MM $5, PB $2, Powerplay $1I

Reply #36

KY Floyd — Sat, 04 Oct 2025 05:04:01 GMT

I think it would be really stupid for Powerball to do the same thing and make their game terrible as well.

How stupid it is depends on how stupid their target demographic is. So far, for any advertised jackpot at $5 per ticket MM is collecting more revenue than they did at $2 per ticket. If sales remain relatively modest even when it goes up another 200, 500 or 800 million they might lose out in the long run due to a higher percentage of drawings with sales of $20 to $50 million, but in the... [ More ]

Reply #35

sydney333 — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 12:20:28 GMT

For me and the mega it's about the choice. They have taken that away.

Reply #34

sydney333 — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 12:17:47 GMT

You know how many times I have won on those side bets??? Yes, I always tip the dealer. Hey, it's your money. Play however see fit.

Reply #33

Tucker Black — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 05:35:03 GMT

You sound like one of those dealers at a table game who tries to goad me into playing their stupid side bets.

Reply #32

Albert Bundy — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 04:52:50 GMT

Correct. The only reason to spend $2 every so often is the chance to win a life changing amount.

You are missing the point as to why a lot of players resent the $5 ticket price.

The whole point of Mega Millions is the big jackpot and maybe the hope of second prize. It's really stupid to increase the ticket price so the lower prizes can be increased.

Reply #31

sydney333 — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 00:03:11 GMT

Sorry I don't share your losing attitude and thanks for your permission...I will

Reply #30

Coin Toss — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 23:50:40 GMT

You get a chance at winning multimillions.

Reply #29

Tucker Black — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 23:09:03 GMT

If I won a million dollars, I would be very happy at winning a life-changing amount of money. For every PP 2nd place winner who gets $2 million, there are 11,688,053 other PP buyers who wasted their money on it.

If you want to spend the extra dollar, go right ahead.

Reply #28

sydney333 — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 21:53:56 GMT

For a dollar

Reply #27

sydney333 — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 21:52:22 GMT

My thought is...why wouldn't you want a million plus/minus even if you didn't hit the jackpot

Reply #26

Tucker Black — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 20:55:05 GMT

If a lottery pool buys Powerplay, it means the last 1/3 of the pool's money has a zero chance to win the jackpot.

The purpose of a lottery pool is to maximize the participants' chances of winning the jackpot. Throwing away the last 1/3 of the pool's money on Powerplay will not change the amount of each participant's share should they win, but will reduce their chances of winning by 1/3. That makes no sense.

There is a way to guarantee a $2 million win for second prize (assuming this is n... [ More ]

Reply #25

winoneday — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 20:47:12 GMT

I find your perspective interesting because it is completely opposite to mine.

I like the pool I joined because they do not play power play for the Powerball game. Since the pool is going to divide the winnings among all the members of the pool, I want the pool to only spend money on the largest prize possible.

It is different for Mega Millions. We do not have a choice. The multiplier is built in.

Why do you want the power play included in the pool

Reply #24

Tucker Black — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 20:16:21 GMT

Yes, prices for most goods and services have gone up due to inflation. Inflation means paying more for the same thing. However, the cost of printing lottery tickets and fixing machines is basically irrelevant, because cost is a very small part of the wager.

Lotteries have increased prices or added $1 extra options to try to get more revenue from the players. Unlike inflation, they don't increase prices and give you the same prize. When you bet more, the winners win more. Also, the state coll... [ More ]

Reply #23

sydney333 — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 18:56:54 GMT

Just my two cents...mega only if it's WAY up there and then minimal. NEVER the Powerball without the power play. Adjust the number of tickets purchased to include the extra buck. I have a group lottery that I will not join because of no power play. It makes no sense to me and I'm better off on my own.

Reply #22

Think — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 17:26:56 GMT

Go back and read my original post again because you are missing the point still !!

It is not about the $5 it is about what you get for that $5.

It's a terrible deal on a rotten bundle. Mega Millions is a horrific and stupid game now.

Reply #21

Coin Toss — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 22:55:49 GMT

It seems to me like you aren't aware of what has happened to prices in the last few years, including lotteries. Games that used to be $1 are now $2., some of them having options of adding a dollar to he $2, pick 3 and 4 games have 'fireball' and other options to add a dollar. Where do you think it's all headed

Reply #20

Think — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 19:28:52 GMT

None of the other games charge $5 to pretend to be something they are not!

Would it make you happy if pick 3 was $5 and had a $1,000,000,000,000 annuity jackpot that had 50 quintillion to 1 odds of hitting

and paid the annuity out at a dime a year for ten trillion years?

and a second prize of $10,000,000 with 672 trillion to 1 odds of hitting?

I'm sure the state lottery commissions would love to have you as a customer on that ticket too!

It looks to me like you are not c... [ More ]

Reply #19

Coin Toss — Sat, 27 Sep 2025 00:28:44 GMT

Think,

None of the other games you mentioned would give you the MM jackpot amounts in case you got all the nunmkbers right.

Reply #18

Lotterologist — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 08:18:06 GMT

You disagree with Bob Dylan???

You lack imagination and creativity.

I'm not in favor of the lottery preying on the poor .

In the richest country on earth, there should be no poverty

Reply #17

Tucker Black — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 05:10:07 GMT

wow

The lottery gets a bad rep for preying on the poor. And you're in favor of this?

Maybe the lottery could team up with the welfare department and send people sample scratchoffs and play slips along with their food stamp cards. It would help drive up lottery business and remove a few lucky folks from the rolls (until they blow it all and then come back).

Reply #16

Lotterologist — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 01:14:21 GMT

Bob Dylan is one of the greatest songwriters that ever lived!

That is a fact.

Reply #15

Lotterologist — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 00:38:32 GMT

If they're struggling financially, that's the time they SHOULD be gambling!

Like Bob Dylan said, When you ain't got nuthin', you got nuthin' to lose.

Reply #14

Coin Toss — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 00:24:05 GMT

A lot of players are unhappy with the $5 tickets to the point like they are acting likely already have the amount of the prize, I know I don't so will throw $5 at it. We are in an age where scratchers are anywhere from $1 to $100. Consider what various things cost just a few years ago .It's inevitable that the price of PB will eventually go up and it's not like everyone will quit playing. The fact that people hoping to win multi millions complains about a $3 ticket increase just shows how people... [ More ]

Reply #13

Think — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 16:12:04 GMT

You are missing the point as to why a lot of players resent the $5 ticket price.

The whole point of Mega Millions is the big jackpot and maybe the hope of second prize. It's really stupid to increase the ticket price so the lower prizes can be increased.

Third prize is 10k and multiplied up to 100k

The odds of getting anything above 30 k are really ridiculous.

If I want to go for 100k I don't need Mega Millions to do that!

I could buy a Fantasy 5 ticket for 1$ and get mu... [ More ]

Reply #12

Coin Toss — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 01:48:02 GMT

Betting 3120 to make sure you win $10 to $50 could get someone sent to the funny farm.

Reply #11

hypersoniq — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 04:02:56 GMT

You could do the same thing with Mega Millions for $3,120...

Seems the only way to make a small fortune on the lottery is to start with a large fortune.

Reply #10

Tucker Black — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 03:53:46 GMT

Buy 26 Powerball tickets for $52, same 5 numbers 1-69 and all 26 Powerball numbers. 1 in 11 million chance to win the jackpot plus $25 million. 96% chance of winning $4.

Reply #9

KY Floyd — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 03:40:32 GMT

I'm looking at it as it's much more likely for a player to win on the gimmick considering the 292.2 million odds.

Would you like to expand on that thought to see if it makes any sense? Powerplay doesn't do anything to improve your chances, much less make it much more likely. The chance of winning any prize at all is 1 in 24.87, or 4%. That means there's a 96% chance that instead of wasting $2 you've wasted $3, but while it's only half (again) as much as the regular $2 cost, that extra $1 gi... [ More ]

Reply #8

Lotterologist — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 20:15:57 GMT

But there's a chance they could be one of those lottery rags to riches stories and win.

Reply #7

Lotterologist — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 20:13:04 GMT

That's an idea. I guess people are doing what they can.

Reply #6

rcbbuckeye — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 20:11:47 GMT

My thought is if a person is struggling financially that they can't afford an extra dollar, they shouldn't be gambling in the first place. It's easy to say it's only 2 or 3 dollars , but if finances are that tight, don't blow it on the lottery, or any gambling.

Reply #5

Coin Toss — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 19:56:24 GMT

Maybe play a little less often and play the extra dollar when they do play

Reply #4

Lotterologist — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 05:25:25 GMT

In this economy, many people can't afford the extra buck.

Reply #3

grwurston — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 05:15:38 GMT

I don't play either one very often but when I do I always got the Mega Plier or Power Play. Like you said, you hit 5 numbers for $1M and you could have won $2-5 million instead but you were like, I didn't want to spend the extra buck ... And now you're like What was I thinking

Reply #2

Coin Toss — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 03:29:45 GMT

Tucker Black, thanks for the reply. Just different ways of looking at things, I'm looking at it as it's much more likely for a player to win on the gimmick considering the 292.2 million odds. I'm guessing those who win $1M as opposed to an additional million are kind of haunted or plagued by the thought of not having played one more dollar. I'm also guessing MUSL motors this site and is getting a kick out of this.

Reply #1

Tucker Black — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 02:30:04 GMT

If MUSL didn't like Powerplay, they would get rid of it. They love it because it has a profit margin of 50%.

If 12 people win the 2nd place prize with its 1 in 11 million chance of winning, that would imply 140 million tickets sold. At the rate of $1 extra per ticket for Powerplay, that's $140 million in gross revenue.

MUSL would much rather bring in $140 million in gross revenue and pay out $12 million extra (plus more on the lower prizes).

Most people (including me) don't pay extra... [ More ]

MM $5, PB $2, Powerplay $1I

Coin Toss — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 00:54:27 GMT

I just don't get a lot of players. A lot of players resent the $5 for MM, OK but if PB goes to $5 it will sure get interesting. As for Powerplay on PB one more dollar has the potential to win one more million dollars yet few play it. Granted most players want to turn a toothpick into a lumberyard but why the reluctance to playing an extra dollar? The MUSL loves the fact that most players don't spring for the extra buck. Let's say on a given drawing 12 people hit the 5 top numbers but none of the... [ More ]