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I bought an entire book of $20 GA tickets - $3,000,000 Taxes PaidPrev TopicNext Topic
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Quote: Originally posted by James1 on Feb 2, 2011
Im addicted too but I know how to force myself away for a few days.
My worst habit is chasing winners, dropping $200 in 10 minutes, then getting more money to win back the lost $200 AND make a profit while at it. This has dropped me in a hole. Only way out now is a big winner minimum $5K.
That really sucks. I hope you have better luck. I needed roughly a $500 winner last year to bring myself back to even, but I cleared the books (at least in my own mind) for the new year. Due to computer problems, I have not kept as good records, but alas I have started keeping hardcopy records, until I fix mine up. I am pretty sure that I am ahead for the year, if not pretty close to even with this $300 winner. I will most likely take it easy pretty soon, after these new $20 tickets get old. I like being ahead. I think I will save my $300 winner until I really need the cash, then turn it in, and spend the cash in my pocket instead. I really should stop, but my mind keeps telling me that I can do this again.
$3,000,000 Taxes Paid
From Lotto Hideout
Jump to: navigation, searchOverall odds: 1 in 3.17
TICKET...1 in 9
$30......1 in 13
$40......1 in 19
$50......1 in 25
$60......1 in 60
$100.....1 in 75
$300.....1 in 205
$1,000...1 in 2,400
$3,000...1 in 15,000
$30,000..1 in 120,000
$300,000..1 in 1,020,000
$3,000,000 taxes paid..1 in 2,040,000$3,000,000 Taxes Paid Winning Combinations
I have beat the odds by 10X, if you consider that I have purchased around 20 of these tickets to win $300. I wonder if I can do it twice? My guess is that I am very close to the break even point for this game, but when you have a good win, it makes you quickly forget or at least minimalize your losses.
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How exciting to buy a whole roll. Too bad that $300 winner wasnt on BOTH -- the ticket your wife scratched AND that whole roll you bought.
I sometimes consider buying an entire roll but more and more when I consider it I figure it best to go in with a friend. Besides, I just dont have that type of capital to throw at a whole book so I just stick with one or 2 every now and again.
And CarHauler you mention that your wife revealed the biggest winner to date -- that is funny, it used to ALWAYS be that way with me and my wife, to the point that if she or I ever bought any tickets I would just let her scratch the majority of them. She always seems to be the one that reveals the winners, which is fine with me!
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I never bought an entire book, probably never will. Although a few stores have such low turnover, I practically bought most of one particular book. And I guess peoples experiences of buying entire books is typically not that great anyway.
I was looking at some of the stats for Scratch winners in my area, and it was disappointing to see that throughout the course of a year, most stores only had a couple of winners in the $600-$1000 range, and anything more or higher was very rare. So the odds of turning a profit buying books is very unlikely unless you hit the big one to get ahead of the statistics.
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As many of you have read, I HAD come to the conclusion that the lottery was in fact random, but now I am forced to eat my own words. I am currently in the process of reading this story on LP: https://www.lotterypost.com/news/227079, in which a statistician supposedly breaks the code to scratch offs. Given I have not finished reading it, it is very interesting so far. One FACT that we all tend to overlook is that the scratch lottery CANNOT truly be random, it only appears that way. The lottery MUST know how many winners there are, and to some extent where they are.
Think about it: if it were truly random, then they could not say with certainty that there are 5 top prizes in a game, for example. If it were truly random, then two things would be true: 1) They could not tell how many winners were in the game. After all, if it were truly random, then there might be 28 top prizes, or there might be zero. Second, if it were truly random, then the validation numbers that they punch in the computer after scanning the ticket would be meaningless.
After all, the computer has to know which ticket has whatever prize there is. Have you ever been to a retailer to turn in a ticket, and they actually look at it and see how many numbers you got right? The answer is no, they just scan it and pay you whatever the lottery terminal tells them the ticket is worth (as long as they are honest, but that is a matter for another entire discussion). So based on these two facts alone, the lottery CANNOT truly be random on scratch off tickets.
They APPEAR random to the public, but there IS an algorithm that they use to determine winners and losers. Remember, they are only required to pay out "As nearly as practical, at least 45 percent of the amount of money from the actual sale of lottery tickets or shares shall be made available as prize money," according to Georgia law. The rest is used for education, and the funding and continuance of the lottery corporation, basically.
That explains why my "dud" book of tickets only paid out $130. Exactly 45% of $300 would be $135, BUT here is the catch: The game only has prize amounts in whole increments of $10, so tickets do not pay out $25 in this game, (unlike Maximum Green which does pay out $25) they either pay out a free ticket($20) or $30 or $40 and so on. See $130 is As nearly as practical 45% of a book. In reality it is only 43.33 of the cost of the book, but this as nearly as practical allows them to pay $5 per roll less than on Maximum Green, where tickets DO end in $5, in the case of $25 winners. Look here:
Maximum Green $3,000,000 Taxes Paid From Lotto Hideout From Lotto Hideout Jump to: navigation, search Jump to: navigation, search $20 tickets $20 tickets Overall odds: 1 in 3.03 Overall odds: 1 in 3.17 TICKET($20)...1 in 11 TICKET ($20)...1 in 9 $20......1 in 38 $30......1 in 13 $25......1 in 9 $40......1 in 19 $40......1 in 25 $50......1 in 25 $50......1 in 38 $60......1 in 60 $100.....1 in 32 $100.....1 in 75 $250.....1 in 275 $300.....1 in 205 $500.....1 in 545 $1,000...1 in 2,400 $1,000...1 in 2,000 $3,000...1 in 15,000 $10,000..1 in 30,000 $30,000..1 in 120,000 $50,000..1 in 504,000 $300,000..1 in 1,020,000 $1,000,000..1 in 840,000 $3,000,000 taxes paid..1 in 2,040,000 $5,000,000..1 in 3,360,000 So here we have it: for simplicity, lets just compare my roll of $3,000,000 Taxes Paid with Maximum Green. My book of $3,000,000 Taxes Paid had the following: (3 x free ticket ($60) + $30 +$40), wich equals $130. Now lets take the most simple hypothetical from Maximum Green: There could be a $40 winner (or two free tickets), a $50 winner, a $20 winner, and a $25 winner, ($40 + $50 +$20 +$25)which would equal out to exactly $135. That makes it practical for them to make a book of Maximum Green follow the law exactly, BUT in the case of $3,000,000 Taxes paid they pay out $130, which is As nearly as practical 45% of a book. In reality, that means that as I said before, they are following the law, but ripping off customers for $5 per book, but it is legal, because it is As nearly as practical 45% of a book.
Now lets multiply this by the life of the game. If there are 5 top prizes of $3,000,000 Taxes Paid, and the odds of winning the top prize of $3,000,000 Taxes Paid are 1 in 2,040,000, then there must have been 10,200,000 total tickets printed, which will sell for $20 each. If there are 15 tickets in a book, then there must be 680,000 books printed for sale. That is $204,000,000 that the lottery will take in, overall, if they sell all of the tickets. The actual payout is around $4,300,000 or so, I don't have a ticket handy, but that is pretty close.
In the great scheme of things, the top prizes of $4,300,000 X 5 is only $21,500,000, which is only about 10.5% of the revenue that they will take in if they sell all of the tickets. Yes, yes, this is not including the lower tier prizes, I know, but I am just making a point. I also know that they may not sell all of the tickets. If, for example, they are thinking about phasing out Maximum Green, then I imagine that the 4 remaining top prizes will magically "appear," but I doubt that they really want to close that game out yet. We will see.
Now here comes the good part, the part about skimming $5 from each book, as I have alluded to previously. 680,000 books X $5/per book skimmed = $3,400,000 extra the lottery gets to put in their pockets. That is almost 3.5 million dollars that players will never see. Kind of puts things in perspective, doesn't it?
Now back to the original question: The lottery knows every ticket that is a winner. That is the only way to assure that the game has the proper amount of prize money is awarded, and that tickets are genuine. An outside auditing company checks this. So therefore, the scratch off lottery CANNOT be truly random, it only APPEARS that way to the public. Now the question remains as always: Can anyone decode the algorithm? That remains to be seen. I will keep up the good fight. Wow, maybe I should write a book.
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Quote: Originally posted by CarHauler on Feb 2, 2011
As many of you have read, I HAD come to the conclusion that the lottery was in fact random, but now I am forced to eat my own words. I am currently in the process of reading this story on LP: https://www.lotterypost.com/news/227079, in which a statistician supposedly breaks the code to scratch offs. Given I have not finished reading it, it is very interesting so far. One FACT that we all tend to overlook is that the scratch lottery CANNOT truly be random, it only appears that way. The lottery MUST know how many winners there are, and to some extent where they are.
Think about it: if it were truly random, then they could not say with certainty that there are 5 top prizes in a game, for example. If it were truly random, then two things would be true: 1) They could not tell how many winners were in the game. After all, if it were truly random, then there might be 28 top prizes, or there might be zero. Second, if it were truly random, then the validation numbers that they punch in the computer after scanning the ticket would be meaningless.
After all, the computer has to know which ticket has whatever prize there is. Have you ever been to a retailer to turn in a ticket, and they actually look at it and see how many numbers you got right? The answer is no, they just scan it and pay you whatever the lottery terminal tells them the ticket is worth (as long as they are honest, but that is a matter for another entire discussion). So based on these two facts alone, the lottery CANNOT truly be random on scratch off tickets.
They APPEAR random to the public, but there IS an algorithm that they use to determine winners and losers. Remember, they are only required to pay out "As nearly as practical, at least 45 percent of the amount of money from the actual sale of lottery tickets or shares shall be made available as prize money," according to Georgia law. The rest is used for education, and the funding and continuance of the lottery corporation, basically.
That explains why my "dud" book of tickets only paid out $130. Exactly 45% of $300 would be $135, BUT here is the catch: The game only has prize amounts in whole increments of $10, so tickets do not pay out $25 in this game, (unlike Maximum Green which does pay out $25) they either pay out a free ticket($20) or $30 or $40 and so on. See $130 is As nearly as practical 45% of a book. In reality it is only 43.33 of the cost of the book, but this as nearly as practical allows them to pay $5 per roll less than on Maximum Green, where tickets DO end in $5, in the case of $25 winners. Look here:
Maximum Green $3,000,000 Taxes Paid From Lotto Hideout From Lotto Hideout Jump to: navigation, search Jump to: navigation, search $20 tickets $20 tickets Overall odds: 1 in 3.03 Overall odds: 1 in 3.17 TICKET($20)...1 in 11 TICKET ($20)...1 in 9 $20......1 in 38 $30......1 in 13 $25......1 in 9 $40......1 in 19 $40......1 in 25 $50......1 in 25 $50......1 in 38 $60......1 in 60 $100.....1 in 32 $100.....1 in 75 $250.....1 in 275 $300.....1 in 205 $500.....1 in 545 $1,000...1 in 2,400 $1,000...1 in 2,000 $3,000...1 in 15,000 $10,000..1 in 30,000 $30,000..1 in 120,000 $50,000..1 in 504,000 $300,000..1 in 1,020,000 $1,000,000..1 in 840,000 $3,000,000 taxes paid..1 in 2,040,000 $5,000,000..1 in 3,360,000 So here we have it: for simplicity, lets just compare my roll of $3,000,000 Taxes Paid with Maximum Green. My book of $3,000,000 Taxes Paid had the following: (3 x free ticket ($60) + $30 +$40), wich equals $130. Now lets take the most simple hypothetical from Maximum Green: There could be a $40 winner (or two free tickets), a $50 winner, a $20 winner, and a $25 winner, ($40 + $50 +$20 +$25)which would equal out to exactly $135. That makes it practical for them to make a book of Maximum Green follow the law exactly, BUT in the case of $3,000,000 Taxes paid they pay out $130, which is As nearly as practical 45% of a book. In reality, that means that as I said before, they are following the law, but ripping off customers for $5 per book, but it is legal, because it is As nearly as practical 45% of a book.
Now lets multiply this by the life of the game. If there are 5 top prizes of $3,000,000 Taxes Paid, and the odds of winning the top prize of $3,000,000 Taxes Paid are 1 in 2,040,000, then there must have been 10,200,000 total tickets printed, which will sell for $20 each. If there are 15 tickets in a book, then there must be 680,000 books printed for sale. That is $204,000,000 that the lottery will take in, overall, if they sell all of the tickets. The actual payout is around $4,300,000 or so, I don't have a ticket handy, but that is pretty close.
In the great scheme of things, the top prizes of $4,300,000 X 5 is only $21,500,000, which is only about 10.5% of the revenue that they will take in if they sell all of the tickets. Yes, yes, this is not including the lower tier prizes, I know, but I am just making a point. I also know that they may not sell all of the tickets. If, for example, they are thinking about phasing out Maximum Green, then I imagine that the 4 remaining top prizes will magically "appear," but I doubt that they really want to close that game out yet. We will see.
Now here comes the good part, the part about skimming $5 from each book, as I have alluded to previously. 680,000 books X $5/per book skimmed = $3,400,000 extra the lottery gets to put in their pockets. That is almost 3.5 million dollars that players will never see. Kind of puts things in perspective, doesn't it?
Now back to the original question: The lottery knows every ticket that is a winner. That is the only way to assure that the game has the proper amount of prize money is awarded, and that tickets are genuine. An outside auditing company checks this. So therefore, the scratch off lottery CANNOT be truly random, it only APPEARS that way to the public. Now the question remains as always: Can anyone decode the algorithm? That remains to be seen. I will keep up the good fight. Wow, maybe I should write a book.
I am thinking you should write that book! Certainly very good info.
Often while scratching tickets I think to myself there HAS to be an algorithm to it all. I mean I have bought several tikets together and noticed similarities between just the numbers you reveal, and i wonder if there is something behind those numbers, or maybe even the coded numbers that tell the roll number, ticket number, game number, etc.
For instance, on a $2 Jumbo Bucks you might be given a 12 and 5 to match. Then on the next one, a 13 and 2, for example. Well, on the first card you dont match and win the 12 and 5, but had you had the 13 and 2 on that first card you WOULD have won, and vice versa.
But in the end it doenst matter if you cant see behind that magnetic ink (or whatever the scratch material is) to see the numbers anyway.
HOWEVER, if you could crack the code and figure it out, you could buy say 4 or 5 tickets and based on what they show, you would know if a winner is coming up.
Bah, I dont know. I am just rambling. Only the lottery computers know for sure...
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When we were in Texas last month a clerk suggested that we buy a roll of the $20.00 Texas Block Buster. He said someone won $1,000.00 doing this ......there are 25 tickets on a roll so his profit was $500.00(not including taxes) which he could of won on a single ticket.... also there was a guy in Rio Vista Texas that won $2.5 million on the Texas Block Buster & it was the last ticket on the roll.... Keep in mind know one knows where the Jackpot ticket is on a roll it could be the first ticket..... it could be the last or in the middle.......
Just keep playing for fun the big win will come.......