Wyoming Lottery to start its first in-state game in March

Jan 20, 2015, 7:05 am (17 comments)

Wyoming Lottery

New game has generous 68 percent payout

By Todd Northrop

The United States' newest lottery, Wyoming, is set to begin its first in-state lottery game in two months.

Cowboy Draw is a Pick 5 rolling jackpot game the gives Wyoming lottery players much better odds than the multi-state games that are available in the state.

"Being a Wyoming-specific game means more Wyoming players winning top jackpot prizes and more Lottery money staying in the Cowboy State," said Jon Clontz, CEO of the Wyoming Lottery Corporation.  "I expect that the Cowboy Draw game will become an extremely popular addition to our game portfolio."

Cowboy Draw is a draw game that plays similar to Powerball and Mega Millions. Players choose five numbers ranging from 1 to 45. A player who correctly matches all five numbers is the jackpot winner.

Players can also match four, three and two numbers to win cash prizes of $1,000, $20 and $5, respectively.

Tickets cost $5 per ticket with two chances to win per ticket.

Clontz explained that the big attraction for the Cowboy Draw game, offered only in Wyoming, is that more WyoLotto players will win larger prizes. "The minimum jackpot will be $250,000, and it will grow until someone wins it.  Someone asked me if the jackpot could realistically hit $1 million, and the answer is absolutely."

Cowboy Draw has an approximate payout of 68 percent, whereas Powerball and Mega Millions payouts are 50 percent. This gives our Wyoming players another great reason to play this game, said Clontz. Because Cowboy Draw is not a national game, all proceeds are retained in Wyoming.

In May 2014, the Lottery Board decided to explore the addition of new games to continue to expand the entertainment value associated with playing the lottery and increase revenue potential. In August 2014, Lottery conducted focus groups in Wyoming to evaluate player reactions to the new game concepts. After reviewing the research, the board decided to go with a Wyoming-specific draw game in the spring of 2015 and other games will follow.

The Cowboy Draw game will launch on March 15.

News story photo(Click to display full-size in gallery)

Lottery Post Staff

Comments

mypiemaster's avatarmypiemaster

68% payout sounds like a fair deal to me. The real question is, how much fun is it to play?.

Todd's avatarTodd

Quote: Originally posted by mypiemaster on Jan 20, 2015

68% payout sounds like a fair deal to me. The real question is, how much fun is it to play?.

As fun as any Pick 5 game with a rolling jackpot?

hearsetrax's avatarhearsetrax

well I wish them all luck Lep

wizeguy's avatarwizeguy

Will it be ball draw or RNG? Good luck  to all who play!!

ThatScaryChick's avatarThatScaryChick

I guess 3, 4 and 5 dollar tickets are going to start becoming the norm for draw games. Unhappy

rj6speed

How many draws per week?

Ron5995

Not sure the exact odds, but a 5/45 game has odds of worse than 1 in 1 million of winning the jackpot, and odds of 2nd place is 1 in several thousand. For comparison, many Cash 5 games are 5/43, which are difficult as it is to hit. I'm surprised such a low population state would go with a 5/45 game, especially at a $5 price-point; $2.50 per play, since each ticket contains 2 sets of numbers - still a lot of money considering the lousy odds.

Overall payout of 68% is very good, but deceptive, since much of it is contained in the jackpot and 2nd tier prizes, both of which are difficult to hit. While a fair chunk of the payout being in the jackpot is expected, it's surprising the 2nd tier and/or 3rd tier prize isn't somewhat higher considering the price-point.

With all that said, it's still a better value than many other numbers games, but players may shy away from the game over time when most only win break-even prizes, and occasionally $20, on a $5 wager.

In regards to higher price-points, that makes sense given how little a dollar buys compared to the 1970s when many lotteries began. With $2 being the standard now for new numbers games, it seems $5 will be in the near future. Makes sense, but still lacks the allure of $1 games - most players don't think much of risking a dollar, or even two, on 1 in zillion odds; throwing away a buck isn't a big deal for most. It's a problem raffle games have run into - despite reasonable odds and prizes, many players are scared away by the $10-$20 price-point. It's easier to get a player to spend $5 on 5 $1 tickets than on one $5 ticket even if the odds are exactly identical.

Will be interesting to see how the Wyoming game goes, and what tweaks, if any, they make to it going forward.

dallascowboyfan's avatardallascowboyfan

This is the kind of game I wish Oklahoma Lottery had.

rcbbuckeye's avatarrcbbuckeye

They must be really proud of this game to charge $5 a tic even if it is for 2 lines. But that is the direction lotteries are going with new games. They can't sell more tickets, so they charge more per ticket to make more revenue.

DoctorWhy's avatarDoctorWhy

Quote: Originally posted by wizeguy on Jan 20, 2015

Will it be ball draw or RNG? Good luck  to all who play!!

My thoughts too!

Scratch$'s avatarScratch$

Quote: Originally posted by ThatScaryChick on Jan 20, 2015

I guess 3, 4 and 5 dollar tickets are going to start becoming the norm for draw games. Unhappy

Monopoly Millionaires Club charged $5 a ticket, and that game crashed and burned quickly. A lot of people just won't pay that much for a single ticket, myself included.

Scratch$'s avatarScratch$

The Wyoming lottery isn't allowed by law to sell scratchers. Ludicrous! Some state lotteries derive about 60% of their gross income from scratchers, and they're enormously popular with the players. Swing and a miss for the Wyoming legislature!

myturn's avatarmyturn

The  Wyoming Lottery will allow winners to remain anonymous.

 

If I win a lottery, can I remain anonymous?
We will honor requests for anonymity from winners. However, we certainly ho.pe winners will allow us to share their names and good news with other players.

 

Wyoming Lottery - FAQ

adulane62's avataradulane62

Wyoming Lottery is a failure, even before it sells its first ticket.  $5 for a 250k jackpot? it doesn't matter if it rolls to a million jackpot, that is way to much. Thanks but no thanks!

Subscribe to this news story