Illinois Lottery kicks off new 'Hit or Miss' game

Sep 22, 2013, 11:24 am (27 comments)

Illinois Lottery

Includes video report

By Todd Northrop

For Illinois Lottery players one thing is certain: they would be hard-pressed to claim their lottery is boring.

After a string of game changes and new games that stretches back a year to when the My3 game was introduced, the Illinois Lottery is today revealing its latest new game:  Hit or Miss.

The new game is nearly identical to a Texas Lottery game called All or Nothing, in which players choose 12 numbers out of a pool of 24, and prizes are determined by how many — or how few — of those numbers match the 12 numbers drawn.

Like the Texas game, Hit or Miss will be drawn four times per day — the first Illinois Lottery game with so many daily drawings.

Will Illinois expand to four daily drawings for its other daily games like Pick 3 and Pick 4?  It's possible, since that's exactly what Texas recently did.

The biggest difference between the Texas game and Illinois' latest addition is that Hit or Miss includes an additional number drawn, called The Good Life Number.  It is a number between 1 and 5 that is drawn along with the regular 12 numbers, and it comes into play only for those who match all or none of the numbers drawn.  If such a winner also matches The Good Life Number they win an extra prize of $100,000 per year for 20 years.

The Good Life Number is randomly generated and automatically printed on each ticket for no additional cost.

Tickets cost $2 each, and players can purchase up to 24 drawings in advance.

The first drawing of Hit or Miss is Sunday, September 22, 2013, at 10:30 am.  Drawings are held four times per day, at 10:30 am ("Morning"), 12:40 pm ("Midday"), 6:30 pm ("Drive Time"), and 9:22 pm ("Evening").

How to Win

There are 12 different ways to win a prize in Hit or Miss, as shown is the prize table below.

Hit or Miss Prize Table

One mistake Illinois was careful to avoid was the potential for many winners to "break the bank" when a popular set of numbers hits.

When the Texas Lottery started their All or Nothing game, they did not include a cap on the amount of prize money that could be awarded in a single drawing.  Although this was never actually an issue, the Texas Lottery ended up shutting down the game for several months while they ammended the rules to include a prize cap for unusual circumstances.  (See Texas Lottery suspends sales for 'All or Nothing' game, Lottery Post, June 4, 2013.)

When creating the rules for its Hit or Miss game, the Illinois Lottery included provisions for large numbers of winners in a single draw, by capping the top-prize liability at $5,000,000 per drawing, and imposing similar caps for other prize levels.  It is possible, perhaps probable, that these caps will never come into play, but in case they do, they will prevent the lottery from being wrecked financially.

As with all other Illinois Lottery games, the results for Hit or Miss will be published after each drawing on Lottery Post's Illinois Lottery Results page.  Unlike other lottery Web sites and apps, Lottery Post also includes a full prize payout chart for each drawing, as well as the ability to display past drawing results and other game details for every game.

VIDEO: How to play Hit or Miss

Lottery Post Staff

Comments

mypiemaster's avatarmypiemaster

Illinois lottery is great, it's the company that run it, that I'm not so sure about.

helpmewin's avatarhelpmewin

Thanks Illinois Lottery for the NEW FUN GAMES!!

I am Going to get me some tickets today i like that you can purchase up to 24 drawings in advance.Yes Nod

sully16's avatarsully16

Better than Keno.

Coin Toss's avatarCoin Toss

Take a good look at the payoff chart in the OP.

It lists payoffs for 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 4, 3, 2, 1 hits.

Notice the gap between 8 and 4? Hitting 7, 6, or 5 doesn't pay...guess what the most common result will be.

Northstar is going after players who would go into a lo-ball poker pot with a pair of kings.

"Oh I'll play, I always get bad hands."

"Oh, I'll play, my numbers always miss."

fast eddie's avatarfast eddie

are the winning numbers chosen by computer or are drawn using ping pong balls?

 

also why do you get to pick everything except for the bonus number which is computer generated on your ticket?

helpmewin's avatarhelpmewin

Quote: Originally posted by sully16 on Sep 22, 2013

Better than Keno.

I Agree!     pick 12 numbers 1-24 Party

MzDuffleBaglady's avatarMzDuffleBaglady

Quote: Originally posted by Coin Toss on Sep 22, 2013

Take a good look at the payoff chart in the OP.

It lists payoffs for 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 4, 3, 2, 1 hits.

Notice the gap between 8 and 4? Hitting 7, 6, or 5 doesn't pay...guess what the most common result will be.

Northstar is going after players who would go into a lo-ball poker pot with a pair of kings.

"Oh I'll play, I always get bad hands."

"Oh, I'll play, my numbers always miss."

I drove to Illinois, I played the new game, and guess what?  I have 6 numbers, lmaoooooooooooooooooooo

Good eye @ Coin Toss.

 

Let me enter my ticket number and see if I even won my $4.00 back.

 

Lmaooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

LottoMetro's avatarLottoMetro

I was about to say this game is better than the one in Texas because of the (potentially) added $100K/year for top prize winners......

Until I saw the lower prizes.

Match Texas Illinois
11 or 1 $500 $250
10 or 2 $50 $20
9 or 3 $10 $5

Matching 5, 6, and 7 numbers really are the most common hits, at least in my experience. Several players have complained and sales are down so Texas has had to run about 5 promotions to encourage people to buy this game.

Romancandle's avatarRomancandle

I gave it a whirl today... matched 7 out of 12... and won nada! LOL

8 out of 12 is break even- good luck LOL

Gonna be hard to hit or miss to win anything worthwhile Crazy

dallascowboyfan's avatardallascowboyfan

This seems like a cool game Thumbs Up

rcbbuckeye's avatarrcbbuckeye

If you play 24 draws a week on this game you will win back about 25-40% of what you bet, unless you hit the $500 in Tx ($250 in IL) or better. Obviously, that's a rare occurance. In just about every draw here, there are anywhere from 1 to maybe 4 $500 winners, sometimes none. I do best just playing 2 or 3 times a week. And yes, most of the time you will have 5,6 or 7 numbers which pay nothing. That's how the game is set up.

The biggest thing about this game besides the jackpot compared to the odds is the overall odds of winning at least your $2 back are pretty good compared to most other draw games. For me, I play this game like the other jackpot games, not a daily game like P3 or D4. Every once in a while I'll play the same numbers twice on the same draw trying to win $500,000.

Stack47

Quote: Originally posted by Coin Toss on Sep 22, 2013

Take a good look at the payoff chart in the OP.

It lists payoffs for 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 4, 3, 2, 1 hits.

Notice the gap between 8 and 4? Hitting 7, 6, or 5 doesn't pay...guess what the most common result will be.

Northstar is going after players who would go into a lo-ball poker pot with a pair of kings.

"Oh I'll play, I always get bad hands."

"Oh, I'll play, my numbers always miss."

"The new game is nearly identical to a Texas Lottery game called All or Nothing"

"Take a good look at the payoff chart in the OP."

Good point because Texas pays $10 for matching 3 or 9 numbers and Illinois will only pay $5. It's $50 compared to $20 matching 2 or 10 numbers and $500 compared to $250 for matching 1 or 11 numbers. But that doesn't change the facts the odds against winning any those prizes are identical.

I believe Northstar is using the same strategies casinos use to get more players. Back in the day, Roulette, Craps, Blackjack, Keno, the Wheel, and slots were the only games, until casinos introduced Pai Gow Poker, Caribbean Stud, Three Card Poker, Let it' Ride, and a large number of other table games. They built sports books and large poker rooms too. Back in the day, almost all the state lotteries offered only pick-3, pick-4, lotto games, and scratch-offs, but look at the number of different games many of the lotteries have today.

This game is just another choice and Northstar is betting because they are offering many choices, they will gain many new players.

Coin Toss's avatarCoin Toss

You know, it's almost a little deceptive no to list 7, 6, and 5 not paying anything on the payoff chart....they're trying yo make it look like everything wins. Shame on you, Northstar.

Good points Stack. Most people that play Caribbean Stud and play the progressive meter have no concept of the odds of being dealt a royal flush. I never saw the progressive amount get even close to that.

Illinois is chintzy on payoffs almost all the way around...where Missouri pays $600 and $60, Illinois pays $500 and $50.

@ MzDuffleBagLady,

Thanks for the 'good eye'.

sully16's avatarsully16

Quote: Originally posted by Coin Toss on Sep 22, 2013

You know, it's almost a little deceptive no to list 7, 6, and 5 not paying anything on the payoff chart....they're trying yo make it look like everything wins. Shame on you, Northstar.

Good points Stack. Most people that play Caribbean Stud and play the progressive meter have no concept of the odds of being dealt a royal flush. I never saw the progressive amount get even close to that.

Illinois is chintzy on payoffs almost all the way around...where Missouri pays $600 and $60, Illinois pays $500 and $50.

@ MzDuffleBagLady,

Thanks for the 'good eye'.

Didn't catch that, thanks Coin, not better than Keno.

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