New law would stop Illinois Lottery from selling tickets after top prizes are gone

Comment #24

Soledad — Sun, 10 Jun 2018 03:00:14 GMT

Well what do you know. It s that time of day when a broken clock actually tells the correct time! Lol

Comment #23

noise-gate — Sat, 09 Jun 2018 17:16:51 GMT

The illinois lottery may view it's scratcher games like sport events. Ringside seats for NBA finals, Mayweather vs McGregor have sold for thousands of dollars, but guess what, there were still many other seats left that had to be sold. Perhaps that kind of thinking from the lottery, spills over to selling scratchers as well.

Comment #22

Coin Toss — Sat, 09 Jun 2018 14:54:33 GMT

LottoLucy,

Thanks for the link and the insight.

Comment #21

Tucker Black — Sat, 09 Jun 2018 06:18:40 GMT

I started off with the total number of Power 5's ticket is 8,435,400 in order to calculate what the house edge is if they sell all the tickets.

I then explained why this particular game (which is moving along like any scratcher game) cannot lose money even if the next three tickets are top prizes and no more.

You are right that if the top prizes are distributed randomly, it is possible for the lottery to lose money if they stop selling tickets after the last one is claimed. Howev... [ More ]

Comment #20

LottoLucy — Fri, 08 Jun 2018 16:50:41 GMT

Someone did sue the Commonwealth of Virginia in 2008. It significantly changed how Virginia handled scratch off sales and, in my opinion, quietly changed the behavior of neighboring states as well. Here is a link to an article that mentions the suit:

https://www.lotterypost.com/news/177366

Comment #19

HaveABall — Fri, 08 Jun 2018 16:38:24 GMT

I wish all lottery state websites would show once the winning scratch ticket had been SOLD rather than CLAIMED!

I think it is okay to keep a lottery scratch game open until all of the first and second place prizes have been SOLD .

Comment #18

Bleudog101 — Fri, 08 Jun 2018 15:39:08 GMT

The Kentucky Lottery had a tour of the plant for a news special about it; very interesting and the speed of which the tickets are printed is mind boggling. It was an IGT plant BTW and everyone knows how much I love IGT---cha ching.

Comment #17

uprrman — Fri, 08 Jun 2018 15:15:18 GMT

how do you know that info

Comment #16

Bleudog101 — Fri, 08 Jun 2018 14:52:52 GMT

Even IGT printing plant does not know which roll have winners/losers on them. Blows your theory out of the water.

Comment #15

hlamb — Fri, 08 Jun 2018 14:20:11 GMT

They'll just put the losing tickets and lower tier ones out first then when those have met their budget requirements they'll put out the top prizes.

Comment #14

JADELottery — Fri, 08 Jun 2018 13:38:59 GMT

It is not necessary for the state lottery to sell all the tickets... , this assumes all tickets are not sold.

... The total number of Power 5's tickets is 8,435,400. Multiply by $5 and the total wagered is $42,177,000. ... , this assumes all tickets are sold.

These contradict each other; either all tickets are sold or they are not.

Since the beginning assertion is all tickets are not sold, the second statement cannot be a supporting argument.

Additionally, given a truly random dispe... [ More ]

Comment #13

Bleudog101 — Thu, 07 Jun 2018 22:51:18 GMT

I don't play scratch tickets here in Kentucky, but they do tell you about top prizes.

In Massachusetts they have two different payouts, one is $1 million and less and the other one still under Instant Prizes says Grand Prizes claimed. Also in the winner's section it'll say the last million dollar prize claimed by so and so with their picture.

Comment #12

Tucker Black — Thu, 07 Jun 2018 21:47:10 GMT

It is not necessary for the state lottery to sell all the tickets in order to generate a profit for the state. The % the state keeps overall is so large, and assuming they don't print all the top prizes early in the ticket run, it would be impossible for the amount paid out to exceed the amount wagered as of any point in time.

Here is an example from the Texas Lottery. Power 5's is a $5 scratcher with a top prize of $100,000. There are 5 top prizes, and 2 have been claimed so far.

The... [ More ]

Comment #11

Stack47 — Thu, 07 Jun 2018 20:03:58 GMT

I'm not sure if it's updated daily, but the KY Lottery site does show the number of remaining prizes in each scratch-off game and when all the top prizes are claimed, it shows 0 - Last Top Prize Claimed .

A problem with the Illinois bill is if the top prizes are sold but not claimed, the lottery and the players would still not know. But the worst part is a law must be passed to force the Illinois Lottery to disclose the number of remaining prizes when it should be a condition of employment.... [ More ]

Comment #10

JADELottery — Thu, 07 Jun 2018 18:49:49 GMT

If you guessed losing ticket sales, you're correct.

Setting incentive and deceptive advertising aside, there's a simple solution to getting all tickets sold; even the losing ones.

Here in Minnesota, we have a second chance drawing for losing tickets.

It's kind of like making those losing scratchers, raffle tickets.

In a way, all scratchers are really instant raffle tickets, they're dished out sequentially and you know you've won without the drawing.

The alternative would be a litt... [ More ]

Comment #9

TheMeatman2005 — Thu, 07 Jun 2018 18:45:13 GMT

This reminds me of the Dead Donkey joke.

A man bought a donkey from an old farmer for $100. The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day.

Come morning, the farmer drove up and said, Sorry, but I've got some bad news. The donkey died.

Well then, just give me my money back.

Can't do that. I spent it already, replied the farmer.

OK then, just unload the donkey.

What're you gonna do with him? asked the farmer.

I'm gonna raffle him off.

Ya can't ra... [ More ]

Comment #8

TheMeatman2005 — Thu, 07 Jun 2018 18:41:48 GMT

It comes from selling ALL of the tickets....including the non-winning ones as well.

They calculate a 50% profit after all is said and done.

Comment #7

JADELottery — Thu, 07 Jun 2018 18:16:52 GMT

How does the Lottery generate the money needed to pay those top prizes?

Wait a moment...

Comment #6

CDanaT — Thu, 07 Jun 2018 16:06:57 GMT

Comment #5

Bleudog101 — Thu, 07 Jun 2018 16:05:33 GMT

Did you understand the article? Your post certainly doesn't imply that you did.

If the top tickets is sold, there is no point selling anymore. The incentive to win let's say $1 million is gone once that ticket or those tickets are sold.

Comment #4

Raven62 — Thu, 07 Jun 2018 15:28:26 GMT

They shouldn't Cash In any Scratch Off Tickets until All the Tickets are Sold

Comment #3

Coin Toss — Thu, 07 Jun 2018 15:01:59 GMT

This should have been a rule for every state with a lottery before they ever sold the first ticket.

I'm surprised no one ever took them to court for false advertising.

Comment #2

music* — Thu, 07 Jun 2018 13:59:03 GMT

Kudos to Senator Steve Stadelman. He is the Senate Gaming Committee chairman after all.

Camelot, Illinois is being a responsible and new player here in the States.

Tea

Comment #1

Bleudog101 — Thu, 07 Jun 2018 13:46:43 GMT

Other states do the same thing and they even put it on their websites.

Transparency for the Illinois Lottery? Hope so with all the trouble they've had paying out folks last couple of years.

New law would stop Illinois Lottery from selling tickets after top prizes are gone

Lottery Post — Thu, 07 Jun 2018 11:53:59 GMT

The Illinois Lottery would have to provide players with daily updates on how many top prizes remain in scratch-off games and wouldn't be able to keep selling tickets for those games indefinitely under a proposed change in state law.

The bill was introduced by Sen. Steve Stadelman in response to an investigation that found that the lottery was continuing to sell instant games, in some cases for weeks or months, after all top prizes had been claimed, with little warning to players.

The arti... [ More ]