Three state lotteries set to begin new multi-state game

Jan 11, 2011, 10:00 am (29 comments)

Decades of Dollars

Decades of Dollars to replace Win For Life game

By Todd Northrop

UPDATED:  Since the original news story was written, it has come to our attention that Arkansas will not be participating in the new lottery game, due to legislative hurdles, and the Win For Life game will continue to be played in Virginia.  The title of the story has been changed to reflect three state lotteries, rather than the four state lotteries originally referenced, and the body of the article has been updated with the above two new facts.

 . . . . .

The states of Georgia and Kentucky will be ending sales of the multi-state Win For Life game, and the three states of Georgia, Kentucky, and Virginia will be adding a new multi-state game called Decades of Dollars.

The state of Virginia will continue offering Win For Life as an in-state game.  Virginia marketing materials indicate a desire to cross-sell Win For Life in other states.

The last drawing of Win For Life in Georgia and Kentucky will be Jan. 29, and the new game will go on sale the following day.  The first drawing of Decades of Dollars will be on Thurs., Feb. 3, 2011.

Decades of Dollars drawings will be held on Mondays and Thursdays.

On each $2 ticket, players choose 6 numbers between 1 and 47, or they can have the lottery terminal randomly generate the numbers.

Matching all 6 numbers wins the top prize of $250,000 per year for 30 years or $4 million in cash.  If more than two tickets win the top prize in one drawing, all the winning tickets will equally share a $10 million prize.

Prizes and odds

Players can win a prize by matching as few as two numbers.  The complete list of prizes are listed below, along with the odds of winning.

  • Match 6 of 6 — $250,000 per year for 30 years or $4 million in cash (odds are 1 in 10,737,573)
  • Match 5 of 6 — $10,000, fixed prize for up to 25 winners; if greater than 25 winners, the second prize pool of $250,000 is shared among all winning tickets (odds are 1 in 43,649)
  • Match 4 of 6 — $100 (odds are 1 in 873)
  • Match 3 of 6 — $10 (odds are 1 in 50)
  • Match 2 of 6 — Free Ticket (odds are 1 in 7.1)

The overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 6.2.

Thanks to Increase for the tip.

Lottery Post Staff

Comments

glovbug's avatarglovbug

man i wish north carlina had this game!!!!!!!!!!!

Todd's avatarTodd

I think these regional multi-state games are a great idea.  I'm surprised more of them don't hop on board.  Hopefully they will.

glovbug's avatarglovbug

Quote: Originally posted by Todd on Jan 11, 2011

I think these regional multi-state games are a great idea.  I'm surprised more of them don't hop on board.  Hopefully they will.

I Agree!

RJOh's avatarRJOh

I really like that payout of $10 for a 3 of 6 match.  Ohio Classic Lotto (6/49) pays $2 for a 3 of 6 match, a $10 prize would make CL more interesting when its jackpot resets to $1M.

dallascowboyfan's avatardallascowboyfan

I wish Oklahoma had this..... heck I wish Oklahoma just had a State lottery... well it looks like I wil be visiting my cousins in ArkansasWink

socalgal's avatarsocalgal

"Matching all 6 numbers wins the top prize of $250,000 per year for 30 years or $4 million in cash.  If more than two tickets win the top prize in one drawing, all the winning tickets will equally share a $10 million prize."

$250K x 30 = $7,500,000  This is pretty good except that you're responsible for annual taxes. 

If there's 2+ winners, they share $10mil.  So that means, they couldd end up with less than the original $4mil .

Todd's avatarTodd

Quote: Originally posted by socalgal on Jan 11, 2011

"Matching all 6 numbers wins the top prize of $250,000 per year for 30 years or $4 million in cash.  If more than two tickets win the top prize in one drawing, all the winning tickets will equally share a $10 million prize."

$250K x 30 = $7,500,000  This is pretty good except that you're responsible for annual taxes. 

If there's 2+ winners, they share $10mil.  So that means, they couldd end up with less than the original $4mil .

It's 3+ winners that would share $10M.  (The article states "more than two", which is the same as saying "3 or more", or 3+)

It would be rare to see more than 2 winners in one drawing, I would think.  It's a contingency to keep the game solvent.

Grovel's avatarGrovel

Glad it's coming to Arkansas. I may have to play this everyone once in a while.

sully16's avatarsully16

Good luck I hope it's a great success !

ressuccess's avatarressuccess

Todd, what's Decades for Dollars that replace Win for Life?

boise

I hope idaho jumps on this one.

freeobama's avatarfreeobama

Great, maybe i can win something here in virginia from this game before it turns into another Big game!!!! ROFL

chops

I may be in the minority here, but I will miss Win For Life.

I played it in Virginia back when I lived there, and it reminded me of the old Tri-State Megabucks in that it had the exact same 6+1 of 42 matrix. I also don't care for this trend of replacing $1 games with $2 games (which also happened to Tri-State Megabucks).

On the other hand, I do like a few things about Decades of Dollars.  I like the Match 2 prize, even if it's a free ticket.  I like the fact that it remains a simple game; in fact, it's even simpler than Win For Life.  On a side note, I wonder if the free ticket will be an automatically generated computer pick à la New York's Take Five or if it's just another way of saying "you won two bucks."

Hermanus104's avatarHermanus104

I was going to say that the lower-tier payouts are very good considering the nature of the game, but then I saw that tickets cost $2. Still, the lower-tier payouts look much better than those of Powerball and Mega Millions.

JimmySand9

Kentucky says it's ending, however I saw this from the Virginia Lottery "playbook":

This leads me to believe that Win For Life will not actually end, but will instead become a Virginia-only game. Though Georgia has yet to announce anything, they might be keeping WfL as well, stay tuned.

freeobama's avatarfreeobama

Got my mega millions ticket for tonite, i will be happy to except $8.5 million cash after taxes!!!!!!Green laugh

HaveABall's avatarHaveABall

Quote: Originally posted by freeobama on Jan 11, 2011

Got my mega millions ticket for tonite, i will be happy to except $8.5 million cash after taxes!!!!!!Green laugh

That's the lottery win attitude to hold!Disney

Rowen's avatarRowen

don't think it really add anything new at all that would interest players. Would love to see a multi-state raffle

dpoly1's avatardpoly1

I can only play 1 game ............... and that will continue to be Mega Millions or Powerball, depending on which one I want to play.

Grovel's avatarGrovel

Quote: Originally posted by Rowen on Jan 11, 2011

don't think it really add anything new at all that would interest players. Would love to see a multi-state raffle

That would be an awesome idea.

dpoly1's avatardpoly1

Only interested in tonight's Powerball Jackpot at this point ............ about $21,970,000 after 35% Federal Taxes here in PA!

Sun Smiley

freeobama's avatarfreeobama

I am dreaming of a Powerball Jackpot win tonite!!! Bed

dpoly1's avatardpoly1

Holly Lahti, who is apparently from the small town of Rathdrum, Idaho is reportedly the other winner of the other half of the Mega Millions Jackpot, according to the AP!

butterflykt's avatarbutterflykt

I wish Washington (the state) had this game.  I could definitely survive off $170,000 after taxes for the next 30 years.  Hell,  I can live off $85,000 and make the money last for 60 years, by that time I would be in my 90's.  We have a win for life game where it's $4000 a week, but it's a scratch game with only 2 winners and the tickets cost $20.00....I'm tempted to buy one, but that's expensive.

chops

Quote: Originally posted by Rowen on Jan 11, 2011

don't think it really add anything new at all that would interest players. Would love to see a multi-state raffle

I love me some raffle action.  I actually won $100 on the Connecticut Super Draw from a ticket I bought on the way home from NYC. 

Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont actually tried a multi-state raffle back at the end of 2007.  I think Vermont was the only state that didn't sell out. Disapprove  Now, if you made it a nationwide multi-state raffle with one guaranteed BILLION dollar winner, that would definitely turn some heads and sell some tickets.  People would drop $20...$50...perhaps even $100 for a single shot at a billion.

Guru101's avatarGuru101

I'm not really digging the $2 for 1 play.

TRUEBELIEVER's avatarTRUEBELIEVER

 You would think north carolina being next door to va thed also have this new game of their which im going to va to play tomorrow and  everyone in nc who think that we should have this game email and tell them we want this game.

Guru101's avatarGuru101

I made the short drive to Kentucky today to try my shot at this new game. Got a $4 ticket(2 lines). $250,000/year for 30 years sounds pretty nice to me. Wish me luck!

Guru101's avatarGuru101

No luck tonight. Maybe next time.

End of comments
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