NC habit of ending games with top prizes

Reply #9

Scratch$ — Sat, 05 Sep 2015 21:15:15 GMT

Most states will end games early when sales slow down significantly and the tickets aren't bringing in enough money to pay the larger prizes.

Illinois quietly ended their $30 thousand a week for 30 years game, and I don't believe they awarded a single one of the top prizes. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, and please provide a link.

Reply #8

yellowpig — Fri, 14 Aug 2015 10:36:19 GMT

some states list that info w amount of tickets printed but most others u are able to figure that out from the information they give u on their website (i know TN and IL to my knowledge do not post the detailed odds information online

Reply #7

JAMORA — Fri, 14 Aug 2015 03:18:39 GMT

Ever notice how a top prize gets won fairly soon, then nothing big for a loooong stretch....they milk it while people are excited.....I've also noticed that some rolls have multiple good prizes...but most are pitifully losing rolls...with long stretches of nothing....they print a lot of losing tickets....If they shared total number of printed tickets for a game vs those with prizes, I'd probably never buy one....lol

Reply #6

snapdragon — Fri, 14 Aug 2015 03:11:05 GMT

I know how you feel JAMORA; the new Mega Bucks, what a let down. I think the tickets get printed but don't leave the warehouse.

Reply #5

JAMORA — Fri, 14 Aug 2015 03:04:36 GMT

Kinda hard to win the top prize if it never left the warehouse (or even got printed for that matter)!

Though that's not my biggest beef with NC scratgh offs.....What ticks me off is scratching a ticket with a multiplier, then finding the multiplied prize isn't even in the prize matrix! If I scratch a x5 on a $10 ticket, I expect a $50 prize minimum, only to get 5 x $2! Break even! WTH! Very deceptive

Reply #4

gatorsrok — Fri, 14 Aug 2015 02:31:14 GMT

One of the few good things the Florida Lottery does is wait until all top prizes are claimed before pulling a game. They had one huge notable exception (Billion Dollar Blockbuster), but they will typically let a game sell out before they retire the game.

Reply #3

Hysteria — Fri, 14 Aug 2015 00:26:12 GMT

South Carolina does this primarily with $1, $2, $3 and $5. They'll do it with $10 games if one top prize is left and no one has claimed it if a specific amount of time.. Then again, I haven't seen many SC scratch games that have lasted more than 10 - 12 months in active circulation.

I'm pretty sure as far as SCEL is concerned, the available prizes remaining must drop below a certain level before they pull a game but I couldn't begin to imagine what's the limit.

Reply #2

mrcraft — Thu, 13 Aug 2015 04:12:55 GMT

In California they pull games with top prizes remaining all the time, mostly because sales languish at some point in the game's lifecycle. However, there are some games that usually sell until all TP's are claimed.

Reply #1

yellowpig — Thu, 13 Aug 2015 02:11:37 GMT

yes know a game in NY that they pulled it and not a single top prize was claimed - because it was a christmas themed game was only supposed to be around for the holidays

NC habit of ending games with top prizes

snapdragon — Thu, 13 Aug 2015 01:51:59 GMT

I was wondering if other states end their scratch off games while there are still top prizes left? NC does this on a regular basis. A few months ago, I asked this question on their forum, and they replied that it's to make way for all the new games which are presented monthly. To me this just seem like another way of screwing the players, and some what of a bait and switch; I also noticed that when games are coming to an end, it's more difficult to find them in the stores. Do you guys in other s... [ More ]