KA-BOOM! 4th of July PA Millionaire Raffle! It's On!Prev TopicNext Topic

• GiveFive

  

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  May 3, 2016, 5:19 pm

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  Just saw on The PA Lottery website Millionaire raffle tickets are now on sale.  Here we go! I know it early, but post your ticket numbers here!!  G5

  PS I'm kinda surprised PA is having it after that St Patty's Day fiasco. But I'm glad to see it anyway!

  Play Smart!
• DELotteryPlyr

  

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  In response to GiveFive

  Quote: Originally posted by GiveFive on May 3, 2016

  Just saw on The PA Lottery website Millionaire raffle tickets are now on sale.  Here we go! I know it early, but post your ticket numbers here!!  G5

  PS I'm kinda surprised PA is having it after that St Patty's Day fiasco. But I'm glad to see it anyway!

  Cool, I am traveling though PA in a couple of weeks!
• GiveFive

  

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  May 4, 2016, 4:52 am

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  In response to DELotteryPlyr

  Quote: Originally posted by DELotteryPlyr on May 4, 2016

  Cool, I am traveling though PA in a couple of weeks!

  If you stop and buy a ticket(s) it'd be much appreciated if you'd please post here a range the number(s) fall in.  No need to post specific numbers.  What has typically happened in the past is ticket sales start off slow, and as the date of the drawing draws near, there's a mad rush to buy tickets and sales skyrocket. I'd expect that your ticket number(s) would be towards the lower end.  If you buy more than one ticket, each ticket will have one six digit number printed on it.  The very first ticket sold will be 000001 and the very last (if they sell out) will be 500,000.  When players post the range their tickets fell in, we can see how sales are going. (or not going, which is what we all want, because it lowers the odds if they don't sell out.)

    BTW I should point out to you that they're NOT cheap...they're $20 a pop.  The PA Lottery's website has all the details. G5

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• Todd

  

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  May 4, 2016, 7:33 am

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  In response to GiveFive

  Quote: Originally posted by GiveFive on May 3, 2016

  Just saw on The PA Lottery website Millionaire raffle tickets are now on sale.  Here we go! I know it early, but post your ticket numbers here!!  G5

  PS I'm kinda surprised PA is having it after that St Patty's Day fiasco. But I'm glad to see it anyway!

  I agree, I love that PA continues to hold these raffles.  I buy a few tickets for each one myself.

   

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• HoLeeKau

  

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  May 4, 2016, 10:59 am

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  Wow, they have 4 top prizes.  Nice!

   

  Millionaire Raffle Lottery Prizes and Chances

  PRIZE LEVELS	NUMBER OF PRIZES	PRIZE	CHANCES OF WINNING
  Top Prize	4	$1,000,000	1 in 125,000
  Second Prize	4	$100,000	1 in 125,000
  Third Prize	100	$1,000	1 in 5,000
  Fourth Prize	5,892	$100	1 in 84.86
  Totals	6,000	$5,089,200	1 in 83.33
• Ron5995

  

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  May 4, 2016, 3:32 pm

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  PA raffle is a good deal for a numbers game. The odds of winning a million, while not great, are far better than the various jackpot games, such as Powerball, Mega Millions, Cash 4 Life, PA Match 6, etc.

  Overall payback on the raffle is a tad under 51% which is only a fraction of a percent better than PA Pick-5, which is sold twice everyday. Playing $20 straight on same number in PA Pick-5 will also pay $1 million with better odds (1:100,000 verses 1:125,000) than the raffle...

  However, PA raffle offers intermediate prizes with overall odds of winning $100 or more at 1 in ~83. So all in all, the raffle is worth playing, though many high wager numbers players will play Pick-5 too. Not seen as many big Pick-5 payouts lately, so guessing many have shifted more play to instant tickets, which have far better overall payout (70%+ for $20 and $30 denominations) and odds of winning something (1 in 4 or better for many larger instants) than the raffle.

  PA fiscal year ends June, so, even if raffle sales are better, there's still a real possibility this could be the last. Hope it isn't, but something to keep in mind if thinking of sitting this one out - there may not be another opportunity, though PA Pick-5 and $20+ instants are viable alternatives to winning $1 million available everyday.

  Personally, I won $100 in the previous raffle, so hoping I can win again and step it up to at least $1,000. Like many others here, not in a rush to play, since  July-9th is still over two months away.
• Jeopardy1941

  

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  May 5, 2016, 9:02 pm

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  Just a recap from the last drawing.  Break even point for the lottery is 254,460 tickets sold which was hit about 2 days before the end of the last drawing in March.  Last raffle sold 309,639 tickets or 62% of possible sales.  Odds of hitting the big prizes were 1 in 77,410 and some lucky person who bought a ticket on the last day won a million. As I mentioned in the other thread, I see no reason to buy these tickets for at least a month, they only average about 1500 sold per day during early sales.  Sales on the final couple of days average around 35,000 sold per day.  Big ramp up starts about 10 days prior to the drawing.  To the lottery's credit, they say they will not postpone the drawing to allow sales to catch up.  Looks like no second chance drawing this time around.

   

  Has anyone else noticed that the winners of the last 3 raffles have not had their names published on the website?  Is that a change in policy?  I thought they had to be printed along with the county of the winner to show players that the game isnt a scam.  I can understand why the March raffle was not posted due to the short time, but the Halloween names should be posted by now, unless I missed it. Could a player be waiting to claim a ticket?
• GiveFive

  

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  In response to Jeopardy1941

  Quote: Originally posted by Jeopardy1941 on May 5, 2016

  Just a recap from the last drawing.  Break even point for the lottery is 254,460 tickets sold which was hit about 2 days before the end of the last drawing in March.  Last raffle sold 309,639 tickets or 62% of possible sales.  Odds of hitting the big prizes were 1 in 77,410 and some lucky person who bought a ticket on the last day won a million. As I mentioned in the other thread, I see no reason to buy these tickets for at least a month, they only average about 1500 sold per day during early sales.  Sales on the final couple of days average around 35,000 sold per day.  Big ramp up starts about 10 days prior to the drawing.  To the lottery's credit, they say they will not postpone the drawing to allow sales to catch up.  Looks like no second chance drawing this time around.

   

  Has anyone else noticed that the winners of the last 3 raffles have not had their names published on the website?  Is that a change in policy?  I thought they had to be printed along with the county of the winner to show players that the game isnt a scam.  I can understand why the March raffle was not posted due to the short time, but the Halloween names should be posted by now, unless I missed it. Could a player be waiting to claim a ticket?

  Nice post Jep.  Thanks for the info.  I've always been aware of the players making a late rush to buy tickets, but sometimes I think it's nice to have an early ticket or two. Sorry, I can't help with whether or not there's been a change in policy, I'm an out of state guy playing The PA raffle.

  I have yet to buy any tickets, although one guy in my pool wanted to give me money today.  I told him to hang on to it as I wasn't thinking I'd make a trip to PA until at least late May.  (The PA border is about a forty five minute drive for me)  But after reading your post, I'm thinking I might hold off going until late June to buy my pool's tickets.

  In the past, I've always bought some tickets for myself that I don't include in the pool I run. I'm tempted to make a run to PA some time before Memorial Day for a couple of non-pool tickets. I've plenty of time available  to do it, and the cost of gas isn't a factor because I use my wife's company car when I go. (Her employer pays for all the gas in that car which is a nice perk.) I have relatives that live in the border town in PA that I go to, so I could stop by and see them.  My wife is in that area periodically too, so I could just give her money to buy tickets the next time she goes over there. I'm telling you all of this because I'm toying with the possibility of buying ten or more tickets for myself.  Don't ask me why! I know others have posted here that they've done the same thing with lousy results. Maybe it's because I've never done it, and need to get burned so that I smarten up and never do it again.  G5   

  Play Smart!
• Ron5995

  

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  May 7, 2016, 10:58 pm

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  In response to Jeopardy1941

  Quote: Originally posted by Jeopardy1941 on May 5, 2016

  Just a recap from the last drawing.  Break even point for the lottery is 254,460 tickets sold which was hit about 2 days before the end of the last drawing in March.  Last raffle sold 309,639 tickets or 62% of possible sales.  Odds of hitting the big prizes were 1 in 77,410 and some lucky person who bought a ticket on the last day won a million. As I mentioned in the other thread, I see no reason to buy these tickets for at least a month, they only average about 1500 sold per day during early sales.  Sales on the final couple of days average around 35,000 sold per day.  Big ramp up starts about 10 days prior to the drawing.  To the lottery's credit, they say they will not postpone the drawing to allow sales to catch up.  Looks like no second chance drawing this time around.

   

  Has anyone else noticed that the winners of the last 3 raffles have not had their names published on the website?  Is that a change in policy?  I thought they had to be printed along with the county of the winner to show players that the game isnt a scam.  I can understand why the March raffle was not posted due to the short time, but the Halloween names should be posted by now, unless I missed it. Could a player be waiting to claim a ticket?

  Far as I'm aware, there's no change in the policy. First name, initial of last name, and county (or state, if outside of PA) of the winner is supposed to be published. PA Lottery reports large winners of other numbers and instant games in a timely manner. The raffle winners page is likely not being updated due to simple neglect - lack of time and care. Makes one wonder what else is being neglected ... RNG equipment, draw security, personnel integrity, etc.

  While it's unlikely, the lack of timely updates raises the possibility of one or more of those past PA Lottery raffles being tampered with, such as Hot Lotto already was. To digress a bit, the push to not publish names of winners at all, while well intentioned for privacy reasons, makes fraud much easier to hide.
• GiveFive

  

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  I haven't done it yet, but I already know that in the not so distant future I'll be buying at least five raffle tickets.  When I do, I'll post the number range here.  I know this because last Sunday night, I had 4 out of 5 winning numbers in NY's Take5 (5/39 matrix) which paid me $578!  So since I'm playing with NY's money, I've decided to buy at a minimum five PA Millionaire Raffle tickets. I'm sure NY's Governor Andrew Cuomo will appreciate it very much!!  Doing this does take the sting out of me buying ten tickets outside of the pool I run as I had talked about doing in a post a few above this one.  All of a sudden, ten raffle tickets seems very do-able!! G5

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• GiveFive

  

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  May 10, 2016, 5:59 pm

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  In response to GiveFive

  Quote: Originally posted by GiveFive on May 10, 2016

  I haven't done it yet, but I already know that in the not so distant future I'll be buying at least five raffle tickets.  When I do, I'll post the number range here.  I know this because last Sunday night, I had 4 out of 5 winning numbers in NY's Take5 (5/39 matrix) which paid me $578!  So since I'm playing with NY's money, I've decided to buy at a minimum five PA Millionaire Raffle tickets. I'm sure NY's Governor Andrew Cuomo will appreciate it very much!!  Doing this does take the sting out of me buying ten tickets outside of the pool I run as I had talked about doing in a post a few above this one.  All of a sudden, ten raffle tickets seems very do-able!! G5

  I just got back from PA.  My tickets range between 18630 to 18705.  I bought a total of six tickets. (five for me, and one for my brother).  I bought two tickets in three different stores. (The stores were within walking distance of each other. I parked my car and walked to each store, and I waited about ten minutes between each purchase)  I started at 3:25 PM, and the time on the last ticket is 3:55 PM.  So although there have only been about 3.75% of the tickets sold, they appear to have been selling steadily.  I'll buy two more times.  I'm buying 16 for the pool I run, and some more for myself, but I'm going to hold off until the first and last weeks of June before I buy again. G5

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• Jeopardy1941

  

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  May 10, 2016, 6:34 pm

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  They seem to be selling faster than the last raffle, thanks for the numbers.
• GiveFive

  

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  May 11, 2016, 6:02 am

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  In response to Jeopardy1941

  Quote: Originally posted by Jeopardy1941 on May 10, 2016

  They seem to be selling faster than the last raffle, thanks for the numbers.

  I didn't bother to calculate a rate per hour or anything like that, but I was a little surprised at the spacing between the numbers.  I was expecting them to be closer together than they actually are. 

  Of course having sold just under 4% of the numbers means they've got 96% they've yet to sell. The hard part for me, is that I have to travel 45 minutes to the NY/PA border town where I buy them.  That forces me to buy them in groups rather than a couple of tickets at a time. It just doesn't make sense for me to drive over there and buy one or two tickets. G5

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• GiveFive

  

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  May 16, 2016, 6:36 pm

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  My wife was over in PA today and she stopped and bought a ticket.  The number is between 31850 and 31875. That's about 13,000 more sold since May 10th. So it looks like right now they're selling at about 2,000 per day. G5

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• GiveFive

  

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  May 23, 2016, 2:54 pm

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  A friend at work told me this morning that his wife went to a casino in somewhere in PA over the weekend and she bought him  a raffle ticket.  He said the number was in "the low forty thousands".... Seems about right, 2,000 tickets per day being sold. G5

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