Quote: Originally posted by LottoBuddy on February 22, 2004

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Why would players want to get rid of Mass Millions?  It is the only lottery I know of that is currently a fair bet.  Your expected winnings is greater than the cost of a ticket ($1?).

Over how many years will the $49.2 million jackpot be annuitized?  Why are sales so low for a lottery with such a high expected payout?

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They are thinking of getting rid of Mass Millions because the sales are so low. It is suffering the common lottery disease "jackpot fatigue". Only very large jackpots stimulate sales.

To answer your second question - why low sales with a high expected value? Because most players do not understand expected value and if they do, they do not base their buying decision on it.

Good luck,
Jake

LottoBuddy:

Why would people want to play a game where the winner CANNOT receive their prize in lump sum?

Would Canadians continue to play Lotto 6/49 and Super-7 if the jackpot could be paid ONLY                through an annuity?

PS-The Mass 6/49 and 6/42 each are paid in 20 annual installments, with NO cash option.

I agree that it seems stupid not to offer a cash option.  Is the 20-year annuity at least guaranteed (like Powerball) even if you die or the state claims bankruptcy? 

Does anybody know of a lottery pool that I can join for Mass Millions that doesn't charge extra fees?

LottoBuddy:

Stick to the Canadian lotteries. In addition to no cash option for the                        Mass 6/49 or 6/42, all US prizes are taxable.

Unlike small US lotteries l

LottoBuddy:

Again, the Mass 6/49 (and 6/42) DO NOT have a cash option.

Who cares?  A U$50 million annuity is worth a lot more than C$2 million cash!

LottoBuddy:

I do! My rights are violated because the money belongs to the PLAYER, yet a "winner" is restricted on how he/she/they can receive their winnings.

massachusetts should extend their annuity period to 30 years, and offer a cash option of at least $1 million.  that way, the annuity value would be greater, and there would be bigger rollovers in terms of the annuity value.  either that or make all their games offer a lump sum jackpot instead of just mass cash.  a lot of customers choose the cash option.  on an average day in PA, i would see maybe one or two customers ask for the annuity value for the old super 6.  the rest would ask for the cash option.  a lot of lotteries are either making the cash option the default on the machine, doing all cash jackpot lotto games, or chose not to have their own lotto game, and rely on a multi-state game for a huge jackpot and big sales.  nowadays with lotteries such as tennessee, north dakota, south carolina, nebraska, idaho, montana, kansas, south dakota, and various other lotteries, aren't even offering a million-dollar jackpot game.