Matrix change: Powerball to get much harder to win?

Reply #30

Guru101 — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:28:02 GMT

You did it again! You just said Considering the payout is less than half, yes that's pathetic. Consider the following players . I just told you why it is the way it is. Powerball allows a HIGHER annuity value with less cash! The problem that you are having is that you're seeing the cup as half empty, when you should be seeing it as half full. So which is better?

A. Powerball jackpot with a $50M annuity value and $24M cash value(48%).

B. Powerball jackpot with a $48M annuity value and $24M... [ More ]

Reply #29

dvdiva — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 20:15:23 GMT

Considering the payout is less than half, yes that's pathetic. Consider the following players:

In Canada and Europe if the jackpot is listed as $30M you get a check for that amount. It's value is the same as the listed jackpot prize.

In Megamillions the prize listed as $30M means it's cash prize is $18M and after tax is around $12M. That last number is the actual value the prize has.

In Powerball the prize listed as $30M. It's cash value is 14.7M and after tax is around $10M. Assuming n... [ More ]

Reply #28

Guru101 — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 05:16:50 GMT

I hope you realize that the cash value is calculated first, then the annuity value is calculated based off the amount of cash. Powerball's cash option is what it is for a REASON. Just because Mega Millions' cash value is a higher percentage of the annuity value, doesn't mean Powerball's cash value can be classified as pathetic . Powerball allows a higher annuity value with less cash than Mega Millions. THAT is why Powerball's cash value is a lower percentage than Mega Millions'. I find it funny... [ More ]

Reply #27

konane — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 04:09:06 GMT

Why doesn't PB roll its matrix back some and essentially coast along with that game which was once fun to play?

To compete with mega lotteries like El Gordo which draws once a year why doesn't the Multi-State Lottery Association expand on what states are doing now and have a raffle every 6 months or every year???? Jackpots climb to the probable billion + range and everyone gets what they want ...... all of which makes sense instead of trying Franken-morph PB into something unrecognizable.... [ More ]

Reply #26

dvdiva — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 03:54:54 GMT

Unless they change the price per ticket to $2 instead of $1 a matrix change is the only way to increase the average jackpot. They should have changed it when they added the last state. If they are going to make changes they should change the cash payouts. Powerball has a pathetic cash value now which is less than 50%. To match the largest jackpot prize of record (183M Euros) it would take a pot of $548M.

If they are serious about the changes to the second prize payouts then they better have a... [ More ]

Reply #25

KY Floyd — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 06:22:54 GMT

How is something optional effectively a price increase when you can still buy a ticket for $1? Getting more people to pay twice as much won't put one dime in the 2nd place prize pool if the reason they pay twice as much is to play for the power play prize.

Reply #24

sirbrad — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 05:04:21 GMT

Yeah it is ridiculous enough as it already is, and I already play A LOT less than before. If this crap game changes it again in their favor, I am done with this crap game for good.

Reply #23

TheGameGrl — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 04:04:44 GMT

Matrix change? Hmmm...so long as its in the favor of the player :) I say go ahead and change it! Make it more cash for the players! Otherwise make it tax free entirely since each state has already designated a state run charity style program. Bottom line....make it playable and win-able , NOT inconceivable to win

Reply #22

scorpio — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 02:22:51 GMT

ha,it's impossible to win now,experts on lottery post feel real great,only getting 3 numbers.they announce winners in some states 5-0,but how could we prove they really had winners

Reply #21

LckyLary — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 00:44:24 GMT

What I think of it is the same thing I thought when I was told (here) that my morning show was being dumped for (yawn) Don Imus. At some point some people are going to be disgusted that they rarely match even 1 of 5 they're going to stop playing it, along with all the bad press about lottery winners. The price of a ticket is already 2 dollars when PP is used, so what would the new price be, $3?? There is also a way to change the matrix without increasing the jackpot odds, that is to make more wh... [ More ]

Reply #20

LuckyLilly — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:15:34 GMT

Isn't getting more people to purchase the PowerPlay effectively raising ticket prices? Are you saying that getting more people to pay double for their ticket wouldn't cover the additional cost of 2nd place prizes

Reply #19

ThatScaryChick — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 17:22:26 GMT

I agree. If TPTB start charging $2 or more to play PB I would be done with it. I would only play Hot Lotto and Wild Card 2 from now on.

Reply #18

KY Floyd — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 07:54:12 GMT

Lotteries generally keep about half of the ticket price, so there is no way to beat them. You can influence their total take, but the math guarantees that it will always be close to the percentage they want it to be.

Reply #17

KY Floyd — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 07:51:19 GMT

They are definitely not thinking they can payout $1 million without changing the matrix, raising the ticket price,and/or killing their cash cow. Right now 60% of the prize money goes to the jackpot and a bit over 11% goes to the second place prize. Paying 2 1/2 times as much for second place would require about 123% of the current prize pool unless they pay fewer second place prizes. That leaves them the choice of raising the odds and/or reducing some of the other prizes.

Reducing the other

Reply #16

scorpio — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 00:46:46 GMT

i think the only way to beat the lottery,is for everyone to play less,then they'll make the prizes easier to win.the more one plays,the less they'll win.

Reply #15

LuckyLilly — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 23:05:43 GMT

Maybe they're thinking that making the 5+0 win $1,000,000 by default wouldn't require a matrix change. Maybe they're counting on the higher payout to be good incentive for enough people to start adding the PowerPlay to their tickets so that the higher 5+0 payout would pay for itself and then some.

Ryanm - $4 for a PowerPlay ticket would get me to stop playing the PP. I probably wouldn't pay $2 for a Powerball on a regular basis either. I'd wait till the JP was over 100 mil before I'd buy... [ More ]

Reply #14

chasingadream — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 15:20:29 GMT

what the difference if they do change it.....for that matter, the odds of winning the $1000 top prize on the $1 jumbo bucks is 1 in 50,000 and that seems as hard as winning the powerball. Its not like it won't ever get hit.....somebody's gonna hit it regardless of what the odds are.

Reply #13

tnlotto1 — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 18:47:45 GMT

no one matched 5+0 saturday night so i really hope they dont change the matrix.

Reply #12

ryanm — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 15:40:44 GMT

Instead of Powerball changing its matrix to make it harder to win, they should just charge $2 for a ticket (and $2 extra for PowerPlay). That makes sense, to keep up with inflation.

Reply #11

Guru101 — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 13:56:14 GMT

I went ahead and calculated what the matrix would be if they change it to one of the matrixes below:

Pick 5/56 + 1/42: 1 in 160,432,272

Pick 5/56 + 1/43: 1 in 164,252,088

Pick 5/56 + 1/44: 1 in 168,071,904

Pick 5/56 + 1/45: 1 in 171,891,720

Pick 5/56 + 1/46: 1 in 175,711,536

Pick 5/57 + 1/42: 1 in 175,858,452

Pick 5/57 + 1/43: 1 in 180,045,558

Pick 5/57 + 1/44: 1 in 184,232,664

Pick 5/57 + 1/45: 1 in 188,419,770

Pick 5/57 + 1/46: 1 in 192,606,876

Pick 5/58 + 1/42: 1 in 192,448,8... [ More ]

Reply #10

konane — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 00:50:42 GMT

Why don't both MM and PB just change their matrix to 8 white balls out of 1-100, plus 1 bonus and 1 super bonus red/gold out of 1-80????

That would effectively drive odds through the stratosphere having the highest jackpots on the face of the earth then anyone who can't count or calculate odds can be happy.

Best solution to driving lottery jackpots higher, more money in coffers, is to remove all income tax liabilities from lottery winnings.

Reply #9

RJOh — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 00:31:41 GMT

Ohio Classic Lotto 6/49

6/6 1 : 13983816

5/6 1 : 54201

4/6 1 : 1032

3/6 1 : 57

overall odds are 1 : 53.6

MegaMillions 5/56 + 1/46

5/5+B 1 : 175711536

5/5 1 : 3904701

4/5+B 1 : 689065

4/5 1 : 15313

3/5+B 1 : 13781

3/5 1 : 306

2/5+B 1 : 844

1/5+B 1 : 141

0/5+B 1 : 75

overall odds are 1 : 39.8

I spend about the same amounts on both games and I've won more playing MM. The odds are worst but th... [ More ]

Reply #8

ThatScaryChick — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 23:19:08 GMT

The odds are already so high that I just don't see the point of changing the matrix. If they do it will be even harder to win any prizes, let alone the jackpot. I'm lucky to even hit the Powerbll itself and get a few bucks back every now and then. Knowing me though, I will probably still continue to buy a couple tickets each drawing.

Reply #7

konane — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 23:12:07 GMT

For me MM and PB matrices are already so high both games are No Longer Fun To Play and haven't been for a very long time.

Adding more balls removes my intent spend money playing either of them, period

Reply #6

RJOh — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 20:55:45 GMT

I'm glad it's PowerBall that's considering a matrix change instead of MegaMillions since MM is played in my state. I think there could be a point where winning a prize with the multi-state lotteries become so hard that players will no longer be attracted from local games. If however its odds of winning a million dollars are similar to those of the local games when their jackpots are a million dollars then it will continue to attract those players.

Since most local games starting with mill... [ More ]

Reply #5

Coin Toss — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 18:47:06 GMT

A friend of ours just couldn't wait for California to join Mega Millions, as the newspapers were running stories of possible $500,000,000 jackpots.

Well, no one has seen anything even close to that yet and all that happned were already impossible odds where made more impossible.

guru101

The Illinois Little Lotto went form 5 / 30 to 5 /39. Those nine numbes took the odds from 142,506 to one to 575,757 to one.

Reply #4

chasingadream — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 17:29:19 GMT

I guess I'm the only one that wants the matrix change

Reply #3

guesser — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 07:48:35 GMT

'Harder to win'.

Put that into the proper context.

Right now, to win the Jackpot is 1 in 146 million.

To me, when you get over 1 in about 50,000, the odds mean NOTHING.

I mean, being honest: what in the heck is the difference between 1 in a million, 1 in 50 million, 1 in 100 million, and 1 in 146 million ? Unless you are a lucky sperm, the odds just don't matter to me much, you are either going to get lucky, or not. Period. \

To me, they could add a couple more balls, and it s... [ More ]

Reply #2

Guru101 — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 04:31:14 GMT

I don't really want it to change either. I would be happy to win even the minimum jackpot. I think it's hard enough. Of course one must ask themselves if there will also be the same multiplier numbers. Who knows, the prizes for 5+0 matches could go from:

$200,000(No PowerPlay)

$400,000(PowerPlay + Multiplier 2)

$600,000(PowerPlay + Multiplier 3)

$800,000(PowerPlay + Multiplier 4)

$1,000,000(PowerPlay + Multiplier 5)

TO

$500,000(No PowerPlay)

$1,000,000(PowerPlay + Multiplier 2... [ More ]

Reply #1

tnlotto1 — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 03:46:21 GMT

i feel like powerball and megamillions are hard enough to win already so i wouldnt want a matrix change. it looks good to have larger prizes for matching 5+0 but even hitting that is hard right now so i wouldnt want it to get harder. most people will keep playing even if they change the matrix.

Matrix change: Powerball to get much harder to win?

Guru101 — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 03:16:24 GMT

So apparently the SC Lottery had a meeting and there was a discussion about Powerball getting a matrix change. Posted on Wikipedia:

Another matrix change?

The South Carolina website mentions that a potential Powerball format change was discussed at a state lottery meeting[4] on October 4, 2007. Among the items mentioned was guaranteeing than any game matching the first five numbers where the PowerPlay option is exercised would win the player (at least) $1 million.

With the current