Cash 3 and Play 4 are offered at $.50 plays, so there's no reason they couldn't offer that on a jackpot game. And I'm not talking about a $1.50 play, I'm talking about an actual $.50 play option on a jackpot game. But to make that price point work, they would have to design a game that would generate the sales volume and frequency of play that would support the pricing. Which, in my opinion, would hinge on the balance of odds vs. payout. The greatest power a player has is in the choice to play, or not to play, any particular game. I'm looking for decent odds for a modest but attractive payout (and before anyone asks, Pick 3 and Pick 4 games seem to totally elude me. I'm not sure why, but that type of matrix fries my circuits.)
I guess what I'm interested in is a hybrid (not Frankenstein!) game, a cross between jackpot games, and daily games. One thing that irks me is that in the Fantasy 5 prize pool, approximately 60% of the prize pool goes to the 5 of 5 winner(s), 30% to the 3 of 5 winners, and 10% to the 4 of 5 winners. The middle gets squeezed again, thanks for playing!
So here's the game I would play: Draw game, $.50 or $1 play option. (The following payouts are based on the assertion on the Florida Lottery website that for every dollar spent on lottery products, 61% is used for prizes, so the prize pool of these games is 60% of total pool. And also the assumption is that the prize pool is split 50/50 between 4 of 4 winners, and 3 of 4 winners.) Payout is parimutuel, actual payouts would vary.
Matrix 4 of 4 Odds/$1 Payout 3 of 4 Odds/$1 Payout
4/26 1/14,950 $4,485 1/169 $50
4/25* 1/12,775 $3,832 1/151 $45
4/24 1/10,600 $3,180 1/133 $39
(4/24 is evenly divisible.)
*4/26 are the published odds for the now-defunct Arizona Cash 4, 4/24 are the published odds for the Washington Match 4, 4/25 splits the difference, odds may be slightly off.