New price point ticket available in Nebraska
By Kate Northrop
The number 30 is a big number for the Nebraska Lottery this year, which is celebrating its 30th Anniversary with the release of its first $30 scratch-off ticket.
Nebraska lottery players can now pick up a $30 scratch-off ticket from retailers from the "30th Anniversary Jackpot" game, which commemorates the Nebraska Lottery's 30th year in operation.
"30th Anniversary Jackpot" is Nebraska's first $30 scratch-off game, meant to celebrate "three decades of funding, fortune and fun."
"Nebraskans have been playing and winning the Nebraska Lottery since September 1993, and we're excited to kick off our anniversary celebrations with a $30 Scratch game," Lottery Director Brian Rockey said yesterday in a press release. "We think players will enjoy the new price point and the chance to win one of the biggest top prizes we've given away in a Scratch game.
The "30th Anniversary Jackpot" game offers three top prizes of $300,000, 20 second-tier prizes of $1,000, and 188 third-tier prizes of $500.
Previously, the highest price point scratch-off ticket that the Lottery offered was worth $20. The largest top prize among the Lottery's current $20 instant games is $200,000.
"And every '30th Anniversary Jackpot' ticket sold helps to support good causes across Nebraska like the environment, education, Nebraska State Fair, and problem gambler's assistance," Rockey continued.
Over $880 million has been raised for the Nebraska Lottery's beneficiary funds since its inception in 1993, according to the Lottery.
The new ticket is available for purchase at official Lottery retailers, but that's not the only new game being released in light of the milestone celebration. Players should stay tuned for "additional games and promotions for the Nebraska Lottery's 30th Anniversary" that are to be announced later.
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$300,000 is pretty low for a $30 ticket.
Most states pay out $1,000,000 or more.
In Louisiana, our $10 games pay $200,000.
Unfortunately Nebraska does not have the population to support big ticket scratch games. Once the students go home, all you have left are cows and vast grasslands. They should have made the jackpot at least $1m. I hope this ticket sells well for them. They should have made it 30 first prizes of $300,000.00 each.
I agree. Out West the " Set for Life " scratcher costs $30 with a top prize of $20mil. There are presently 2 top prizes left out of 6.
Complaining about a top $300,000 prize for a $30 ticket only makes sense if you ignore the odds of winning the prize, plus the fact that the top prize is cash (not annuity).
In the new Nebraska game, the odds of winning the top prize are 1 in 128,000, which are pretty good odds for a scratch game top prize. (3 top prizes are available.)
For comparison, in New York $5 games offering a $1 million top prize, they are annuity payouts, meaning the top prize is not really $1 million cash in comparison. The odds of winning that prize (depending on the game) are typically 1 in 2,500,000 or so.
The odds of winning the California Set for Life $30 ticket's top prize of $20,000,000 is 1 in 3,021,785, and that is an annuity prize paid over 25 years, not cash.
I'm not saying that all the mentioned games are bad. It's that you can't look at one aspect of a game without taking into account all the other aspects, and then you need to look at the game as an entire proposition.
For people looking to buy an expensive scratch-off game, the new Nebraska game seems pretty good to me, all things considered.
Thank you Todd for putting this in perspective.
My initial thoughts too were doesn't pay out very much. Then thought of their population vs mega populated states and their huge lottery payouts and said there is no way they could offer what those guys do.
The odds that you posted on two other states vs this really shed a lot of light on NE $30 ticket with the odds much better.
Agreed. I either missed what the odds were on this game or I was unaware.