LottoGroups's Blog

The Super 7 jackpot is at $22 million for the Dec 1 draw. The jackpot for the Nov 24 draw was fully supported by sales as predicted earlier. The Nov 24 jackpot rose to $17.3 million.

The plan was to buy group play tickets for the Super 7 jackpot once it was over $20 million. I have decided to rethink the strategy. I have until Dec 1 to buy the Super 7 tickets. By then, I will know if the Lotto 649 jackpot will also be over $20 million.

The question is, if both jackpots are over $20 million, do we buy tickets for bother lotteries or just one. I think most people would agree to buy tickets for both lotteries assuming that improves one's odds of winning. My opinion is to determine which of the two lotteries have the better expected value and spend all the money on that lottery only.

If both the Super 7 jackpot and the Lotto 649 jackpot are both around $22 million, then which is the better lottery option? The answer is Lotto 649. Therefore I will wait to see if the Lotto 649 jackpot rolls on Nov 25 and Nov 29 before deciding which lottery to play for our next group play.

Ban lottery sellers from buying, gov't urged; Tory leader seeks independent probe

The Canadian Press  /  CP
National/World - Thursday, November 23, 2006 Updated @ 8:10:47 AM

The government should consider banning lottery retailers from buying tickets in light of mounting allegations that clerks are winning a disproportionate number of prizes, Conservative Leader John Tory said Wednesday.

The government should call an independent investigation into the allegations retailers are cheating winners out of their prizes and winning an exorbitant number of prizes from so-called scratch-and-win tickets, Tory said.

A key part of that investigation should consider whether lottery retailers should be allowed to buy tickets, he added.

"Is it more important to let those 140,000 people buy their tickets and have some of the revenue from that then it is to maintain the integrity of the system?" Tory said. "I think the integrity always comes first."

Most employees can't participate in their employer's contests, because it wouldn't look right even if an employee won fair and square, he added.

After allegations last month that lottery retailers were claiming a disproportionate number of jackpots, it's now alleged retail clerks have claimed one in 10 scratch-and-win prizes totalling $10.7 million in the last six years.

The firestorm over lottery fraud was ignited last month when a report on CBC-TV's "The Fifth Estate" suggested lottery retailers have won more prizes in recent years than mere chance would normally allow.

The CBC now alleges the lottery corporation found cases where a retailer could lightly scratch an instant-win card to see a code which determined whether it was a winning ticket.

Duncan Brown, CEO of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, said retailers are winning more simply because they play more often. If retailers were banned from buying tickets, it would cut out the corporation's "core players."

"They spend more on the games and they win more often because they spend more," said Brown, who expressed confidence that the system is safe from fraud. "Our standards are certainly higher than just about anybody else's."

The corporation brought in new security measures this month to try to restore public confidence in the system. It also hired a firm to conduct an internal investigation, and the province's ombudsman is looking into 400 complaints of alleged retailer fraud.

While many say public confidence in the province's lottery system has been severely shaken, Brown said the recent allegations haven't put a dent in the corporation's lottery revenues.

Dave Bryans, president of the Ontario Convenience Stores Association, said banning retailers from buying tickets would be "unworkable and unreasonable." The retail turnover rate would make it virtually impossible to enforce, he said.

Instead of targeting small-business owners, Bryans said it would make more sense to certify lottery retailers.

"There has to be a better way of building consumer confidence," he said. "It's very unfair to pick on these small families that work so hard. Let's not paint everyone with the same brush."

The Liberal government isn't showing much enthusiasm for the idea either.

"The implication that 140,000 of some of the most hard-working and honest Ontarians are somehow corrupt and should have that cloud of suspicion, I have a great deal of difficulty with that implication," said David Caplan, minister of public infrastructure and renewal.

CBC claims more lottery fraud

The Canadian Press  /  CP
National/World - Wednesday, November 22, 2006 Updated @ 8:22:19 AM

CBC News is reporting new allegations of retailer fraud in Ontario lotteries. Earlier this month, Ontario Lottery and Gaming introduced new security measures amid reports retailers were cheating winners out of their prizes.

Now, CBC-TV's ``The National'' reports one in 10 scratch and win lottery prizes was claimed by a clerk.

The CBC quotes internal lottery documents obtained by the ``Fifth Estate'' detailing how clerks could lightly scratch a ticket with a pin to determine if it was a winner.

And it reported a Toronto statistician Mohan Srivastava found a way to decode which tickets would win one game.

The CBC says those tickets were quietly recalled.

Lottery chief executive Duncan Brown said the corporation can do better.

``We're committed to doing better,'' Brown told the CBC. ``And we want to make sure that we retain that public trust.''

The new security measures include devices that allow players to check their own tickets, better use of customer-facing video screens, lowering the threshold for when a retailer's win prompts an investigation and a more robust complaints and investigations system.

Ontario ombudsman Andre Marin, however, dismissed the strategy, saying it was little more than an attempt to soothe the ``hurt feelings'' of the public.

The firestorm was ignited last month when a report on the ``Fifth Estate'' suggested lottery retailers have won more prizes in recent years than mere chance would normally allow.

A disproportionate number of retailers have collected prizes of $50,000 or more since 1999, the CBC alleged.

More good news. The Super 7 jackpot is now at $17 million.

The $15 million jackpot was under funded by $1.7 million. I was way off on my previous prediction that yesterday's jackpot would be under funded by $1 million. I was also off when I predicted that the next jackpot would be $19 million rather than the $17 million currently estimated.

Lotto fever is not kicking in as soon as it used to. Sales each week are increasing only marginally.

I predict that the $17 million jackpot will be fully funded. If it rolls, the Dec 1 jackpot will be around $22 million. That will be enough for a group purchase of $94.

 

Good news. The Super 7 jackpot is now at $15 million. Still waiting for it to go over $20 million before launching a group play.

The $12 million jackpot from last Friday was underfunded by sales by $2.3 million. I expect the $15 million jackpot will be underfunded by about $1 million. If the $15 million jackpot rolls, all subsequent jackpots in this run will be fully funded by sales.

I expect the Nov 24 jackpot to be around $19 million. If it rolls, we should see a $25 million jackpot on Dec 1.

The bad news is that the Lotto 649 jackpot was won yesterday. Still waiting for 3 consecutive rolls before doing a group play.

Now that the Lotto 649 jackpot was won, I will start watching the Super 7 jackpot.

Once the Super 7 jackpot gets over $20 I will start a new group. The jackpot for tonight's draw is $12 million. If the jackpot is not won, it will roll to $15 million for the November 17 draw. Tonight's jackpot and next Friday's is not supported by sales. The November 24 jackpot (if still rolling) may be supported by sales.

I do not expect to start a new group until probably for the December 1 draw.

The soonest we will buying tickets for the Lotto 649 groups is November 22. We need 3 consecutive rolls.

Patience is a key to this game.

We have gone over the $1,000 mark. We will be buying $1,008 worth of CDN Lotto 649 tickets for the November 8 draw. The jackpot is $36 million.

One of the nice features of the group is that a member can pick exactly how much to spent. This can be used to determine how much their share of the win will be. Some people want to spend a little and are happy to only win a couple of hundred thousand dollars. Others want to win at least a couple of million. This way they have a choice.

We are almost up to a total of $1,000 worth of tickets for the CDN Lotto 649 draw on November 8. The jackpot is estimated at $36 million.

Formed a new group for the draw and there is currently $699 in the group.

One of the regular groups is also in on the draw with $288 to spend.

We will be playing our regular numbers for the draw.

Bad news - our groups did not win anything in yesterday's Lotto 649 draw.

Good news - the jackpot rolled to $36 million. This is the third largest CDN Lotto 649 jackpot ever. I am glad we saved most of our money for this draw.

We will be spending over $1,000 on this draw. I expect to get some extra members and money before the draw date because of the size of the jackpot.

Looking forward to the draw!

Finally a big Lotto 649 jackpot. We were shut out in October but back in business in November. Our groups will buy a total of 53 tickets. We are saving the bulk of our money, though,  for the possibility of a much larger jackpot for the Wednesday, November 8 draw.

My plan is to play lotteries under only two conditions:

1. When the jackpot is large.

2. As part of a group.

Every once in a while I lose patience. This is one of those times. I will play for the $15 million jackpot for the CDN Lotto 649 jackpot on Sept 27. I normally wait until the jackpot is larger than $20 million.

On the good side, I am only breaking one of my rules (large jackpot). I am sticking with my second rule to play as part of a group. It is not my regular group. I found a couple of other guys playing as a group and was allowed to join for this draw.

Then I am going back to my two rules. I try to stay diciplined otherwise I spend too much money on lotteries. I have to remember that they are a "poor" bet compared to other types of gambling like poker and casino games.

Hopfully I will have good news to report on Thursday.

I am sure I share the same feelings of disappointment with a lot of players when I saw that the Mega Millions jackpot was won recently.

I had posted a while back my hope to create a lottery group to play the Mega Millions lottery when the jackpot reached $500 million. Ideally I wanted around 100 members to play. Each members would win $5 million each. The group only reached 46 members and the jackpot kept getting won, so I gave up. It is hard to get that many people to agree and then hold the money for so long waiting for the jackpot to grow.

So instead, I will stick with smaller lotteries such as Super 7 and Lotto 649.

 

 

Will consider creating a temporary Mega Millions group if the jackpot gets around $250 million. Looking for at least 3 more rolls. Will buy on the weekend of Sept 23-24 for the Sept 26 draw.

Had created a permanent Mega Millions group earlier this year but gave up after a long string of small jackpots.

The Lotto 649 group that started on August 10, 2006, did not win anything on our 15 tickets. This brings us to the end of this group. The jackpot was won - one winning ticket.

Group A and Group B also did not win anything. Group A played 5 tickets and Group B played 2 tickets.

Good luck for next time.