Will Any Lottery Offer a $100 Instant Scratch Off Ticket?Prev Topic Next Topic

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Ron5995

Wyomissing, PA
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Sep 4, 2017, 12:14 am

It's been nearly 10 years since Texas Lottery was the first to offer a $50 instant scratch off ticket. Seems time for some lottery to raise the ante and offer a $100 instant ticket. Anyone know if any lotteries are currently considering doing so.

I'm surprised Texas hasn't yet. Though, from the slow pace of new $50 games being offered, maybe the demand just isn't there. Though, would still seem worthwhile to test out as a special promotion. Would be appealing to high rollers, if the odds were around 1 in 3 to win a minimum of $150 verses break-even (basically, duplicate the pay table for their latest $50 ticket and double all the payouts with top prize being $10 million). Many would likely play at least once just to say they did.

Personally, $10 is basically my upper limit, though occasionally I'll play $20s and even a $30 once in a blue moon. Pennsylvania, likely many states, tops out at $30. I'd likely play $100 instants a few times per year, if they were offered. With lotteries increasingly encouraging acceptance of debit and even credit cards, offering $100 instant scratch offs doesn't seem so crazy.
RJOh

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Sep 4, 2017, 5:45 am

That's no more likely to happen than a state offering a $50 ticket with 1:3 odds of winning a minimum of $75.

* you don't need to buy every combination, just the winning ones *
zephbe

South Carolina
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Sep 4, 2017, 7:17 am

Quote: Originally posted by RJOh on Sep 4, 2017
That's no more likely to happen than a state offering a $50 ticket with 1:3 odds of winning a minimum of $75.

Funny you said that

http://www.txlottery.org/export/sites/lottery/Games/Scratch_Offs/details.html_252727389.html

Every champion was once a contender who refused to give up.-Rocky Balboa

“Don’t let someone who gave up on their dreams talk you out of going after yours.” – Zig Ziglar
Ron5995

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Sep 4, 2017, 3:05 pm

Yep, and alluded to that particular game in my post. "Would be appealing to high rollers, if the odds were around 1 in 3 to win a minimum of $150 verses break-even (basically, duplicate the pay table for their latest $50 ticket and double all the payouts with top prize being $10 million)." Guess I should have linked to the game to be more clear. Thank you for posting the url.

I easily foresee Texas simply copying the play and payout structure of an existing $50 game and doubling the payouts. Though it's possible they could boost the payout percentage a bit to allow for better chance of winning a prize, maybe getting it down towards 1 in 2.75 or even low as 1 in 2.5, while avoiding break-evens.

With break-even prizes, better than 1 in 2 odds is very realistic and has been done before, but most high rollers, in particular, prefer to win more than their wager back. Heck, 1 in 1.75 could be possible, but not sure how much fun that would be, since nearly every prize would have to be break-even verses anything else.

Anyways, curious what others think of a lottery offering a $100 instant ticket. Which lottery will likely try first? And would you buy any? My guess is Texas, and yes, I'd buy some, at least to say I had.
Think

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Sep 5, 2017, 5:48 pm

Now what do you suppose would be the market for $100 scratchers?

Gambling addicts would primarily be customers I am sure...that would be as long as they didn't get caught embezzling the money to buy the tickets!

If I won $100 on a different ticket I probably would not even try a $100 ticket.

How many idiots would even bother trying to squander their 100 bux?

The market would be small considering how few winners there are on the multitude of other games currently being Barnumed.
Coin Toss

Zeta Reticuli Star System
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Sep 7, 2017, 7:50 pm

Just my $.02 but anyone who would spend $100 on one scratcher doesn't need to be playing the lottery.

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.
gatorsrok

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Sep 8, 2017, 9:46 pm

I think some of the high end gamblers may go for it, but I think that most people will never buy a second one if they lose on the first one.
GiveFive

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Sep 9, 2017, 7:15 am

While I'm not a high roller, I can afford to buy a $100 scratch-off. That said, there's absolutely no way I'd do it. If I wanted to spend $100 on scratch-off's, I'd spread it across multiple tickets.

I'm mostly an on-line games player, and I play them for the fun/entertainment value of it. Would I like to win a jackpot? Of course I would. But because I understand how badly the odds are stacked against me, I'm not expecting it to happen. G5

Play Smart!
Ron5995

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Sep 11, 2017, 10:45 pm

Quote: Originally posted by gatorsrok on Sep 8, 2017
I think some of the high end gamblers may go for it, but I think that most people will never buy a second one if they lose on the first one.

You're spot on. I took another look at the Texas Lottery instant ticket offerings and see $20 tickets are very popular with new games being added far more frequently than $50 games. Also, while not scientific, my impression based on Youtube lottery videos is the novelty of $50 tickets has waned. See lots of $20s being scratched, but not many $50s.

Probably the only realistic way to introduce $100 tickets without totally turning off players would be to guarantee every ticket being a winner even if it's less than break-even, such as $20. Back in the day when most instant tickets maxed out $2, that's exactly what some lotteries did with higher denominations.

From what I recall, when PA Lottery introduced $20 tickets, all were guaranteed to win at least $5 or more. While $20 doesn't seem much now, it was a huge amount back then relatively speaking. Not just due to inflation, but more to the lack of high denomination tickets. $5 was still considered a lot and anything higher seemed unimaginable, at least in PA, which for the longest time only offered $1 tickets (often only 2 different games at a time max) then later $2s. $20s were a real novelty and didn't seem like they'd catch on, but they did.

Rambling on, but it does seem $50 is currently pushing the envelope with sales struggling. In PA, $30 tickets sell, but nowhere near the extent of $20s.
rcbbuckeye

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Sep 12, 2017, 8:30 am

Quote: Originally posted by Ron5995 on Sep 11, 2017
You're spot on. I took another look at the Texas Lottery instant ticket offerings and see $20 tickets are very popular with new games being added far more frequently than $50 games. Also, while not scientific, my impression based on Youtube lottery videos is the novelty of $50 tickets has waned. See lots of $20s being scratched, but not many $50s.

Probably the only realistic way to introduce $100 tickets without totally turning off players would be to guarantee every ticket being a winner even if it's less than break-even, such as $20. Back in the day when most instant tickets maxed out $2, that's exactly what some lotteries did with higher denominations.

From what I recall, when PA Lottery introduced $20 tickets, all were guaranteed to win at least $5 or more. While $20 doesn't seem much now, it was a huge amount back then relatively speaking. Not just due to inflation, but more to the lack of high denomination tickets. $5 was still considered a lot and anything higher seemed unimaginable, at least in PA, which for the longest time only offered $1 tickets (often only 2 different games at a time max) then later $2s. $20s were a real novelty and didn't seem like they'd catch on, but they did.

Rambling on, but it does seem $50 is currently pushing the envelope with sales struggling. In PA, $30 tickets sell, but nowhere near the extent of $20s.

Tx does have a $20 ticket in which every one is a "winner". It's called Winners Galore. Every ticket is a $5 winner, making it essentially a $15 lottery ticket. It's been out since Dec 5, 2016. It's not exactly a top seller.

Personally, I play mostly draw games. Once in a while I'll play a $2 ticket. I've played a few $20 tix. Less than 5 this year. Never a $50. I am tempted by some that are sold through that still have 1 or 2 top prizes left. But....Texas is a huge state, and a top prize ticket could be anywhere.

CAN'T WIN IF YOU'RE NOT IN

A DOLLAR AND A DREAM (OR $2)
Kosh

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Sep 12, 2017, 12:37 pm

The vast majority of states that offer scratch tickets of a cost of over $10 or $20 per ticket do not over anything more expensive than a $30 ticket such as in my home state of Massachusetts. I have looked at the different state lottery websites and it appears that the state of Texas is the sole exception in selling a scratch ticket that costs more than $30 dollars as far as I can tell.

I find that it is very doubtful that any state will sell such an expensive scratch ticket mainly due to the cost.

On a related note, I would like to observe that the more expensive a ticket is the better the overall average odds of winning anything has to be in order to induce sales. Using my home state lottery as an example, I observe from its website that the average overall odds are as follows.

Cost overall average odds

$1 ~ 1 in 4.80

$2 ~ 1 in 4.68

$5 ~ 1 in 4.25

$10 ~ 1 in 3.48

$20 ~ 1 in 2.98

$30 ~ 1 in 2.79

The ~ math symbol means approximately

Note: These are very rough estimates from eyeballing the numbers for various scratch ticket odds on the Mass. Lottery Commission website. I have not done any calculations (I don't have the time).

In any case, the trend and / or pattern is very clear.
Ron5995

Wyomissing, PA
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Sep 13, 2017, 9:41 am

Your observation is spot on, the overall average odds tend to get better as the price increases. However, there are limits to how low a game can go without nearly every prize being a break-even or barely above that.

Texas had a $50 ticket awhile back, from what I recall, with odds better than 1 in 2 at 1 in 1.99. Needless to say many players felt ripped off after seemingly every winner was $50 or $70 and rarely anything more. Later Texas $50 games have gone the other way to 1 in 2.52 and higher. The latest $50 ticket is 1 in 3.16 (same range as some $10s & most $20s) ... http://www.txlottery.org/export/sites/lottery/Games/Scratch_Offs/details.html_252727389.html (no break-even prizes; all wins are $75 and up)

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