UK Lotto players furious over 5-number payout

Comment #35

elios311 — Tue, 29 Mar 2016 08:57:28 GMT

If that were true then the prize breakdown tables would look about the same whether popular or unpopular numbers were drawn. But they don't. When high and boring numbers are drawn, most prize tiers have a lower number of winners and therefore a higher payout per single winning ticket. But this won't be as apparent in non pari-mutuel lotteries.

Comment #34

Hermanus104 — Tue, 29 Mar 2016 01:35:45 GMT

In Virginia, 3-6-9-12-15 won once.

Comment #33

Hermanus104 — Tue, 29 Mar 2016 01:34:45 GMT

Mega Millions and Powerball are much less extreme, but this is why I don't play those games. Lower-tier prize winners get robbed--you have a much better chance of winning $500 by playing 3-ball than you do playing Mega Millions. In fact, you have a much better chance of winning $5,000 playing the Pick 4 (odds 1 in 10,000) than you have winning $500 playing Mega Millions (1 in 52,835). The only way I'll play a huge jackpot game is if a Top 5 jackpot coincides with a major holiday--one that closes... [ More ]

Comment #32

Candlelight777 — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 00:08:23 GMT

I have to chuckle..it seems there is no safe set of numbers to pick from after reading this thread. There are just as many picking popular numbers as there are those attempting to pick unpopular numbers . I say pick the numbers you like and expect there are going to be others that picked the same numbers for one reason or another.

Comment #31

Iborret — Sun, 27 Mar 2016 10:16:33 GMT

I think the people who choose those numbers (such as 1,2,3,4,5,6 or 7,14,21,28,35,42 etc.) think they are being clever and outsmarting the system and that nobody else will choose such numbers, which is why they are so shocked when the payout is so low...

Am sure there are tons of people who keep playing 1,2,3,4,5,6 every week thinking that if it finally hits, they will be the only ones to win the jackpot

Comment #30

david1691 — Sun, 27 Mar 2016 00:13:22 GMT

You are right. Twice actually. In the Cash 5, 5-10-15-20-25 were drawn. In the Treasure hunt, 1-2-3-4-5 were drawn.

Comment #29

Rexer90 — Sat, 26 Mar 2016 03:29:27 GMT

Similar thing with California's Fantasy Five a while back, Usually there's only one daily winner unless it rolls over. Five consecutive numbers were drawn ( I think it was 14, 15, 16, 17, 18). There were 29 winners...They got less than $2k each after taxes instead of the $70k+ full prize.

Comment #28

dpoly1 — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 17:16:03 GMT

ROTFLOL

Comment #27

Whte1995 — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 16:06:04 GMT

They'll look like this guy . . .

Comment #26

Bleudog101 — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 14:23:14 GMT

That was a hit below the belt so to speak. I too don't get kickbacks from my home state lottery (MA), but we can't help a good thing when we see it and take advantage of it.

Comment #25

myturn — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 13:31:38 GMT

It is better not to use credit card to purchase subscriptions, credit card issuers may impose additional charges. With debit cards, there would be no such charges.

Comment #24

myturn — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 13:14:31 GMT

No, I'm just a satisfied subscriber. I haven't won a jackpot yet, but I have won several small prizes. Also, I like how the lottery revenue is distributed across Massachusetts.

Comment #23

myturn — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 13:05:46 GMT

At least in the UK, winners have the right to remain anonymous and prize money is tax-free.

Comment #22

Bleudog101 — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 12:25:50 GMT

They use to deliver the season tickets via UPS and you had to pay for it. Last couple of years @ least they used the USPS and no delivery charge. Maybe because you live in Australia? That would make sense.

American Express cards can no longer be used.

Now, back to the story...wonder how many LP members will play those numbers in MM or PB...am contemplating it.

Comment #21

KY Floyd — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 05:50:03 GMT

Others questioned whether the National Lottery's prize fund structure needed reviewing, while some threatened to stop playing altogether.

Well, I think we already knew from the numbers they chose that a fair percentage of them aren't very bright. If they still felt that way after finding out that over 4000 other people also won calling them morons is an insult to regular morons.

Comment #20

faber98 — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 04:04:07 GMT

he's half right. it's a good game to play when the jackpot reaches around 2m or higher. but by subscribing to a season ticket with slight fees you're stuck playing it too many times before it reaches an acceptable level. it takes forever to get up there and most savvy ma players just wait a few weeks before diving into this one.

Comment #19

rcbbuckeye — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 03:25:12 GMT

myturn....

I gotta believe MA lottery commission pays you every time you post their subscription info.

Because that's all you ever seem to post.

Comment #18

faber98 — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 02:28:44 GMT

review what? probably no QP's. those were played by people who play lucky number patterns and multiples of them. people do it consciously and even subconsciously. they seldom come in of course but when they do this is what happens. most play QP's but these were card filler out pattern players no doubt. i'm sure some of them who won also played such combinations as 6 12 18 24 30 36 and 8 16 24 32 40 48 and of course the two big ones 1 2 3 4 5 6 and 5 10 15 20 25 30 which would pay less than this... [ More ]

Comment #17

Stack47 — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 00:28:46 GMT

Others questioned whether the National Lottery's prize fund structure needed reviewing, while some threatened to stop playing altogether.

If they want to question why that happened, they should check how many match 5 winning tickets were QPs. If a higher percentage than average were QPs, there should be some reviewing.

Comment #16

gatorsrok — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 00:21:39 GMT

This happened in Florida on 8/28/2012 with Fantasy 5. The normal payout for a single winner is about $200,000. Odds of getting all 5 are 1 in 377,000.

However, the winning numbers were: 1 3 5 7 9

The prize for each of the 98 winners was $1,995

If you pick common numbers, this is a risk you take.

Comment #15

myturn — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 23:53:47 GMT

It is better to play by subscription. Megabucks Doubler is a Massachusetts state lottery which has a starting jackpot of about $500,000 which keeps on increasing until a winner emerges.

In this game, you have to choose 6 winning numbers from a set of 1 to 49. The cost for the one play is $1 and the results for it are held every Wednesday and Saturday.

Drawings Aired On: Wednesday 11:20 p.m. | Saturday 11:20 p.m.

Season Tickets for Megabucks Doubler game are available by calling 1

Comment #14

duckman — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 23:03:29 GMT

No grounds for complaining ... the rules state how the payouts are determined. End of story.

Comment #13

jjtheprince — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 22:30:19 GMT

Exactly! All the many thousands of winners can pose with pics of their checks for $8.27!!! LOL

Comment #12

Groppo — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 21:37:54 GMT

Do you really think those numbers will ever come up, my pie master?

(here we are joking about it, but those numbers: 1-2-3-4-5-6, could be a winning ticket, this week

Comment #11

mypiemaster — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 21:29:24 GMT

If they think that was bad, wait till the numbers 1-2-3-4-5-6 come in.

Comment #10

elios311 — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 17:55:54 GMT

The reaction and the complaints of players make no sense. What gives winners the right to complain when the rules that were known in advance are applied? Do they propose that Camelot should break the rules just this time or something? One thing is to suggest that the rules should change in the future, but it is a whole different thing to blame Camelot for your own stupidity of not even reading the rules of the games that you play.

On an unrelated note, for this very reason I always play unpop... [ More ]

Comment #9

Ron5995 — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 17:04:26 GMT

Sadly, not the first time nor the last. Hundreds of PA players were very upset when 5-10-15-20-25 came up in the Cash 5 many years ago resulting in a payout of $439 instead of $100,000. EDIT: the previous draw was won by a single winner for $446,373.50, which was unfortunate for these winners.

Feb-06-2004 PA Cash 5 payouts:

242 players matched 5, each receiving $439.00 (over 1,000 times less than what the sole jackpot winner the night before had won)

402 players matched 4, each receivin... [ More ]

Comment #8

rcbbuckeye — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 17:00:40 GMT

Do you understand why that happened? More importantly, do you understand how to choose combinations to avoid having that happen to you

Comment #7

dr65 — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 16:46:45 GMT

Same type of thing happened with PA Cash 5..I believe the numbers were low, sequence.

I'd rather play a QP than choose numbers legions of players think only they will hit...

multiples of 2's, 3's 5's..etc, sequences and patterned playslip plays.

Comment #6

MoneyMike$ — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 16:46:34 GMT

Haha wow must be peoples biggest fear to not win much for matching 5 balls.. imagine

Comment #5

Slick Nick — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 16:40:14 GMT

That's a real bummer. 5 pays less than 3. That would have been my final bet.

Comment #4

Numbernutt — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 16:02:28 GMT

Case in point..... Illinois had a similar situation back on June 18th, 1983

when their lotto game was a pick 6 of 40 matrix.....

the numbers 07 - 13 - 14 - 21 - 28 - 35 plus bonus ball 37 were drawn.....

If I remember correctly, there were 70 something jackpot winners.....

and the jackpot payout, I believe was just under $10,000 each

All multiples of 7..... and the 13 for good luck.....

Comment #3

rcbbuckeye — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 15:26:50 GMT

In our All or Nothing game there are still people that play all even or odd, or 1st 12 or last 12. If those numbers ever hit, each winning ticket will be worth about $20000 instead of $250000. There's a $5 million cap on the jackpot, then it becomes parimutuel.

Comment #2

faber98 — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 14:39:26 GMT

what did they expect when you play lucky number 7 and then 14 21 28 35 42. or 2 4 6 8 10 12 or 5 10 15 20 25 30 in a pari-mutuel pool. they got what they deserved for doing that. good lesson for all.

Comment #1

myturn — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 14:27:44 GMT

At the end of the day, we all win. We all benefit from the revenue raised, even if we don't participate.

UK Lotto players furious over 5-number payout

Lottery Post — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 13:17:31 GMT

'Teachable moment' for people who play multiples or patterns

Imagine beating the odds of 1 in 144,415 only to find out that your prize payout was just 15 (US$21). That's what thousands of UK Lotto players experienced Wednesday night.

National Lottery winners were left in anger last night after those who matched five numbers ended up with less money than people that matched only three.

Players with five winning numbers in Wednesday's Lotto draw ended up with just 15. This compared to 25... [ More ]