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justxploring

Wandering Aimlessly
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Feb 11, 2008, 4:01 pm

I went to Publix to get advanced plays since I am planning a trip to SC. I would also spend a week looking for a place to live. Well, I completely freaked out when I was told there will be no advanced plays until early March because of the new Lotto game. I don't understand this at all. Why can't I just buy advanced plays for 2 weeks or even for 2 or 3 draws like Wed and Sat? I was going to call the Lottery but I finally found it in a search. He's right. I think they should have announced it on their site or at least had a link on the home page. Many people take vacations or go out of town and buy advanced plays. So now I'm thinking..okay, leave on Thurs morning, buy a ticket for Sat and you'll have until Wed night to get back across the border!

Asking someone to play for me is not an option, just in case someone was going to make that suggestion. This is ridiculous and makes no sense to me. I understand they are going to add the option of paying $2 to get a bonus if you win the jackpot, which is a rip-off, but why would that have any effect on my tickets? Guess the current cards will also be obsolete.
ThatScaryChick

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Feb 11, 2008, 4:16 pm

That's annoying. I don't see why they can't offer advanced plays just because of the $2 bonus.

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ThatScaryChick
justxploring

Wandering Aimlessly
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Feb 11, 2008, 4:24 pm

Scary, I mentioned before that I lost out on $232K jackpot because I didn't play a Fant 5 number I often pick. (would have been a 4-way split of $58K each, less tax) But with a $24 million Lotto jackpot at stake, I would hate to skip my numbers since I've played the same 4 combinations for over 12 years. Yes, I occasionally bet other numbers, but these 4 combinations I always play every Wed & Sat. I just don't see why, in this age of technology, they needed to stop them a month in advance. Maybe the new tickets will be printed differently.
ThatScaryChick

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Feb 11, 2008, 4:31 pm

Quote: Originally posted by justxploring on Feb 11, 2008
Scary, I mentioned before that I lost out on $232K jackpot because I didn't play a Fant 5 number I often pick. (would have been a 4-way split of $58K each, less tax) But with a $24 million Lotto jackpot at stake, I would hate to skip my numbers since I've played the same 4 combinations for over 12 years. Yes, I occasionally bet other numbers, but these 4 combinations I always play every Wed & Sat. I just don't see why, in this age of technology, they needed to stop them a month in advance. Maybe the new tickets will be printed differently.

I guess I missed your post about losing out on $232k . Sorry to hear about that. I don't have regular numbers that I play, but I can understand needing to play those each drawing. I hope you are able to come up with a way to buy your tickets. I would hate to hear that you lost out on that much money again.

ETA: I actually lost out on $5,000 when I didn't play my regular numbers (when I used to play some regular numbers). Now, I tend to change a number here and there depending on the previous drawing.

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ThatScaryChick
justxploring

Wandering Aimlessly
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Feb 11, 2008, 4:32 pm

okay - here's the deal. just called the Lottery. Surprised I got someone immediately.

They were supposed to launch the new game with the extra $10 million option in February and had to push it back until March 1. So they stopped advanced plays. If my timing is this bad in life, maybe it's a hint that I should just never gamble anyway.

Scary, just read your post. No, I didn't miss out on $232K, since 3 people won a little over $77K that night. A 4 way split if would have been $58K minus tax. Still, that would have been very nice! Even that $5,000 would have been nice. I think changing numbers makes sense, but it hurts when it doesn't work out. Thanks for posting.
tbraddock

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January 17, 2008
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Feb 11, 2008, 4:53 pm

So no Advance play at all??

I was trying to purchase Florida Lottery Tickets on Feb 2nd. I had it marked for 5 draws. The clerk mentioned something about this but he was able to give me 3 advanced draws.

Is there a date that they stopped all advanced sales??

Tony
LuckyLilly

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February 26, 2007
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Feb 11, 2008, 8:59 pm

Wow, no advance plays for 2 or 3 weeks? That's unreasonable. Here they let you buy advance plays up until the drawing before the change. I wonder why Florida isn't allowing it? That is bad!
justxploring

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Feb 12, 2008, 6:02 am

Tony, I called Tallahassee and for now, there are no advanced draws at all. Not even for 1 game. You can buy tickets for the next game only like Wed, but you can't buy Sat tickets until after 10:45 on Wed night or on Thursday. All I wanted to do was leave on Sat and buy tickets for Sat, Wed, Sat but I can't do that until March. You must have gotten the last advanced draw tickets. Maybe that's why you were only able to get 3 plays instead of 5. There is a page on the FL site if go into site index and search. They have a schedule, but it is a .pdf file. On March 5 you can again buy up to 52 draws. If I wasn't making plans, I'd never know about it. The Lottery suggested I ask someone to play my cards for me. (yeah, right!) Maybe he never reads any of the stories on LP about the friends who end up in court. LOL

This only affects Lotto, not the other games like Fantasy 5. This state is so messed up. I don't understand why they would stop advanced plays so without some kind of warning. It actually wouldn't have mattered if I knew about this last year, since they still began limiting the advanced plays in August but had planned to start the new game this month. I copied this from the page. The first column is the date and the second is the amount of draws you can buy. I thought maybe 1 meant 1 advanced draw (in addition to the current one) but that was wishful thinking. "1" really means no advanced draws, unless you consider buying Wed night's ticket on Tues an advanced ticket. That's why I called the Lottery. They weren't very clear as far as I am concerned. IMHO they're going to lose money since many people vacation here and like to buy advanced tickets this time of year.

January 26 5

January 30 4

February 2 3

February 6 2

February 9 1

February 13 1

February 16 1

February 20 1

February 23 1

February 27 1

March 1 1

March 5 52
bashley572

West Side of Sunny Florida
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Feb 12, 2008, 3:22 pm

Quote: Originally posted by ThatScaryChick on Feb 11, 2008
I guess I missed your post about losing out on $232k . Sorry to hear about that. I don't have regular numbers that I play, but I can understand needing to play those each drawing. I hope you are able to come up with a way to buy your tickets. I would hate to hear that you lost out on that much money again.

ETA: I actually lost out on $5,000 when I didn't play my regular numbers (when I used to play some regular numbers). Now, I tend to change a number here and there depending on the previous drawing.

"ETA: I actually lost out on $5,000 when I didn't play my regular numbers (when I used to play some regular numbers). Now, I tend to change a number here and there depending on the previous drawing. "

It would HURT too much if I tracked how much money I have lost, by- not played/missed/forgot/ ect

Money won is twice as good as money earned!
KY Floyd

NY
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October 16, 2005
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Feb 13, 2008, 1:42 am

Quote: Originally posted by justxploring on Feb 12, 2008
Tony, I called Tallahassee and for now, there are no advanced draws at all. Not even for 1 game. You can buy tickets for the next game only like Wed, but you can't buy Sat tickets until after 10:45 on Wed night or on Thursday. All I wanted to do was leave on Sat and buy tickets for Sat, Wed, Sat but I can't do that until March. You must have gotten the last advanced draw tickets. Maybe that's why you were only able to get 3 plays instead of 5. There is a page on the FL site if go into site index and search. They have a schedule, but it is a .pdf file. On March 5 you can again buy up to 52 draws. If I wasn't making plans, I'd never know about it. The Lottery suggested I ask someone to play my cards for me. (yeah, right!) Maybe he never reads any of the stories on LP about the friends who end up in court. LOL

This only affects Lotto, not the other games like Fantasy 5. This state is so messed up. I don't understand why they would stop advanced plays so without some kind of warning. It actually wouldn't have mattered if I knew about this last year, since they still began limiting the advanced plays in August but had planned to start the new game this month. I copied this from the page. The first column is the date and the second is the amount of draws you can buy. I thought maybe 1 meant 1 advanced draw (in addition to the current one) but that was wishful thinking. "1" really means no advanced draws, unless you consider buying Wed night's ticket on Tues an advanced ticket. That's why I called the Lottery. They weren't very clear as far as I am concerned. IMHO they're going to lose money since many people vacation here and like to buy advanced tickets this time of year.

January 26 5

January 30 4

February 2 3

February 6 2

February 9 1

February 13 1

February 16 1

February 20 1

February 23 1

February 27 1

March 1 1

March 5 52

The PDF file you refer to shows that the number of advance plays available started decreasing as of last August, so it seems that the information has been available for about 6 months, even if it wasn't publicized. I expect that plenty of people have found out about the change when they tried to buy more advance plays than were allowed. What would you have done differently if you'd had more advance warning? That wouldn't have changed anything about the ability to buy advance plays, so unless you'd change your travel plans, I don't see how it matters?

If they changed the game they clearly had to stop selling advance plays for any drawing after the transition to the new format. Looking at the list of advanced plays it looks like they were expecting to start the new game on 2/13, so they weren't selling tickets for 2/13 until after the 2/9 drawing. Once they decided to push the start date back to March it's probably a good idea to simply stop the advance plays until the new game actually starts. Complaints about not being able to buy advance plays are a minor inconvenience, but selling tickets for a game that is going to change, or rewriting the software to make a change that only lasts 3 weeks, has the potential for real problems.
justxploring

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Feb 13, 2008, 2:49 am

Why are you always so argumentative? (Rhetorical question. No response required.)

I expect that plenty of people have found out about the change when they tried to buy more advance plays than were allowed.

So what? Yes, this information has been available, but why would I go to the FL web site and go to every link on the site index and read all the information about advanced plays without anything to prompt me to do so? I've always been able to purchase Lotto tickets in advanced when going out of town to a wedding or other event. This has never happened to me in 14 years, so why would I start to hunt around for a link that tells me otherwise? Also, they changed it. The advanced plays were available on 2/13 and now it's 3/5.

What would you have done differently if you'd had more advance warning? That wouldn't have changed anything about the ability to buy advance plays, so unless you'd change your travel plans."

I never said I'd be able to buy them anyway. This was just a complete surprise to me at the last minute.

I don't see how it matters?

It matters to me. I guess that doesn't count in your opinion. I have never missed a Lotto drawing since 1994. Maybe I would have made other arrangements to travel at another time if I felt playing the lottery was that critical or asked someone I trust to play them for me. That's not the point.

I was also posting this as news to members. I always appreciate reading about stuff going on with the lottery games I play. Where does the FL home page say anything about changing the date for the new Lotto game or the advanced plays? I often read the press releases and I always check out any links on the home page about new games. Sometimes I get better information on LP than I get from the Lottery, even quicker game results!

If they changed the game they clearly had to stop selling advance plays for any drawing after the transition to the new format. Looking at the list of advanced plays it looks like they were expecting to start the new game on 2/13, so they weren't selling tickets for 2/13 until after the 2/9 drawing.

Exactly! As I wrote before, my timing is awful. But they were planning to begin the new format tonight (Wednesday 2/13) and I was planning to go away on 2/19. So I can buy tickets for the 20th but not the 23rd or the 27th or the 1st of March. Maybe I don't want to miss those drawings.

Once they decided to push the start date back to March it's probably a good idea to simply stop the advance plays until the new game actually starts.

I don't see why. Obviously they lack the advanced technical skills required to run a state lottery.
KY Floyd

NY
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October 16, 2005
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Feb 13, 2008, 3:11 am

Quote: Originally posted by justxploring on Feb 13, 2008
Why are you always so argumentative? (Rhetorical question. No response required.)

I expect that plenty of people have found out about the change when they tried to buy more advance plays than were allowed.

So what? Yes, this information has been available, but why would I go to the FL web site and go to every link on the site index and read all the information about advanced plays without anything to prompt me to do so? I've always been able to purchase Lotto tickets in advanced when going out of town to a wedding or other event. This has never happened to me in 14 years, so why would I start to hunt around for a link that tells me otherwise? Also, they changed it. The advanced plays were available on 2/13 and now it's 3/5.

What would you have done differently if you'd had more advance warning? That wouldn't have changed anything about the ability to buy advance plays, so unless you'd change your travel plans."

I never said I'd be able to buy them anyway. This was just a complete surprise to me at the last minute.

I don't see how it matters?

It matters to me. I guess that doesn't count in your opinion. I have never missed a Lotto drawing since 1994. Maybe I would have made other arrangements to travel at another time if I felt playing the lottery was that critical or asked someone I trust to play them for me. That's not the point.

I was also posting this as news to members. I always appreciate reading about stuff going on with the lottery games I play. Where does the FL home page say anything about changing the date for the new Lotto game or the advanced plays? I often read the press releases and I always check out any links on the home page about new games. Sometimes I get better information on LP than I get from the Lottery, even quicker game results!

If they changed the game they clearly had to stop selling advance plays for any drawing after the transition to the new format. Looking at the list of advanced plays it looks like they were expecting to start the new game on 2/13, so they weren't selling tickets for 2/13 until after the 2/9 drawing.

Exactly! As I wrote before, my timing is awful. But they were planning to begin the new format tonight (Wednesday 2/13) and I was planning to go away on 2/19. So I can buy tickets for the 20th but not the 23rd or the 27th or the 1st of March. Maybe I don't want to miss those drawings.

Once they decided to push the start date back to March it's probably a good idea to simply stop the advance plays until the new game actually starts.

I don't see why. Obviously they lack the advanced technical skills required to run a state lottery.

Why do you often read more into a post than I put there? There's nothing argumentative in my post. I simply asked what would be different if you had know sooner, and offered a possible exlanation for why they didn't offer advance play during the delay. They could have publicized it more, but everybody who wanted an advance play that wasn't available found out when they tried to get a ticket.

"It matters to me. I guess that doesn't count in your opinion. "

There's that reading problem. I simply said that I don't see how it matters, and I'm talking about knowing advance play wasn't available, not the actual availability. That you didn't know sooner apparently *bothers* you, but I don't see how it *matters* much to anyone unless they would have changed plans in order to buy tickets.

"Once they decided to push the start date back to March it's probably a good idea to simply stop the advance plays until the new game actually starts.

I don't see why. Obviously they lack the advanced technical skills required to run a state lottery. "

I don't know why the game wasn't changed on the original date, but not selling advance plays is simply a decision, and has nothing to do with technical skill. They were apparently able to sell advance plays for all drawings through what was expected to be the last game with the old format, and they're apparently ready to sell them again once the new format is started.
Think

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Feb 13, 2008, 10:03 pm

Quote: Originally posted by justxploring on Feb 11, 2008
I went to Publix to get advanced plays since I am planning a trip to SC. I would also spend a week looking for a place to live. Well, I completely freaked out when I was told there will be no advanced plays until early March because of the new Lotto game. I don't understand this at all. Why can't I just buy advanced plays for 2 weeks or even for 2 or 3 draws like Wed and Sat? I was going to call the Lottery but I finally found it in a search. He's right. I think they should have announced it on their site or at least had a link on the home page. Many people take vacations or go out of town and buy advanced plays. So now I'm thinking..okay, leave on Thurs morning, buy a ticket for Sat and you'll have until Wed night to get back across the border!

Asking someone to play for me is not an option, just in case someone was going to make that suggestion. This is ridiculous and makes no sense to me. I understand they are going to add the option of paying $2 to get a bonus if you win the jackpot, which is a rip-off, but why would that have any effect on my tickets? Guess the current cards will also be obsolete.

Look at the bright side. Once you stop playing every drawing you will realize that the lottery does not reward loyalty and it really is either rigged or just a matter of chance.

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