OFFICIAL: New BG odds 1:135 million!!

Reply #17

RJOh — Wed, 03 Apr 2002 15:01:48 GMT

That group was featured on the TV show 'How They do that'. At the time, I think the odd was ~1:10M and it took a lot of work to preplan the event, bond the participants, get permmission from the stores to have 100% access to their terminals and wait for the jackpot to hit the right amount. After that happen, Virgina claimed they put in place rules that made it impossible for that to ever happen again. Accoring to most states rules, no one person or group can have total access to a terminal for a... [ More ]

Reply #20

Guest — Wed, 03 Apr 2002 14:48:22 GMT

Tom wrote:Does anyone have any thoughts on whether a lottery game where the odds are already astronomical needs to madeeven more astronomical? Would it be awful if they actuallyhad a winner every week or two, instead of 1 person winningan absurdly huge amount of money?To answer Tom's question, I think that if big Game brought aboard New York Ohio without changing the game's matrix and raising the odds ... than yes, you would witness more winners and lesser pools. And eventually, there would be... [ More ]

Reply #14

Guest — Wed, 03 Apr 2002 14:40:54 GMT

If memory serves me correctly ... once upon a time Powerball's matrix had two pools of 45 numbers from which to chooose 5 and 1 from ... then they changed it to the current 49/42 matrix.I betcha within one year of BigGame's matrix change (May 17 2002) that Powerball will have changed their matrix once again ... perhaps matching the 52/52 or at least coming close to it.Rob

Reply #19

Guest — Wed, 03 Apr 2002 14:37:29 GMT

Does anyone have any thoughts on whether a lottery game where the odds are already astronomical needs to madeeven more astronomical? Would it be awful if they actuallyhad a winner every week or two, instead of 1 person winningan absurdly huge amount of money? Yes, I know the statesmake more with huge jackpots but this sounds like too much -too much money in the jackpot, too small odds of winning,too greedy for both states and players. Count me out if they do this.

Reply #18

RJOh — Wed, 03 Apr 2002 14:32:38 GMT

Where did you find this offical information? If this is true than the changes are greater than was expected. Ohio has a jackpot of $34M this week with odds of 1:14M which is not creating any lines and they had hoped that adding the Biggame later this summer would create more interest among lottery players. With those odds, I doubt if players will play more, only time will tell.RJOh

Reply #7

John — Wed, 03 Apr 2002 11:50:37 GMT

When the odds are increased Big Game won't be getting any more of my money. Remember the old song..A fool and his money.... I think Big Game is going to lose.

Reply #13

Guest — Wed, 03 Apr 2002 02:02:55 GMT

Georgia had Powerball when the BG was being developed. I think they accepted when the BG group allowed the drawings to be held in Atlanta. Initially, GA wanted to sell BG _and_ Powerball simultaneously for several months, but, MUSL booted GA from Powerball. More recently, Maryland has been wondering about selling both, since MUSL has other games and ideas.

Reply #12

Abe — Wed, 03 Apr 2002 01:22:02 GMT

I doubt the annuity period will change. It'd be nice if PlayBigGame.com would get back online (been down since November 2001) so we can play the new Big Game lotto. We being those not in Big Game states.

Reply #16

Todd — Wed, 03 Apr 2002 00:13:43 GMT

You know, there was a group of people who actually did that. I think it was for the Virginia lottery, and it worked. The problem was that they still relied on a bit of luck -- they did not have enough time to physically buy all of the possible combinations. And that was for a regular Pick 6 style game. For a game like the new Big Game it would be virtually impossible -- there simply would not be enough time to buy all the tickets.-Todd

Reply #15

someday22 — Tue, 02 Apr 2002 23:16:18 GMT

Hello All,Ya know.. I've thought about this a few times and while I realize that someone that did this wouldprobably be a little twisted it does make me wonder..Let's say the game is changed and the odds do change to 135 million to 1. If the jackpot doesreach 500 million, what's stoping someone from playing all 135 million combinations? What I'mtrying to get at is that while it would be a pain in the butt to play all the possibilities the large jackpot is like an investment, If I knew that I cou... [ More ]

Reply #11

Guest — Tue, 02 Apr 2002 22:35:58 GMT

I wonder if a bigger 2nd prize is in the offing with the Big Game's successor? 250K maybe?I also wonder if seasons tickets will be possible?And might the annuity time period be chopped down from 25 years to 20?Rob

Reply #10

Guest — Tue, 02 Apr 2002 22:15:55 GMT

QUES: Is there any rule whereby a state cannot be a member of both Big Game Powerball

Reply #9

Abe — Tue, 02 Apr 2002 21:10:04 GMT

Or simply whip out a graphing calculator that allows you to do Combinations.Enter 52 choose 5 times 52 (or 52 choose 1 if you want to be explicit) = 135,145,920

Reply #8

Guest — Tue, 02 Apr 2002 20:36:03 GMT

Rob: The odds will be: (52x51x50x49x48)(52)/(5x4x3x2x1).

Reply #6

Guest — Tue, 02 Apr 2002 20:31:58 GMT

Pennsylvania is joining Powerball this summer. PA has a much larger population base than any current MUSL member. Look for Powerball to offer its third version in 2003. Florida WAS to join Powerball in 1999, except Gov. Jeb Bush reversed his predecessor's approval. Texas has been considering joining a multi-state game. Washington state has been pre-approved to join the BG Group, although I believe the state legislature hasn't given approval yet. And don't forget newcomer South Carolina.... [ More ]

Reply #5

Guest — Tue, 02 Apr 2002 19:43:31 GMT

Well ... we have Big Game adding 2 new sizable states. Plus we have a shuffling with the games matrix and the subsequent jacking of the odds. Jumbo Jackpots ( and more often) are in the future.What is the next move?Will PowerBall try to sign up the remaining states? Will they uptheir odds??Or how about this ............ California, Texas and Florida teaming up to form their own personal multi-state game?Rob

Reply #4

Todd — Tue, 02 Apr 2002 19:27:32 GMT

That's not exactly what I meant. What I meant was that with so many people buying tickets, almost every possible combination of numbers that could produce a winner would be on someone's ticket.If there were 135 million different possiblilities for the number combinations (between the first 5 numbers and the Big Money Ball), then maybe 130 million of those possibilities would be purchased by players.In that case, there would be a 96% chance that there would be a winner in that drawing, and the ja... [ More ]

Reply #3

Todd — Tue, 02 Apr 2002 19:19:06 GMT

Even if the odds were 1:135 million, a jackpot of $500 mil. would sell so many tickets that most of the combinations will be covered.-ToddExactly! A 500 MIL Jackpot would cover most of the possible number combo's .... ans sell so many tickets .... that the Jackpot would end up much bigger than 500 MIL. This is would be unchartered waters ... and the lottery officials are conservative on their jackpot projections.Rob

Reply #2

Todd — Tue, 02 Apr 2002 19:13:17 GMT

I'm not sure the jackpots will get much larger than $500 million or so. Consider when the jackpot was a record $363 million. There was something like 90% of all possible combinations covered. Even if the odds were 1:135 million, a jackpot of $500 mil. would sell so many tickets that most of the combinations will be covered.-Todd

Reply #1

Guest — Tue, 02 Apr 2002 18:00:58 GMT

Pat ... I've been reading (ALL) your posts. Are you sure the 52/52 matrix is official ... I've been told that too but nothing was supposed to be made public until the 10th.In reading the news section of this website ... the Michigan Lottery official stated that jackpots of 500 Mil are mathematically possible ... I say, he's a little off. Try 3/4 BIL or higher even. I mean to say, the sky is the limit ... you've got 2 major states joining the club plus those states that border them .... you've go... [ More ]

OFFICIAL: New BG odds 1:135 million!!

Guest — Tue, 02 Apr 2002 13:07:57 GMT

I found out just now that the rumored 5/52 + 1/52 double matrix WILL be the new Big Game