Would you still play Mega Millions if your state lottery's jackpot was bigger?

Reply #30

PlayToWin47 — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 00:35:49 GMT

I play games with the better odds.

I used to play MO Lotto for many years, refusing to mess with MM or PB. After thinking that it is time to change games, because I felt like I wasn't even winning enough smaller stuff with MO Lotto, I decided to cross the state line to try Hot Lotto (since it is not offered in MO). I hate the fact that it is a computer drawing (so was MO Lotto), but I still refuse to play MM or PB because of the ridiculously high odds (and I don't want that much anyway). I do... [ More ]

Reply #29

IPlayWeekly — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 19:16:08 GMT

Wow, that's crazy... just one number off. Your time is coming, keep playing... there's to many others winning.

Reply #28

RJOh — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 15:40:58 GMT

I matched 5of6 for $1500 in 2002 under Super Lotto and came within one digit of winning the jackpot so when MM resets to $12M and Classic Lotto is $25M+, I remember the old days and have to try again even though it's easier to get a small win with MM than CL.

Reply #27

dallascowboyfan — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 14:31:55 GMT

I tried the Casinos a couple of times once for Birthday a few years back couldn't get in to it. Now I have several co-workers that go all the time they win.

Reply #26

IPlayWeekly — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 11:46:13 GMT

Interesting link, not accuate in my case... already beat those odds several times. So far, I've hit every level... top being three white balls. For me playing is fun, I will win five white numbers... not even worried. I do other stuff also, have rentals and play stocks.

Reply #25

jimmy4164 — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 03:12:18 GMT

IPlayWeekly,

You'll enjoy playing this simulator.

http://www.justwebware.com/powerball/powerball.html

--Jimmy4164

Reply #24

helpmewin — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 00:47:38 GMT

Reply #23

helpmewin — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 00:46:12 GMT

i only go to oklahoma for the Casinos

Reply #22

dallascowboyfan — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 00:31:02 GMT

Lol.... True

Reply #21

DG1USA — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 00:25:28 GMT

Florida does not have Mega Millions, but if they ever put it in I will play it no matter what the jackpot is.

Reply #20

Coin Toss — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 00:22:56 GMT

Illinois Lotto is a 6/52 game, the odds are over 1:20,000,000 and the lower prizes are chump change.

There is a new twist called Extra Shot for another buck that would make a 5 of 6 prize somewhere around $40,000 instead of $1200 but it doesn't gt a whole lot of play.

For the Extra Shot one ball is drawn from 25 and it's always a QP.

Reply #19

maringoman — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 23:56:36 GMT

I play MM PB for the big jackpots and also the huge second prizes. For 3 lousy dollars you can hit PB second prize of

$2,000,000 cash and the odds for that is only 1 in 5,153,632.65. Most state lottos are 6/49 and the odds of hitting

the jp is 1 in 13,983,816 and the jp is an annuity which means you end up collecting 1/3 of the original jp.

Reply #18

IPlayWeekly — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 23:45:13 GMT

The reason I never played classic lotto is because their lower tier prizes aren't alot and they also have three drawings per week. To win $1,500 you need to get five white numbers... on MM (all white numbers) you win a minimum of $250k and if you play the extra dollar (I also do) it would be $500k. While I play MM and PB in every drawing, I'm not playing for the jackpot... I'm playing for the lower prize amounts. I already hit three white numbers several times, its just a matter of time before f... [ More ]

Reply #17

msharkey2001 — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 23:40:29 GMT

No way! State lottery all the way. Odds are waaaayyyy better.

Reply #16

RJOh — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 23:29:37 GMT

While MM offers the best odds of winning something and PB offers the best odds of winning a million dollars when you're only playing 5-20 lines, I'm looking for the best odds of winning a prizes over $10M playing 10 lines and today that's Classic Lotto.

Reply #15

mediabrat — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 21:06:42 GMT

I've been living out this exact scenario for a couple weeks now. NY Lotto has been over $12 million since the beginning of the year, so with MM being at or near the minimum since the last week of January, Lotto has actually been higher for a few draws now. (Except for that one draw when MM was at $19M.) It hasn't stopped me from playing MM; all it's done is get me to play Lotto a little more than usual.

Reply #14

RJOh — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 20:27:16 GMT

Look at the positive side, making a decision about which game to play is simpler.

Reply #13

dallascowboyfan — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 20:04:02 GMT

Since Oklahoma has no state lotto game we are only left to play multi-state games. So whenever we're in Texas we play Lotto Texas.

Reply #12

jimmy4164 — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 19:28:19 GMT

LottoGuyBC,

focus on the larger jackpot

That wouldn't necessarily be your best bet.

Here's a post that might help you do the numbers to get a more precise read on the games RJOh mentioned above. It compares the straight Powerball with the Powerplay option. Using your state's odds numbers and the Megamillions ones, you can make the same comparisons to answer this Topic Question. Once you've done the work for all the smaller fixed prizes, all you have to do then for each draw is plug in... [ More ]

Reply #11

RJOh — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 19:02:52 GMT

In Ohio, PowerBall and MegaMillions tickets are available at the same terminal that sells Ohio's Classic Lotto and Rolling Cash5 tickets.

Today:

Rolling Cash5 is at $100,000 with odds of 1:6K

Classic Lotto is at $27,700,000 with odds of 1:14M

PowerBall is at $40,000,000 with odds of 1:175M

MegaMillions just rolled to $13,000,000 with odds of 1:175M

Since jackpot size and their odds of winning are the only things that matter to me, it not hard to tell which game I'm playing toda... [ More ]

Reply #10

maximumfun — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 18:12:19 GMT

I would play them all (MM, SL, and PB

Reply #9

LottoGuyBC — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 18:00:40 GMT

focus on the larger jackpot

Reply #8

haymaker — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 17:31:48 GMT

I always play both, Jersey's pic6 rarely gets into that territory of MM starting JP of 12Mils,

mostly hits in the 3.5 to 5.5 range.

Reply #7

rdgrnr — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 16:24:44 GMT

Mega Millions.

Cuz all Tennessee's state games are fake computer drawings and I trust them about as far as I can... well, let's just say I don't trust 'em and I don't play 'em.

I go to Virginia to play their state games cuz they have real ball drawings.

But I'd still play both cuz I don't wanna be caught waitin' for a train when my ship comes in.

Reply #6

RedStang — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 15:56:28 GMT

Our lotto is currently 17mill, so i'm playing both. Would still play MM because the prize structure is better.

Reply #5

Coin Toss — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 15:50:22 GMT

Mega Millions.

Since Illinois got the 5 + 1 games (MM was first, actually The Big Game was) the jackpot on the state 6/52 game rarely gets all tht spectacular.

That being the case, I'd rather play MM with the Megaplier hoping for a 5 + 0 for $1M than trying to hit 6 for 6 in the Lotto.

Reply #4

billionaire2bee — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 15:41:31 GMT

I say spend like you already got it....play both...Cause if you won you'll be deciding on things that are a whole lot different like...

Steak or lobster

lamborghini or ferrarri

house in Palm beach or palm Springs

vacation in Aspen or Park city

Hey you won millions why choose.....the choice is obivious....both LOL

Reply #3

rcbbuckeye — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 13:34:01 GMT

Yes. I play all the jackpot games in Texas every week. We don't get to choose when we win, if we should ever be so lucky, and I can retire on any of them (except Texas 2 Step).

Reply #2

IPlayWeekly — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 13:13:13 GMT

Yes, I play MM regardless of the size... every drawing

Reply #1

sully16 — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 12:55:14 GMT

Would you still play Mega Millions if your state lottery's jackpot was bigger?

whiteballz — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 12:50:12 GMT

Let's say the Mega Millions jackpot was $13 million and your state lottery's jackpot was $14 million. Would you play Mega Millions at all or just play the state lottery instead