I have been playing the Holiday Gifts game, here in Georgia. It is a ticket with odds that are not so hot: 1:3.99. It has been out a couple of weeks now, and I have been playing it pretty heavily. I first saw it a couple of weeks ago. It has a top payout of $250,000, but I am not sure how many top prizes that there are. Here is a rundown of my luck:
October 23: HOLIDAY GIFTS #057, 058, 059 -$15; HOLIDAY GIFTS #57+$15 = $0 net gain. Phillips 66
October 25: HOLIDAY GIFTS #030 -$5; HOLIDAY GIFTS #030 +$10 =$5 net gain. Phillips 66
October 27: HOLIDAY GIFTS #027 -$5; HOLIDAY GIFTS #027 +$15 = $10 net gain. Shell
October 28: HOLIDAY GIFTS #053 -$5 = -$5 net gain. Shell
October 29: HOLIDAY GIFTS #025 -$5 = -$5 net gain. Phillips 66
October 31: HOLIDAY GIFTS #047 -$5 = -$5 net gain. Shell
November 1: HOLIDAY GIFTS #010 -$5 = -$5 net gain. QT
If you have any record of your winnings and losings in this game, I would love to see them. Maybe we can come up with some type of system.
At this particular moment in time, I am down by $. I won every single time at first, but now I haven't won anything the last 4 times that I have played. I have won the black sleigh, which means that I won all 15 prizes, but they were just $1x15. I have also won the black box symbol, with 2x$5 on this game boxes in the same game, for $10. Do you think that all of the $10 and $15 winners were just teasers out there because the game was new? Could it be that I was just lucky? Would I do better to buy 2 at a time? I am trying to decide whether or not to continue to play this game or not. If I am going to have to buy 3 to win $15, I am just getting my money back, so there is no real reason to play. Has anyone out there had any luck at this game?
Given the above circumstances, would you continue to play, if you were in my shoes? And if so, what would be a good strategy? I won on tickets ending on 7 and 0. I also lost on those same ending numbers. I have had the best luck overall with scratch offs at the Phillips 66. How long do new games tend to put out decent prizes. Are the holiday games any better than any others? Another question, do you dislike it when there are multiple bins with the same ticket? Would you buy one each from 2 bins, or would you buy 2 from the same pack, for example?
I am also considering playing Jingle Jumbo Bucks, another seasonal game here in GA. It has odds of 1:2.74, the second best odds in GA scratch offs. I do not know how many top prizes it has left. That, or Jumbo Jumbo Bucks, which has the highest odds of any scratch off in GA 1:2.56. It has paid out 91 of 120 top prizes of $500,000. Both of these are $10 tickets.
My thinking is three fold: I like to play based on the odds of winning #1, the number of top prizes left #2, and the newness of the game #3, feeling that new games have more winners than old ones. I also like games with second chance drawings, but they usually do not have the best overall odds in their price range.
I have an Excel spreadsheet that lists the tickets Name, Top Prize, Claimed Top Prizes, Total Top prizes, Percentage of top prizes paid out already, and the price of the tickets. As most of you know, on average, the higher the ticket price, the better your odds are. I have it printed on legal sized paper, and I carry it with me to decide on which tickets to play. On one side, I have it sorted by ticket name. On the other side, I have it sorted by the overall odds. I could make this available if there is enough interest.
Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly welcomed. By the way, I live in the Marietta, GA area, in northeast Cobb. I am wondering if there is anyone in the area interested in pooling tickets.
Thanks.