Powerball officials were mystified why so many people had bet the same numbers. It turned out that a New York fortune-cookie maker had put those numbers in a batch of fortune cookies it had shipped to customers in several states.

I'll wager that fortune cookie company is working three shifts now and the employees are spending up all their wages on insider information about what number's on the next run of cookies.

Indiana lottery seems to be just hedging the bets.  They don't want to risk losing any of the money today that they made yesterday and on the previous days by some freak stroke of fate.  From the perspective of the State it makes sense and so long as they aren't making up the rules as they go along, so long as it's part of their formal rules, there's nothing in it that should be cause for unhappiness on the part of players.

Interesting story.  Those lottery guys have to be right on their toes all the time to keep from losing any money.

Jack

When folks are feeling as if a particular triple is about to hit and there's a run on it, Georgia has also cut off sales on that number.  Has happened over the years so really not news.  If you feel it, purchase it ahead of time.

Georgia Cash 3 and Cash 4 allow you to play a particular number on say Monday to hit the following Sunday, so you don't have to purchase a full week worth of plays.  I certainly like the ability to do that.    Perhaps other states do also.   

One word.....CHICKENS

It is near impossible that 10,000 people would bet the same number straight.

Look at Michigan....they aren't chicken.

Now there is a lottery that isn't chicken

Brad

Bradley:

Indiana's just striving for a risk-free lottery system. 

Gambling is an activity that happens on the player side of the equation.  Taxpayers don't like State officials gambling with their money.

Jack

Now that just reassures me that big brother is watching the lottery.  I am under the impression that the house always win in this game.  Let's face it, if you played all 1000 combinations in the pick 3 game straight,it would cost you $1000 for a sure win, you would win $500 and the house would win $500.  So why cut off bets on a particular number.  Please tell me what are they afraid of?  The only way to profit in the game is to play the winnig number at least 4 times to make any headway.  I have been playing in Texas for 10 years and I have yet to see them shut down a number.

I am under the impression that the house always win in this game.  Let's face it, if you played all 1000 combinations in the pick 3 game straight,it would cost you $1000 for a sure win, you would win $500 and the house would win $500.  So why cut off bets on a particular number. 

Please tell me what are they afraid of? 

They're afraid they'll lose some of the money they won on all previous days.  Some of the other money they won on this particular day.  They've limited the amount of money it's possible for them to lose. 

The people who couldn't buy the number they wanted bought another, different one and lost.  The lottery cut potential losses and gave up nothing.

Now that just reassures me that big brother is watching the lottery. 

Big Brother OWNS the lottery.  Of course he's watching it.

Do you still see those bumper stickers in Texas?  The ones that say, "I DON'T CARE HOW THEY DID IT UP NORTH!"? 

You might send Indiana an email expressing your sentiments on this.  They'd probably appreciate it.

Jack

Lotteries have to set limits on the games they have to insure that they will continue to have a games. If they didn't set limits and for the sake of argument a thousand people played 1111 and it came out then the next draw 20,000 people decided to play 1111 again and it came out. Now if you were running a lottery either for the state or for yourself would you want to back up those bets.

On any given day there a more than a few numbers which reach the threashold limit in many states. If you have a number you know will probably be sold out then by all means get the number in advance.

When I use to play the 3 and 4 in N.Y. I have been cutoff many times over the years.

I do not know why Indiana cuts off a number anyhow. nobody wins anyhow. Look at their payout sheet.

1010 is probably the most played number in the Daily 4 game.  But there is now way that many people would buy that number.  If there was over 1500 ticket that play any number straight on any given day is out of the norm.  I can't believe IN has only a 2 million cap.  Look at my great state of Michigan.  We don't limits numbers and the most we won was less then $15,000,000 and we are a gaming state.

Brad

Bradley:

It really doesn't seem to make a lot of sense.  I've been searching my mind for some sinister motive for them doing it, but I'm at a dead loss.

Maybe it was just something some idiot politician demanded back when they were passing the lottery bill. 

Jack

Just another cover-up to make people think they have honest draws. It would be common sense that liability limits would only be placed if it was a random, coincidental draw. But as we've seen, that isn't the case here.

I've mentioned this before - some lotteries cut off numbers after a certain number have been purchased. And it doesn't matter which numbers will be drawn - the lotteries simply could not stand a popular number winning and going that far in the hole - on that day. My response? "So what?" They're going to play the same number again the next day, and over and over - and it still stands the same odds of hitting as it did the day before. The odds remain the same, the overall take will be the same - hell, if they're gonna cut off numbers then make the whole damn thing pari-mutuel and cut off any chance of loss.

Guess you can tell I'm a might ticked.....

gl

j

This subject used to upset me because I am a avid player of 999 in Kentucky. The number hasn't come out since Jan 01 and everyone knows so it is usually blocked out by the time it gets dark. It doesn't bother me now cause I can always play it on the quarter site and if it by some chance ever did come out, it would pay more. Another number here in Kentucky is 0000, it has been locked out for both draws early in the morning so that if you want to play it you have to play it the day before or a couple of days in advance. Some how with this number being locked out everyday it came out earlier this year. I've been told by several clerks that it was locked out, then they opened the number up for betting some more, then locked it out again. 

I'm waiting for this site Todd has mentioned before to start so I can support this site even more. Todd when is it scheduled to be available for us to play???

I don't know if people really understand the gravity of this situation if you were a bookie would you continiously take bets on the same number all day long knowing if it hit that you couldn't pay off on the number. Well the lottery is acting as a bookie also. They could probably afford to pay out on a number a few times that was heavily bet but they aren't going to get themselves in a situation where their payout exceeds a certain amount.

Now if your a popular number better, that is know ahead of time that some numbers like 000 999 666 or1212 or whatever are going to be sold out, then get the number ahead of time.

Seems to me that should just about take care of the matter for the people who feel strongly about a number.  If they do there's probably nothing to keep them from buying it several days in advance.

How much the lottery pays out, gross, to players isn't something of much interest.  It's what it pays out to particular players, specific ones.... us, that matters, I'd think.

Jack

That's right Rip serious lottery players allready know this and probably aren't one bit surprised if the hit the teller and ask for a number that been cut off they probably say to themselves i shoulda got this number yesterday oh well and go about getting the other picks they might have. Casual lottery players or people who only buy numbers once in a while are probably dumfounded by them telling them that a numbers been cut off like they haven't a clue as to how the lottery operates.

For instance Libradave posted these numbers for today.

Of course there are limits! I could have told anyone that. After spending nearly 90,000 dollars in seven years on combos and not even winning a straight combo is totally ridiculous! As a matter of fact, I average one off on the pick 4 combo every other day in Indiana, but never a win. You think thats bad try the scratch offs.  I was in excellent shape before I started playing this Hoser Lottery. I have a question for the folks at the Hoosier Lottery----why are the payouts tremendously low compared to all the other States? Even lower than States that are twice as small. Can anyone at the Hoosier Lottery tell me why you dont offer .50 cent bets like the other States--is it because you cant make enough money that way--just what is the reason. Cant poor people play too? By the way I would like to get my 57 percent back that you say goes back to players. If so, Id be about 57,000 dollars richer today and not bankrupt. No wonder we lead the Nation in Bankruptcy! I am one person who is tired of the people getting a raw deal here. Clean it up and give us a honest game---if the Lottery is running an honest game then it shouldnt be a problem to go back to using balls; that wont happen-you would loose to much money. Computers are one more way to make sure the State doesnt have to pay a dime! Its a shame that someone living in their home State has to drive to Kentucky, Ohio or Illinois to buy tickets----u know, States that use balls! My question to the Hoosier Lottery-----Why are payouts so low? Dont tell us no one is buying tickets, cause last year you had booming sales according to the media. That excuse wont work. Its time someone answered these questions. Its time the taxpayers held officials accountable for their actions. God knows Indiana needs accountability in all aspects of Government.

Signed---A concerned citizen!

Are you trying to tell me a state doesn't have enough money in the lottery float to pay off a hit on a popular number in a Pick 3 or 4 game? Please! It looks bad on the bottom line for one day. And the people who play that number are going to play it day after day with no adverse effect on income. Any cutoff is BS - sorry for the language inference, but that's how I feel.

Bookies are and always have been private enterprises without state tax resources. No comparison there.

There has been a case where a state lottery had a no limit on plays. One time a number hit which was widely played and the lottery had to borrow money to make the payoff. They went to pari mutuel after that. I think it was Mass.

From the article:

"Let's say this afternoon 10,000 people went out and bet 1134 because someone kept pitching that number in a newspaper column, and they all won. The total prize payout would be $50 million. That would be a staggering hit for the lottery, enough to break the bank, so to speak. It would amount to one quarter of the profits that the lottery makes in an entire year."

This last statement would imply that Hoosier Lottery profits hover in the neighborhood of $200M per year. Nothing could be further from the truth. Last year, they boasted record sales of almost $800M and, according to their annual report, nearly $500M in profits. $223M of that simply vanished, and no one knows where that money went, but what's even more disturbing is that no one wants to find out, with the notable exceptions of LosingJeff and me. Our own elected officials, those charged with the duty of protecting us from predators like The Hoosier Lottery, turn a deaf ear when confronted with this issue. The FBI wouldn't even look at our file, because they "don't want to ruffle anyone's feathers" at the state level.

The Hoosier Lottery is NOT a state agency, but a private corporation, as stipulated in IC 4-30-3-1. As such, it enjoys benefits which aren't available to agencies of the state. For example, as a privately-held corporation, The Hoosier Lottery is not subject to state audit and accounting procedures. Consequently, they have never been audited, so any figures they publish for general viewing are meaningless and probably fictitious.

Andrew Reed is a pathological liar. It's very easy to tell when he's lying, because either his lips move or his signature appears below the phrase, "Warmest Regards."

These crooks must be stopped. 

losingjeff:

An interesting, almost amazing post.

Interesting, almost amazing post.

"After spending nearly 90,000 dollars in seven years on combos and not even winning a straight combo is totally ridiculous!"

I'd certainly agree with you on that.

"By the way I would like to get my 57 percent back that you say goes back to players. If so, Id be about 57,000 dollars richer today and not bankrupt."

Everyone has a bad day once in a while.

"Its a shame that someone living in their home State has to drive to Kentucky, Ohio or Illinois to buy tickets----u know, States that use balls! "

Hope you're doing better over there.

I've noticed sometimes it helps me to take a break from gambling for a while.  Helps me to get some distance from things.  Gives old Mama Fortune an opportunity to get her smile back.

Jack

Call it whatever you wan't i'm not happy the lottery does this either. If you read what i wrote the lottery is acting as the bookie. Everyone either knows a bookie or knows somone who does. Now if the bookie on the corner woln't take bets on certain numbers what makes you think that the lottery is going to go over or out of their way and take a chance of having to pay out more than they deemed they would. Look i like to play certain numbers i know are usually sold out. That is if i go right now this minute and try and get say 666 for tonight it is probably cut of . This means that somewhere in the neighborhood of 2500 to 3000 people decided that they were going to play that number. When the 3000 th person bought that ticket it got cut off. But wait an minute i bought that ticket yesterday so i'm in the game. Now there might be 20/30 numbers or so that go through this routine every day. Get bet to the threshold limit. People who play those numbers know it and act on it. If those are some of the numbers they know are usually cut off then the get prepaired and purchase them ahead of time. What so hard about doing that.

Now back to the lotterys being or not being able to pay off. Of cource they can pay off on a heavly bet number but supposing 666 hit today and again tomorrow and again next week and there was no threshold limit. Even with a threshold limit the lottery profit margin decreases dramatically and if there were no measures in place to prevent 10 or 20 thousand people from betting the same number then the lottery would end up having to fold up. If your running a lottery buisness your job is to make money for the state not bankrupt it. What's so hard to understand about that. 

You might give some thought to a class action suit.  Maybe some sort of writ of mandamus to live up to their claims.

Meanwhile, might want to give some thought to trying to stop the gamblers for a while.  Losingjeff just kept right on coming up to the 90K mark.  Pausing after maybe 10K for a breather might have him out of bankruptcy.

Jack

Amazing---90,000 dollars equivocates to about 2 million numbers. There aint but 10,000 numbers in the whole pic 4 sample. Amazing! Cant win a straight combo playing 2 million numbers in a 10,000 number field----you suppose something aint right! Duh! Of course, the Lottery could probably give me some reason why.

Impossible without intervention!

This past week the Hoosier Lottery had one day where they paid 1 whopping winner for the whole day on a straight pic 3---thats right, one winner for both midday and evening draws combined.  The payouts are beyond ridiculously small! Just go to the website and compare this past months payouts to other States and you will see the disparity. What is going on?

I totally agree Jeff, and I'm so sorry that you live in a state that refuses to do what it takes to energize its player base.  Computerized drawings are a large reason for the horrible state of affairs at the Indiana Lottery.

Where I am, the prize on Pickit games is not fixed. This means you should avoid playing straight years, etc. As far as I know there was never any cutoff but it would be nice to know which #s are NOT heavily played, those are ones that (under a purely random game scenario) should be played ONLY, as the prize would be more than average. When I matched 5 of 5 a few years ago the prize was so small that I didn't even get to see my name in red scrolling letters at the local Bowling Alley! I would NOT have traded the jackpot for the chance to have avoided playing the "overplayed" numbers, but aside from that I think it would be good to be able to go to a website shortly before the drawing and play the "unpopular" #s.

Thus when they have cutoffs it's because the prize IS fixed and too many winners would mean a loss for the State.

losingjeff:

A few years ago I was sitting at a single-deck blackjack table with four other players at a trible casino.  It was a pitch game, and the dealer handed out blackjacks to all four players, then one to himself.

There's only one way that can happen in a single deck where there are only four aces.

The players all got up, cashed in their chips and left.  Within days the parking lot was empty, except for travelers who knew no better.

The result, so I've heard, was that the casino decided to clean up.  Even so, business hasn't come back, and neither have I.

Indianans probably aren't a lot different from people in New Mexico.  Once they realize there's a fix on the game, they'll quit playing.

Maybe it's just a problem of getting the word out, but also one of not playing in a rigged house.  Ever.

How far into that seven years, 90,000K losing streak were you before you realized something was amiss?

Jack

Their whole excuse if 10,000 tickets were played is rediculous.  There is no way a lottery would have to pay out more than $50 million in a single drawing.  To have 10,000 people play the same number straight even if it was a quad is so statistically impossible they have to be all the same person buying most of them.  I mean Michigan is a big state and look at that chart I posted earlier.  1010 is probably the most popular played number and we only had 1080 people get the number straight.  But anyway a $2,000,000 cap it pretty lousy.  They could up it to like at least 5 million.

Brad

if they hadn't shut this number off then who knows how many people would have continued to play the number. It was all over town that this number was due to hit and was sold out that day 7/15/05. I missed the boat on this drawing because i failed to get the number before hand.

Maryland Lottery Pays Out $7 Million
Friday Evening’s Pick 4 Number: 1-2-1-2 Proved Lucky

(Baltimore) – By 11 AM this morning, Maryland Lottery officials greeted nearly 40 players who arrived at their claim centers to collect cash prizes won in Friday evening’s Pick 4 game. Thousands of other lucky winners are expected to collect their winnings across the state today.

Friday evening’s Pick 4 number, 1-2-1-2, was selected by so many players that it will pay out $7,000,000 million in prizes for the single drawing. “I had no idea that 1-2-1-2 broke the bank,” said one lucky winner who came to collect her $5,000 prize. “I don’t usually play that number but I kept hearing ‘12’ over and over again at work and I decided to play.”

Lottery officials report that 7,817 winning tickets were sold, with players wagering more than $467,000 for Friday evening’s drawing.

GEEZ...if some of these states are afraid of losing a little money from time to time ( I don't imagine that has happened to anyone on this forum....lol)...then I suggest that they get out of the gambling business...unless of course, they just sell instant tickets! Don't give me this junk about how the "taxpayers" wouldn't like it...in most states they "voted" the lottery's lifeline in to being, and if people thought that it was always a 100% profitable business (and it is in the grand scheme of things as a business) then they were kidding themselves. But on occassion there is a loss.. in particular as these are games of chance and the odds are in the houses favor when the payout is one half of the odds....soooo please don't shed too many tears for some of the states who do payout a little more than usual from time to time and those who have cutoffs...shame on these bottom feeders... but take heart...there are other places to wager that actually payout a higher percentage.

aug......29th....7:00pm..est

"HI RIP" ...Hope you are well...I concurr with your explanation on this issue, however, on the other side of this "coin" RAINMAKER....does make a valid point as well.  Suppose I play "926" ....and others coincidently did the same....this figure is not popular or common and most times it will lose, which means that if 1,000 or more people play "926" today, it will lose.....and the House to borrow a phrase from "FBIRD"  rakes in the green "....in the Thousands.....they certainly are "not "going to shut down the betting on the "losing " number....  therefore, why shut down the betting on the number which is winning ??  The House is getting all the money back ..in the thousands from all the bettors who chose "926"....... and all the other losing numbers of the day.

I know we have no control over anything.....but still, it's a valid argument.....

Hi Libra:

Thanks.  But having someone agree with me makes me nervous.  I can't recall whether I was serious, or trying to be funny.  I read back over the post, remember the events I spoke of, but can't for the life of me remember whether my intention at the time involved something I have an opinion about.

Trust me on that.

Jack

I thought with all the rigging going on Indiana had a fail-safe lottery. Everyone loses.

Only those who play.  Everyone else comes out winners.

Jack

HAPPY LABOR DAY HOLIDAY "RIP"....it's Sautrday afternoon 2:45pm est....In Montgomery County..................I  apologize for for my late response, but I have so much on my "plate" that my time gets by me......But as your Blogs have always proven you are a very intelligent and interesting Man, higly educated in the ways of our Society and the World, so do not be nervous when I agree with you. As I mentioned in an earlier comment to you, equally enjoyable is your facteousness, sarcasm and cynically jaded attitudes about different issues. I'm lovin it all....

Has anyone seen the Daily games payouts for the past week in Indiana---very humble! But thats typical. I have now purchased (41) 10.00 scratch offs without a winner; not even 10 dollars back; they pay so good. This Lottery is a joke! I know of no one who is happy with it. Sure wish someone would give us a report on how many winners on the daily games that Indiana had last week! That way I will know whether I should go to the eye doctor or not.

PA does this too, but the liabilities are pretty high. It's pretty easy to combat this phenomenon from happening to your numbers, just buy early.

maybe...we should all just invest in 'IRAQUI  OIL' & HALIBURTON.......then like "President Cheney"......we'd  ALL GET RICH......and could afford a "SPANKING BRAND NEW MANSE" to get lost in .................Please stop "losing Jeff"......hhehhheehehehehhehee

Nobody hit the Hoosier Lottery again. Wonder if its going to go for weeks and weeks and weeks. U know like the 2 times it went on and on and on. I believe the odds of that happening was 1 in 2 billion!

Well I'm sure it gets hit more than Pennsilvania's stupid six used to. Problem with the Hoosier lottery is integrety not how many times it gets hit.