Very impressive that you still have 20 year old copies of Lotto News Casper! I have to tip my cap to you! And a big thank you to Tique as well.
"so what are you saying now it might be like 33% or lower that goes back to the winners price?" The short answer to your question is: Yes.
Here is the long answer to your question:
The total amount of dollars players spend per day on Take5 is called "The Take". Of the total Take, 50% of it is allocated to the winners prize pool to pay all winners at all prize levels. (Which are called "Tiers") So for example, if all Take5 players in NY State bought a total of $600,000 worth of Take5 lines (not tickets as there can be multiple lines on one ticket) then 50% of The Take ($300,000) would be allocated to the winners prize pool, and The State of New York keeps the other 50%. ($300,000)
If the top tier prize percentage is 20% of the winners prize pool, then the amount of dollars paid out for matching 5 numbers (the jackpot) is $60,000. Although I don't know what the actual percentage of the winners prize pool is that's allocated to the jackpot, if it was reduced to 10% from 20%, then the top prize payout would be $30,000. That might possibly be a reason why you're seeing lower jackpot amounts.
The prize "tiers" as they are called are: The top tier which is the Jackpot (all five winning numbers appear on one line) the 2nd tier which is a line on a ticket that matches 4 out of 5 winning numbers, the 3rd tier which is a line on a ticket that matches 3 out of the 5 winning numbers, and the 4th tier which is a Free Play because one line matched 2 of the 5 winning numbers.
The big question in my mind is 'What percentage of the winners prize pool goes towards the top tier?' (the jackpot) And has The NY Lottery lowered it at any time? Thanks to you and Tique, you guys have proven that the percentage allocated to the winners prize pool has not changed since 2001. It has remained at 50% since 2001 until today. But did The NY Lottery lower the percentages allocated towards the top and lower tier prizes? They would still be paying out 50% of the winners prize pool (because they haven't touched the percentage allocated to the winners prize pool) therefore it seems to me that there has been a steep drop off in the dollar amount spent on Take5 tickets by players in New York.
Of course as you correctly stated in one of your previous posts, Take5 is a pari-mutuel game, so if multiple players match 5 numbers, the jackpot is divided equally among them, which reduces the amount each winner receives. G5