A National Lottery During Our Lifetime

Reply #19

Coin Toss — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 15:18:37 GMT

joker17,

Within 25 seconds after the announcement of such a lottery coming into being there would be people claiming they have a system to beat it.

Reply #18

pumpi76 — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 06:33:09 GMT

if powerball/MegaMillions reach: $400 Million dollars twice a year all you got to do is increase the price of each ticket from: $1 to $3 it will reach: $400 Million x 3 = $1.2 Billion...so it will reach: $1.2 Billion twice a year and that s just Powerball alone, not counting Mega Millions...

Powerball will eventually reach: $1 Billion or $900 Million with the passage of time and inflation the ticket will go up from: $1 to $2 or $3....Stuff dont cost the same as they did in the, 90 s and that

Reply #17

joker17 — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 06:05:47 GMT

Too many winners may defy the whole purpose of a National Lottery. Folks from different states will win and it will be like regular individual state lotteries.

The goal is for me to win like a billion bucks. The odds will be 317 billion to one.

Pick a combo from 72.4 billion combinations and cross my fingers....lol

Reply #16

Coin Toss — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 05:52:08 GMT

Why not something more like the El Gordo in Spain with lots of winners.

I'm not sue if there is any one big jackpot winner but I think the prizes get split a lot of ways.

Anyone familiar with how it's set up

Reply #15

RJOh — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 16:51:51 GMT

With the two multi state lotteries having odds of 1:175M and 1:195M never generating a jackpot over $400M, it would probably have to be a lottery with twice those odds and $5 a play to generate a billion dollars jackpot. If it used a format like today's lotteries with weekly drawings and players willing to continue playing and losing while the jackpot builded up, it would probably fail unless all other lotteries with jackpots of $10M or more were discontinued.

Reply #14

Coin Toss — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 04:48:29 GMT

Yeah, I don't think so either, rdgrnr.

Especially in this electronic age.

Reply #13

time*treat — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 03:59:55 GMT

... depends on how much a billion will buy when the time comes.

Reply #12

rdgrnr — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 03:50:21 GMT

I don't think you'll ever see it outlawed again.

They've gotten us so far into debt they could never afford to lose the lottery income.

Reply #11

Coin Toss — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 20:18:03 GMT

A search for History of lotteries in america turns up a lot of interesting information.

Here's one of many hits:

TThe History of Lottery in America

The History of Lottery in America

The lottery history in the United States goes back to the colonial times, when Virginia and other colonies were organizing lotteries to get funds for financing all kinds of public works. The lottery money built the roads and bridges, schools, churches and hospitals. Education was also helped a great deal... [ More ]

Reply #10

bobby623 — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 15:18:10 GMT

Given the deplorable political situation in our country, it's doubtful, IMHO, that Congress could enact a federal lottery.

Every lottery state would oppose it because it would take $$$ away from local school kids.

The best chance of a 'national lottery' will come next year when the Powerball and Mega Millions folks introduce the next

jackpot game. A Texas lottery official recently called it a supreme' game, but gave no specific details.

Reply #9

Stack47 — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 14:41:40 GMT

When Ohio began their Pick-4 game, it was pari-mutuel and a straight win averaged $12,000 and the box win averaged $500. A co-worker hit a $2 box and thought he won $1000, but so many other players had the same combo each $1 box ticket only paid $86. The other day I saw the number 6666 all day long so I decided to play it in the Pick-4 only to find it was sold out.

While their might be benefit to pari-mutuel payoffs when certain numbers are drawn, the playoffs could be quite a bit less than

Reply #8

Coin Toss — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 14:37:52 GMT

rdgrnr,

Good research!

joker17,

That would be nice but I doubt anyone running a Pick 3 is going to pay true odds or even better than true odds. On top of all the losers, the gambling operators consider the disparity between what is paid on a bet and the true odds against winning that bet how they make money . True, Pass Line and Don't Pass odds on a crap game pay true odds, but you have to have a flat bet to take or lay the odds.

Stack47,

Excellent point about the taxes.

Reply #7

Stack47 — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 14:21:04 GMT

If a National lottery was enacted the Federal Government could put terminals (as you suggested) in U.S. Post Offices because they are on Federal property within each state. It's not illegal for Utah residents to gamble in Nevada or Colorado or to buy lottery tickets in states with a lottery. So the same laws would apply to a National lottery.

There are some states that are now considering privatizing their lotteries and if or when that happens the Federal Government could create a controlling... [ More ]

Reply #6

joker17 — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 06:20:22 GMT

What I like to see as a pick 3 player at heart, is a national p-3 game. It will be pari-mutuel, so larger payouts will be more enticing. Instead of a fixed 500 dollar payout, a fair tier payout scale system can be formed to reward those who beat the system rewarding them to thousands instead of hundreds.

California is pari-mutuel state. I won 526 bucks on 026 five or so years ago. A national game would've theoretically netted me upwards of 2 grand or more....

Reply #5

rdgrnr — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 05:25:47 GMT

Amendment X

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Furthermore, the power and authority and sovereignty the federal government has usurped from the states in the total corruption of the Commerce Clause is a crime that should not go unpunished for all those guilty of it and still living (In my humble o... [ More ]

Reply #4

Raven62 — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 04:07:22 GMT

No Worry: Federal Law Trumps State Law

Reply #3

Coin Toss — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 03:57:52 GMT

KY Floyd,

Let's say there is a national lottery. You say states have no say in whether there is one. So we'll say there is one but how do people in Utah, for example, buy tickets since it is against the law to do so?

You can't have a national lottery until it is legal to buy a lottery ticket in all the states in a nation.

Reply #2

KY Floyd — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 23:53:44 GMT

I'm not sure if we'll ever see a national lottery, especiially with holdout states.

States have no say in whether or not we get a national lottery, because national lotteries are run by nations, not groups of states. If every state eventually offers PB, MM, or some other game we'll have a nationwide lottery. It will take an act of congress to get a national lottery. If that happens there probably won't be any hold out states, because the government can sell the tickets wherever they want.... [ More ]

Reply #1

Coin Toss — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 20:50:12 GMT

Powerball was originally called LOTTO USA. Maybe the intention was that it woulld become a national lottery and thus the name, but then the name changed.

I'm not sure if we'll ever see a national lottery, especiially with holdout states.

I think there should be one. Let the post office sell the tickets, and give them a piece of ticket sales.

A National Lottery During Our Lifetime

dphillips — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 19:50:30 GMT

Our state lotteries are substantial and rewarding, depending upon which lottery is being played and the payout. However, do you forsee a national lottery in our lifetime -- 10 or 20 years from now? Who knows, a national lottery could generate billions of dollars (imagine someone winning a billion dollar lottery)? The majority of us are impressed when a person wins 100 million dollars or more, of course, that's enough money to retire -- even after taxes.

Quite frankly, I don't think I'll live... [ More ]