North Carolina (West of Charlotte) United States
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April 28, 2003
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Quote: Originally posted by LottoMetro on Oct 25, 2014
Another thing I haven't seen mentioned on here is the fact all those bonus million dollar draws aren't guaranteed to be a million, they're paid out pari mutuel.
All Millionaires' Club Prizes are $1 million. They're not pari-mutuel nor do they have to be since the lottery only chooses the number of winners that sales support.
For instance, say the "minimum" number of MCP prizes is estimated to be 12, but sales only support $11.5 million in prizes. They will then choose 11 winners. Now, if the drawings were performed like the regular draw, where any number of winners could hit, then they would probably make it pari-mutuel. But since they control the number of winners/prizes they don't have to do that. On the other hand, the jackpot is pari-mutuel. This game is just like PB/MM where top prize is pari-mutuel but the second prizes are not (all states except Cali, and idk how they will handle MMC when they join next year).
On the NCEL website it says under the How To Play / Prizes & Odds...... The top prize shall be determined pari mutuel but it also says ....ALL fixed prizes may be reduced if claims exceed available prize fund In such circumstances, these prizes may become pari mutuel as defined by the games rules of MMC & NCEL.
The Millionaires Match club prize is listed as a fixed prize, so yes, it could be reduced. Maybe it's just a NC thing.
United States
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March 29, 2013
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I have no interest in the game show/Las Vegas stuff but do you have to register your ticket online in order to win one of the million dollar prizes when the jackpot is won?
Happyland United States
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September 1, 2013
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Quote: Originally posted by Pick3forSC on Oct 25, 2014
On the NCEL website it says under the How To Play / Prizes & Odds...... The top prize shall be determined pari mutuel but it also says ....ALL fixed prizes may be reduced if claims exceed available prize fund In such circumstances, these prizes may become pari mutuel as defined by the games rules of MMC & NCEL.
The Millionaires Match club prize is listed as a fixed prize, so yes, it could be reduced. Maybe it's just a NC thing.
I get what you're saying and it's not just a NC thing. Literally every lottery has that "disclaimer" to hedge against the inability to fund prizes (i.e. emergencies). If you look at states where the fixed-prize Pick3/Pick4 liability has been in the millions they still won't use the pari-mutuel option. They will probably never use this option except in cases where it would literally bankrupt the state, because the outrage from players would do more harm than paying them off.
Theoretically though, it's not applicable to the MMC $1 million prizes because they determine the number of winners based on the funds available. The states do not determine the number of MC winners nor do they single handed pay them. Even though it is a fixed prize it is part of the jackpot pool, which means proceeds from all lotteries pay these prizes. Just like when a jackpot is hit in PB/MM. I've seen MUSL internal documentation regarding draw procedures for MMC, and from my understanding if they don't have $12 million in the pool and they are short too much then they won't award 12 MC prizes. They would instead fund a finite number of $1 million prizes equal to the rounded down amount in the prize pool. So instead of pari-mutuel prize amounts, it's essentially pari-mutuel quantity of prizes (I guess in that sense it makes you correct!). This is why the number of minimum MC winners is clearly advertised as "estimated," whereas the $1 million is not.
I believe they included "pari-mutuel" in the rules for extreme emergency situations, i.e. only 1000 tickets sold but must award 10 MMC prizes. MUSL actually buys insurance for under-funded draws, which again, is why I doubt this would ever happen.
If the chances of winning the jackpot are so slim, why play when the jackpot is so small? Your chances never change, but the potential payoff does.
If a crystal ball showed you the future of the rest of your life, and in that future you will never win a jackpot, would you still play?
United States
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December 9, 2013
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Quote: Originally posted by wallyjay on Oct 25, 2014
I have no interest in the game show/Las Vegas stuff but do you have to register your ticket online in order to win one of the million dollar prizes when the jackpot is won?
Nah you register you ticket online to try and win a spot on the game show. If someone wins the jackpot of 15-25 million then they do the club draw from that second set of numbers and letters on your ticket and then it could be at least 10 to whatever number of million dollar payouts to people who have that winning set of club draw numbers. Im not going to enter my tickets online anymore either, but I am going to keep playing though
kentucky United States
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August 19, 2014
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i dont have any interest in flying to vegas for the game show..but im going to enter my tickets because i think they give you some spending money..i would take it and not go on the trip
NY United States
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October 16, 2005
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Quote: Originally posted by LottoMetro on Oct 25, 2014
I get what you're saying and it's not just a NC thing. Literally every lottery has that "disclaimer" to hedge against the inability to fund prizes (i.e. emergencies). If you look at states where the fixed-prize Pick3/Pick4 liability has been in the millions they still won't use the pari-mutuel option. They will probably never use this option except in cases where it would literally bankrupt the state, because the outrage from players would do more harm than paying them off.
Theoretically though, it's not applicable to the MMC $1 million prizes because they determine the number of winners based on the funds available. The states do not determine the number of MC winners nor do they single handed pay them. Even though it is a fixed prize it is part of the jackpot pool, which means proceeds from all lotteries pay these prizes. Just like when a jackpot is hit in PB/MM. I've seen MUSL internal documentation regarding draw procedures for MMC, and from my understanding if they don't have $12 million in the pool and they are short too much then they won't award 12 MC prizes. They would instead fund a finite number of $1 million prizes equal to the rounded down amount in the prize pool. So instead of pari-mutuel prize amounts, it's essentially pari-mutuel quantity of prizes (I guess in that sense it makes you correct!). This is why the number of minimum MC winners is clearly advertised as "estimated," whereas the $1 million is not.
I believe they included "pari-mutuel" in the rules for extreme emergency situations, i.e. only 1000 tickets sold but must award 10 MMC prizes. MUSL actually buys insurance for under-funded draws, which again, is why I doubt this would ever happen.
"This is why the number of minimum MC winners is clearly advertised as "estimated," whereas the $1 million is not."
They're advertising the game as having "at least 10" millionaires, and at this moment the NY lottery website says "12 Millionaires To Be Created!" and that the jackpot is now $18 million. That seems to match what you said in the news thread: that the increases to 12, 14 and 16,, as well as the increases in the jackpot, happen with each subsequent drawing without a winner, rather than being keyed to sales volume. If that's the case those should be guaranteed minimums, just like the starting jackpots for MM and PB.
Once they have enough in sales to fund the guaranteed minimum they can legitimately use expected sales to advertise an estimated number of winners that exceeds that minimum, and if they come up a bit short when actual sales are totaled it's fair and honest to award fewer prizes. Advertising "at least 10" $1 million prizes and not awarding them (if there's a jackpot winner) is what's known as fraud when committed by an entity other than a government agency. There might be some wiggle room in the meaning of "12 Millionaires To Be Created!" if you're feeling generous, but in the context of the advertising hype promoting the game the only reasonable conclusion is that a jackpot winner means they will award at least 12 $1 million prizes or they'll commit fraud.
As for the possibility of hundreds of $1 million prizes, it's been quite a while since PB and MM told us there was a potential for a jackpots of half a billion or even a billion dollars. For that to actually happen requires a very uncommon string of rollovers, and that's what we're likely to see with this game. The hundreds of $1 million prizes that are being hyped will happen on rare occasions when there's been a long run with no jackpot or $1 million prize winners. When the game has been around for a year we'll have a fairly reliable idea of the average weekly production of millionaires.
Belle Vernon United States
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August 9, 2012
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I think it's fun but I also think they are going to control everything with a computer. This is not a live ball draw. It's a automated RNG draw. I had 10 tickets the first draw, 5 tickets the last draw and 5 tickets tonight. I have a total of 68 entries for the TV show. Is there an official website for this game??? I can't find it !
Wisconsin United States
Member #123,284
February 17, 2012
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Quote: Originally posted by Quinto on Nov 7, 2014
I think it's fun but I also think they are going to control everything with a computer. This is not a live ball draw. It's a automated RNG draw. I had 10 tickets the first draw, 5 tickets the last draw and 5 tickets tonight. I have a total of 68 entries for the TV show. Is there an official website for this game??? I can't find it !
New York:
NY 5381-0037-5511
NY 5341-0033-2433
NY 5381-0037-4750
Washington DC:
DC 0003-001217
Arizona:
0221-0004-2175
Maryland:
10535-0209-0872
Missouri:
9321-0005-7906
Georgia:
3471-0013-6217
Tennessee:
9641-0009-2350
Fairly surprising considering the single draw probability was <1.5% and cumulative probability <4%, but that just goes to show how crazy randomness can be!
Anyone who played tonight had about a 1 in 59,000 chance of getting one of the $1 million prizes (given that the jackpot was hit).
If the chances of winning the jackpot are so slim, why play when the jackpot is so small? Your chances never change, but the potential payoff does.
If a crystal ball showed you the future of the rest of your life, and in that future you will never win a jackpot, would you still play?