powerball sales continue to drop

Reply #29

KY Floyd — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 06:34:50 GMT

I can see why PB is changing its matrix next month because it's paying out a larger percent of it sales in smaller prizes than other major games

Powerball pays out 50% of sales, period. The change in the matrix has absolutely nothing to do with how much they pay out for smaller prizes (which is 6.88% for all prizes up to $7' the $100 and $10,000 prizes account for another 1.44%). The change is strictly about their hopes to increase sales. Since sales are driven by large jackpots the change i... [ More ]

Reply #28

RJOh — Thu, 10 Sep 2015 17:52:41 GMT

I like to do a little test to really see which game I play is more likely to return more of my money if I don't win a second prize of the jackpot. I calculate if I spent $500 in the last ten draws buying the 50 previous winning numbers or 25 of PB in my state(Ohio) the amount of the $500 I would win back.

Rolling Cash5(5/39)=$89/$500 or 18%

Ohio Classic Lotto(6/49)=$16/$500 or 3%

MegaMillions(5/75+1/15)=$35/$500 or 7%

PowerBall(5/59+1/35)=$54/$500 or 11%

I can see why PB is changi... [ More ]

Reply #27

Coin Toss — Thu, 10 Sep 2015 16:12:27 GMT

gatorsrok,

Regardless of the game the most common result is whatever doesn't pay, 0, 1 or 2 numbers on a Pick 6, etc...

The lotteries are also very well aware that the real small prizes go right back into more tickets.

Reply #26

gatorsrok — Thu, 10 Sep 2015 03:30:24 GMT

That's correct. When I refer to being burned by it, I'm really pointing out the average player does not win anything on a typical draw. The odds of winning any prize are 1 in 31.85 which means that even if you buy 5-10 tickets ($10 to $20) per drawing, you will probably not even get the lowest payout of $4.

When the PB exceeds $150M, we form an office pool to buy tickets. We typically buy about $50-$60 worth of tickets and every time so far we have either won nothing or we win $4 or $7. I th... [ More ]

Reply #25

Coin Toss — Thu, 10 Sep 2015 02:56:36 GMT

I wouldn't call playing a game with jackpot odds of over 175 million to one actually getting 'burned' by it.

Reply #24

gatorsrok — Thu, 10 Sep 2015 02:38:30 GMT

Bottom line is that most people have who play PB have been burned by it. How many times do you have to spend $10-$20 on tickets for a drawing and win absolutely nothing to get tired of it. If the stars align right and it's a full moon, you may win $4 or $7. I think most people just wait until the jackpot gets huge before they'll waste any money on it.

Like someone else said, I'd take realistic chances at a $1M prize over impossible odds at a $100M prize. The concept for a lot of millionaires... [ More ]

Reply #23

RedStang — Wed, 09 Sep 2015 18:23:37 GMT

. It would be nice if regular lottery players could earn points like at a Casino. Were the ones that keep it going.

Reply #22

Coin Toss — Wed, 09 Sep 2015 17:19:08 GMT

There are lottery players and then there are those who wait for others to pump the jackpots up for them.

Reply #21

maximumfun — Wed, 09 Sep 2015 04:41:42 GMT

Once the jackpot hits record levels - non-serious/common people will return to PowerBall and then will forget/not care about the new odds - and if PB starts and continues to build big jackpots - they will stay PB players. The sales won't be as high as before, but the profits will be bigger for the states because of the sales pushes of the big jackpots.

Reply #20

rcbbuckeye — Wed, 09 Sep 2015 03:16:28 GMT

Where else can you drop a buck or 2 and have a chance at millions. Yeah, it's a real small chance, but every draw I'm in it and it only takes 1 ticket.

Reply #19

RJOh — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 16:02:47 GMT

Yes but it's a pipe dream that happens for a handful of folks every year which is enough to keep a lot of dreamers spending a couple of dollars for tickets every drawing. Let face it, people spent a lot more money on things that do more harm than a pipe dream.

Reply #18

weshar75 — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 03:08:57 GMT

I will continue to play powerball and mega millions because I only play one line with the multiplier hoping for the million prize. I do not go crazy when the jackpot grows to much usually I will just go from one line of ticket to five lines of one ticket with multiplier on it for both mega and powerball when they are close to records. But if it is a base jackpot only one line with multiplier. So their not getting much from me this year. I think that my state games like lucky lines and win for li... [ More ]

Reply #17

Coin Toss — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 02:59:56 GMT

Scratch$,

There's a saying, Everyone bets the same amount . It doesn't mean the same monetary amount but whatever amount it takes for them to get a thrill.

Reply #16

Deo-nonfortuna — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 02:46:34 GMT

Wait until the new PB matrix (like MM) hits next month, it will drag the sales to a new low. States like DE no longer has any jackpot winners, so of course people aren't gonna play as much as in bigger states. NY lotto has a slogan ALL you need is a dollar and dream . Let's face it, 99.9999% people will not win PW or MM jackpot, so it's just a pipe dream.

Reply #15

Scratch$ — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 02:38:23 GMT

Buh-bye, Powerball!

I'm officially kicking jackpot games to the curb. Powerball sucks, Mega Millions sucks, North Carolina Cash 5 sucks.

From now on I play only $10/$20/$30 dollar scratchers. I live within fairly easy driving distance of both Georgia and Virginia, so I can buy the best scratchers in 3 states.

Reply #14

noise-gate — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 02:16:43 GMT

Your friends knew something.....its called knowing when to quit.

Reply #13

Candy-Lane — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 01:54:57 GMT

I pretty much agree with what everyone has already said.

I think I could save PB and increase sells if, they wanted to hire me to turn things around. The current team is going to run it into the ground. I will no longer play PB once the new changes go into effect. I suspect I am not the only one.

RIP POWER BALL!

It was fun while it lasted

Reply #12

Scratch$ — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 01:39:04 GMT

An extra buck or two is no big deal when you're talking about casual players who only buy 2 or 3 plays per draw. But what about the serious players, who might purchase 20 or 30 plays per draw? I know a couple that used to buy 30 PB plays per draw when they only cost $1, that's 8 or 9 draws a month at $30 bucks a pop, so $240 to $270 a month. But when plays went to $2 each, that would make the monthly cost $480 to $540 for the same number of plays, an amount most people can't afford. So naturally... [ More ]

Reply #11

Coin Toss — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 00:30:55 GMT

It's ironic and entertaining that people trying to win multi-millions throw a fit over and extra $1 or $2 for a ticket.

It's really entertaining when many of those same people gladly fork over $10 or $20 for a raffle ticket that might win $1 million.

Reply #10

pickone4me — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 23:44:33 GMT

Right on the money

Reply #9

destinycreation — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 22:27:17 GMT

Because the ticket price went up from $1.00 to $2.00. [Forget about the Power Play option

Reply #8

noise-gate — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 19:07:24 GMT

You Right LL. GREED is the Word. BTW- I have for the most part said $20 mil has me walking off into the sunset for good, but will settle for less * $10 mil in a pinch.

Peace.

Reply #7

music* — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 15:49:11 GMT

The Economy is a big factor in Lottery sales. Starting in 2008 when the Great Recession hit then people looked for a way out of their dire circumstances. They dreamed big and played PB MM . There are plenty of videos about unemployed players winning big. A great story line back then.

Now is different for the majority. They will start trickling into play when the jackpot reaches 200 million. I hope.

Reply #6

Scratch$ — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 15:45:00 GMT

I don't play PB near as much since the ticket price went up to $2, and $3 for a power play is pretty steep. I also don't play MM as much since they increased the size of their number matrix.

I pretty much just play $10/$20/$30 scratchers now.

Reply #5

gy65 — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 15:44:27 GMT

Arizona Lottery . . FY 2014-2015 comparison . . Powerball -17.2% . . MegaMillions -18.4%

Quarterly sales by product . . pull tabs 1% . . in-state games 9.2% . . multi-state games 18.3% . . scratchers 72.3

Reply #4

Lucky Loser — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 14:20:11 GMT

A man after my own thoughts for the most part here. noise-gate, greed completely took over with the jackpot games although officials have tried to pass it off as offering larger and more exciting prizes. See, they promote only the idea of winning millions upon millions and how much fun it would be to win but, they completely ignore discussing just how much more harder it'll be to win ANYTHING. Their plan is to keep that money right where it is as long as they can so they can use it as needed wit... [ More ]

Reply #3

zephbe — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 14:10:52 GMT

I think people have become smarter about what they play. Astronomical odds and huge jackpots may be fine for those playing for fun. Some people are playing to win more modest amounts. They would rather buy a $1 million scratch off or a $250,000 scratch off. What PB is proposing is ridiculous. I expect their sales to continue to drop. There are a lot of games with better odds with jackpots high enough for a win to improve someone's life.

Reply #2

bigbear29 — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 07:43:19 GMT

I think people are not excited about the lottery anymore, especially states that rarely see a jackpot win. Other reason: unemployment, lack of hope, $2.00 pb and no wins for a long period of time, seeing the same places win and very high odds.

Reply #1

noise-gate — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 05:00:34 GMT

.. because it is human nature to go the extreme. At one time winning $10 million was considered Great. Not anymore. People got comfortable with reading about folk winning $100 mil, then that got stale, they wanted more exciting jackpots , ones that would and could blow the mind. The promise of $500 Mil jackpots being the norm in the very near future was preached from the rooftops but it did not materialize and players soon lost their initial excitement. It extends to other things as well. Boxing... [ More ]

powerball sales continue to drop

alexnt55 — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 04:10:06 GMT

For the past 10 PB drawings ticket sales total 268 million and the advertised JP is for 149 million. Looking back 2 years ago in just about the same time of the year ticket sales for 10 drawings were 460 million and the advertised JP was for 317 million. In just 2 years sales are now just a little more than half of what they were just 2 years ago. I did not total MM sales but just glancing at them can see they are quite a bit smaller then they use to be. I recall talk awhile back about some day