Mega Millions and Powerball extra $1 plays - what % of tickets?Prev Topic Next Topic

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Coin Toss

Zeta Reticuli Star System
United States
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Feb 23, 2011, 6:09 pm

From watching the drawings and seeing the winners of lesser prizes than the jackpot announced it seemes like there are a lot more people still playing $1 instead of the Megapier or the Powerplay.

Missouri provides a lot of information on their site, these are the results for the most recent MM and PB drawings (within Missouri):

POWERBALL

Sat Feb 19:

Total MO Winners (without Power Play): 25,551 Total Won: $109,571

Total MO Winners (with Power Play): 1,616 Total Won: $85,705

Grand Total MO Winners: 27,167 Grand Total Won: $195,276

MEGA MILLIONS

Tues. Feb 22:

Total MO Winners (without Megaplier): 5,762 Total Won: $24,253

Total MO Winners (with Megaplier): 548 Total Won: $9,688

Grand Total MO Winners: 6,310 Grand Total Won: $33,941

__________________________________________

Granted that is just one state and one draw (each game) but it sure seems there is a whole lot more peple not springing for the extra $1. I think if you cost yourself $800,000 or $750,000 (pre-tax) for the sake of not playing one more dollar you'd be haunted by it from then on.

Those who run the lotteries love it when players look for consistency in something that's designed not to have any. So many systems, so many theories, so few jackpot winners.

There is one and only one 'proven' system, and that is to book the action. No matter the game, let the players pick their own losers.
iGlenn

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Feb 23, 2011, 7:13 pm

Powerball provides this info on their website.

http://www.powerball.com/powerball/pb_totalwinners.asp
dallascowboyfan

Oklahoma
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Feb 23, 2011, 7:37 pm

Thanks Coin Toss for the info......
rcbbuckeye

100

Texas
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Feb 24, 2011, 10:58 pm

I've noticed that also. Actually, I went thru a period where I didn't play the extra dollar either, but I know if I only won 200k or 250k, and could have won a million, I would be really mad at myself. LOL.

CAN'T WIN IF YOU'RE NOT IN

A DOLLAR AND A DREAM (OR $2)
dr65

50

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Feb 24, 2011, 11:02 pm

Thank you Coin Toss those are interesting numbers. I play the extra dollar when I play. Looks like so many in your example do not..wow.
sully16

25

Ringleader

Michigan
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Feb 25, 2011, 8:39 am

Quote: Originally posted by dr65 on Feb 24, 2011
Thank you Coin Toss those are interesting numbers. I play the extra dollar when I play. Looks like so many in your example do not..wow.

so do I , getting 5 numbers seems easier than getting 5 plus the mega or powerball.
savagegoose

adelaide sa
Australia
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April 11, 2006
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Feb 25, 2011, 2:06 pm

nothing like it here, i dont think id like it, im glad its not an option.

say you had $2 to spend, you would buy 1 game and megaply it?

or 2 sperate games?

id go for the 2 games. halving the odds form 1 in 175 mill or what ever to under 1 in 100 mill, ahh id feel so much likelier to win.

but then our games are a whole different world. chewaper to play easier to hit the jackpot, but dont pay anything for less than 3+ numbers,

powerball, here donesnt pay for anything under 2+p , not even 1 powerball number,

so a mega plier would really suck

" Still swinging, still missing "
2014 = -1016; 2015= -1409; 2016 = -1171; 2017 = -1257 ; 2018 = - 1380 = TOT = - 6233

keno historic = -2291 ; 2015= -603; 2016= -424; 2017 =-427; 2018= -223 TOT = -3968

:
Stack47

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February 14, 2006
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Feb 25, 2011, 11:06 pm

Quote: Originally posted by Coin Toss on Feb 23, 2011
From watching the drawings and seeing the winners of lesser prizes than the jackpot announced it seemes like there are a lot more people still playing $1 instead of the Megapier or the Powerplay.

Missouri provides a lot of information on their site, these are the results for the most recent MM and PB drawings (within Missouri):

POWERBALL

Sat Feb 19:

Total MO Winners (without Power Play): 25,551 Total Won: $109,571

Total MO Winners (with Power Play): 1,616 Total Won: $85,705

Grand Total MO Winners: 27,167 Grand Total Won: $195,276

MEGA MILLIONS

Tues. Feb 22:

Total MO Winners (without Megaplier): 5,762 Total Won: $24,253

Total MO Winners (with Megaplier): 548 Total Won: $9,688

Grand Total MO Winners: 6,310 Grand Total Won: $33,941

__________________________________________

Granted that is just one state and one draw (each game) but it sure seems there is a whole lot more peple not springing for the extra $1. I think if you cost yourself $800,000 or $750,000 (pre-tax) for the sake of not playing one more dollar you'd be haunted by it from then on.

The statistics are probably the same in every state but the PB results favor Power Play. The 25,551 dollar players had an average win of $4.29 and 1616 Power Play players had an average win of $53.

Looking at the volume of play in both games, it's easy to tell which jackpot was higher.
KY Floyd

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Feb 26, 2011, 4:17 pm

Looking at statistics for only one drawing is a great way of learning something about one particular drawing that already happened, but it's not always a good way to find out what's likely to happen in any other drawing. Some drawings reflect typical results, and some don't, so let's look at another drawing. In the 1/19 drawing 19,151 players without PP shared $89,357, for an average prize of $4.67, and 1,247 players with PP shared $15,468 for an average of $12.40. Tickets without PP won about 109%of what they won in the other drawing, while tickets with PP won only 23% of what they won in the other drawing.

The difference is that in the one drawing one ticket with PP (which was 5) won at the $10k level, while no tickets without PP won. The drawing I used had exactly the opposite result, with 1 $10k winner that didn't have PP and no $10k winner with PP. The typical result in MO is that there are no $10k winners, which is why I went back a full month. The result of one drawing inflates the average winnings of a few players by $50k, while the other drawing inflates the average winnings of a ten times as many players by $10k.

That means that neither result tells us what's typical. If we looked at a list of all the losers we'd see that in every drawing the average ticket with PP lost twice as much as those without PP. That's what's typical. For a good reason to avoid PP or the megaplier consider the thread about a NY player who won 3 2nd place prizes. BY buying 3 tickets with the same 5 numbers and a different mega ball, that player ended up with a 1 in 16 chance of winning the jackpot instead of the 2nd place prize.
savagegoose

adelaide sa
Australia
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April 11, 2006
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Feb 26, 2011, 8:02 pm

plus u didnt look at the power play players that didnt win, they lost twice as much as the the non power play players.

i mean how many power play tickets didnt wina prize?

" Still swinging, still missing "
2014 = -1016; 2015= -1409; 2016 = -1171; 2017 = -1257 ; 2018 = - 1380 = TOT = - 6233

keno historic = -2291 ; 2015= -603; 2016= -424; 2017 =-427; 2018= -223 TOT = -3968

:
Stack47

Kentucky
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February 14, 2006
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Feb 27, 2011, 12:14 am

Quote: Originally posted by KY Floyd on Feb 26, 2011
Looking at statistics for only one drawing is a great way of learning something about one particular drawing that already happened, but it's not always a good way to find out what's likely to happen in any other drawing. Some drawings reflect typical results, and some don't, so let's look at another drawing. In the 1/19 drawing 19,151 players without PP shared $89,357, for an average prize of $4.67, and 1,247 players with PP shared $15,468 for an average of $12.40. Tickets without PP won about 109%of what they won in the other drawing, while tickets with PP won only 23% of what they won in the other drawing.

The difference is that in the one drawing one ticket with PP (which was 5) won at the $10k level, while no tickets without PP won. The drawing I used had exactly the opposite result, with 1 $10k winner that didn't have PP and no $10k winner with PP. The typical result in MO is that there are no $10k winners, which is why I went back a full month. The result of one drawing inflates the average winnings of a few players by $50k, while the other drawing inflates the average winnings of a ten times as many players by $10k.

That means that neither result tells us what's typical. If we looked at a list of all the losers we'd see that in every drawing the average ticket with PP lost twice as much as those without PP. That's what's typical. For a good reason to avoid PP or the megaplier consider the thread about a NY player who won 3 2nd place prizes. BY buying 3 tickets with the same 5 numbers and a different mega ball, that player ended up with a 1 in 16 chance of winning the jackpot instead of the 2nd place prize.

"In the 1/19 drawing 19,151 players without PP shared $89,357, for an average prize of $4.67, and 1,247 players with PP shared $15,468 for an average of $12.40."

1247 players spent $2494 to win $15,468 so the average win was really $6.20. I didn't think about it until after I read your post so my figures were off too.