More Lucky Lines Remains the Champ - For What Its Worth

I was surprised to get back from vacation to see that More Lucky Lines was still for sale. I called the OLG to confirm the situation and they told me that it is indeed the case.  I can't be bothered to provide any details on the game's status as there is little chance that anyone will be able to find a ticket.

The OLG retires games in two ways. First, they can instruct sellers to return all tickets, including any in trays for sale. This would happen if there was a defect found in the game or fraud was suspected. The second way is to inform sellers that they are no longer permitted to activate any new packages but can continue to sell tickets that were activated previously. This would take place if the game was being retired for reasons of low sales, time on market, or a new version of the game coming on-line. In the case of More Lucky Lines, sellers were instructed on 01 August not to activate any new packages. What are the chances that you'll be able to find loose tickets for sale almost three weeks later? Well, I'm not going to spend any time finding out. If you run across them, scoop them up.


 

Top Rated Games

1. $3 More Lucky Lines - (16% of float left +/- 3%) 
2. $5 Money Multiplier - (11%, +/- 2%)
3. $10 Prestige (25%, +/- 7%)
4. $1 Red Hot 50s (15%, +/- 1%)
5. $10 Wild 10s (81%, +/- 2%)

Games to Avoid

1. $10 Turbo Cash - Top three prizes all claimed. OLG has retired the game. 
2. $5 Sapphire 7's - Top two prize levels claimed.
3. $2 Crazy 8's - 4 of 5 top prizes claimed and 44% of float remains
4. $3 Fruit Explosion - 2 of 3 top prizes claimed in first 34% of the float
5. $3 Crossword 3206 - 1 chance in 2 million to win $50,000. Not encouraging. 

$1 - $2 Game Update

Red Hot 50s is the best choice but I don't like the $50 Grand Prize. Next best is $1 Bingo Express but best to look elsewhere.

$3 Game Update

Putting the top game aside, Scrabble 1799 is the best choice.

$4 - $5 Game Update

If you can find any Money Multiplier tickets, give them a try.

$10 - $20 Game Update

Classic Gold and Cadillac (poster CL66 likes this game) are poor choices. All others are playable, assuming that Turbo Cash is no longer available.

Comings and Goings

The horrible Tetris game was retired after the OLG had milked it for all it was worth. Shame on them for that. 20X Lucky was also retired with one Grand Prize remaining and 12% of the float.

Five new games have come on line since the last update. Fruit Explosion #1803 has unfortunately lost 2 of its three Grand Prizes early on in the history of the game. One to avoid. Instant Crossword #3206 is one of those jumbo games with over 20 million tickets issued. It is a bread and butter game for the OLG but it sucks for players. There are lots of small prizes but less than 1 percent of the game's revenue is returned to Grand Prize winners. Too low. Jacks are Wild #1787 is a well balanced game with potential to improve in the ratings. The one thing I don't like about the game is that there are 7 Grand Prizes and only 2 Second Prizes. Your chance to find a second prize is 1 in 1.4 million but only 1 in 400,000 to win a Grand Prize. Counter intuitive. Cross Tripler #1791 is not as good as its sister version #1766. It's OK but I don't like the 13.6% of game revenue that is returned to players who win their $5 back. That is the highest such number in the $5 group of tickets. Wild 10's #1785 has an imbalance towards the Grand Prize with 10.7% of game revenue going to those winners. There are 150 of them. You pay the price in smaller prizes with only 43.4% of revenue being returned to winners of more than $10 and less than $100. That is second lowest in the group.

Personal Play

One More Lucky Lines ticket was a dud.

More Lucky Lines and Money Multiplier are going to be nigh impossible to find. Prestige is next but I have played them before and am not enthused about returning to that game. I don't like playing $1 games so Red Hot 50s is out. That leaves me with Wild 10s which also happens to be CL66's top game. Let's give it a whirl.

Meanderings

More Lucky Lines is a true enigma. All four of the top prizes and all three of the second prizes remain unclaimed. At the same time, only 3 of the 105 -  $538 prizes remain outstanding and all 12 of the $500 have been claimed. What are the chances that this game could sell 85% of its float and not reveal any Grand Prizes? Less than 1 in a thousand. Outliers do occur and this is surely one for the record books. CL66 mentioned in a post that the floats are printed in tranches. Makes perfect sense. Another poster mentioned that with a house take of 35%, there is no need for any shenanigans by management. I agree. Further, the OLG is a public sector organization which means that it is run by Public Servants. All of this leads to the conclusion that we are just looking at a odd ball situation.

But I am left with the uncomfortable thought that they sold 2.5 million tickets for the game and then decided to retire it before any Grand Prizes were awarded. If I ran a raffle, sold tickets, and decided that there would be no winners, I think that I might get a visit from my local police officer.

So, why did the OLG make this decision and is it in the public interest or the interest of the OLG?  In such instances, the public interest should always come first. Lets look at some of the math:

If the OLG had sold every ticket for the game they would have generated total revenue of $3 x 2,949,000 tickets = $8,849,000. The house take was 35% or $3,097,290. I now make an assumption that the OLG pays a total of 15% of revenue to pay the sellers and the company that prints the tickets. That reduces the profit to $1,769,880. We need to take 84% of that number as that is how much of the float was ultimately sold. The estimated final profit is therefore $1,486,699.

Now lets look at the top seven prizes for the game. Those prizes totaled $245,000. If 84% of those prizes had been won, they would have cashed for $205,800 with $39,200 left outstanding. By retiring the game the OLG became the winners of the $205,800. That decision added a full 12% to the profitability of the game. That stinks and I can't help but think that the decision maker(s) knew exactly what they were doing.

I encourage readers to call the OLG call center and register their dissatisfaction. Poor old Darth deserves no less.

In Unity

Doug

More Lucky Lines #1776 Hits The Stratosphere

Another 75,000 sold of the top rated game and again no winners of either the first or second prizes. I have never seen a game similar to this before. This game could now lose one of its grand prizes and continue to be the top rated game.

How strange is the situation? Consider this: All seven of the Grand and second prizes remain outstanding while out of the original 12 - $500 and 13 - $1000 prizes, only one remains outstanding. What are the chances of that!  The problem now is finding tickets. Based on reader comments, they are becoming scarce. I have had the same problem here in Ottawa.

Your chances to win a grand prize are now 170,000:1. For those who are fed up with the game, I should mention that $5 Money Multiplier #1769 is also a very good choice at the moment. You have a 160,000:1 chance to win $100,000 for a $5 investment.

Top Rated Games

1. $3 More Lucky Lines #1776 (17% of float left +/- 3%)
2. $5 Money Multiplier #1769 (13% of float left +/- 2%)
3. $10 Prestige #1741 (26% of float left +/- 7%)
4. $1 Red Hot 50s #1788 (16% of float left +/- 1%)
5. $4 Bonus Cash For Life #1168 (91% of float left +/- 3%)

Games To Avoid

1. $10 Turbo Cash - no 1st, 2nd or 3rd prizes left. Largest available prize is $225!
2. $3 Tetris - No 1st or 2nd prizes left. 
3. $2 Crazy 8s - lost 2 Grand Prizes last week. 1 chance in 1.5 milion to win $28,888.
4. $1 Lucky Lines - stinker of a game. OLG must be trying to counterbalance top game :-)
5. $5 Win Take All - Only 2 of 7 Grand Prizes left and 45% of the tickets left to sell.

$1 - $2 Game Update

Red Hot 50s is the only game worth playing. You must be content with a $50 Grand Prize, but there are 1,780 of them remaining to be claimed.

$3 Game Update

Apart from the top rated game, Scrabble #1799 is the next best choice.

$4 - $5 Game Update

Apart from the top games and game to avoid, I would avoid Cash For Life #1161. Its 2nd, 3rd, and 4th prizes have all been claimed.

$10 - $20 Game Update

Two Turbo Cash and two Extraordinary Grand Prizes were claimed this past week. Prestige is the best choice.

Comings and Goings

A new Wild 10s game was just released. The game sheet has not yet been posted on the OLG site. This is a game like Red Hot 50s except for the $10 crowd. There are 150 Grand Prizes of $10,000 each. This game was issued last year and it did well in my ratings. Plus, it tends not to either improve or deteriorate due to the large number of Grand Prizes. I suspect that it will be worth a look.

Personal Play

My two week win streak came to an end. Nine More Lucky Line tickets contained 3 winners of $13. I remain ahead of expectations for the game and sit at a 69% ROI for the year. Not bad.

Meanderings

I am off to Saratoga next week then to a cottage for a week. The next update will likely be done on August 17th. Remember to check the web page for outstanding prizes right before you buy. The retailer can provide you with a printout of the prize status. Also remember to always check your tickets before tossing them out. I'll report on Scratch tickets in New York State next time.

There was a lot of activity in the reader comments this past week. CL66 has posted his analysis of the situation along with his recommendations. He rates $10 Cadillac as the top game. He is using a different evaluation system than I do so, if you want a second opinion, take a look at his comments.

I am going to find it interesting to see what the OLG does with Turbo Cash. If they follow their policy, because the Grand Prize for the game is $250,000, the game should be retired now that it is devoid of Grand Prizes. But there remains 40% of the float to sell! On the other hand we have More Lucky Lines with a Grand Prize of less than $100,000, all of its Grand Prizes left, and 17% of its float to sell. Another criteria to retire a game is low ticket sales. It stands to reason that sales will decrease as the number of tickets left to sell decreases. I'd love to be a fly on the wall of the weekly meeting where these sorts of things are discussed. Those folks should know that we're watching them :-)


Best to all.


Doug

  

More Lucky Lines #1776 Continues to Rule to Roost

Another week goes by, 80 thousand tickets sold, and still all three Grand Prizes and all four second prizes remain to be claimed for this game.  An estimated 20% of the float remains outstanding making your chances of winning one of the Grand Prizes a juicy 197,000:1. Posters have indicated that a scarcity for the game is beginning to set in. That makes sense. I know that several people have indicated that they are fed up with the game. So am I. But, I can't get off the bandwagon. The odds against none of the top seven prizes being claimed in the first 80% of tickets sold is very low. Too low. Maybe the poster who suggested that winners must have lost their winning tickets is on to something. It's all very strange. But, unlikely things do happen. If they didn't, no one would ever buy a ticket to begin with.

Top Rated Games

1. $3 More Lucky Lines (20% of float left, +/- 3%)
2. $5 Money Multiplier (14%, +/- 2%)
3. $10 Prestige (27%, +/- 7%)
4. $10 Turbo Cash (45%, +/- 2%)
5. $20 Extraordinary (87%, +/- 4%)

Games to Avoid

1. $3 Tetris - worst game by far. 
2. $1 Lucky Lines - Lost one grand prize from within first 5% of tickets sold.
3. $3 CrossWord - 1.8 million to one to win $50,000. A stinker. 
4. $5 Win Take All - Five of seven grand prizes claimed in first half of ticket float. 
5. $3 Cashingo - Three of four grand prizes claimed. 1.4 million to one to win $75,000. 

$1 - $2 Game Update

Good times are over in this area. The Red Hot 50's game is the only reasonable choice.

$3 Game Update

The top game is by far the best choice. Still, if you must, Bingo #3014 is the next best.

$4 - $5 Game Update

Avoid Win Take All and Sapphire 7s. Money Multiplier is a good choice.

$10 - $20 Game Update

Avoid Classic Gold and Cadillac.

Comings and Goings

Our friends at the OLG finally withdrew Cash For Life Family #1165. It was our game of choice for some time then deteriorated into the game to avoid. It departed with no Grand Prizes and 8% of its float left to sell.

New on the scene is $5 Black Pearls #1795 and $2 Royal 7's #1790. We have seen Black Pearls before. Its earlier version was retired last September. It is very light in prizes between $100 and less than the Grand prize. It's above average in small prizes so it may become a good choice for those who like lots of small winners.

Royal 7's has lots of different prize amounts which is unusual for a $2 game. Its prize structure for prizes from $100 up to the Grand Prize is the best for games currently for sale in the $1-$2 area. The trade-off is in the area of lower prizes. This game could improve in the ratings if no Grand Prizes are claimed early on in the game.

Personal Play

Ten More Lucky Lines tickets included five winners totaling $44. That makes two weeks in a row that I have kept my head above water. Of course, any prize of $100 or more continues to escape my reach but I am showing a return of 86% on this game to date which is very good. My overall return rate this year is 69% and that is also a bit better than I should have expected. I hope that does not portend a string of bad luck.

Meanderings

Thanks to the posters who commented this week. You know, If I was to actually win a Grand Prize in More Lucky Lines I'd feel badly for Darth. The poor guy is scouring the province and pounding away with purpose. If anyone deserves some good luck, it's him.

Two posters also indicated that they thought that they had losing tickets in the recommended games but upon verification they turned out to be winners. That is very easy to do in this game so please please please never toss a loser without confirming with the ticket checker machine that it is indeed a loser.

Also of note is the number of folks playing Poker Lotto. They seem to like the game and have had some success.They recommend playing only when the jackpot gets up towards $150,000. It is currently $75,000 so I think that I'll watch for a while.


Best to all.


Doug

More Lucky Lines #1776 Is Becoming a Freak

A wild week on the blog with Darth Vader roaming all over South Western Ontario scooping up entire packages of More Lucky Lines. When all the posters results were tabulated, readers purchased 461 tickets and obtained a return of 61.2% on their investment. The almost predictable oddity was that the poster who snagged the largest prize ($58) was the one who purchased the fewest number of tickets! The larger the number of tickets purchased, the more the results should trend towards the 60% figure for this game (excluding any prizes of $100 or more).

Even after our limited damage to the float, 23% (+/- 3%) of the float, or 672,000 tickets are left to be sold. All three of the Grand Prizes remain outstanding and, even more peculiarly, all four second prizes of $5000 are also outstanding. Very strange. But, as one poster indicated, when this sort of thing happens, they tend to go all at once. The tickets should begin to become somewhat scarce at this point so you may have to shop around. One poster also indicated that a new More Lucky Lines (yellow tickets) is now available for sale. The game is not listed on the web site but if that is the case please be diligent when buying.

Top Rated Games

1. More Lucky Lines #1776 (23% of float left +/- 3%)
2. 20X Lucky #1789 (14% +/- 3%)
3. Money Multiplier #1769 (17% +/- 2%)
4. Prestige #1741(28% +/- 7%)
5. Extraordinary #1742 (88% +/- 4%)

Games to Avoid

1. $4 Cash for Life #1165 - Game should be canceled by OLG policy. Horrible choice.
2. $3 Tetris #1793 - Devoid of Grand Prizes, 15% of float left. Retire this game!
3. $3 Cashingo #1801 - 3 of 4 Grand Prizes claimed; half of float left to sell.
4. $3 Crossword #3205 - 1 chance in 10 million to win a $50,000 prize
5. $1 Lucky Lines #1770 - Grand Prize or $50; nothing in between.

$1 - $2 Game Update

Nothing much going on here. Red Hot 50's is OK but its grand prize is only $50.

$3 Game Update

Have to play the recommended game although some posters may be sick and tired of scratching these tickets. Plus, it's easy to mess up and not realize that your ticket is a winner. As a poster reminds us all, always check your tickets. Bingo #3014 is the next best $3 game, if you must.

$4 - $5 Game Update

20X Lucky and Money Multiplier are both good choices.

$10 - $20 Game Update

Neither of Cadillac nor Classic Gold is worth your money.

Comings and Goings

$10 Cash for Life Family was retired this week with 1 Grand Prize left to claim. The $1 and $2 versions of this game were retired earlier. Each of those games also had one Grand Prize left when they were retired. There is but one of the original four games that is left for sale. You guessed it --- the one with no Grand Prizes. Come on OLG!

Personal Play

Like other posters, my 10 More Lucky Lines tickets return $21. I am loathe to admit this but an impulse buy of three Sapphire 7 tickets hit for $31 bringing me into profit status for the week. A lack of discipline should be punished by the gods, not rewarded.

Meanderings

I have received a couple of messages from readers that merit replies. I'll be working on those replies this week.

After two years of writing this blog, the number of people visiting the pages is growing. Thanks to all for reading. I also "Tweet" the link to the blog. You can follow me @Usockem. Re-tweeting it would be appreciated.

Saratoga opens tomorrow. If any of you are traveling through upstate New York between now and Labour Day, make the time to visit Saratoga Springs and spend a day at the track. It's not like any race track that you have ever seen before.


Doug

More Lucky Lines #1776 Maintains Its Position

Two weeks after taking over the top spot, More Lucky Lines remains the choice. The game features all three of its Grand Prizes of $75,000 being unclaimed with 27% (+/- 3%) of its float left to sell. Your odds of hitting a grand prize are one in 265,000. That is the second best chance of all games currently for sale.

I have some concern about the game as poster Darth Vader has been playing this game steadily and not receiving the rate of return that he should. I find that to be very odd. Suspicious, in fact. This game returns 2.5% of total revenue to the Grand Prize winners, 2.6% to secondary prize winners, 46.5% to winners of less than $100, and 13.5% to winners of $3 prizes. So, even if Darth does not get a prize of $100 or more he should be returning 60% of his investment if the sample size is large enough. From reading his posts, it should be. My personal play on the game has also failed to meet the 60% standard. I'm going to total up his numbers, do a little math, and report back. It's always amazing to me how often strings of bad luck afflict players and how rarely those same people are visited by good luck. Still, the game remains the game of choice.

Top Rated Games

1. More Lucky Lines #1776 (27% of float left +/- 3%)
2. Cash For Life #1161 (39%, +/- 3%)
3. 20X Lucky #1789 (15%, +/- 3%)
4. Prestige #1741 (28%, +/- 7%)
5. Red Hot 50s (22%, +/- 1%)

Games to Avoid

1. $4 Cash For Life #1165  (1-6th prize remaining, most you can win is $500!)
2. $3 Tetris #1793 (All Grand Prizes and Second Prizes are gone)
3. $1 Bingo Express #1753 (1 Grand Prize left and 800,000 tickets)
4. $1 Lucky Lines #1770 (New Game and already on the "avoid" list)
5. $3 Crossword #3205 (1.4 million to 1 to win $50,000. No thank-you)

$1-$2 Game Update

Red Hot 50s is playable but the top prize is only $50. All the others are poor.

$3 Game Update

More Lucky Lines towers above the rest.

$4 - $5 Game Update

Not one, not two, but three Cash For Life games on sale simultaneously. How about canceling the sucker game #1165 OLG?

$10 - $20 Game Update

Prestige and Extraordinary are playable. For the cost, both games should be extraordinary - but they're not.

Comings and Goings

I missed a week so there is some activity to report: three new games have been added, three have been retired.

Hitting the dustbin were Aces and 8s, Keno #1412, and $200 Million. $200 Million was an inter-provincial game that had been on sale for 15 months. It was the benefactor of marketing campaigns by the lottery corporations. Still, after 15 months only 60% of the float ended up being sold. At the time of its demise, there were 4 - $2 million prizes outstanding. Over the course of the past two months, there were only 500,000 of its tickets sold across Canada. Meanwhile, Bingo #3014 sold over six times as many tickets in Ontario alone. It's safe to say that scratch ticket players in Canada have a price resistance point and it is somewhat less than $20 per ticket.

Both Aces and 8s and Keno had one Grand Prize left to claim and 10-15% of their respective ticket floats left to sell. An argument could be made why they were retired but there remains games for sale that are worse choices than any of the three that were retired. Much worse, in fact.

New on the scene are:

$1 Lucky Lines Express 1.3, 0.0 , 46.0, 12.6, 40.0
$3 Scrabble 2.4, 3.4, 50.6, 12.9, 35.0.
$4 Bonus Cash For Life 9.5, 3.2, 46.3, 10.2, 30.1.

(revenue breakdown is: Grand Prizes, Prizes $100 or more but less than Grand Prize, prizes less than $100 and more than cost of ticket, prizes worth the cost of the ticket, OLG profit). You will note that the Scrabble numbers do not add up to 100. I'll be calling the OLG about that little problem.

Lucky Lines Express is your typical lousy $1 game. Scrabble is acceptable and we know that everyone loves to play these games, me included. Cash For Life always rates well due to the 9.5% of revenue that goes to the five Grand Prize winners. You pay for that in the lower prize area where only 56.5% of revenue is returned to players. The game is also light on secondary prizes but you can't get everything in one game. With any luck we may be playing this game in the future.

Personal Play

Thirteen More Lucky Lines tickets contained 5 winners totaling $20. That places me right with Darth Vader. I had the right to expect more. My year to date results are presently a cash rate of 32% and a return on investment of 63%. Nothing terrible but, like Eugenie Bouchard, I expect to win.

Meanderings

Thanks to Darth Vader for posting information as to Grand Prizes claimed yesterday. My analysis was as of Monday. You need to keep up to date and should always check with the seller to make sure that grand prizes for the game you are about to play have not been recently claimed. For the two weeks between blog postings (I know, I was lazy - sorry), Grand Prizes were claimed for the following: Blazings 7s, Crazy 8s, Cashingo, Keno, Crosstripler, Money Multiplier, Sapphire 7s, and Win Take All. It pays to be sure before you buy.


My condolences to all Brazil supporters. That was brutal.


Doug

$3 More Lucky Lines #1776 Moves Into Top Spot

Well, the party is over for the two outstanding games that have existed this past little while. Cash For Life 1165 is now at the bottom of the barrel and the OLG retired Scrabble 1777 this past week. That decision was not in the interest of players as one of the $75,000 Grand Prizes was left and only 228,000 tickets were left to sell. Still, with 7% of the float left, +/- 3%, we knew that the game was nearing its end. I'm going to be introducing a new calculation on games that are retired into future posts. Stay tuned.

We have certainly ended a distinct period of time now that a $3 game has moved to the top of the evaluation method. This area had been a minefield for several months but we now have a game to play. Yes, I know that the ever popular Crossword and Bingo games are in this area but they are rarely recommended plays. That fact annoys me somewhat as I like them too.

The recommended game is #1776 More Lucky Lines. Almost two thirds of its float has been sold yet all three of its Grand Prizes remain outstanding. The $75,000 Grand Prize is good for $3 Games. Your chances to win one are estimated at 360,000:1 and, assuming you don't win a Grand Prize, you should expect a return of 62.6% on your investment. If you're doing worse than that you have the right to complain to the gods.

 

Top Rated Games

1. $3 More Lucky Lines #1776 (37% of float left to sell, +/- 3%)
2. $4 Cash for Life #1161 (44%, +/- 3%)
3. $5 Money Multiplier #1769 (26%, +/- 2%)
4. $10 Prestige #1741 (29%, +/- 7%)
5. $1 Red Hot 50s #1788 (28%, +/- 1%)

Games to Avoid

1. $4 Cash for Life #1165 - Previous game of choice is now a scourge. $500 is most you can win.
2. $3 Tetris #1792 - Top two prize categories gone. OLG must retire this game.
3. $1 Bingo Express #1753 - One $10k prize left and one million tickets to sell.
4. $3 Crossword #3205 - 15 million tickets left to sell. Only 9 , $50,000 Grand Prizes.
5. $1 Cash Cow #1805 - It's new and it sucks.

$1 - $2 Game Update

The horrible $2 Fat Cat game was retired. That's good. The only game worth playing is Red Hot 50s.

$3 Game Update

The only reasonable choice in this area is More Lucky Lines

$4 - $5 Game Update

Apart from the top games in the list above, 20x Lucky is also a reasonable choice.

$10 - $20 Game Update

These games should dominate the ratings given the increased percentage return offered to players. At present, Extraordinary and Prestige are the only two worth buying and a poster has provided us with advance knowledge that a new $10 game is on its way. Really? An extra plug for Extraordinaire from a poster who likes how the game card scratches.

Comings and Goings

Scrabble #1777 and Fat Cat #1729 both went to Scratch Card heaven this past week. Fat Cat will not be missed but the Scrabble game was a good one that I never got to play as I was pounding away on Cash for Life.

New this week is a second Instant Bingo game #3015. Not much to choose between it and the earlier version #3014. Here is the revenue breakdown for the game:

OLG - 35%
Grand Prize(s) - 1.7%
Prizes of $100 or more but less than Grand Prize - 2.7%
Prizes of more than cost of ticket and less than $100 - 48.5%
Win Cost of Ticket - 12.1 %

Chances to win any prize - 3.45:1, 7th of 9 in $3 ticket group.
Chances to win prize greater than cost of ticket - 5.91:1, 6th of 9 in $3 ticket group.

Personal Play

Nine 20x Lucky tickets contained two winners totaling $30. I also threw $4 away on a 649 ticket that hit for $2 with Encore. The guy at the store convinced me to play but I forgot that the ticket cost $3 plus an additional $1 for the Encore. I ain't buying another one of those until the jackpot hits $50 million.

Meanderings

Thanks to the people who leave messages on the board. There was lots of talk this past week over packs of tickets and prize distribution. I honestly don't think that the OLG is involved in "managing" the games that closely. If it turns out that they are, that would be scandalous. These people are all public sector workers and I believe that they operate in the interests of Ontarians. That said, who knows how the printing and distribution of tickets actually works. One poster suggested that each pack of 80 tickets contains the same number of winning tickets. In my mind that should not be the case. Random means random. Maybe the OLG has a different definition for the word than I do.
 
Still no posting as to where exactly the recent Cash for Life winner bought their ticket. It better not be anywhere near me!


Best to all.



Doug

Cash For Life 1165 Meets Its End - Now Worst Game to Play

The party is officially over for Cash for Life 1165. The last Grand Prize was won in Ottawa yesterday. As reported last week, the game had been hollowed out meaning that when that last Grand Prize was won the game would go to the bottom of the list. There are no second prizes, no third prizes, 1 fourth prize of $5000, and 1 sixth prize of $500. The game had an impressive run and I'm glad that the OLG did not retire the game while that last prize was outstanding.

The new top rated game is Scrabble 1777 but a poster today suggested that this game was retired by the OLG today along with CFL 1165. That does not surprise me as only 7% +/- 3% of the float for that game remains and have not seen any of those tickets for a while.

I'll therefore skip to the next game which is $5 20x Lucky #1789. Twenty percent +/- 3% of the float remains for this game. Three of its Grand Prizes of $100,000 remain to be claimed. Your chances to win one are 190,000:1 versus 400,000:1 at the outset of the game.

Games to Play

1. $3 Scrabble 1777 (7% of float left to sell +/- 3%)
2. $5 20X Lucky 1789 (20%, +/- 3%)
3. $3 More Lucky Lines 1776 (42%, +/- 3%)
4. $20 Extraordinary 1742 (91%, +/- 4%)
5. $4 Cash for Life 1161 (47%, +/- 3%)

Note that the Cash for Life game recommended here is not the same one that was recommended previously.

Games to Avoid

1. $4 Cash For Life 1165
2. $3 Tetris 1793
3. $2 Fat Cat 1729
4. $1 Bingo Express
5. $3 Crossword 3205

$1 - $2 Game Update

Red Hot 50s is the top rated game in this group. Next best is Crazy 8s if you are looking for a better Grand Prize ($28,888 versus $50).

$3 Game Update

After spending months in purgatory, this group is coming more to the fore. Two of the top 5 rated games are in this area. Those two are much better than the others.

$4 - $5 Game Update

Apart from the two mentioned on the list of top games, Money Multiplier is also worth a try.

$10 - $20 Game Update

Extraordinary and Prestige are both playable. I fail to understand why the OLG has seven games available for purchase in this price range. They'll be selling these games for a long time.

Comings and Goings

More Lucky Lines 1775 was retired this week. It was a dud so salutations to our OLG friends.

Two new games came on line: $1 Cash Cow and $5 Win Take All.

A poster this week was speculating about the prize distributions for games in general. I measure them as follows: House Percentage - Win the Cost of the Ticket - Win More than Cost of Ticket and less than $100 - Win $100 or more, and less than the Grand Prize - Grand Prize.

Here is how the two new games shape up according to that breakdown:

Cash Cow - 40.0% - 10.4% - 47.6% - .3% - 1.6%.
Win Take All - 33.1% - 10.2% - 45.9% - 6.3% - 4.5%.

Based on this breakdown I expect that if you don't win the Grand Prize and you buy a sufficient number of tickets, you should expect a return of 58% for Cash Cow and 62% for Win Take All.

Personal Play

I can't say that I am unhappy that CFL 1165 is kaput. I purchased 82 of those suckers cashing on 26 of them (32%) returning $198 (60%). From the postings that I have seen of others, I should feel lucky. I don't. The numbers reported by others are very poor.

One poster reported going 0 for 15 on Crossword 3205. Although the game is rated poorly, players should expect to win with one out of every 3.84 tickets and a return of 64% even if they don't win a Grand Prize. The chances of going 0 for 15 are less than 1 in 100 - about the same as winning on four consecutive tickets. That sucks.

Meanderings

Thanks to everyone who measures his or her results and reports it on this blog. It is useful information for others and I enjoy keeping track of those results. The OLG would like us all to be individual players. There is always the chance that we may learn something about ticket distribution based upon this reporting.

I know that the OLG would testify under oath that tickets are distributed randomly but the company that prints the tickets uses algorithms in their production and there may be unintended flaws in those computer programs of which the OLG and the supplier are unaware. I know that the chances are not great but, at the same time, the pursuit is not altogether an exercise in alchemy.


Best to all.


Doug