Texas Lottery introduces $50 scratch ticket

May 7, 2007, 7:12 am (31 comments)

Texas Lottery

Once, the biggest dreams in Texas only cost a buck.

Now, Texas Lottery officials are upping the ante on instant miracles to $50.

That's the price of the state's newest scratch-off game, dubbed $130 Million Spectacular, which goes on sale Monday and offers nearly $134 million in prizes, including three grand prizes of $5 million.

A $50 game is the highest price for a scratch-off in the nation, according to lottery data. Kansas introduced the first $50 ticket two years ago and Michigan also will launch one on Monday. Compare that to California, where the most expensive scratch-off ticket is $5. In New York, it's $20.

Officials in Texas evidently believe their new game will do well; they're printing 3.7 million of the $50 tickets and are planning to soon introduce a second $50 game.

Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling, said the introduction of higher-priced games reflected an arms race among states for gambling dollars.

After Texas voters approved the creation of the state lottery, tickets for the agency's first game - a scratch-off called Lone Star Millions - sold for $1 apiece. Players now choose among online games and 80 or so popular scratch-offs, which have become the agency's meat and potatoes, generating $2.8 billion in sales last year.

The agency offered its first $3 scratch-off in 1997. By 2000, it had a $10 game; a $20 game in 2002 and a $30 game in 2004. Last year, $1 scratch-off tickets accounted for just 11 percent of all scratch-off sales, while nearly a third came from tickets priced between $10 and $30.

The $50 game comes with a 63 percent chance of losing.

Those odds won't deter Mike Swain, 44, a driver for a moving company who picked up $4 worth of scratch-offs in East Austin this week.

"I'll try it. I definitely could try it once. Sometimes I have $50 extra," he said.

Swain, who estimates taking home between $1,800 and $2,000 a month, said he plays scratch-off games daily, plopping down $4 to $6 at a time.

Gerald Busald, a math professor at San Antonio College who analyzes lottery practices, had this advice for those itching to wager 50 bucks on a single ticket: Don't.

"You can have the same dream for $1 that you can for $20 or $30 or $50," he said. "You're not going to win."

Of course, it's the exceptions that fuel the dreams that last year pulled in a cool $3.8 billion from all the Texas lottery games. If all tickets to the new game were sold, state coffers would net $51 million after the commission pays out $134 million in prizes.

Before launching the $50 game, the Lottery Commission surveyed frequent scratch-off players to find out how much they'd be willing to gamble in one shot. The survey didn't examine customer income levels to learn the demographics of likely $50 players, and it didn't examine how the games might affect problem gamblers.

"Scratch-off tickets are an impulse purchase and $50 is a lot of money for the state to have its citizens wager on an impulse," said Rob Kohler, a lobbyist for the Christian Life Commission, an arm of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, which opposes gambling.

Robert Heith, a spokesman for the Texas Lottery Commission, said the agency has one overriding mission: "What we do is run a business for the state of Texas. ... We have to produce products that our players want to purchase."

William Scott, 64, a custodian in Austin who works two jobs and said he often spends $120 a day on lottery games, is eager to try his luck on the $50 game. "I play all of them."

Serious Scratch

Some facts and figures from the Texas Lottery Commission's new $50 scratch-off game, called "$130 Million Spectacular."

Odds of winning

$5 million 1 in 1.2 million 
$1 million 1 in 618,000 
$50,000 1 in 185,000 
$1,000 1 in 866 
$500 1 in 300 
$100 1 in 20 
$50 1 in 6.7 

Other big scratch-off games introduced in Texas

Houston Chronicle

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TGOOD7's avatarTGOOD7

Very $high$,I'LL buy one just to try my luck,you never know.

cv844's avatarcv844

Quote: Originally posted by TGOOD7 on May 7, 2007

Very $high$,I'LL buy one just to try my luck,you never know.

Good luck, I will only buy one if I win some money first lol.

DoubleDown

Now the race is on for the nation's first $100.00 instant game..

Why not- there are $100.00 slot machines....

Kidzmom's avatarKidzmom

WOW!

justxploring's avatarjustxploring

Odds of winning

$5 million 1 in 1.2 million 
$1 million 1 in 618,000 
$50,000 1 in 185,000 
$1,000 1 in 866 
$500 1 in 300 
$100 1 in 20 
$50 1 in 6.7 

When I was growing up, we had an expression...."One in a million" which meant nearly impossible.

The lottery seems to have changed all that, since people obviously feel those odds are very good, and they certainly are compared to PB & MM and most state games.  After all, I've been playing a 1 in 23M and a 1 in 3M game for years and haven't won yet. 

However, how many people on this board spent $20 or more for raffle tickets this year?  I know people who bought 10 of them and didn't win anything and the odds were very similar to this $50 scratch game. That being said, if I lived in Texas and had the "extra" money, maybe I would take a shot at it, hope for the top prize, be ecstatic if I won the second prize and very happy if I won the third prize. But I usually don't buy scratch tickets anyway.

  • Number of prizes worth at least $1 million: 9
  • Number of prizes worth at least $1,000: 5,700
  • I prefer this example.  (more realistic) Looking it this way makes the chances seem a lot more bleak.  There are over 23 million people living in Texas.  I realize that includes children and people who never play, but it doesn't include the "undocumented" who also buy tickets or people from border states who play.  So let's say even half of the population is eligible to buy tickets.  Why would you be the one of the 9 lucky winners?  

    bambini

    Instead of the states providing 50 dollar lottery tickets, how about stimulating job growth and encouraging business to expand and provide real income making opportunities.

    Parforthecourse

    Back in the day here In PA  with the $20 dollar ticket you were gaurenteed some type of win on the ticket. Five etc...   Is this the case here?   $50 bucks is alot to drop all at once, be nice to get even a spit!!!!

    bobby623's avatarbobby623

    Go to www.txlottery.org, front page, to see copy of the ticket and game details.

    RJOh's avatarRJOh

    I would suspect that they might put at least a $2 winner on each tickets so no one would feel like a $50 loser(sucker), that way it would really be a $48 scratch-off tickets and the $48 losers wouldn't feel so bad about losing.

    DoubleDown

    Quote: Originally posted by RJOh on May 7, 2007

    I would suspect that they might put at least a $2 winner on each tickets so no one would feel like a $50 loser(sucker), that way it would really be a $48 scratch-off tickets and the $48 losers wouldn't feel so bad about losing.

    I doubt it would only be $2, RJOh.

    The smallest 'win" I have seen on the $20 GA ticket is $20.

    At the very least, one can get their original investment back, or at least I hope so.....

    orangeman

    That's 50 times what I would be willing to spend!

    Orangeman

    Thinking of...

    DoctorEw220's avatarDoctorEw220

    I never thought I would say this, but I agree with the Christian group.  $50 is way too much to spend on a single ticket.  Think about what you would tell your family if you were to buy one of them and lose.

    pumpi76

    The most i am willing to spend on a scratcher is 10 dollars and that's if the jackpot is 200+ millions....

    Which is what i think they should do..If they are going to charge 50 dollars the jackpot better be 800+ million dollars....

     

     

    "The Truth is Out There....."                                         from movie "The X-Files"

    RJOh's avatarRJOh

    Sounds like these lottery tickets would be excellent candidates for a lottery pool investment.  It's not unusual for players to form a lottery pool to buy $50 worth of lottery tickets.

    DoubleDown

    Quote: Originally posted by RJOh on May 7, 2007

    Sounds like these lottery tickets would be excellent candidates for a lottery pool investment.  It's not unusual for players to form a lottery pool to buy $50 worth of lottery tickets.

    Now that's the ticket, pardon the pun...

    DoubleDown

    Quote: Originally posted by pumpi76 on May 7, 2007

    The most i am willing to spend on a scratcher is 10 dollars and that's if the jackpot is 200+ millions....

    Which is what i think they should do..If they are going to charge 50 dollars the jackpot better be 800+ million dollars....

     

     

    "The Truth is Out There....."                                         from movie "The X-Files"

    Dream on.......

    nc6string

    I don't think the fact that the lottery is a bad deal is really a 'news flash' to anyone, especially those on sites such as these.  People play for the dream of winning 'easy money' or 'the big score'.

    Think's avatarThink

    Well, Michigan isn't having any touble selling $50 tickets.  Half the raffle tickets sold the first day.  That is 125,000 times $50!  I wonder if they thought about the impact on the economy and the impact on other taxes.  50 bux is a tank of gas that did not get pumped and they did not collect tax on to fix the roads.  50 bux is a dinner out that some restaraunt did not get and did not need a minimum wage employee for.

    Why do they think they cant sell $2 tickets for the regular jackpot games ($1 for the regular prize structure and the other $1 to pump up the jackpot) .  If they are selling this many 50 buck tickets?

    Has anyone seen any studies on 50 dollar tickets and their impact on other taxes and the economy?

    Guru101's avatarGuru101

    Quote: Originally posted by pumpi76 on May 7, 2007

    The most i am willing to spend on a scratcher is 10 dollars and that's if the jackpot is 200+ millions....

    Which is what i think they should do..If they are going to charge 50 dollars the jackpot better be 800+ million dollars....

     

     

    "The Truth is Out There....."                                         from movie "The X-Files"

    Green laugh

    MindReader

    WHAT!! The Custodian spends $120 A DAY on lottery tickets???? This guy is nuts!!!!

    justxploring's avatarjustxploring

    Quote: Originally posted by MindReader on May 8, 2007

    WHAT!! The Custodian spends $120 A DAY on lottery tickets???? This guy is nuts!!!!

    Good catch!  I read it and let it go right over my head.  He has 2 jobs, so one of them must be so he can buy lottery tickets. 

     

    William Scott, 64, a custodian in Austin who works two jobs and said he often spends $120 a day on lottery games, is eager to try his luck on the $50 game. "I play all of them."

    KyMystikal's avatarKyMystikal

    Quote: Originally posted by justxploring on May 9, 2007

    Good catch!  I read it and let it go right over my head.  He has 2 jobs, so one of them must be so he can buy lottery tickets. 

     

    William Scott, 64, a custodian in Austin who works two jobs and said he often spends $120 a day on lottery games, is eager to try his luck on the $50 game. "I play all of them."

    That must be some 2nd job spending $120 a day on lottery?

    RJOh's avatarRJOh

    Quote: Originally posted by MindReader on May 8, 2007

    WHAT!! The Custodian spends $120 A DAY on lottery tickets???? This guy is nuts!!!!

    spends $120 A DAY on lottery tickets.....not loses $120 A DAY on lottery tickets.  He's probably winning some of it back.

    rdc137

    $50 for a single ticket? No thanks. I have a hard enough time justifying an occasional $5 ticket. Best odds of winning any game still seems to be playing a pair on a Pick 3, 1:100.

    Think's avatarThink

    Quote: Originally posted by RJOh on May 9, 2007

    spends $120 A DAY on lottery tickets.....not loses $120 A DAY on lottery tickets.  He's probably winning some of it back.

    Cant be winning that much.  In one store I buy tickets at I frequently bumped into someone that spent $300 on the afternoon and $300 on the evening draws.  The best he did was get $40,000 in 2 months on the 4 digit.  If I had that much to spend I certainly would *NOT*  be buying tickets!!!

    The person just recently gave up....though I dont know for how long.

    BTW the Lootery here sold out of those $50 raffle tickets in less than 2 days!! 

    MegaWinner's avatarMegaWinner

    Waaaaaaaaaay to expensive.  I hope the PB and MM don't get these silly ideas and up the ticket price.

    cv844's avatarcv844

    According to TLC , alot of people have been purchasing these tickets since Monday , check it out at Texas lottery commision. org.  Monday was the first day of sales.

    DoubleDown

    Have any of our Texas members heard any good success stories from this $50 ticket yet ?

    cv844's avatarcv844

    I havent bought one myself, I am still waiting to win some money on pk 3 to buy one lol

    KY Floyd's avatarKY Floyd

    "people obviously feel those odds are very good, and they certainly are compared to PB & MM and most state games. "

    Assuming you want to compare apples to apples, the odds aren't that much better than PB or MM, and they're worse than most state games. The tickets cost as much as buying 50 tickets for PB, MM , or most state games. If you bought 50 tickets for PB or MM your chance of winning the jackpot would be 1 in 2.9 milion or 1 in 3.5 million. Sure, you'd be almost 3 times as likely to win the Texas game, but with PB or MM the jackpots are commonly 3 to 10 times as much money. I don't know about other states, but 50 tickets for NY lotto would make me about 3 times more likely to win than 1 $50 ticket in the TX game. Right now the lotto  jackpot is close to 20 million cash, so even at 22.5 million to 1 it's a much better deal.

    KY Floyd's avatarKY Floyd

    Quote: Originally posted by DoubleDown on May 7, 2007

    I doubt it would only be $2, RJOh.

    The smallest 'win" I have seen on the $20 GA ticket is $20.

    At the very least, one can get their original investment back, or at least I hope so.....

    RJ is talking about making every ticket a winner, so that everyone would win at least $2. 

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