Diamond 7's Now A Strong Choice

Another 40,000 Diamond 7's tickets were purchased last week without losing a Grand Prize. Despite the fact that I can't find any, there are an estimated 380,000 tickets left for sale and two Grand Prizes left to be claimed. The game has the best Top Prize Cash ratio and the fifth best low prize availability of the games currently offered for sale. Over eight cents of every dollar spent on a ticket now goes to the two outstanding Grand Prizes. That is the second best of any game.

There is no downside to this game except that the OLG placed the game on the de-activation list on 1 May. That means that sellers are going through open packages only and only if they have chosen not to return lose tickets to OLG HQ. I have been scouring different sellers here in Ottawa without success. My search will continue and I am headed to Toronto this weekend where I'll do some more scouring. It's now or never.

Top Rated Games

1. $5 Diamond 7's #1822 - The sun is setting. Two outstanding GP's. 
2. $3 QFG Crossword #3208 - Very good low prize game. Positive ratio, Still, 2 million:1.
3. $3 Keno #1416 - new game hits my criteria. Prefer to watch for a while. 
4. $5 Cross Tripler #1810 - Decent choice. 550,000:1 to win $100,000.
5. $3 Bingo #3016 - Reasonable choice if you can't find either $5 game. 

Games to Avoid

1. $4 DBL CFL #1170 - 4.6 million to 1 with an expectation to get a 50% ROI. Prefer Lotto Max. 
2. $2 Black Jack #1804 - Worst Top Prize ratio by a country mile. 
3. $2 Cash For Life #1169 - Negative ratio, poor low prize churn, 2 million:1. 
4. $10 Bejeweled #1786 - Worst of a bad group of expensive tickets. 
5. $5 20X The Money #1841 - New Game, terrible low prize churn. 

Games to Buy If You're Grand Prize Hunting

• $4 DBL Cash For Life
• $10 Bejeweled
• $5 Diamond 7's
• $20 Extraordinary
• $10 Fortune

Games with No Grand Prizes Left

1. $3 Words With Friends - No second prizes either. 
2. $3 Wheel of Fortune
3. $3 Crossword #3207 - Largest prize left is $100.
4. $3 Cashingo 
5. $2 Black Jack 

Comings and Goings

One of the top games, Super Bingo, was dropped this past week. The game had one Grand Prize of $50,000 and an estimated 880,000 tickets left to sell.

A full suite of multiplier games were introduced this week. The marketing gimmick is (5X, 10X, 15X, and 20X). These games are fairly typical and each includes a multiplier for any prizes won. The 15X and 20X each has good middling prizes (> $100) which means that I'm not going to like them very much. Each offers a wide variety of prize levels for the cost which I guess is a good thing. Of the four, I rate them, in order of preference: 15X, 5X, 10X, 20X.

Also new this week is Keno #1416. Any evaluation system differentiates games based on criteria that one is looking for in a game. For me, it is the ratio of Top Prizes remaining when compared to the value of those top prizes and the amount of revenue returned to low prize winners. This game hits my second criteria right on the head and as such begins its life high up in my ratings. The bad news is that you have one chance in a million to win $50,000. I may pick up a few for fun. If you do likewise, be careful to get Game #1416 and not Game #1415.

Personal Play

A good week with four different games played. A total investment of $40 returned $44. In response to the poster who asked what the biggest prize ever won by folks who read this blog, mine is $75 and that was on a $10 game. One wonders why I spend any time at all on this subject.

In Conclusion

An amusing story in Niagara this week caught my attention: http://www.niagarathisweek.com/news-story/5605098-casino-workers-get-pay-raise/ .

Indeed the folks who work at the Casino are not public sector workers. The ones at the OLG Slot Palaces are part of the greater public service in Ontario. That is an important part of the entire "Modernization" plan ie- shed the responsibility of having employees and instead collect a percentage of all profits without actually having to manage anything. The Casino tough guys are no better when they imply to their employees that its the Provincial Government who has denied them the ability to raise the wages of their employees over the past three years. Either way it is the folks providing the elbow grease on the floor of the casino that get the short end of the stick. The folks who are working in OLG run facilities are on the clock as the OLG will only require private companies to keep those workers on strength for one year after they are awarded the contract to run the facility. What happens on day 366 will not be good for the staff.

Good Luck to All. We have survived winter.

Doug