well no big lottery game survives without a big jackpot like my name joeBiglotto so this game is good at $5 per ticket but the jackpot is not good for a lottery buying frenzy. So the maximum jackpot of this game has to be changed from the current cap of $25,000,000 to a new cap of $1,000,000,000 yes you heard me right a new cap of one billion dollars to be called the new "billionaires club " . With this new upgrade players do not have to wait for a jackpot winner to get paid one million dollars. twenty percent of any available jackpot automatically gets paid out to the one million dollar winners. So if the jackpot is $100,000,000
then 20 millionaires will be created if jackpot is one billion then 200 millionaires will be created all based on jackpot availability so no money no pay big money big pay. To help this game achieve one billion dollar jackpot the odds of winning the jackpot will be higher than powerball and megamillions combined so you are looking at one in 400,000. In three months with no jackpot winner you may have your first one billion dollar jackpot and a new lottery buying frenzy and everybody happy. with no jackpot winner at least five to ten millionaires selected and with a billion dollar jackpot winner 200 millionaires selected. this will make everybody happy more millionaires in the largest scale possible and one billionaire every two or three months. So i hope the executives at the monopoly millionaire club decision making department are reading my Review of their failing game and seriously consider my fix option because am JoeBiglotto go Big or go home.
You're not going to sell ice water to an Eskimo in the winter time no matter how you package it, that's what selling those Monopoly tickets for $5 was like.
That's why I never played, $5 for a ticket is too much in my opinion.
The game would be better with more chances to actually win a $1 million. With only one drawing out of 8 where players won $1 million and the states still lost money, makes one wonder what if there were more more winners.
Well, I have had a ticket in every drawing so I might as well play out my hand and play the last two remaining games!
The lottery can't offer more chances to win with a 50% payback in prizes to lottery players. Lottery has to pay back at least 80% in prizes and charge more money. It would allow the lottery to create great games to play.
USA lottery is no longer interested in draw games, they are making so much money with $5, $10, $20, $30 and $50 Instant Scratch Off Games, that you barely see any draw games winners on the lottery websites. I do not play scratch off games regardless.
Europeans play the Euromillions out of convenience, but it is not a great game to play relative to the playing population. Selling lottery tickets over the Internet has allowed players to take a chance without risking their lives on the way to play the lottery at the retailers.
USA lottery is in the business of making money not giving money to lottery players.
HOW TO MAKE THE LOTTERY TO LOSE MONEY?
DO NOT PLAY THE LOTTERY.
the chances to win a million were better ; the other multi-state lottery tickets are even more harder to win ;
It's business, only business.
Are we talking about playing the lottery?
Here's a simple idea. How about take the same States that were in on this game and make a game that pays out a million dollars a year for life annuity. One draw every Friday night. Make it a $2 game. There it is. I'd bet the house that a game like this would sell...The creators of this Monopoly game should not only lose their jobs, but go straight to jail and not collect $200...
The lottery lost Millions of dollars on this lottery game trying to get $5 from lottery players.
THE MONOPOLY MILLIONAIRES' CLUB LOTTERY GAME FAILURE HAS BEEN HEARD AROUND THE WORLD.
Impressive! But what else?
I wouldn't have any reason to be here anymore, would I?
THE MONOPOLY MILLIONAIRES' CLUB LOTTERY GAME AKA HEDGE FUND IS OUT OF BUSINESS.
PLAYING THE LOTTERY TO WIN MILLIONS?
How is it that you knew so much about the lottery, and yet you're so against it?
PLAY THE LOTTERY SOMEDAY- IT IS OKAY TO DREAM!
Are you talking about yourself?
I DO NOT PLAY THE LOTTERY?
Well mega millions gave away millions for $2 and powerball gave away millions for $3 . So for $5 monopoly millionaires or monopoly billionaires should be able to give away billions and make billions all at same time.
Simple Go Big or Go Home.
No offense. Just lottery.
Any word yet as to what's happening with the Vegas tv game show? The Play MMC website has no details; not even any mention of the entire game ending soon.
Will the show go on?, be abbreviated?, canceled? If canceled, what will the Vegas trip winners get? ... the trip anyways with no show to attend?, cash in lieu of travel?, a guaranteed cash prize?, or get little to nothing? Has MUSL has even figured that out yet...
Even if the show goes on, the Vegas trip winners never get a reasonable chance of winning a million dollars. There's a real possibility of the game show being adjusted to make winning a million dollars near impossible. This gets back to the lack of transparency issue I've harped on numerous times about the precise details and rules of the show not being publicly mentioned anywhere. I get the sense the "fix" is already in.
The states always think they know better then us common unwashed masses. If a private business instead of the government was going to develop a new game, they would have had many focus groups and would have a lot of feedback from the people they needed to play. The MSL just figured that the monopoly brand would get people playing regardless, but they thought wrong.
LOTTERY PLAYERS HAVE BEATEN THE LOTTERY BY winning.
You are exactly right on all points made in your post. I think it is time for Rebcca Hargrove to leave and take her computerized random number generator with her !!!
Im with you on that one Tnwinner..Its a joke anymore.
People like us that support it all these years cant win nothing.
How do lottery players force the lottery to give them what they want?
Lottery players can beat the lottery at its own games by refusing to play.
I feel that the USA lottery has a hidden agenda against bigger lottery jackpots, even though Bigger lottery jackpots=Higher lottery sales.
Yes, the lottery is against the idea of having a lottery game with a $1 billion jackpot. They want to cap lottery jackpots across the board.
This is not capitalism.
Stop with the spread the wealth bull sh$t. We all like to dream big, sometimes I feel that these lottery games are being ran by communists that hate wealthy individuals.
Monopoly Millionaires' Club actually WAS developed by a private company (SGI/MDI). In fact, most if not all lottery games on the market today are created by the vendor(s). As I discussed in another post, the vendors practically have a monopoly, and the states are so desperate that they are like sheep and will take whatever looks promising. In this case, the market research and feedback that went into MMC development was HIGHLY suspect. But the lotteries went along with it anyway.
Private sector want to sell all lottery products over the Internet and retailers, and the government is against it. Private lottery managers are not free to make choices, when they are running these lottery operations, and it is why they are failing to bring the sales that they promised.
Why not make it twice a week and for $2 instead of $5
Well said JBL. Unfortunately, those 4kers are not really interested in players winning big money. They just wanna suck you dry.
that was my biggest gripe...why only have $1 million winners when someone DOES win? Makes more sense to have lower tier winners when nobody wins. It's just depressing when you have an drawing and there's one one single winner. There were no prizes below 1M and that was a big part of it too, for $5 was a lot of money for such a small amount of prizes.
the website deadline to enter codes is Jan 6
Thanks for signing on to my idea
. And my idea even gets better after 12 draws with no winner on the cap of one billion dollars the 13th draw after jackpot reaches one billion dollar will automatically crash to be given away to 1000 new minted millionaires and starting jackpot will reset it's self to $25,000,000. This will sound more exciting only to oprah winfrey giving away new cars on live tv. it will be called the friday the 13th since the game loves to play on fridays only that will be perfect. And we will all be so excited for the friday the 13th crash of one billion dollars to 1000 new minted millionaires all accross the world investors will be buying for $5. it will sell faster than facebook or maybe facebook will help then sell more tickets online so people don't wait in line lol.
Thanks for signing on to my idea
I agree. They should have name it different. I also feel that it should have been drawn everyday. I see people buying $5 Instant Scratch Off Games constantly and daily games.
USA lottery is not taking care of draw games players, because people are addicted to buying $5, $10, $20, $30 and $50 Instant Scratch Off Games on a daily basis.
I am not a fan of Instant Scratch Off Games.
Yes with a cap of $25,000,000 it is a crappy scratch off. But with a new cap of one billion dollars it will become a bacon cheese burger deluxe lol
Powerball will fail like the Monopoly Millionaires' Club lottery game. 2015 Powerball changes are looking similar.
They want lottery draw games to be similar to Instant Scrach Off Games, because they can't sell scratch off games through the Internet.
Minnesota lottery is facing a great challenge from law makers, since it started to sell Instant Scratch Off Games through the Internet.
https://www.lotterypost.com/news/283762
You said it right. you said "Will" but it has not. Remember powerball almost failed like monopoly millionaires until they increased the odds and prize to make the jackpot bigger and since then it has survived so monopoloy millionaire can take risk too redesign go big and win big they have nothing to loss now except saving their jobs for the next ten years so they should seriously redesign to a one billion dollar cap game because we have seen $600,000,000 jackpot b4 so i think the world is ready for a $1,000,0000,000 cap jackpot or one billion dollar pot and it won't fail because people will cross state line to buy tickets and form long line across the city blocks . Where there is big money their are people happy and spending so the new "MONOPOLY BILLIONAIRE CLUB " is the next big thing to rule the lottery world for the next ten yrs.
POWERBALL LOTTERY GAME MATRIX CHANGE APRIL 15, 2015.
https://www.lotterypost.com/thread/283852
MONOPOLY BILLIONAIRE CLUB?
THEY FAILED WITH MONOPOLY MILLIONAIRES' CLUB LOTTERY GAME.
Yes a " Billionaire club" the financial world is a pyramid like the Egyptian pyramids. There must be a pharoah to be able to have lots of kings. So there must be a billion dollar incentive to create lots and lots of millionaires like a real fireworks. what they have now is a firecrackers lol
BIGGER LOTTERY JACKPOTS=HIGHER LOTTERY SALES.
That's the deadline for the second drawing. There were over 250 winners selected for the first Vegas tv show trip drawing. Could be a lot of upset winners when the show doesn't happen, or is abbreviated, or is a farce with the chance of winning anything meaningful slim to none.
In my view, MMC should give all 250+ winners of the first draw the option of taking the Vegas trip -or- cash in lieu of, plus $10,000 cash each. And hold a raffle choosing a $1 million dollar winner out of the group. May not make every winner happy, but likely a far better outcome for them verses the show going on as planned - many will win little to nothing extra; most won't even get on the show anyways.
Upsetting 250+ Vegas trip winners is negative PR that won't go away easily. Be interesting to see if MMC lottery officials do the right thing, or cheap out and screw those winners ... ie. by requiring them to attend a lame duck show and/or giving them little for their efforts.
The Cap should have been set at $100,000,000 Cash and the raffle draws should have been once per month with all the tickets purchased that month good for that months draw.
The raffle prizes should have been $2,000,000 cash so most winners would walk away with a million after taxes.
The extra money after the cap should have gone to lower tier prizes.
The news of this game has generated lots of comments. Shows that LP members are very thoughtful and wise to this voluntary tax system which attracts many who can least afford to play except on an occasional basis.
You are so right; focus groups would have helped. The game was slated to start in Virginia in 2015.
I decided that I wasn't going to play given the cost of $5. Also, I didn't want to learn how to play it. Just didn't care enough to do so...
Games should be simple; people have busy lives.
The game disappointed from beginning because conditions were confusing to say the least while odds were higher than in other big lottery games.
I agree with this plan. It seems very feasible.
... first of all whos got 5/bucks a shot !? ..game is too expensive ..bad enough they raised the price on a single power-ball ticket..then came out with a 2/dollar 'cash for life' ... I didnt think this 5/dollar 'monopoly was gonna last....so not surprised.
So they created a game for the tards that say "Why don't they just give 1 million dollars to 300 people, nobody needs $300 million". I guess they didn't know the people that say that don't really play the lottery that much and they <snip> sure don't buy 5 dollar tickets when they do.
"why only have $1 million winners when someone DOES win?"
Because the plan was to turn a profit for the states selling the tickets. Then some genius decided to complicate things by advertising the complete BS about possibly creating 100 millionaires at a time.
They have to have some way to control the number of $1 million winners. There are 3 ways to do that, but only one way that also allows for the possibility of a lot of $1 million prizes. They could do it with odds specifically for that prize, they could do it by raffle, with the number of $1 million prizes based on ticket sales, or they could do it by raffle only when there's a jackpot winner.
The first choice would work well in terms of profit, but would result in few winners unless sales were far, far greater than they were. The second choice would also work well for profit, but it would be embarrassing to not award any $1 million prizes if sales are too low for any given drawing. It also wouldn't produce many winners for a single drawing.
Option 3 was the only choice that would almost certainly guarantee a profit (in the long run; they just happened to lose the gamble in the short term when they had a jackpot winner with very few tickets sold) while still offering the chance to actually hand out a large number of $1 million prizes at once. The 1 in 73 million odds for the jackpot meant that as a long term average they would have only 1 jackpot winner for every 73 million tickets sold, and that would mean they'd collect about $365 million and have $219 million available for prizes. That would adequately fund the jackpot, the guaranteed $1 million prizes, all of the lower tier prizes, and leave some excess for extra $1 million prizes.
"There were no prizes below 1M"
There were 9 other prize levels, ranging from $5 to $100,000. Of course those used a bunch of money, reducing the number of $1 million prizes that could be funded.
Wow that was quick! How about the EuroMillions Millionaire Maker Raffle? They have a Mega Friday next week and 10 people will win £1 million each.
Because the plan was to turn a profit for the states selling the tickets. Then some genius decided to complicate things by advertising the complete BS about possibly creating 100 millionaires at a time.
It would've worked too, had the sales been where they originally projected. However, that would require players spending roughly the same amount they do for a $90-100 million Mega Millions jackpot. From the start. For a new $5 game. Talk about high expectations! It's only logical that introducing a higher price point means draw players spend less on that game, not more. Add some confusion in the mix and you've got a great candidate for 'lottery fail of the year'.
I honestly don't know how they are going to fix this (lips are still sealed) but I have a feeling it may involve the price point or the jackpot.
MMC is so deeply flawed. Sure, changing the price-point might work, if they raise it to say $50 per ticket (Texas already has $50 instant tickets, so it's not totally outrageous) -or- lowering the price to say $1 or $2, but raising the odds of a "top prize" hit to stratospheric levels, say 1 in a few billion!
I don't see how MMC can be fixed unless they formulate a totally different game, in which case, they might as well call it something else, since MMC is associated with failure and ripoff. In my view, MMC is a dead turkey - lottery officials should move on, and never use the Monopoly name on any numbers game ever again.
Do you think anybody is going to win before Dec. 26?
Even if sales hover above last drawing, there will be less than 7% (closer to 6%) probability of winner(s) in the Dec. 26th drawing or any draw prior.
MUSL projects sales about $500K less than last draw for this coming Friday.
More than likely the genii that came up with this were the little Ronnie McDoney clowns that put the little monopoly stickers on the Big Macs and large fries.................Where people eat there way to the top prize of $1 million dollars (before taxes) by collecting little pieces of paper.
That's it!! They should given a coupon for a Big Mac for each $5 MMC ticket sold, then they would have made their sales projections.
I had budgeted to play this game for the last 2 draws, but it sounds like you think the money would be better spent on mega or powerball instead?
This is actually an amazing idea. I would definitely buy a ticket then!
As far as playing the last 2 draws or not, I am not participating. For those who are, you can feel good knowing that due to poor sales your odds of winning a second prize given there IS a winner will be much better than if sales were as originally projected. However, most likely there will be no hit.
Well....
I had to drive to Ohio for a funeral and come home and look what I see.
Frankly, I'm not surprised. I never played it because it was just too complicated.
I'm happy (kinda) to plunk down my $1 and hope my numbers hit. Then do it all over again the next draw.
But, they started this game because some people were crying that lots of people should have a chance at a million dollars instead of one person winning millions. Guess those people weren't that serious after all.
I never played it because it was just too complicated.
That's how I felt too, but according to a brand-new member in the Texas thread (cough.sock puppet.cough), you, me, Artist and anyone else who feels that way is fat, lazy and stupid.
Oh, and a moron.
I didn't like the cost, either. Five bucks is a play w/ multiplier for both Powerball and MegaMillions.
Welcome home.
I liked the game. It didn't seem that complicated to me. I only played one ticket a week though. What happens to the pool of money they collected if nobody wins by the 26th?
THAT is the million dollar question.
Yet to be answered.
I don't expect them to pay out any of the "guaranteed" millions. I think the game just dies quietly and everyone gets 180 days (or however long your state allows) to cash in any winning tickets.
However, I am curious to see what they do with the January 6th drawing for the Las Vegas trip. I don't think they will have the show, but the website is still accepting entries into the Las Vegas trip. Maybe they will still give the trip without the show. They may be legally liable to give away the Las Vegas trip since many people relied upon that promise when buying a ticket. I don't think they want to risk a class-action lawsuit over the trip.
There is no money. They forked out $26.8 million for the first jackpot hit. Funds allocated to this will only total about $11.5 million by the last draw.
So no matter what, they will still be short at least $15 million. And if the jackpot miraculously gets hit on Dec. 26th.....the total deficit will be upwards of $53 million.
Makes me wonder how on earth they will pay for the TV show (if happening), or even those trips. I honestly expect someone to get fired from this
I wonder if we can expect a fair drawing of numbers if we do play the next two draws
Here's from the first press release I read about the game: "But the new lottery game makes up for the lower jackpot by offering a better chance at a $1 million second prize. However, the $1 million prizes are not selected based on the Monopoly Millionaires Club numbers you picked, but on an entirely different set of numbers that appear on your ticket under the heading “Millionaires Club Number.”
OK, that's complicated to me and I've always scored very high on reading comprehension. So, you match that second number and win a million bucks, right? Wait a minute. The only time Monopoly Millionaires Club gives away those 1 million dollar prizes is when someone hits the jackpot, so when someone wins the minimum $15 million, 10 other players take home a million.
All right, you can say it's not complicated, but it's still not simple, at least not to me. Then there's this:
"There’s another number on your Monopoly Millionaires Club tickets — a single digit called the “property number,” that corresponds to a “property” on the Monopoly board. So if you want to play this new lottery, you’d better pull your old Monopoly set out of the closet."
The only thing that's in my closet is a skeleton or two and the only other thing I know that's in a closet is an old childhood friend who is waiting for his mother to die so he won't be the one killing her w/ shock at his coming out announcement.
So then they tell you that after you collect all the Monopoly properties, you're then eligible for a five day, four night vacation in Vegas.... BUT, the main word is "eligible", because you first have to go online, set up an account and enter another number, the "Entry Webcode", 25 characters worth. Good grief, my online banking, credit card and utility accounts passwords don't have that many characters in total! Then there's the TV show thing, but I don't even want to get into that part of the entire mess.
I guess maybe I am simple minded and a moron. I never could keep straight who Liz Taylor had been married to or the various incarnations of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. I do remember my wedding anniversary, it's tomorrow. The date the divorce decree was final was yesterday, nearly six years later. I guess us simple-minded folk aren't even eligible for the seven-year itch.
Just my two cents on anyone playing the MM game this Friday or next Friday (Dec 26th) ... the last drawing.
I would save all my tickets for six months to a year ... someone may file a class action lawsuit against the organization and states running this game and the fact that they didn't award any of the money with the last drawing ... to "empty" out the pot ... money that has been building ... on the last drawing (Dec 26) there should be 22 possible millionaires, if the $25 million is not hit this Friday (Dec 19).
It's not our problem (the players) that they have no money in the "pot" to pay anybody. They had no problem selling us $5 tickets with the hope that no one would win the higher amount and the one million dollar prizes.
I have no clue if this scenario could happen ... a class action lawsuit against the game and various lotteries involved ... but to be on the safe side, I would hold your last $5 tickets for awhile, put them away somewhere ... it would be the only way to "prove" that you had indeed played or bought a ticket for the last drawings to be part of the lawsuit ... if someone somewhere should start one.
As I said earlier, I don't know if this would even be possible but with the large amount of money involved, it might interest a few lawyers to look into things.
My thoughts only ...
The problem is that the ticket was each $5 and states were not allowing people to win as frequent and as much.
after various remarks of how complicated this game was, I have concluded I am going to use that for not filing my taxes- those forms are just too complicated! I am sure Uncle Sam would side with that reason...yeah....NOT.
For the few of us who still have a hope and a dream these last two draws, may you prosper. I wish you well.
I am playing the next two draws anyway and I will be saving all my tickets for this prize run. I had the same thought about a lawsuit lol. I am not going to file it, but I while get what I can if it happens. To those that this game confused, this might be a whole new prize pool for you to not understand. I don't know about your reading comprehension level, but if you couldn't figure it out from reading the rules or even just reading your ticket, I don't know what to tell you. You might not be as smart as you thought then I guess
Thanks for the snark. I never said it confused me, only that it was too complicated. (which gives me a pretty good take on YOUR reading comprehension) I can get a Texas Lotto ticket easily enough: "Gimme a quick pick for the Texas lotto with the extra." while slapping two bucks down on the counter and ten seconds later I'm on my way out the door.
Nope, never played MMC. Since they're pulling the plug on the game, that might mean at least I was smart enough to see it wasn't worth wasting my money and time on it.
While it's highly unlikely the "top prize" will be hit in either of the next two drawings, imagine if it was hit in both ... the losses could be even more!
As for talk of litigation, ditto on what others have posted - save those MMC tickets. Class-actions take years, so plan on retaining those tickets indefinitely. Yes, really that long. For example, I recently received a class-action settlement letter that I potentially qualified for $15 for due to purchasing a computer back around 2002; upwards of 12 years ago. I'd imagine most MMC ticket-holders would likely win about that much in a class-action, and likely in the form of coupons.
The 250+ Vegas trip winners, chosen in early December, are the ones who could really lose out, possibly leading to viable, possible class-action, litigation. Will be interesting to see how MMC lottery officials handle the Vegas trip winners situation...
I have a bad feeling they're going to hold a mock show anyways that's not widely televised, if at all, with the winners likely winning little to nothing - and that's even more possible, since the exact format and rules of the show has never been publicly revealed; still a work in progress - that alone could open the door to litigation. MMC participating jurisdictions are selling tickets widely touting the Vegas tv show, and yet seemingly haven't finalized how it operates. Sure, MMC lottery officials may claim millions of dollars could be awarded on the show, but maybe not; lack of transparency.
How lucky can on be, the ticket no one wanted.
RL
http://www.molottery.com/media/news_release.jsp?articleId=6136
Good story ... thanks for posting ... haven't heard much about any of those million dollars winners. Glad he was lucky to win something before the turkey game ends.
I've read stories before about "mistake tickets" ... sometimes they pay off, sometimes not.
CW
"I would save all my tickets for six months to a year ... someone may file a class action lawsuit against the organization and states running this game and the fact that they didn't award any of the money with the last drawing"
Since there's no shortage of idiots (or lawyers who will take their case) it's possible, but what's the argument? That they canceled the game without giving money to all the people who had losing tickets? People bought tickets and got exactly the chance at winning that they were offered. Somebody won a jackpot, and when that happened the lottery paid out a bunch of $1 million prizes exactly like they said they would.
Well being in PA ... some years back there was a jackpot game that was a turkey in PA ... it may have lasted close to two years before the lottery decided to end it ... it was not very popular. Since a sizable jackpot had built up ... the lottery announced that if no one hit the jackpot on the final drawing they would apply the jackpot money to the various lower tier prizes.
The PA Lottery could have kept the money but they gave the jackpot money away in the final drawing to the players with 2nd, 3rd, 4th prizes ... how far down they went, I don't remember but they emptied the pot with people getting more money ... needless to say a lot of "extra" tickets were sold for that last drawing.
My thoughts are that there is a cash value to the $25 million prize and be 22 possible millionaires. The money is supposed to be there to cover those winnings ... if the pot is empty ... too bad.
Show me the money !!! ... at least award all those big Monopoly Hats !!! Where are all those hats headed ... to be sold on eBay ??? Must be boxes of them somewhere.
They ended the game early and the final draw should see the bulit up cash money given away ... let the states all chip in ... they signed on ... maybe next time they will think things out a little better.
CW
Yes you are correct, it could take years if any class action would ever be started ... I also have paperwork showing up years after I forgot about a stock or product that I had bought.
So now the problem with saving those tickets becomes ... will they actually survive for years and still be readable in 10 or 15 years ?
The ink on lottery tickets is different from the ink of early years ... the ink that Ben Franklin used still survives over 200 + years till today ... don't count on those lottery tickets lasting much at all ... if you stick some old "no good" lottery tickets in front of a heater ... watch the printing disappear right before your eyes!
So now we have to go one step further to protect our tickets for the civil action lawsuit ... we must all go to a copier at the local hardware store or Post Office and make copies of our tickets ... this is getting more complicated by the hour!
GLTA ... preserve those tickets.
CW
Many jackpot games don't take in enough to cover the initial jackpot. Pretty sure this is true with both PB and MM. Roll-overs are critical for profitability, since such games are designed to initially run in the red. Monopoly Millionaires Club required both high levels of sales from the get-go along with numerous, consecutive "top prize" roll-overs.
Even with a decent level of play, MMC financials were going to be dicey - their sales projections were far too optimistic. And also, in my view, faulty assumption the high "top prize" odds of roughly 1 in 73 million would protect them from early hits; MMC needs upwards of a dozen roll-overs, which is a lot. Makes one wonder if lottery officials ever looked at PB and MM jackpot history to see that even with just a few percent of the combinations played, there can still be a relatively high number of early jackpot hits.
In short, MMC started in the red, and has continued to get deeper, though the recent drawings with no "top prize" winners are helping to reduce the funding short-fall.
With that said, I'm with you ... if no "top prize" winner on the 26th, MMC should still payout something extra for the final draw. Be a nice gesture, and to regain some goodwill, which MUSL and participating jurisdictions will need going forward to offset the perception of ripoff and fraud - especially in light of talk of a replacement MMC game and changes to Powerball.
Good point about safeguarding the tickets; keeping away from light and heat. The cheap ink and paper used now doesn't hold up as well those used for tickets of yesteryear. I found some old PA Lottery tickets in a box from the late 80s that look like new. To digress a bit, those older PA tickets have a nice colored header depicting various PA historical scenes, and the play numbers are printed neatly on the ticket. The new tickets are basically black and white with the numbers printed randomly somewhere on the receipt thin paper.
As for the top hats, they should randomly mail out the remaining supply to participants who have established an on-line second chance MMC account. My guess is there aren't that many extra hats, and those that do exist may go to lottery officials and other various lottery insiders; might be the only bonus some get this year with the way things have been going.
Everyone anticipated that the game would run in the red from the start, because not all the lotteries were participating. The expectation was that sales would be able to support minimal drawdowns until January, and then the additional contributions would boost the game to success. Unfortunately, as you mentioned, they overestimated sales altogether. I actually know who "modeled" the game (I won't divulge him for privacy), but I am sure he and especially the marketing research team has been getting an earful. Not to sound like a broken record but any statistician with common sense would've been suspicious of what was implied for sales. They can blame "political season" and other factors all they want, but the reality is their assumptions were flawed and research skewed.
As for the top hats, they should randomly mail out the remaining supply to participants who have established an on-line second chance MMC account. My guess is there aren't that many extra hats, and those that do exist may go to lottery officials and other various lottery insiders; might be the only bonus some get this year with the way things have been going.
The hats are produced on demand by a private company and personalized to each winner (i.e. embroidered with their name). So there is no surplus, and they certainly wouldn't give them away for free (retail value of $100, no idea of actual cost). Sorry, but nobody is getting a consolation prize
I agree, the Monopoly game officials were probably on the floor with oxygen being administered when they learned some one had hit a Monopoly jackpot so soon.
I realize the pot may be empty but that's the breaks ... sometimes a person has a nice walk in the forest and sometimes a tree falls on them !!! ... it's a nice lesson for anybody thinking of starting their own lottery.
I think fair punishment or shame would be for all top dog lottery officials to have to wear one of those big black Monopoly hats for a month around the office and in public eating at a restaurant.
CW
New Jersey jackpot winner only spent $5 for a single line. It was a Quick Pick ticket. He spent the minimum.
Now ain't that a crock ... no surplus of Monopoly hats ! ... first we hear there's no prize money in the pot now we learn that the hats pretty much don't exist either ... only on demand!
Well these Monopoly lottery people took us all for suckers ... figuring they didn't need any prize money to hand out any time soon ... and then went "skimpy" on the hats ... also figuring they wouldn't need too many to hand out.
This turkey has more feathers than a real turkey.
CW
$5 TURNED INTO $1,000,000 BEFORE TAXES.
I DO NOT PLAY INSTANT SCRATCH OFF LOTTERY GAMES.
PLAYING THE LOTTERY TO WIN
THE LOTTERY MONOPOLY LOST MONEY PLAYING THE MONOPOLY MILLIONAIRES' CLUB LOTTERY GAME.
Long time lurker here; finally got off my butt to make an account, just because of this.
When this game was launched, so many people talked negatively about it here, but I was intrigued. I don't know how it was elsewhere, but I know here in the Detroit area, it wasn't well explained. Even the retailers didn't seem to get all the nuances of it. Some didn't even seem to know that the webcode was for a chance to be on the TV show; one it particular told me that it was an online chance to win prizes.
Mind you - I'm not defending the game, however, I played every week and only didn't break even one week. I know I'm just an outlier, though, as it seemed odd that I was winning $5 on every ticket. In fact, that's why I came here when I heard on the news this morning that the game is being "suspended" - I figured there was some flaw that the smaller amounts were winning a lot, basically causing a "death by a thousand cuts" type thing.
I won't be sad to see this go - the odds are just lousy when compared to other games - but I will play the last couple weeks. I just want to get one Park Place to complete the two Boardwalks I got at the beginning (it's a weird OCD thing, probably...).
Well I've had the night to sleep on it and my conclusions about this game have become more clear. Just as it was confusing when the game started so it is also confusing as it comes to an end.
We have to keep our last tickets in a safe place for 10 to 20 years ... in case a class action lawsuit should come along ... then we have to hope the ink doesn't fade away so all the printing is gone.
We have all heard for several days that there is no money in the pot to pay anybody, just a bunch of "IOUs" and then yesterday there was the bombshell dropped that there are no big Monopoly hats to be had. I suppose if we knew exactly the location of the Monopoly game headquarters ... the last person leaving on Dec 26 after the last drawing ... when they turn the lights out and the party's over, maybe there might be a couple of hats laying around on the floor.
Well in my case ... never again will I be taken in with the promise of riches and a hat ... not even a t-shirt!
GLTA ...
CW
No new news here, but for what it's worth...
I saw a guy ("Ralphie") at work today that I hadn't seen for a while. So I wished him a Merry Christmas.
Ralphie says to me "I sure wish we'd win the lottery! Wouldn't that be a great Xmas present?!!!"
I say to Ralphie, "You ever play that new game, MMC?"
Surprisingly, Ralphie says; "Yeah! I buy one ticket of it every week."
I say; "You now they already pulled the plug on it, don't you?"
Ralphie: "Yeah, I know. When I bought my ticket last week, the lady behind the counter told me about that, and then she said to me "You're the only person who buys them."
Me: You know that somebody has to win the JP for the raffle to happen, right?"
Ralphie: "Raffle? What raffle?"
Me: "Don't worry about it Ralphie. You aint gonna win that either."
" The money is supposed to be there to cover those winnings"
You seem to be missing the reality of how things work. The lottery's plan is to let probability balance things out. Assuming that happens, which it usually does over the long term, enough money is collected to pay the prizes and earn a profit, but that's different than the money "being there". Sometimes the money piles up until there's a winner to balance things out, and sometimes there's a winner early on and it takes subsequent drawings without a winner to recoup money that has already been paid out. You seem to understand that they don't have the money, but can't grasp the significance.
In the PA case the lottery actually had money that was allocated to the prize fund but not yet won by players, so they decided to distribute it, but that's not analogous to the MMC game. The MMC game doesn't have any money in the prize fund because they already paid a jackpot without collecting enough money to cover the expense.
The only thing that will create an obligation for the lottery to make further payments to MMC players is winning MMC tickets. That you or others may not understand that has no legal significance at all.
I am ready for Cash4Life i.e. with this game you spend four dollars on two draws instead of one for the monopoly Game. I never did warm up to the MC game. Good Riddance!!!
I really liked the new game and won a few times. I bought 10 tickets for Fridays night drawing. Who knows, It could happen!
$5 dollars for a ticket is too much, for that much I would be better off purchasing 5 ticket plays for my state lottery or the Mega Millions.
Long time lurker but I had to post on this one.I bought tickets for the first two draws with the misconception that the millionaires club ( the one million dollar prize) was like the raffle games in that I assumed those entries were good until a jackpot was claimed.Once I learned that the entries were only good for the draw date on the ticket I gave up on the game.
I bought 2 tickets for last nights drawing. I had just the property on one ticket and won $7.00 and on the other ticket I had 3 numbers and won $20.00
I took a picture of my winning tickets, but I don't know how to post them on here. I loved this game and hate to see it go.
Congrats on your win. Shame you weren't in PA though, you would have won over $500. PA Lottery rolled down its accumulated top prize allocation (about $1 million) to the lower tiers. Insane to see even the lowest tier prize that typically pays $5 paid $97.50. Though winning $27 is still far better than many have done - I never won anything on MMC.
The MMC game isn't totally gone, there's still the Vegas trip drawing in January. And there's talk of a modified MMC game returning in a couple of months around the time the Vegas show is scheduled to air.
Hi ... as Ron5995 mentioned ... PA paid very nice on the final drawing. You had two nice hits but this is what PA paid on those hits last night.
Property Only = $135.50
3 of 5 = $382.50
They were insane ...
Like Ron said ... most people probably won nothing on the game. I only won $5 a few weeks back and I only had one ticket for yesterday and won nothing ... $27 is still good for the crazy game but the PA payouts were more than I thought they could be.
CW
Those type of payoffs were overlooked because of the multiple millionaire discussions. If they really want to distribute the wealth, why not create games where part of the jackpot prize is moved to the secondary prizes after a number of drawings. Had the MMC players known the approximate payoff, they might had record sales.