Hello everyone, I am new to the forum but have actually been lurking in the dark for several years now. Anyway, I had a question about the Ohio Classic Lotto. The cash value is never posted publicly (to my knowledge), but it is stated to be 50% of the jackpot amount. However, lately, rates have been incredibly low, causing cash values to be higher. For instance, a person who wins Mega Millions and opts for the cash option would be entitled to $8.3 million (69.2%) of the $12 milion annuitized value. A winner of Powerball tonight, even with its longer annuited payouts, is entiteld to $14 million (56%) of the $25 million adverstised jackpot. As a context, Mega Millions has historically carried cash value percentages somewhere between 56 and 60% while Powerball has run closer to 50% and more recently 48%.
So, my question is, does anyone know if the cash value for the Ohio Classic Lotto has also increased due to the low rates or is the cash value percentage fixed at 50%?
It would seem to me that the cash value for the Ohio Classic Lotto should be running right around 56-59% of the advertised jackpot. Of course, if the value is fixed at 50%, then I wonder why other lotto jackpots, specifically Powerball, which has a similar amount of years to the Ohio Classic Lotto for payouts, would not fix their cash value percentages regardless of the market rates.