Los Angeles, California United States
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January 5, 2011
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Quote: Originally posted by OCScratchDevil on Apr 30, 2014
Yeah, that is just weird that the $5 LFL went so quickly.
It does happen every so often. When a new game comes out and they flood the market with tickets, technically the 1st top prize could be found at any time.
But where is the 2nd of 6 top prizes? Is it even in stores or still waiting to be distributed? Hmmm...
Los Angeles, California United States
Member #149,486
December 2, 2013
919 Posts
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Quote: Originally posted by Jon D on May 1, 2014
It does happen every so often. When a new game comes out and they flood the market with tickets, technically the 1st top prize could be found at any time.
But where is the 2nd of 6 top prizes? Is it even in stores or still waiting to be distributed? Hmmm...
Probably sitting at their distribution centers. I'd be very surprised if the second top prize is claimed before they reach 5-6 million in ticket sales, especially with the prize structure of this game.
Bay Area, California United States
Member #154,218
April 8, 2014
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Quote: Originally posted by green sandals on May 1, 2014
Join the club beachbunny13. For every winning day, I avg 5 losing days. And the losing day amounts are usually greater than the winning day amounts.
Playing for the big ticket W against long odds, this is the norm.
96% of the time, this has been my relationship with CAlottery.
After playing scratchers for about two months and spending approximately $2500 and only winning $2000 back (approximately, I don't keep records) I have concluded that scratchers are not for me.
I don't plan to play again until the California lottery lowers their take by a significant amount. Even though I had more luck than most, I still lost hundreds of dollars in a short period of time due to the lottery taking 20-40 percent of every dollar I spent. Long term this is simply not acceptable to me. If scratchers had 90% return, I would be more inclined to play.
I researched slot machines and learned they have a much lower house edge than scratchers, especially in the higher denominations, where you might average a 95% return on some machines. So I'm going to try my luck at the Bellagio, Aria and Cosmopolitan casinos in about two weeks playing $1 and $5 slots.
United States
Member #147,159
September 24, 2013
507 Posts
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Quote: Originally posted by green sandals on May 2, 2014
Yeah, I was using the GP annuity value of $6,500,000 instead of the cash value of $3,250,000.
Meant to say 73% return if the GP winner picks the lump cash value and 77.5% if the weekly prize is taken. With tax considerations, its best to do weekly and hope you live the next 25 years in good health.
Los Angeles, California United States
Member #149,486
December 2, 2013
919 Posts
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Quote: Originally posted by CAScratcher20 on May 2, 2014
Meant to say 73% return if the GP winner picks the lump cash value and 77.5% if the weekly prize is taken. With tax considerations, its best to do weekly and hope you live the next 25 years in good health.
I think the biggest tax consideration for us in California after hopefully living a healthy 25 years is, "will California continue to exempt lottery winnings from state taxes for the next 25 years"? I'm not so sure. Also, there's the uncertainly with future Federal tax rates over that period.
New Jersey started to tax lottery winners for the first time in 2009, and they retroactively taxed winners that won lottery money prior to when the law went into effect (for that calendar year). There's precedent for this kinda of stuff.