So why has the price for Powerball tickets gone up anyway?Previous TopicNext Topic

Maybe the states wanted a $2 PB ticket which should make their local jackpot games more popular.  States like Massachusetts were already charging $2 for their local jackpot game.  Ohio tried that a few years ago with their Lot'O Play game.

Didn't the Ohio Lottery try a $2 Lotto game many years ago that quickly went bust?

I can't remember the game Lot 'O Play replaced and can't find the archives in their new "#$&(%$" web site.

Lot'O Play replaced the Ohio Super Lotto Plus which was a 6/49+1 game.  At one time, it was the most popular game in the area drawing players from all the neighboring states with jackpots of $60M+.  That all changed when the neighboring states got PowerBall.  Also Ohio limited the amount a single ticket could win to $20M which didn't help and later did away with that rule when players stopped playing. 

During the time that SLP was popular, jackpots were increased a million dollars or more after each drawing which was losing money with no out of state players so they changed the game to Lot'O Play and started charging $2 per play.  That game didn't do any better so after a year they bought back the 6/49 format as Classic Lotto with a starting jackpot of $1M which increased $100K after each drawing and cost $1 a play.  Later they added MegaMillions after seeing all the Ohio players going to neighboring states to play PowerBall and the BigGame.

Tks for the history lesson RJOh. if more state lotto would learn from it. The multi  state lotto's have really taken a lot  from the states and the state  games could only really grab some of that market back by offering really generous payouts like 80% of cash taken in or something, cant see greedy state politicians going for that., or public servants devising ways to cut back their share of the money. so individual state draws will continue to decline :( money talks and gamblers chase higher jackpots.

With 2 dollar per line cost many players will cut back on the amount of lines. But the game may bring in the same revenue.

Fewer lines purchased means better odds the jackpot may not be won as often. Which may increase the jackpot prize higher.

that was kinda funny!

GREED

Funny but quite possibly true.

The big guys see people droppin' 10, 20, 50 bucks a ticket on scratchers , they start thinkin' there's a lot more disposable income out there and they want a piece of it. Why get one or two dollars when you can get two or three? And even if they lost half their clientele, they wouldn't lose anything after doubling the price.

Payout of 80% of sales might attract more players but the state mission isn't to give players their money back.  If they don't keep 50% of sales for themselves then there no reason to have a lottery, it's better to have casinos do that and then tax them.

As far as I know, the odds of winning the jackpot only dropped from 1 in 195 million to 1 in 175 million.  To me that's not worth adding 100% to the price of a ticket.  I always spent $2 whenever I bought PB tickets, hoping to hit one on the non-jackpot prizes.  $3 is another 50%, a little too much for my budget.  If I'm going to spend a few dollars more a week, I think I'd rather spend it on Florida's Fantasy 5 or MegaMoney.  The odds are much better, although I haven't won those games either!   

 "Why has the price for Powerball Tickets gone up?" 

Maybe when those Asset Managers from Greenwich CT won $254 million, somebody said "Wow, if those are the kind of people who play Powerball, an extra buck won't kill 'em! 

GREEDY B**TARDS ! 

Time to make them open the books and see the salary base, bonuses, and perks these jokers are getting to run the lottery.  I betcha they had a nice pay increase since they decided to raise the ticket price.

I'm very happy to see that US Citizens are not laying down and just taking it anymore! 

QUESTION EVERYTHING!!  DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY WITH THE CRAP!

I'm already a little irked by it.

I've always bought the $2 ticket with the powerplay, and now since the increase  I play the $2 without the powerplay.

So last draw I match the powerball and win $4.  With the old schedule I would have won at least $6 and up to $15.  So for my $2 ticket I already lost from two to eleven bucks is the way I look at it.

The $2 Bingo scratchers were the most popular scratch-off games at the time so the lottery decided to create Lot 'O Play because it looked something like Bingo. Lot 'O Play didn't get lots of play so it was back to the drawing board.

KY has the $2 Three line Lotto where I get 3 lines and can win by matching 3 numbers on any line and/or matching any five numbers within the 3 lines. While I get lot 'o play, I don't get lot 'o winners. The game will go into the history books after two more drawings because the jackpots are in the 100 thousands compared to the starting $40 million $2 PB jackpots. Most players don't care about odds against and if they are going to spend $2 on a lottery ticket, they will spend it on the game with the biggest jackpot.