DFW, Texas United States
Member #78,626
August 18, 2009
134 Posts
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Quote: Originally posted by GuessWhat! on Mar 26, 2011
Have You ?
I would not know where to begin.
All I know is the drawing happens in Atlanta...some times Time Square.
The MM web site is (or was) maintained by the VA Lottery.
I don't know of a "MUSL" equivalent to MM or who to contact.
Do you ?
I think players would be far less inclined to quick pick if it were determined that:
(1) A substantial number of combinations go UNCOVERED.
and...
(2) A substantial number of cominations played were quick picks.
We can reasonably believe that quick picks are random but what about
the pleasure lotteries enjoy from all the attention that comes from rollovers ?
It suggests to me that quicks picks MAY be BIASED to repeat.
I've always been interested in this mysterious "Mega Millions Consortium." As I understand it, MUSL was set up to help small states that didn't individually have the resources to easily run a lottery. And Powerball was set up for states that are too small to support big jackpots. MUSL offers services for free, and earns income from interest on the jackpot pool while that money is sitting in the bank waiting to be won.
Mega Millions is the opposite, set up by big states that have resources to run their own lotteries, and contribute to running a multi-state game. MUSL now has a Mega Millions page on powerball.com, but I think the megamillions.com site is hosted by Virginia, and when you watch the video it's from valottery.com. Things I've read suggest Virginia also holds the jackpot money until it's sent to the state that sold the winning ticket.
I don't know what each state does for Mega Millions. Obviously, Georgia holds the draws, and Texas drew the Megaplier number for a while (I don't know if they still do or if Georgia does now). I've looked for, but cannot find, documents detailing how the Mega Millions system works.
A central office, like MUSL, gives a single source of information to direct questions to. The Mega Millions site has a "Contact Us" link, and I'd assume they respond to questions, but it still seems mysterious because you don't really know who "Us" is.