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Sum Buddy

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Apr 3, 2026, 11:45 am

Quote: Originally posted by winterbird on Mar 31, 2026
121,7xx ticket number purchased at 9:30 pm, so we are probably looking at about 122,000 or so sold for the first round.

The actual number of tickets sold for the first interim drawing, as posted on the Raffle web page, was 122,119. Your estimate was spot on, winterbird!

The banquet you enjoy depends on what you bring to the table.
Sum Buddy

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Apr 3, 2026, 12:55 pm

OK, so for each of the three interim drawings, $704,500 in prizes are awarded. That makes a grand total of $ 2,113,500 in prizes for all three interim periods.

The grand prize drawing will award a minimum of (10) $1,000,000 prizes, for a total of $10,000,000 in prizes in the Grand Prize drawing.

So all told a total of $12,113,500 in prize money to be awarded.

Now divide $12,113,500 by 20, and you have the number of tickets that need to be sold to fund the prizes. So 605,675 twenty dollar tickets need to be sold to fund the prizes. Subtract the number of tickets sold at the time of the first interim draw (122,119) and you still need 483,556 tickets to be sold to fund the prizes. That breaks down to 241,778 in each of the two remaining interim drawings. Not a huge number, but more than were sold in the first interim period. And that is only for covering the prize money. More tickets would have to be sold to cover costs, pay vendors and profit for...education.

I'm not sure how many tickets I'll be buying in this interim period. Definitely fewer than in the first period.

Any thoughts?

The banquet you enjoy depends on what you bring to the table.
winterbird

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Apr 3, 2026, 3:14 pm

I'll be getting fewer tickets going forward, because I definitely think that the best shot at winning something was in the first round. Before awareness spreads, and before the million dollar fever sets in.

I think that sales will increase as people come to find out about the raffle. Winning something meaningful enough (the prizes between 5k and 100k) won't be as "easy". The million dollar draw odds aren't bad for a big sum, but it's still a shot in the dark. The tickets are pricey for still needing a heavy dose of luck on your side.
GiveFive

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Apr 4, 2026, 7:12 am

Quote: Originally posted by Sum Buddy on Apr 3, 2026
OK, so for each of the three interim drawings, $704,500 in prizes are awarded. That makes a grand total of $ 2,113,500 in prizes for all three interim periods.

The grand prize drawing will award a minimum of (10) $1,000,000 prizes, for a total of $10,000,000 in prizes in the Grand Prize drawing.

So all told a total of $12,113,500 in prize money to be awarded.

Now divide $12,113,500 by 20, and you have the number of tickets that need to be sold to fund the prizes. So 605,675 twenty dollar tickets need to be sold to fund the prizes. Subtract the number of tickets sold at the time of the first interim draw (122,119) and you still need 483,556 tickets to be sold to fund the prizes. That breaks down to 241,778 in each of the two remaining interim drawings. Not a huge number, but more than were sold in the first interim period. And that is only for covering the prize money. More tickets would have to be sold to cover costs, pay vendors and profit for...education.

I'm not sure how many tickets I'll be buying in this interim period. Definitely fewer than in the first period.

Any thoughts?

I have my doubts that 2 million tickets can be sold considering the time of year The Florida Lottery is running what they're calling 'a promotion'.

The Pennsylvania Lottery's Millionaire Raffle ticket selling window is during the fourth quarter of the year. It gets a nice boost in sales during Christmas when people gift raffle tickets. The maximum number of tickets that can be sold is 500,000 and for many years The PA Lottery has had no problem selling all 500,000 tickets. The Florida Lottery's Millionaire Raffle ticket window does contain the Memorial Day Holiday but who hands out any type of gift for Memorial Day?

To me, this raffle is very similar to The Lottery offering a $20 scratch off carrying 2,000,000 to 1 odds with multiple top prizes available. I don't have a clue how long it typically takes for a 20 dollar scratch off to be removed from retailers shelves because all of the top prizes have been won. My guess is that it takes longer than four months.

Very hard for me to see this raffle selling out. G5

Play Smart! That's IF there is such a thing as playing smartly!!
GiveFive

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Apr 4, 2026, 7:19 am

Quote: Originally posted by winterbird on Apr 3, 2026
I'll be getting fewer tickets going forward, because I definitely think that the best shot at winning something was in the first round. Before awareness spreads, and before the million dollar fever sets in.

I think that sales will increase as people come to find out about the raffle. Winning something meaningful enough (the prizes between 5k and 100k) won't be as "easy". The million dollar draw odds aren't bad for a big sum, but it's still a shot in the dark. The tickets are pricey for still needing a heavy dose of luck on your side.

I agree with your entire post. I'm going to buy some more tickets, but I'm not going to go crazy with it. G5

Play Smart! That's IF there is such a thing as playing smartly!!
GiveFive

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Apr 4, 2026, 1:51 pm

Quote: Originally posted by GiveFive on Apr 4, 2026
I have my doubts that 2 million tickets can be sold considering the time of year The Florida Lottery is running what they're calling 'a promotion'.

The Pennsylvania Lottery's Millionaire Raffle ticket selling window is during the fourth quarter of the year. It gets a nice boost in sales during Christmas when people gift raffle tickets. The maximum number of tickets that can be sold is 500,000 and for many years The PA Lottery has had no problem selling all 500,000 tickets. The Florida Lottery's Millionaire Raffle ticket window does contain the Memorial Day Holiday but who hands out any type of gift for Memorial Day?

To me, this raffle is very similar to The Lottery offering a $20 scratch off carrying 2,000,000 to 1 odds with multiple top prizes available. I don't have a clue how long it typically takes for a 20 dollar scratch off to be removed from retailers shelves because all of the top prizes have been won. My guess is that it takes longer than four months.

Very hard for me to see this raffle selling out. G5

I've been thinking some more about what I wrote above.

I'll take a raffle over MegaMillions or PowerBall everyday. I LIKE raffles.

There has to be a reason why The Florida Lottery stopped offering raffles. To my way of thinking, they just didn't make enough profit on them to keep offering them. We'll see what happens with this current raffle, and what The FLA Lottery decides to do in the future after this one concludes. But there just aren't two ways about it. They have to make money on this raffle or they won't offer another raffle anytime soon.

Maybe six or seven years ago, The Pennsylvania Lottery started offering four millionaire raffles per year after many years of holding just one raffle per year during the fourth quarter. It didn't take long for The PA Lottery to stop offering the extra three raffles and return to offering just one raffle per year held during the fourth quarter. I read that players got "raffle fatigue" and as a result they didn't buy many tickets for the extra raffles held earlier in the year. That could be true, but whatever the reason might be, The PA Lottery must have learned that they weren't making enough money on the additional three raffles. So the additional raffles went away and they have never returned. Had The PA Lottery made the money they wanted to make, then they'd have kept offing the extra three raffles per year. G5

Play Smart! That's IF there is such a thing as playing smartly!!
GiveFive

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Apr 8, 2026, 8:10 am

Does anybody know if any of the top prize winners of a million dollars in the current raffle will be able to remain anonymous?

I won 40 bucks yesterday. I'm going to spend it on two millionaire raffle tickets. If I was ever so lucky to win one of the top prizes, I'd want to claim it anonymously, but I'm not sure that can happen.

For Florida draw games (Lotto, PB, MM & Fantasy5) only winners names of the top prize (a jackpot win) appear in The Top Prize Winners and Retailers Report published on The Florida Lottery's website. For instance, a player's name that wins one million dollars by matching five numbers playing PB does not appear on the PB version of that report because matching 5 numbers in PB isn't a jackpot win.

The Florida Lottery is calling the raffle a 'promotion'. Top prize winners might be able to claim their prize anonymously for 90 days temporarily using the Florida statute that provides for that. Not so sure players can stay anonymous after that 90 days expires. G5

Play Smart! That's IF there is such a thing as playing smartly!!
winterbird

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Apr 9, 2026, 12:24 am

As far as I know, you'd have to set up a double blind trust fund through a lawyer in order to stay anonymous.

When you look through lists of winners, you see that some are claimed to an LLC. These are the people that had a double blind trust claim the winnings on their behalf in order to stay anonymous.
GiveFive

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Apr 9, 2026, 8:13 am

Bought a ticket yesterday...two clerks in the same store weren't familiar with the raffle! "What's that all about? How does it work?"

My ticket number was 144,5XX. I dunno... looks to me like The Florida Lottery has some work to do if they want to sell even a million tickets. G5

Play Smart! That's IF there is such a thing as playing smartly!!
winterbird

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Apr 10, 2026, 2:36 am

I just saw that all the winners (including the 100k) are listed only as the ticket number, and not by name.
GiveFive

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Apr 11, 2026, 10:42 am
MY apologies if you've already seen this.

https://floridalottery.com/promotions/raffle

The Florida Lottery website is publishing the number of tickets sold. As of 4/10/2026 148,980 tickets have been sold. Scroll down a bit and you'll see it.

Also I've read the official rules. Apparently there is no claiming anonymously. See below.
1. By entering the MILLIONAIRE RAFFLE, a player gives his/her permission for the Florida Lottery to photograph and/or videotape and record the winner with or without prior notification and to use the name, photograph, videotape, and/or recording of the winner for advertising or publicity purposes without additional compensation.
G5
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Sum Buddy

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Apr 18, 2026, 3:56 pm

Wanted to update/correct my previous figures, as for some reason I thought there were only three interim prize periods, and there are actually four. Bottom line, 640,900 tickets need to be sold to fund all prizes to be awarded in the Raffle (interim prizes and Grand Prizes.) The duration of the raffle is 122 days, so sales need to average 5,245 tix a day. Based on the Lottery's figure of 169,906 tix sold as of 4/17 , sales are averaging 3,540 tix/day so far. Hard to say if sales will pick up or not. I bought one ticket early in this period, may get another before the interim drawing. Anybody else buying/have plans to buy any raffle tickets?

I have to admit, I've been wondering 'why a raffle?' It's been 20 years since the last raffle, so why now? I'm wondering if it has something to do with the news story from back in late 2024: "Florida Lottery Scratch-off Sales Decline." The first chart shows a steady, consistent rise in scratch-off sales right up until 2024. Then uh-oh! Sales decline : (

The pie chart below that shows why that decline was such a big deal: scratch-off sales have dominated lottery offerings from the get-go. (This chart has scratch-off sales at 71% of all sales.) I guess they picked a raffle because they hadn't had one in 20 years, and some people may not view a raffle as 'gambling.'

Compared with the 'instant games' aka scratch-offs, the raffle moves at a glacial pace, which I don't mind. I remember when the Lotto drawing was on Saturday night and it was something to look forward to. Now it seems every draw game is drawn at least twice a week, if not more. Some people may like the action, but I quit playing Fantasy 5 (my game of choice at the time) when they started having two drawings per day.

The banquet you enjoy depends on what you bring to the table.
GiveFive

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Apr 19, 2026, 9:42 am

Quote: Originally posted by Sum Buddy on Apr 18, 2026
Wanted to update/correct my previous figures, as for some reason I thought there were only three interim prize periods, and there are actually four. Bottom line, 640,900 tickets need to be sold to fund all prizes to be awarded in the Raffle (interim prizes and Grand Prizes.) The duration of the raffle is 122 days, so sales need to average 5,245 tix a day. Based on the Lottery's figure of 169,906 tix sold as of 4/17 , sales are averaging 3,540 tix/day so far. Hard to say if sales will pick up or not. I bought one ticket early in this period, may get another before the interim drawing. Anybody else buying/have plans to buy any raffle tickets?

I have to admit, I've been wondering 'why a raffle?' It's been 20 years since the last raffle, so why now? I'm wondering if it has something to do with the news story from back in late 2024: "Florida Lottery Scratch-off Sales Decline." The first chart shows a steady, consistent rise in scratch-off sales right up until 2024. Then uh-oh! Sales decline : (

The pie chart below that shows why that decline was such a big deal: scratch-off sales have dominated lottery offerings from the get-go. (This chart has scratch-off sales at 71% of all sales.) I guess they picked a raffle because they hadn't had one in 20 years, and some people may not view a raffle as 'gambling.'

Compared with the 'instant games' aka scratch-offs, the raffle moves at a glacial pace, which I don't mind. I remember when the Lotto drawing was on Saturday night and it was something to look forward to. Now it seems every draw game is drawn at least twice a week, if not more. Some people may like the action, but I quit playing Fantasy 5 (my game of choice at the time) when they started having two drawings per day.

I'm thinking about buying more tickets, but the big question for me is how many would I buy?

I posted above that I won 40 bucks (cash) and I did buy one ticket with that money. I still have the other twenty dollar bill in my wallet, so maybe I'll buy another ticket with that. For now I'm keeping my eye on the raffle just to see what happens. Sales have been slow... about 3600 a day, so if they remain slow that'll have some bearing on whether or not I'll buy more.

I'm a fan of raffles.. I'll buy a raffle ticket before I'll buy tickets for an online lottery game, but lately I've been asking myself if I was ever so lucky, what would we do with the money that's left over after we did all of the things that I know we'd do with some of it. I don't have an answer to that question. Don't get me wrong, we can always use some extra money in the bank, but what we'd spend it on is a mystery. Same thing goes for PowerBall, Fanatsy5 or Fla Lotto tickets. G5

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winterbird

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Apr 19, 2026, 3:38 pm

I think they're doing a raffle as just a way to shake it up and try something different. Raffles do well in other states, so maybe they can catch on here too.

I'd think that a first or second time (in so many years) might fly under the radar, but bring awareness to this new way to play after it concludes and later if a new round begins. This round would advertise the next, so to speak, as people who didn't play hear about the winnings. A loss of revenue once isn't a loss if it becomes a springboard for future success with this form of play.

Personally, I don't do scratch-offs because of the instant result, and feeling like I want to try again right after. Draw games are a quiet hope in my pocket for those days that I wait for the result, but I don't feel any sort of a rush from any part of the process. Where the risk of gambling fever begins is down to each individual. I think that a raffle that takes several months to unfold speaks more to draws people because we are used to the wait.
GiveFive

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Apr 20, 2026, 8:36 am

Quote: Originally posted by winterbird on Apr 19, 2026
I think they're doing a raffle as just a way to shake it up and try something different. Raffles do well in other states, so maybe they can catch on here too.

I'd think that a first or second time (in so many years) might fly under the radar, but bring awareness to this new way to play after it concludes and later if a new round begins. This round would advertise the next, so to speak, as people who didn't play hear about the winnings. A loss of revenue once isn't a loss if it becomes a springboard for future success with this form of play.

Personally, I don't do scratch-offs because of the instant result, and feeling like I want to try again right after. Draw games are a quiet hope in my pocket for those days that I wait for the result, but I don't feel any sort of a rush from any part of the process. Where the risk of gambling fever begins is down to each individual. I think that a raffle that takes several months to unfold speaks more to draws people because we are used to the wait.

I tend to agree with almost everything you wrote, but there is one thing I'm not sure about.

In Pennsylvania (a state that's held a Millionaire Raffle for maybe the last 20 consecutive years) something happened six or seven years ago that was caused by what some called "Raffle Fatigue" on the part of players. In almost every year, the PA Lottery usually begins selling Millionaire Raffle tickets in early October, and the drawing is held shortly after The New Years Day Holiday.

Although I can't remember exactly which particular year it happened in, The PA Lottery offered a raffle four times during one year. My guess is that it didn't work as the extra three raffles quietly disappeared, and have not ever been offered again. The October to January Raffle remained in place. (And still is)

If it ticket sales were good and the PA Lottery made a profit on the additional three raffles, I can't see any reason why they'd have abandoned them. G5

Play Smart! That's IF there is such a thing as playing smartly!!

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