Answer Me This...

Reply #16

GiveFive — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 19:46:57 GMT

We Florida player did just that! I kind of didn't because I didn't get my panties all in a bunch over the addition of the Monday night drawing. I play PB differently than most players and I don't play regularly. And I couldn't care less what the current jackpot is.

That's because I'm trying to win a second place prize. My ticket costs me 15 bucks because I play 5 identical lines of the white balls, and use a different PB number on each line. I add The PowerPlay too. That's an expensive way... [ More ]

Reply #15

HoLeeKau — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 17:24:25 GMT

When Powerball went to three drawings the jackpots increased about the same every week as before the change for several months despite the fact there was an extra drawing. Then people got used to it or got over their snit at the moneygrubbing lottery (including me) and began to play more $$$. I have a feeling Florida players will do the same.

Reply #14

GiveFive — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 12:09:35 GMT

One more 'one more thing'......

I firmly believe that The Florida Lottery knew well in advance of implementing the midday drawing that ticket sales would go down. By how much they'd go down was probably the only question they had on their minds.

They also were very likely aware (probably advised by an advertising/marketing firm) that tampering with something that works very well could have very negative consequences in terms of ticket sales. (Like happened to Coca-Cola when they changed... [ More ]

Reply #13

GiveFive — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 18:56:43 GMT

I realize that from a Florida Fantasy5 players perspective going to two draws per day flat out stinks, and that me posting all of the hidden benefits for the Florida Lottery doesn't make it any better for players.

However there is one more thing I'd like to say and then I'll stop my long winded rants. I think in 2020 (not sure if that's the correct year or not, but if it's not 2020 then it's close to 2020) The New York Lottery implemented two drawings per day for their Pick5 game, Take5. Tak... [ More ]

Reply #12

GiveFive — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 13:42:25 GMT

A mystery?? Nah. Not to me anyway. Not after reading Tokecap's incredibly good post above. (BTW - I think it's the single best post I've ever seen written on The LP, but that's just one man's opinion)

Tokecap's post made it very clear to me that we as members of the lottery playing public have zero visibility as to how state lotteries run their businesses behind the scenes. All players can see is the results of the decisions they made.

You're located in New York, so I know you're aware... [ More ]

Reply #11

KY Floyd — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 06:37:20 GMT

Except FF5's awarded jackpot's collapsed immediately after the addition of the midday drawing

In that case maybe it's a mystery. When PB went to 3 drawings sales for Wednesday and Saturday went down a bit but the Monday sales more than make up for the loss. I suppose the extra ticket might be a reason some drop out altogether, but I'd think still playing twice a week would be the popular choice.

Something I feel very sure of is that all lotteries care about losing customers, at least to... [ More ]

Reply #10

GiveFive — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 20:02:03 GMT

Sure. It's definitely possible that The Florida Lottery changed the percentage of net sales allocated to the winners prize pool. (50%) They could have even changed the percentage of the winners prize pool allocated to the top prize. (62%) But that's not what they did or what happened at all. From reading Fantasy5's Official Rules I didn't see any percentages that changed when the midday drawing was added.

It's also true that net sales for FF5 could be down in general these days due to player... [ More ]

Reply #9

KY Floyd — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 18:17:23 GMT

A couple of years ago, The Florida Lottery added a midday drawing ...

these days the midday drawing offers ...

What happened to jackpots immediately after they added the midday drawings? You seem to be telling us what the jackpots were before the change and what the jackpots are a couple of years later. Lottery sales for games that are exactly the same as they were a few years ago are also down. Declining sales is why MM costs $5 now, and likely why FL added midday drawings.

It's als... [ More ]

Reply #8

GiveFive — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 17:40:55 GMT

I'm a retired IBM employee and I know IBM has a huge push going on in all things AI.

So I Googled what IBM says a Prompt Engineer is/does. To wit -

Generative AI systems are designed to generate specific outputs based on the quality of provided prompts . Prompt engineering helps generative AI models better comprehend and respond to a wide range of queries, from the simple to the highly technical. (Garbage in, garbage out - added by G5 )

The basic rule is that good prompts equal good... [ More ]

Reply #7

GiveFive — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 17:13:33 GMT

I suspected AI may have been involved with your original reply... and you're someone who is learning how to put the pedal to the metal with powerful AI inquiries. RESPECT!

Nice to see a demonstration of how powerful AI can truly be when put to positive and constructive uses. G5

Reply #6

tokecap — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 16:59:43 GMT

Hi

As a Prompt Engineer Trainee, I'm learning how to craft precise instructions to guide AI models to produce desired outputs.

Thanks

Reply #5

GiveFive — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 16:39:36 GMT

FANTASTIC ANSWERS/REPLY!!

I'm no marketing man that's for sure, but obviously state lotteries around the country are very sophisticated and understand what they're doing one helluva lot better than the lottery playing public does.

Some of those reasons are so subtle if not down right sneaky! Thanks! You've earned my complete respect.

Just curious, you didn't use AI to get that info, did you? Hope not! G5

Reply #4

hypersoniq — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 16:15:50 GMT

The player base may be somewhat different for the day and night draws. PA took the match 6 to daily draws and judging from how slow the jackpot grows, they also lost some sales. Then they took the cash 5 and doubled the ticket price... same thing. PA sticks to their formula for jackpot games, only tier 1 is a decent prize... Who knows what they are thinking when they make such decisions... someone is winning and it is usually not the players.

Reply #3

tokecap — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 16:11:53 GMT

A. You re correct: players lost value

From a player perspective:

Expected value went down

Jackpot growth was crippled

Pool fragmentation favors the house

Long-shot strategies became worse

That s why many experienced Fantasy 5 players walked away especially those who understood roll dynamics.

Your intuition there is dead on.

B. More drawings = more betting opportunities (the core benefit)

By adding a midday draw, the Florida Lottery effectively:

Doubled the numbe... [ More ]

Reply #2

GiveFive — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 15:38:57 GMT

Just like you, I'm sure many players would think they'd make more money from extra ticket sales, but to answer your question requires me to ask you a question.

That question is - WHAT extra ticket sales? Today's Florida Fantasy5 jackpots are way down. The winners prize pool contains 62% of all ticket sales for the sales period of the upcoming drawing. Single winner jackpots are now approximately $110,000 when prior to going to two draws per day they were approximately $200,000.

62% of... [ More ]

Reply #1

MartyMcNuts — Sun, 14 Dec 2025 22:56:03 GMT

Wouldn't they make a lot more money from the extra ticket sales? Maybe not double but perhaps 1.5x what they were getting with one draw

Answer Me This...

GiveFive — Sun, 14 Dec 2025 21:28:41 GMT

There are some very smart folks who are a lot smarter than I am that routinely post here. Maybe they could weigh in and answer a question for me.

A couple of years ago, The Florida Lottery added a midday drawing to their very popular daily Fantasy5 online game. All that did was lower jackpot amounts dramatically. Until that change, daily jackpots were in the $200,000 range. (When the Snowbirds landed in Florida, jackpots climbed to a range of $230,000 to $235,000.)

Even in Snowbird seaso... [ More ]