America's multi-state lottery titans agree to ticket-selling partnership

Comment #40

barbos — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:52:02 GMT

When this happens you won't have a chance to stick to Super Lotto Plus - it is agonizing from the day MM launched in California and I'm pretty sure in the future it will be replaced with PowerBall - played the same days with larger jackpots. The odds in ANY jackpot lottery including scratchers are astronomical so they don't really matter. The lotteries exist for profiting the states and feds, not the players, and whichever makes more money will be there.

Comment #39

Perfecttiming2 — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:35:05 GMT

Hi Tnplayer805....

I think that reality alone of having a shot at a life changing jackpot Monday-Saturday is what will keep people playing regardless of the odds of winning.

I am wondering though, if it will be more people playing but, they may not buy as many tickets per play.

With 3 different games to participate in (state, MM and PB) people may spread out what they are already spending over the three games......just a thought.

Comment #38

Perfecttiming2 — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:25:12 GMT

It's also now possible for one person to win both PB and MM jackpots (Someone wrote about that on here awhile back)..........

Not that it couldn't happen before but it'll be a lot easier for more people to get both tickets.

Looks like the stage is being set.......

Comment #37

Guru101 — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:17:25 GMT

I like the idea. I have no problem with the jackpot getting hit often. $12 million, $20 million, whatever. More than what most people need. At least now I can play both.

Comment #36

savagegoose — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 17:08:40 GMT

YEAH THE MENTION OF $5 tickets really sounds scary. also the impossible odds. what if they raised the fee, dropped some lower prizes and kept the odds the same? sort of pull out the powerbal only l and 1+1 and stuffed that in higher tier prizes? really 1 in 200 million is prety insane odds. can they really jack it any hogher, without people just saying jack this, im playing pick 5?

not that it matters to me i live overseas, but good luck everyone, wish i was in the game to

Comment #35

LckyLary — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 03:07:14 GMT

They need to make sure that lower prizes are still the same odds. I don't want to hear ..and the PowerMegaBall number is 98! nor do I like the idea of one ticket costing $5 unless I have a good shot at winning $100 on the Bonus Ball alone. It's going to be very confusing especially on the big jackpots when people who don't normally play don't understand which is which. The betslips are already too crowded; the nj Mega slips have doglegged borders to fit the extra #s they have now!

I would alw... [ More ]

Comment #34

Tnplayer805 — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:09:30 GMT

This is good news. I'll use Tennessee as an example... Currently, the lotto plus drawings are Tuesday and Friday Nights. If Mega Millions is offered... They will likely move those drawings to Monday and Thursday. SO... With that said, states that have their own multi-million dollar jackpot games will have a shot at a life changing jackpot on Monday-Saturday.

Comment #33

LotteryTechInc — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:21:59 GMT

This is AWESOME!! FL recently added the PowerBall game so adding Mega-Millions is great but I'll probably just continue playing PowerBall the odds don't intimidate me at all BRING IT ON

Comment #32

Coin Toss — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:13:53 GMT

Mixed emotions on this. I'm in a MM state and if PB bcomes available I'll probably forget about MM and play the PB and the Power Play, hoping for 5 + 0 for $1,000,000.

If we get a national lottery, I'm not sure there would be a real need for PB and MM, but that's if it's not an insane matrix with a ridiculous amount of numbers.

As far as a $1 billion jackpot, when it was annouced that California would join MM there was a media b;itz about $500,000,000 jackpots. Hasn't even come close to th... [ More ]

Comment #31

beaudad — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:03:30 GMT

What would be great is to be able to play in any states lottery (I mean pick 3 pick 4 etc) you could play in all states a set of numbers for 25.00 50 states a .50 cent ticket for the same box number and win 50 bucks.............or 40 bucks.........anyway combining the power ball and mega I think is a good idea...........and I would like to play the other states from the terminal in my state................beaudad.....

Comment #30

NBey6 — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:23:30 GMT

Okay NCEL, step up to the plate and hit a grand slam!! For once, let this Bible Belt state be among the first to do something that the people actually want to do, instead of one of the last

Comment #29

diamondpalace — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 05:59:18 GMT

Great news. I always want to test my work on PowerBall with live bets. Now, it's possible.

Comment #28

Littlemanjen — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:13:43 GMT

This is going to be the end of some state run games, I agree. Cash for life is a waste of a dollar.

Comment #27

maringoman — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:59:47 GMT

Mega millions will be forced to introduce the mega plier in all states otherwise few people will be motivated to buy it when both jackpots are down.

I like the idea of buying powerball with powerplay two blocks from my home.

Comment #26

Classic47 — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:36:14 GMT

You know, aside from having the option to play powerball in a mega millions state and vice versa, this doesn't change much. The odds are still the same, it just means there's a better chance or a shared jackpot.

Comment #25

rdgrnr — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:11:54 GMT

I see it as a good thing based on one factor - if they don't make the odds worse.

There will be bigger jackpots because of more people playing and more frequent winners for the same reason.

I would rather see more frequent multi-millionaires than a billionaire every now and then.

Comment #24

caipiao — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:11:10 GMT

the odds are already 1 in 175 million and 1 in 195mil. These are hard numbers to conceive. even if they increase odd to 1 in 500 million, most ppl don't think it's much worse odds. when they see they're already buying 1 in 195million odds, they say: okay twice as hard to win, but who wins at 1 in 195million

Comment #23

CowboysFan — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:21:23 GMT

When this happens I'm just going to be sticking with the Super Lotto Plus and cut out the Mega Millions. The odds of winning the Mega Millions is already astronomical but if you add in these new states then the odds are just going to be ridiculous. I'm sorry but I am not excited about this.

Comment #22

asarenkansah — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:19:45 GMT

This is wonderful.I wrote to the Illinois lottery authorities about this possibility 10 years ago but I heard nothing from them until today. A lot of people were looking forward to this day.

Comment #21

caipiao — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:05:06 GMT

billion dollar jackpot? With nearly fifty states (I think almost all fifty states have lotteries), and each drawing being a separate event in statistics , you know , probability theory says the previous events' results don't influence future events.

It's like each drawing is in a different life, a different lifetime, so potentially could be 20 weeks without winner, there you have A BILLION DOLLARS

Comment #20

HaveABall — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:38:04 GMT

Yes indeed, for every 10 lottery drawings, I've committed to drive to the neighboring state in order to purchase a PowerBall advance 10 drawings ticket, with Powerplay option -- it's a 42 minute drive EACH way with more expensive tolls!!

For two years, I've consistantly played both of the weekly drawings for Powerball AND Mega Millions. So, in about a year, I'll be able to play the same amount, yet have more money left in my budget; since I'll be saving expensive gas and tolls monies come eve... [ More ]

Comment #19

canyon — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:32:51 GMT

I drive to bordering states once or twice a year when Powerball gets in the 200 plus range to buy tickets just for me or sometimes a group of people. I used to drive to Florida a few times a year before Georgia got their own lottery. I CAN'T WAIT! THIS WAS LONG OVERDUE! LONG OVERDUE FOR THE REGULAR PLAYERS LIKE MYSELF AND FOR THE OCCASSIONAL PLAYERS THAT PLAY WHEN THE JACKPOT GOES OVER 100M! ALRIGHT LOTTERY EXECS, LET'S GET THIS THING SIGNED AND DONE AND STARTED IT ASAP!!! LET'S PLAY... [ More ]

Comment #18

caipiao — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:16:06 GMT

where you buy online? betslips

Comment #17

dpoly1 — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:44:22 GMT

I can't wait !

Pennsylvania lost all of my money to West Virginia before they offered Powerball here !

I currently only play Powerball here in PA ... I would play MM here if offered ... I have absolutely no interest in playing daily numbers or any other PA lottery game and never have.

I have a small income and do not have enough money to lose on a daily basis.

Come on MegaMillions

Comment #16

joshuakim — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:49:49 GMT

this is wonderful news.

it means that i no longer have to buy megamillions online.

Comment #15

savagegoose — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:22:07 GMT

more players, bigger jackpots, bigger loser bums to read about blowing it all ina frenzy of stupidity.

woo hoo we all win.

Comment #14

LottoLin — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:17:42 GMT

I think it's great, PowerBall is adding two more states to it's list so it brings it up to 34 states in Power Ball the odds suck. I have better odds in Mega Millions but have to drive to Illinois for a ticket. So with this change I can get my ticket right here at home and not have to drive to the state line to play Mega Millions. Finally a great idea.

Comment #13

BabyJC — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:12:33 GMT

Folks can now use the money that they would have spent on gas (to drive out-of-state etc.) to buy their lotto tickets now

Comment #12

berwin64 — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:40:37 GMT

I agree with you TN Player. All the way

Comment #11

mymonthlypicks — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:38:32 GMT

This is going to be interesting

1) more winner more ofter and jack pot stay 100M or below or

2) no winners for numberous drawing and maybe a Billion dollar JACKPOT Hmmmmmmmm

I believe mostly that they wont carry over as ofter as now, but once in awhile their Will be JackPots beyond what were use to seeing. Good Luck everyone

I wished all State had progressive jackpot for 5 numbers without the bonus like Calf.

Comment #10

TnTicketlosers — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:36:36 GMT

Thats why we drive to Georgia too.The pick 3 still remains on my desk everyday.Well let me just run on out and play these picks,I dont think so.They will do whatever they want no matter what we think about it.But I have a choice.And it will still remain on my desk and not played here,No disrespect to any player or anyone.

Comment #9

Todd — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:33:25 GMT

I hear you, and I agree in that any time you change the offerings in a state, it does have a ripple effect. But it's a complex thing, not always a zero-sum game.

For example, the days of the week that the new game is drawn can determine the effect. For example, in your state, Indiana, the Lotto game is drawn on Wednesday and Saturday, so the addition of the Mega Millions game, with its drawings on Tuesday and Friday, may not impact the Lotto volume as you're expecting it will. In fact, the ad... [ More ]

Comment #8

vistaguy — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:28:40 GMT

I welcome Mega Ball to Indiana. Cant wait to play it here (currently drive to Ill. to play).

Comment #7

vistaguy — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:24:53 GMT

Right, however, using my own state as an example, if Indiana adds the Mega Ball, I suspect they would see a huge drop in sales for their own state run lottery, the Hoosier Lottery. A drop in sales could cause states to discontinue their state run lotteries and stick with the larger Mega and PB. IMO of course.

Comment #6

Todd — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:17:31 GMT

I agree. In-state games will continue to exist, and will do just fine. People play the in-state games because they have better odds of winning.

After all, that's why many people play Pick 5 instead of Pick 6: even though the top prize is much lower, the odds of winning it are much better.

There will always be people who don't see the big picture of more choice, more options, and more excitement that this announcement brings. Heck, there are some who will get upset at ANY change at all, no... [ More ]

Comment #5

chuck32 — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:12:39 GMT

These games are state lottery games. A dollar earned looks just the same as the dollar earned on a pull-tab.

Comment #4

konane — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:12:07 GMT

I see those changes as a natural evolution of those games, and welcome Powerball BACK to Georgia.

I questioned why the Georgia Lottery eliminated it in favor of The Big Game (which morphed into Mega Millions ) back in 1996.

The sooner they implement these changes the better. It's the next best thing to being able to purchase other states' lottery tickets online.

Comment #3

chuck32 — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:11:18 GMT

Of course, the odds stay exactly the same. Just faster climbing jackpots and more jackpot winners.

Comment #2

vistaguy — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:57:30 GMT

This is going to kill off State run lotteries.

Comment #1

SmoothJuice — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:20:46 GMT

That's just friggin' great. Now the odds of winning are going to be way worse. This may be the end of me playing the MM and PB.

America's multi-state lottery titans agree to ticket-selling partnership

Lottery Post — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:13:31 GMT

Even bigger, unified national game could be next

They are the two marquee games in American lotteries: Mega Millions and Powerball. Each lottery state currently has one, but not the other. However, the Mega Millions consortium and Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) have reached an agreement in principle to cross-sell Mega Millions and Powerball in all U.S. lottery jurisdictions.

The agreement means that lotteries from across the United States, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, will be able