I suppose PA is "hoping" PB is hit before the promotion begins. I don't think the similar gimmick for Unlucky for Life helped its sales very much.

Oh stop complaining! 

It's a better deal than you're getting in Danbury, or wherever you go.

I agree, enough already.

Hmmm, I might just PowerPlay next month.

As for you, CO, just for that, I'm gonna buy some Lucky For Life. 

I wonder why PA wants people to buy Power Play? For these PA residents, I think people should watch their budget on when to buy PB tickets with Power Play.

  Duh!  PA want players to buy PowerPlay because it's more money for the state.

ga. has a deal for oct. one week mm then pick 3 and so on

What a freaking ripoff! 

They want ME to pay TWICE the one dollar amount at five tickets each for a total of TEN dollars just to get one measely EXTRA ticket?

First off, I rarely play PB because of its near impossible odds.

Second, why pay FIVE extra dollars when I can buy my OWN extra ticket for ONE DOLLAR and thereby save FOUR dollars?

I'll tell you what we need in Pennsylvania: A one dollar KENO GAME like the one in NY that would make MILLIONS because with high gas prices NOBODY wants to drive to Atlantic City anymore to play Keno THERE!

Is anybody in Harrisburg listening?  Powerball has lost its polish and its appeal.  I suspect people are fleeing from playing the game. 

Greg,

I don't agree.  There are millions of people out there who buy Powerball tickets with Power Play regularly.  For those people, getting an extra ticket (with Power Play no less) is great.

The Pennsylvania Lottery is giving people a bonus worth 20% of the purchase price.  I think that's a great deal.

Just because you don't personally like Power Play is no reason to condemn people who do like it.  I've played it quite a few times myself, and when you hit with a ticket that has Power Play, it's quite nice to have 5-times as much money for a prize.

Also, people are not "fleeing from playing the game" as you suggest.  They are buying a lot of tickets now that the jackpot has risen again.  Obviously sales lagged for a stretch, but not for the reasons you put forth.  They simply had a stretch of bad luck with too many jackpot winners (or good luck, depending on whose perspective you're talking about).

The one area where I can see people getting upset is with the annuity payout structure, which I think is a very bad "enhancement" to the game.  Anything that artificially increases the jackpot size is not good, IMHO.

Ripoff? Hummmm. Never bought bottled water have you? Depending where you live, one bottle of water equals a Power Play ticket.

Without marketing, life would be dull. No movie awards. No music awards. No lottery. Marketing is the name of the game - thats why the annuity is the only number listed on the ticket machine.

What I am saying is that there is no bonus (free) ticket without paying an additional dollar for the Power Play option!  When you bought five Cash 5 tickets, you got one free.  Here, you have to pay DOUBLE for the ticket (bec. of the power play) and buy a block of 5 doubled to get the free ticket!

So I'm not against Power Play; I'm against being made to buy the additional Power Play option in order to get the free ticket!

That's not GOOD marketing.  Why market a game whose jackpot is allegedly marketing itself or should be?  That's why I think sales are not good or commensurate with former levels.  If I'm wrong, it's just plain greed on behalf of PA.

But hey, if your randomly picked free ticket gets you the jackpot, more power to you.

Make millions? I don't think so. Pick 10 is one of the worst performing games in the country. What makes you think it would do so well here?

kansas has a game for the powerplay and i like that more. sure i could win more money if i won with my extra 2 dollars. still the odds for winning on the kansas promotion is better. too bad i can't buy more. i wishi i could. just too far away.

One of "the worst performing games in the country"?  What exactly do you mean by that, Jimmy?  Keno is one of the most beatable games if you are savvy with the unique data software yields about it.  I've been studying it for 2 months and am working on a system that hopefully will be completed by November so I can test it out.

I'd like you to substantiate specific data that says New York does not profit from its Keno players.

Personally, having studied this game for a number of weeks, it seems more exciting to try to beat, given the unique data I referred to as opposed to the "tried and true" Cash 5, Pick 6 games (which I like), and those two uncrackable games-- MM and PB.

So, Jimmy, tell me please what you mean and what info you have to back that up, thanks.

:-)

You don't seem to understand that they are trying to get people to try Power Play.  They are not marketing the Powerball game itself, they are marketing the Power Play option.  You don't get people to try it by not involving Power Play in the promotion! 

You also ignored the fact that they are giving a bonus worth 20% of the original purchase price.  I think it is great marketing.  You just don't like what they're marketing.

Ever since Power Play was announced it was and has been marketed.  Most people don't want to double their one dollar ticket price.  I would have gone for "buy 3 tickets with PP and get one free", not 5.  I guess their internal measures show not enough people are spending the extra dollar for power play, hence the promotion. 

O.K. So few people win anything at Pick 10. It's certainly not a hard game at 1 in 17 overall odds. Well, it's that not many people play it. At least not as much as the other games NY offers. I do agree with you Greg that Keno is an awesome game in any incarnation. And I'd love it if PA started offering it. But the fact is, bitter as it may be, Pick 10 itself doesn't get good sales, and I'm sure that's what you were referring to. But Keno does do well in a quick-draw format, especially in MA where it's the most popular game, even more than scratch-offs.

I suppose that would be a good question to pose to the Pennsylvania Lottery Marketing Department.

I PowerPlay when the jackpot is relatively low. But not for $167 million.

1. PA players are expected to get paid slightly higher when buying 5 tickets for the regular price of $10 and getting one free ticket, all with PP option. But only when they already decided to put some money, $10 or more, into the game. Lowered per-ticket price, from $2 to $1.66, seemingly contributes to an increase in the expected value for every $1 invested, which is slightly higher than with no PP.

2. In the states other than PA?
Playing PB with no PP brings a slightly higher expected value than with PP.
Surprisingly, however, even at 167M annuity jackpot (83.1M cash) for this Saturday drawing, there is just slight difference in the corresponding expected values between with no PP and with PP, the former getting paid just slightly higher.

3. Without any such promotion, I expect the cutoff point would be somewhere around 105M annuity, in which case incremental value is almost negligible.

4. Another interesting point of PP
Even when the prior odds or expected values are favorable for persons playing with no PP like at 300M annuity, as soon as they fail to hit the RED ball (in fact, the jackpot), then they should stand severely against the odds when compared to those who played with PP, as is often the case in many circumstances. The difference between prior and posterior odds may get some serious players' attention. Anyway, regular PB players might consider playing with PP except when the jackpot is extraordinarily high.

Overall, just interesting!

PS: After-tax amount was used in the calculation process, accounting for only 25% Federal income tax but no state or local taxes.

Good luck!

Funny how Keno has been brought into this thread. PA had a keno game for years, Super-7.