New Evaluation Method for 2013

Before I get to the content of this post, Turbo Cash remains the unblemished choice if you are buying tickets this week.

How one evaluates the various Scratch and Win games is a matter of preference. Input from readers suggests that my emphasis on the Grand Prizes is misplaced as the chances of anyone winning one are never more than minuscule. I understand what those folks are saying but surely we buy the tickets with the Grand Prize in mind to some extent.

The good thing about Scratch and Win games is that they vary in their makeup. The current recommended game is Turbo Cash. This is a $10 game with 3 - $250,000 grand prizes. By comparison, Ontario Millions contains 3 - $1,000,000 Grand Prizes for only $5. If your only consideration was the Grand Prize, you would go with Ontario Millions. But the OLG profit for Turbo Cash is 30% and for Ontario Millions 33%. How is that possible? It is because Turbo Cash contains more smaller prizes and players have a greater chance to win something (1 in every 3.13 tickets is a winner) than with Ontario Millions (1 in every 4.40 tickets is a winner). If the jackpot was your only criterion then you should be playing Lotto Max and 649. In those games the winner gets rich and everyone else is a loser.

Old Evaluation Method

During the course of the past year, the game I recommended took the percentage of grand prizes remaining and subtracted the sum of the percentage of tickets left to be sold and the house take. As an example, Turbo Cash has 100% of its grand prizes left to be claimed. It has a house advantage of 30% and 44% of its tickets left to be sold. These numbers yield a rating of +26. The Value Play used the number of $1000 prizes left to be claimed and divided that number by the number of tickets left. The result was then divided by the cost of the ticket.

New Evaluation Method

I am going to continue to use two methods but I am going to change the evaluation method. The main method will multiply the number of grand prizes left to be claimed by the amount of the grand prize. This total will then be divided by the product of the number of tickets left to be sold and the cost of the ticket.

The value play will take the total number of tickets left to be sold whose value is $100 or greater and divide that number by the product of the number of tickets left to be sold and the cost of the ticket and the chances of winning anything more than what you paid for the ticket. The OLG does not always publish the outstanding ticket information down to the $100 level. I will be asking them to do so in future.

The blog in 2013 will identify the best $1-$2, $3-$5, and $10-$20 games for each method.

Personal Play

I ended the year by making a double purchase the week before Christmas. Four Turbo Cash tickets contained 2 winners totaling $25. I ended the year cashing 38% of all of the tickets with a 63% Return on Investment. The cash rate was higher than I should have expected but I was unable to get even one good cash. My largest cash was $50 and I only had one of those.

Oshima from Ottawa reported a $20 cash this past week. Hopefully she treated her husband to Starbucks with her profit. Jay in Scarborough went crazy by investing his entire $70 profit from playing Pro-Line all year into a variety of tickets. He turned the $70 into $109. Not bad.

Happy New Year to all visitors. I'll be back next week with a clean slate and new methods.

Doug

2012 Ends with Turbo Cash #1713 Being the Top Choice

The recommended game sold another 56,000 of its tickets this week without a winner. Forty-four percent of the tickets remain to be sold and all three Grand Prizes are left to be claimed. Your chances to win the Grand Prize have been reduced from 476,000:1 when the game started to 210,000:1 today.


Best $1-$2 Game - Snow Globe #1725
Best $3 - $5 Game - Instant Millions #1683

Crossword #1299 continues to be the big seller with almost 200,000 tickets of the 700,000 tickets the OLG sells daily being for this game. Percentage wise, Frogger is popular. Twelve percent of its float was sold over the past week.

The best $1000 value game is $2 Blazing Sevens. The only game with all of its Grand Prizes claimed is Golden Goose. Avoid this game.

Comings and Goings

No action on either score this week. Prizes of $25,000 or more were claimed this past week in: Cavan, Spencerville, East York, Hamilton, Peterborough, Kingston, and Scarborough.

Personal Play

Finally some success! Three Turbo Cash tickets contained two winners and $65. With one week to go in the year I am at a 37% cash rate with a return on investment of .63 for every dollar invested. That puts me just about where one would expect to be.

Nic from Ottawa played a Turbo Cash and won $50. Norm from Port Credit came up empty with his and Anna from Etobicoke is saving hers for Christmas morning. I like that. Anna also purchased hers in Flamboro in an attempt the avoid the anti-GTA bias that seems to exist at the moment.

I will be revising the evaluation methods for 2013 in response to feedback that I have received. More on that in 2012's final post.

Good Luck and Merry Christmas.

Doug

Turbo Cash #1713 Continues On Top

Nine more days and still no Grand Prize winners for Turbo Cash #1713. Forty-Eight percent of the tickets are left to be sold and all three Grand Prizes of $250,000 remain to be claimed.

Best $1- $2 Game - Snow Globe
Best $3 - $5 Game - Instant Millions



Instant Millions is running a strong second choice and the $1 million Grand Prizes may attract players. Of course, there is a trade off at the lower end of the prize structure.

The best $1000 win value play is Golden Goose but there are no Grand Prizes left for that game so it should be avoided. The next best game is $3 - Keno #1410 with 195 prizes of $1000 or more left to be claimed from 76% of the 4,896,000 tickets that were produced.

The best pure odds to win a Grand Prize is our game of choice with a 230,000:1 chance to win $250,000. Beware the $10 ticket cost, however.

Overall ticket sales continue to edge up as we approach Christmas. Lots of folks seemingly cannot wait until the day as they are scratching and winning prizes in the seasonal games. Discipline players, please!

Jay from Scarborough has indicated that he does not like my evaluation system which is based upon winning the Grand Prize. He says that he knows that he will never win a grand prize and instead he wants to know what the best chances are to win anything more than the cost of the ticket. If you have any comments in this regard, please share them on the blog. The new year is coming and I'd be happy to add or alter the current methodology.

Comings and Goings

Our old favourite, Keno #1409 has been retired. There was one Grand Prize remaining to be claimed and 18% of the tickets were left at the point of cancellation. Jacks are Wild was also retired. It was our game of choice for a while. It had 2 Grand Prizes remaining and 12% of the tickets left as of the end of its run. Why not let that game run until someone wins one or both of those prizes? Golden Goose with no Grand Prizes left continues to be sold with 33% of its tickets left.

$2 Bonus Banco was introduced this week. The game is interesting as it only has a 33% house take. Most $1-$2 games have a house take of 40%. Chances to win a prize more than the $2 you paid are 6:1. That's pretty good. Hopefully we will be able to play that game later on.

Personal Play

A discouraging week. Four Turbo Cashes contained two winners and a meager $20. I am now at a cash rate of 36% and a Return on Investment of 52%. I continue to fall behind expectations. I need a $50 winner to bring me back up.

Winners

$25,000 - $100,000 winners this week came from Ottawa (2), Sarnia, Wallaceburg, Sault Ste. Marie, Midland and Thunder Bay. $100,000 and up winners hailed from Maple and Etobicoke. Nice to see a Toronto winner sneak into the group.



Good Luck
Doug

Turbo Cash #1713 is an Outstanding Play

I'm back from my trip to Dubai and London and not much has changed - but things have improved! No Turbo Cash tickets were cashed since my departure. All three Grand Prizes of $250,000 remain to be claimed and only 53% of the tickets remain to be sold. I know that $10 is a steep price for a ticket but it is rare that a game tilts as much as this one has in favour of the player.

Best $1-$2 play - Snow Globe #1727
Best $3-$5 play - Ontario Millions #1683



Daily ticket sales are ramping up as the Christmas Season approaches averaging more than 700,000 over the past 17 days. The big seller is $3 Crossword #1299 which is averaging almost 200,000 daily from its jumbo float of over 20 million tickets.

The best $1000 value play remains good old Keno #1409. This game has less than 20% of its ticket float left to sell. For pure odds to win a Grand Prize, buy Cross Tripler #1703. In that game you have a 98,000:1 chance to win $100,000 for a $5 investment.

The only game left to avoid like the plague is $2 Golden Goose. All the Grand Prizes have been claimed and 36% of its tickets remain to be sold so we will likely see it remain in play for a while. If you're looking for stocking stuffers, buy $2 Snow Globe #1727 instead.

Comings and Goings
OLG mercifully retired the $1 Cross Express since my last update. All its Grand Prices had been claimed long ago. Twelve percent of its ticket float remained when its plug was pulled. The $10 Gold Tripler was also retired even though 1 of its 3 - $500,000 prizes remained outstanding and 18% of its ticket float left. I don't like that.

New games include $3 Frogger #1718, $5 Instant Multiplier #1692, and $10 Instant Gift Pack #1919. Your chances of winning anything more than what you paid for the new games are: Frogger 1:7.41, Money Multiplier 1:6.60, Gift Pack 1:5.24. The Gift Pack is an interesting game as it includes five tickets with low Grand Prize amounts for each. Instead, the OLG is spreading the wealth around with more small wins than what you would normally see. It must be Christmas!

Personal Play
Two Turbo Cash tickets returned zilch three weeks ago. I am going to expand my play this week in recognition of my forced hiatus and the favourable odds. Frank from Scarborough reports 0 for 7 on Cross Tripler (there are two of those games currently in play. Fortunately for Frank there is not much to choose between the two games). Jay from Scarborough has branched out buying a variety of tickets. This lack of discipline is not recommended but it does represent a reinvestment of his Pro-Line winnings so his brashness is forgiven.

Over the past three weeks, prizes of $50,000 or more were claimed in: Burlington, Timmins, Corbeil, Aurora, Ottawa (2), Lyndhurst, Hamilton (2), London, York, Cambridge, Port Colborne, Schreiber, and Toronto. Nice to see some secondary markets getting rewarded but only one winner from Toronto? What's up with that?

Good Luck
Doug

Turbo Cash #1713 Still the Pick

The past week saw another 50,000 Turbo Cash tickets sold without a grand prize being claimed. The game remains our top selection.
Best $1-2 game - Bingo Express
Best $3-$5 game - Instant Millions

The top selling games are the jumbo Crossword #1199 (120,000 tickets sold during the week) and #1198 (64,000 ticket sold during the week)

Best odds to win a jackpot is Cross Tripler #1703 at 117,000:1 to win $100,000 for a $5 Ticket.

Best $1000 Win Value Play is Keno #1409

The OLG retired Instant 649 and Crossword #1297 this past week. Both decisions are understandable. The top prize heavy Instant 649 never sold very well. Instant Game players enjoy action, even if it is minor prizes. I guess that people who want the 649 premise buy 649 tickets. Makes sense. The Crossword game was also entirely sold out and the are two other versions already in play. But why does the OLG continue to sell $1 Cross Express? Avoid this game.

Personal Play this week was poor. The odds for turbo Cash caught up to me. I went 0 for 2 bringing my total return down to 61% of money invested.

Winners of large prizes this week hailed from : Cornwall, Caledon, Toronto, and North York. Glad to see the GTA locations showing up. It's about time!..

  I apologize for the formatting of this post. I am in Dubai and for some reason the "powers that be" think that I am posting in Arabic and I can't see how to change the format to English. 

Good Luck

Doug

Turbo Cash #1713 Remains the Choice

Turbo Cash sold 77,000 tickets last week without surrendering a jackpot winner. The game is now significantly the best choice for players. Odds of winning a jackpot are presently 320,000:1.


The only problem with this game is the cost. At $10 per ticket, it is understandably too rich for many players. If you must, here is the best of the rest:

$3 - $5 Games - Ontario Millions #1683
$1 - $2 Games - Blazing Sevens #1696

It was a good week overall for the OLG with daily sales averaging over 650,000. That is about 10% higher than the recent trend. Keno #1409 remains the best $1000 value play although only 1 of the 6 Jackpot Prizes remains to be claimed. $2 Blazing Sevens is the third ranked $1000 value game and it would be a better choice.

Prizes of $50,000 or more were claimed this past week in the following locations: Oakville, Port Colborne, Windsor (2) , Hamilton (2), Niagara Falls, Peterborough, Owen Sound. Ever notice the paucity of winners in Toronto? I do.


Comings and Goings

Christmas is coming. The OLG introduced $1 Holiday Tripler, $2 Snow Globe, $3 It's a Wonderful Life, and $5 Merry Money this week. Get your stocking stuffers early!

Two games were also retired. At long last the $3 Horseshoes #1705 has been withdrawn. All the Jackpot prizes had been claimed in this game since the 04 August update. At that point 42% of the ticket float remained to be sold. The OLG allowed the playing public to buy over 700,000 tickets for this game even though Mr. Tout le Monde had no chance to win the jackpot.

I'm puzzled by the OLG policy in this area as they also retired $1 Go Bananas this week. It was our recommended $1-$2 game. Three of the six Jackpot Prizes remained to be claimed and 25% of the ticket float was in circulation. At the same time, they left $1 Cross Express in play. No Jackpot prizes are left in that game and they have been gone since early October. Only 12% of the tickets remain for that game. Why in the world would the OLG cancel Go Bananas and leave Cross Express in play?

I wrote to the OLG about this very issue last year. I received a fulsome response to my questions. Here are the criteria for canceling a game:

1. Game is sold out.
2. All top prizes are claimed for games with $100,000 or greater top prizes.
3. Average weekly sales reflect significantly decreased customer demand and a new replacement game is planned.
4. Quality issue with game in market.
5. Security issue with game in market.


So, why was Go Bananas canceled and Cross Express was not?


Personal Play

The worm is turning. I bought two Turbo Cash tickets this past week. Each one was worth $15. As a result, I broke down and bought an additional ticket while on the road to Toronto. Such behaviour violates my basic principles. It was a $30 winner! The $30 profit for the week brings my total return up to 66% of money invested which is smack dab normal. I have cashed 39% of all tickets purchased which is high.


Good Luck

Doug

Turbo Cash #1713 is the New Play

Two of the 16 top Crossword #1298 prizes were claimed last week knocking the game out of top spot. The new recommended play is Turbo Cash #1713. All three $250,000 Grand Prizes remain outstanding after 27% of the tickets have been sold. Overall, one ticket in 3.13 is a "winner". If you don't consider getting your money back being a winner, One ticket in 5.56 wins more than the cost of the ticket.


It's tough when the top game is a $10 game. It seems that you get far less for your money. Remember, the more the cost of the ticket, the less the take out by OLG. $1 and $2 games have a take out of about 40%. $3-$5 tickets have a take out of 35% and $10-$20 tickets have a take out of about 30%. The important thing to do is to stay within your budget. Remember: you're the boss.

Best $1 - $2 game - Go Bananas #1690
Best $3 - $5 game - Instant Millions #1683

Although this blog recommends games, there are different ways of analyzing the available games. For example, the Instant 649 #1704 has the best chance to win a grand prize at 72,000:1 to win $100,000 for a $5 Ticket. For Turbo Cash, players currently have one chance in 347,000 to win $250,000 for a $10 ticket.  By another measure, players have one chance in 9.27 to win more than the cost of ticket in the Instant 649 game versus 1 in 5.56 for Turbo Cash. What's your fancy?

The top selling game was Crossword #1298 with sales of over 200,000 ticket per day. That represents about one third of all tickets sold.

Comings and Goings

Mercifully, OLG canceled More Lucky Lines #1651 this week. The game had been moribund for several weeks. Twenty three percent of the tickets remained to be sold. Why does the OLG make this decision while continuing to sell Horse Shoes and Cross Xpress? Each of those games has less tickets left to be sold than More Lucky Lines and all of their Grand Prizes have also been claimed. Buyer beware!

$3 Super Bingo #3011 was introduced this week. Resist the temptation. We may get to play it in time.

The following prizes of $50,000 were claimed this week:

Bingo #3007 - $50,000 - Hamilton
Keno #1409 - $50,000 - Brampton
CrossTripler #1703 - $100,000 - Belleville
Crossword #1298 - $50,000 - Peterborough
Extravaganza #1709 - $50,000 - Owen Sound

What does it take for someone in Toronto to win a Grand Prize?

Personal Play

A breakdown in discipline took place this week. I bought 10 Crossword tickets! Five of them were winners but my return was a measly $19. Still, my numbers are heading north. I have now cashed 36% of the tickets purchased (very good) and my return on investment stands at 49% (poor). There has to be a $100 ticket hiding in my future some time soon.

Good Luck
Doug

Crossword #1298 Tops the List

Last week was one of change. Both of our top games had Grand Prizes claimed. Moving in to take their place is the $3 Crossword #1298. Nine of the 16 Grand Prizes of $50,000 remain unclaimed with 25% of the tickets left to be sold. Be careful when shopping as there are now three Crossword games on the market. #1297 is on its last legs and #1299 has just been introduced this week. These are jumbo games with 20 million tickets for each. Check your ticket to ensure that you have the correct game.

Best $1 - $2 Game  - Go Bananas
Best $10-$20 Game - Turbo Cash

Keno #1409 remains the best value play. There are 64 prizes of $1000 or more and 75,000 tickets left to be sold. Instant 649 offers the best odds to win a Grand Prize at 66,000:1.

Comings and Goings

Each of the three games with no Grand Prizes left remain in play. They are: Cross Xpress, Horseshoes, More Lucky Lines #1651. No games were retired.

Two new games were added: $3 Crossword #1299 and $5 Crossword Tripler #1720. In the Crossword game there is one winner in every 3.25 tickets and 42% of the winners are for the purchase price of the ticket. In the Crossword Tripler game there is one winner in every 3.47 tickets and 47% of the winners are for the cost of the ticket.

There were several winners of $35,000 or more this week. The winners were from: Mississauga, Cambridge, Roseneath, St. Thomas, Unionville, Burford, London, and Kingston.

Personal Play

I'm beginning to break out of  my slump. Nine tickets from Keno and Scrabble contained five winners totaling $25. My win rate of 33% to date is excellent but I can't snag a good priced winner. Current Return on Investment is 47% which is poor.

Our Scarborough player cashed for $38 on 5 Scrabble tickets so he seems to be out of his funk. Another Ottawa reader reported receiving "bupkus" for her Scrabble ticket.

Good Luck with the new game.

Doug

Scrabble #1702 Becomes a Strong Play

Scrabble #1702 sold 7% of its ticket float this past week without giving up any of its $75,000 grand prizes. Two of the three grand prizes are left to be claimed and 27% of the tickets remain outstanding. The game is a strong play. Crossword #1298 and Keno #1409 are the next highest rated games but the top game is significantly better. The Crossword game is the current big seller. Almost 1/3 of total sales are of this game. Of course, the game began with a 20 million ticket float. Scarcity of tickets can become an issue but you should be able to find ample supply of all recommended games.

Keno #1409 remains the best value play and Instant 649 provides the best pure odds to win the game's Grand Prize.


Best $1-$2 Game - Go Bananas
Best $10 - $20 Game - Turbo Cash


Comings and Goings

Two games were retired this week, both of them were games for which the Grand Prizes had already been claimed. Cash for Life #1155 had been bereft of Grand Prizes since the 17 September update. The OLG only sold 2% of the ticket float from that date until today. Crazy 8's #1699 sold 6% of its float since the 27 August update. That was the date when the last Grand Prize was claimed. I applaud the decision to cancel these games even if it was a bit tardy.

Cross Express, Horseshoes, and More Lucky #1651 are the three remaining games to avoid at all costs. Buyer beware!

Personal Play

A slightly better result this week buying a combination of Keno #1409 and Scrabble #1702. A $24 investment (8 tickets) contained 3 winners returning $15. Not good by any measure but better than the shellacking I had been taking. I now stand at a win rate of 29% (which is reasonable) and a sub-par 40% return on investment. One decent winner will put me back on pace.

Good Luck
Doug

Scrabble #1702 Takes Over Top Spot

The one month reign of Jacks are Wild has come to an end. A second grand prize in two weeks was claimed in Mattawa rendering the game unplayable. It will not return.

Instead, the $3 Scrabble #1702 has vaulted to the top of the list. Sixty-four percent of the tickets have been sold while 2 of the 3 - $75,000 Grand Prizes remain to be claimed. Players have one chance in 519,000 to win $75,000 for a $3 investment. Players would also be justified in playing Keno #1409. It is the second rated game and remains number 1 in the value play evaluation. The best pure chance to win a Grand Prize is Instant 649. You have one chance in 58,000 to win $100,000 for a $5 investment. Those are excellent odds but they come at the price of minor prizes. This is an "All or Nothing" type of game, much like the 649 draw.


Best $1 - $2 Game - $1 Go Bananas
Best $10-$20 Game - $10 Turbo Cash

Comings and Goings

Nothing to report this week. Five games continue to be sold for which there are no Grand Prizes left to be claimed. They are: Cross Express, Crazy 8's, Horseshoes, Cash for Life #1156, and More Lucky #1712.

Daily sales remain at slightly more than 600,000 per day. The biggest seller continues to be the jumbo Crossword #1298. The original 20 million ticket float has been 60% sold. OLG is selling them at a rate of 130,000 per day. Other Grand Prizes were claimed this week in Hamilton, Oshawa, and Renfrew.

Personal Play

Thank goodness I don't have to play Jacks are Wild anymore! Six more tickets last week contained one winner of $5. In total, I have purchased 26 of those buggers since August 30th. Six were winners (1 in 4:30) returning a grand total of $45 (35%). I could have expected to have had one more winner and almost double the return.

Lets hope that Scrabble in kinder to me.


Good Luck
Doug

Jacks are Wild #1701 Stays on Top

A player in Brampton won one of the Jacks are Wild Grand Prizes this week. Regardless, the game remains the recommended play. The $3 Scrabble #1702 is now a close second for those who are fed up with the recommended game. The best value play is Keno #1409 (not #1410 --- that is a new game). Players now have one chance in 248,000 to win $100,000 with a $5 ticket. Players may begin to find Jacks are Wild tickets becoming harder to find. Only 23% of the ticket float remains to be sold.

Best $1 - $2 game - Golden Goose
Best $10 - $20 game - Gold Tripler



Some readers have asked what constitutes a recommended play. The analysis compares the number of grand prizes remaining to be claimed to the number of total tickets left to be sold. I then subtract the percentage that the OLG takes from running the game. This figure will vary between 30 and 40 percent based upon the cost of the ticket. The cheaper the ticket, the higher the take out. This measurement assumes that players are buying tickets to win the grand prizes.

The value play measures the players chance to win $1000 or more and takes into account the cost of the ticket. Players would correctly assume that a $5 ticket has a greater chance to win $1000 than a $1 ticket but is the chance five times greater? The value calculation sorts that out.

Comings and Goings

A tip of my cap to the OLG for retiring the disasterous (for the OLG) Classic Black Game. Fully 60% of the tickets remained to be sold and all six grand prizes had been claimed. There remain 5 games for sale without a grand prize among them. It's a mystery to me how and why the OLG makes the decision to retire games. They should be more transparent.

New Games include $3 Instant Keno #1410, $3 More Lucky Lines #1712, and $10 Turbo Cash #1713. The chances of winning more than the cost of the ticket are 1:7.0, 1:7.4, and 1:7.2 respectively.

Personal Play

A purchase of 6 Jacks are Wild tickets in Brockville yielded 1 winner of $10. My overall play continues to lag expectations.

The Collingwood player from last week strolled into Toronto on the weekend, bought 10 tickets, and cashed for $95 including a $50 winner. Well done.

The Scarborough hard luck player purchased a total of 10 tickets over the past week cashing for $70. Another success.

Meanwhile in Mississauga, a three ticket purchase returned $10.

Looks like I was the biggest loser this week - again!

Good Luck
Doug

Jacks are Wild #1701 - A Stand Out Choice

Jacks are Wild #1701 is a strong play this week and no other game is even close. Keno #1409 had a Grand Prize winner of $50k last week rendering the game no longer playable.



At present, only one in four tickets "Jacks are Wild" remains to be sold yet four of the six Grand Prizes remain to be claimed. The odds of finding a $100,000 winner is 1 in 222,000. Yes, your chances are slim but the wager is justified.

Keno #1409 remains the best $1000 Value Play. The best $1-$2 play is Go Bananas, and the best $10 - $20 play is Extravaganza.

Cashes of $10,000 or more this past week were sold in: Port Dover, Walsingham, Brockville, Mississauga, and Ottawa.



Comings and Goings

Super Bingo #3010 and Roulette #1689 were both retired this past week. Super Bingo had one Grand Prize outstanding and 7% of its tickets left to sell. Roulette also had a Grand Prize outstanding and 25% of its tickets left to sell.

By comparison, the OLG continues to sell Horseshoes (20% of tickets left), More Lucky (26%), Cash for Life #1155 (11%) and Classic Black (59%). There are no Grand Prizes left for any of these games. Do you see a problem?

The OLG advises its customers of the following: "This list shows all OLG INSTANT games currently in market. OLG stops selling INSTANT games with top prizes of $100,000 or more once all the top prizes have been claimed. If you are looking for a game that is not on this list, please call our OLG Support Centre at 1-800-387-0098." Cash for Life and Classic Black both have Top Prizes of $100,000 or more. Why are they still being sold? The OLG sold about 60,000 tickets for those two games last week! The OLG must have a definition for "Top Prize" that is different than mine.


Personal Play

Two of two "Jacks are Wild" were winners returning $15. Two of four "Keno" tickets were winners returning $6. That is the best week since reporting has begun but I am yet to show a profit in any single week. Total return on investment stands at 44%.

Meanwhile, a reader in Collingwood reports winning on 3 of 4 "Jacks are Wild" with a return of $75. That was offset by a poor old reader in Scarborough who was 1 for 11, returning $5. That's bad.

Good Luck,
Doug

















 

Jacks are Wild #1701 Continues on Top

Another 5% of the Jacks are Wild #1701 passed through the sales windows this week without a grand prize being uncovered. Thirty percent of the ticket float remains to be sold and 4 out of the 6 grand prizes remain to be claimed. This game is a strong play. The second rated game continues to be Keno #1409. Four percent of its tickets were sold without a winner coming forward. This game is also a strong recommendation  as it remains the top $1000 value play as well.



Crossword #1298 remains the big seller averaging 200,000 tickets being sold. In total, 5.3 million tickets were sold over the past week. The daily average was 660k.

While in the USA I purchased a scratch and win ticket in both Florida and New York State. I applaud the OLG for making public much more information about its games than our American neighbours do. The Florida web site www.flalottery.com is visually pleasing but it fails to provide any information about outstanding prizes. The NY State Lottery site www.nylottery.ny.gov provides information on outstanding grand prizes but also indicates that new blocks of tickets for its games can be issued at any time. Neither State provides its players with the concrete information that the OLG does so hats off to our government.

The remaining "evil" games are: Crazy 8's, Horseshoes, More Lucky Lines, Cash for Life #1155, and Classic Black 2. In total, 224,000 tickets were sold for which the grand prizes had all been claimed. And yet, the OLG keeps these games alive while canceling games that have Grand Prizes outstanding. Not good.


Comings and Goings

Deal or No Deal #1694 and Bonus Keno #1411 were retired this week. We're sorry to see Deal or No Deal go as 15% of its float remained to be sold and one of its 3 Grand Prizes remained to be claimed.

New games this week include the $1 Bingo Express #1707 and Black Jack Tripler #1716. Bingo Express is a simple game. You have one chance in 3.84 to have a winning ticket. 52% of the prizes are for more than the cost of the ticket. You have one chance in 45 to win more than $2.

Black Jack Tripler provides one chance in 4.18 to win and 58% of prizes exceed the cost of the ticket. A special aspect of this game is that 40% of all winners win more than once on the same ticket.

Nine grand prizes of $50,000 or more were claimed this week. Winners hailed from: Midland, London, Dundalk, North York (2), Ottawa, Etobicoke, Oakville, and another out of province winner from St. Hubert. That's two prizes in two weeks for visiting Québecois.

Personal Play

I went crazy this past week purchasing 4 Jacks are Wild tickets and 4 Keno tickets. There was one winner of each returning $5 in each instance. The cash rate to date is 1: 5.3 tickets with an ROI of .27. Poor. Back to normal play this week.

On the plus side I can report that a reader bought 3 Jacks are Wild in Scarborough winning twice for a total of $40. He reinvested part of the profit winning twice more. In total, he bought 7 tickets and showed a profit of $45.

Best of Luck

Doug

Jacks are Wild #1701 Remains the Best

Jacks are Wild made it through the week selling another 4% of its ticket float without losing a Grand Prize. At this point in time, 36% of the tickets remain to be sold and 4 of the 6 Grand Prizes of $100,000 are still out there somewhere. The next best games are Keno #1409 and Crossword #1298 (not the much worse #1297).

Determining which is the "best" game to play can have more than one interpretation. For the main purpose of this blog, it is the percentage of Grand Prizes that remain versus the percentage of tickets that remain to be sold. I'm assuming that we all play the games with the goal to win the grand prize. I also look at the best value chance to win $1000 or more. This evaluation  takes into account the cost of the ticket. If one buys a $5 ticket, one would expect to have a better chance to win $1000 then if one bought a $2 ticket, but is it a better play after taking into consideration the cost of the ticket? I also look at the absolute chances of winning the grand prize. Each of these evaluations can produce different recommendations.

What is more straight forward is games to avoid playing. At present, four games are in play for which all of the grand prizes have been claimed. They are: $2 Crazy Eights #1699, $3 Horseshoes #1705, $3 More Lucky #1651, and $10 Classic Black #1697. The OLG has a big problem with the latter. They're selling $10 tickets for a game where all of the $500,000 prizes have been claimed. In fact, 60% of the ticket float remains to be sold. Buyer beware. The OLG sold 140,000 tickets for these games last week. Make sure that you're not in that group.

The best $1000 Value Play remains Keno #1409. This game is also the second rated game to win the grand prize. If it's instant gratification you're after then the $5 Instant 649 is a good play. The odds of winning $100,000 are 56,000:1. What you give up is the chances to win smaller prizes; there are very few as compared to other games.

Comings and Goings

No departures, one addition this week. The $1 BingoExpress was introduced. Details of the game have yet to be posted.

Two Grand Prizes were claimed this week. Bingo #3007 had a $50,000 winner in Aurora and Super Bingo #3010 had a $50,000 prize claimed in Amherstburg.


Personal Play

A wipe out week. Four Jacks are Wild tickets played, no winners. I'm now 1 for 8 with an ROI of .25 for this game. I'm due!


Doug

Jacks are Wild #1701 - Damaged but Still #1

A lucky visitor from Boucherville, Quebec claimed one of the Jacks are Wild grand prizes last week. Regardless, the game remains the best choice albeit somewhat diminished from last week. Players have a 323,000:1 chance to win $100,000 with a $5 investment. Other recommended games are $3 Keno #1409 and $3 Bingo #3007.

Games to avoid are: $10.00 Classic Black #1697, $3.00 Lucky Dragon #1708 and $3.00 More Lucky #1651. The OLG should be ashamed to continue to sell Classic Black tickets. All six of the grand prizes have been claimed yet they sold 130,000 tickets over the course of the week. The problem they face is that 60% of the ticket float remains to be claimed. The game is a loser for them. The best strategy, from their perspective, is to continue to pump the tickets. Your strategy is to avoid the game like the plague.

The big seller continues to be the $3.00 Crossword #1298. With a ticket float of over 20 million, the tickets will be predominantly displayed where you play. To date, 24% of the tickets have been sold and only 1 of the 16 grand prizes has been claimed. This game may get interesting. The best chance at winning $1000 (or more) continues to be $3.00 Keno #1409 although the $2.00 Golden Goose #1700 is sneaking up on the long time king of this evaluation method.

Comings and Goings

We said goodbye to MultiMult, one of the Cash for Life games and one of the Crossword games. No loss there. New games include the $3.00 Scrabble #1702 and the $1.00 Fast 100 #1688. The latter is a novel game based upon the premise of a small grand prize but offering many of them. There are over 3700, $100 prizes in the game but nothing larger. If you play this game, pray that you don't get a $30 winner. The odds of getting that prize are 10,000:1 whereas the odds of winning $100 are 800:1. You don't want to use up your luck that way. It's a bit upside down but the goal of the game is to maximize the number of $100 prizes, as indicated by the name of the game.

Personal Play

Four Jacks are Wild tickets last week contained one $10 winner. That is a .50 ROI (Return on Investment) - less than expected. I will be henceforth reporting on my personal play on a weekly and accumulated basis.

Good Luck to all.

Doug

Jacks are Wild #1701 Takes Over Top Spot

Apologies for the delay in updating the blog. A vacation trying to win money in Saratoga betting horses proved fruitless for the umpteenth time in a row.

It's been 22 days since the last update and we have a new game to play - Jacks are Wild. Cash for Life #1155 had one of its two remaining top prizes claimed moving it into unplayable status. Jacks are Wild has 5 of its 6 $100,000 prizes left and has sold 54% of its tickets. You have a 1 in 300,000 chance to win $100,000 with a $5 investment. Here's hoping that the game remains playable as there is no other game close to being a good choice at the moment.

Keno #1409 remains the game with the best value chance to win $1000 or more. The biggest selling game is the Crossword #1298. There are, at present, 3 Crossword games in play. The other two are on their last legs and should be canceled soon by OLG. The new game has a massive float of over 20 million tickets. The OLG is currently selling over 500,000 Scratch and Win Tickets daily of which almost 140,000 are for this version of Crossword. All 16 Grand Prizes of  $50,000 remain after selling 16% of the tickets. Maybe this will become a future play for blog readers.

Five new games have been introduced over the past three weeks. One of them is brand new and OLG has yet to post game details. For the other four, I like to calculate what percentage of winning tickets net more than the cost of the ticket. Somehow OLG has convinced us that getting ones money back is a form of winning. This principle is at its worst in penny slots where players play 80 cents per pull, win 20, and the machine rings like the person was a winner. How crazy is that?

Here is the breakdown of the new games:

$3 Luck Dragon Doubler - 42% of winning tickets are for $3.
$4 Cash For Life - 35% of winning tickets are for $4.
$5 Cash Lines - 51% of winning tickets are for $5.
$10 Extravaganza - 39% of winning tickets are for $10.

Cash for Life #1155 is the best play

Cash for Life #1155 (not #1157) sold over 370k tickets over the past ten days without having anyone hit one of the two remaining grand prizes. That's good for us. It is by far the best game to play at present and it is a popular game, so have a go at it. I'm hoping that the trend continues as the next best game is the $10 Gold Tripler and I've had a terrible experience with that game to date. It was the recommended play a few weeks ago.

The best play, if you're looking for the best value play in order to win at least $1000 remains the 1407 Keno game. The prize distribution in this game includes many more $1000 prizes than normal for a $3 Game. The trade-off is that there are fewer small prizes.

The OLG introduced two new games this week: $2 Golden Goose and a third $3 Crossword game. It's unususal to have 3 games of the same brand going on at the same time. Crossword #1296 is almost kaput with few tickets left in circulation and all grand prizes already claimed. Crossword #1297 has 24% of its 6 milllion ticket float still in circulation. Six grand prizes remain to be claimed for that game. The new game, Crossword #1298, has a massive ticket float of 20 million tickets! This game is going to be around for a long time.

In addition to Crossword #1296, Battleship, Horseshoes, and Instant Million #1661 are all games to avoid as all grand prizes have been claimed. Last week the OLG canned Banco with two grand prizes outstanding yet they continue to sell the Instant Millions game when all of its prizes are gone and there is a new version of the game for sale. The trusting public bought over 60,000 tickets for that game over the past 10 days. Remember folks, buying these tickets is gambling --- always try to get the odds on your side. That's what this blog is all about.

For personal play, I bought 4 Cash For Life tickets last week. Two were winners returning $18. That's a good result after the dry spell that I have been experiencing.

Good Luck with your play this week.

Cash for Life #1155 is the Recommended Play

After weeks of being a bridesmaid, Cash for Life #1155 takes over the top spot in the rankings. This is a playable game. Be careful not to confuse it with #1157 of the same name.

The OLG retired our preferred game of the last post, $2 Banco. When they did so, 2 of the 3 Grand Prizes remained to be claimed and only 20% of the ticket float remained in circulation. I find these sorts of decisions to be against the interest of the playing public. Crossword #1296 continues to be sold with no grand prizes left and only 8% of the ticket float left. Instant Millions #1661 also has no grand prizes left and 20% of its ticket float left. Only .7% of its ticket float was sold over the past 10 days. Exactly how does the OLG arrive at these decisions? I'd like to know. I have written to them before about this and received a fulsome reply but they did not answer the question directly. I intend to write again with respect to Banco.

If you like the Instant Millions game, be careful. There is a new one that has just been released. Be sure to get game #1683 and not #1661.

The recommended games for best chance to win $1000 remains $3 Keno and the best chance to win the game's jackpot remains the $5 Instant 649.

New games introduced this past week include $2 Blazing Sevens and $5 Instant Millions. Resist the temptation to play the new games. It's a question of odds.

My personal play took a beating last week. Four Cash for Life and 6 Go Bananas tickets returned a grand total of $2! Horrible horrible horrible. Gotta pick it up this week.



Good luck.

Banco #1591 Takes Over the Top Spot

The Gold Tripler game has been knocked out of top spot for the time being after one of the three top prizes was claimed last week. That's unfortunate but I can't say that I am displeased. I bought a total of six Gold Tripler tickets over the course of three weeks. Total return was $15 on one winning ticket. Not an encouraging result.

The new top game is Banco #1592 but this may prove to be a frustration for readers of this blog. Only 20% of the tickets remain and a seller last week told me that they had been asked to return all of their unsold tickets to head office. The game is still showing on the "Unclaimed Prize Page" but not on the game menu. Further, there appears to not have been any large prizes claimed over the course of the past week. How can the OLG cancel a game when 2 of the 3 grand prizes remain outstanding after having sold 80% of the tickets? Good question. I have asked the OLG that very question and their answer is troublesome.

If you can't find any Banco tickets, the Cash for Life #1155 is playable and the $1 Go Banana's game is also looking good with all 6 of its $10,000 grand prizes remaining to be claimed and 38% of the total tickets sold.

The big sellers this week were the $3 Horseshoes game and the brand new $5 Jacks are Wild game. Jacks are Wild only has one winner in every 3.86 tickets, which is a little high, but compensates that number with the fact that 73% of its total prizes are greater than the $5 selling price of the ticket. That's good. Players love new games but the preferred strategy is to stay away from them until the odds begin to work in ones favour. Horseshoes sold 16% of its ticket float and Jacks are Wild sold 9%. The best pure play for the jackpot is the $5 Instant 649 game. You have one chance in 57,000 to win $100,000. If you'd be happy with $1000, then Keno #1409 gives you one chance in 36,000 for your $3. The OLG retired the 20X Lucky Game this past week. That game was a disaster for them. Fully one half of the tickets remained to be sold and all of the grand prizes were claimed and had been claimed for the past month. That is sure to prompt a meeting at OLG Headquarters!

I mentioned last week that I was going to discuss the Florida Lottery site. I'm going to push that back a week as this posting has already become too long. I try to keep it short enough that you can read it in less than one minute.

Good Luck.

Gold Tripler Still The Recommended Play

In a week when the Gold Tripler game sold 4.7% (68,000 tickets), the three grand prizes remain elusive to ticket buyers. The game is a solid play and followers of this blog should consider expanding their play given the prevailing odds. Purchasers have a 1:282,000 chance to win $500,000.

The second rated game, Banco, is also a strong play with two of the three grand prizes left to be claimed. Only 20% of the ticket float for this game remains to be claimed so be vigilant. Players have a 1 in 354,000 chance to win $50,000 for a $2 investment.

The popular Cash for Life games are a distant third in terms of playability. Either game is playable.

The OLG retired the $1 Cherrytriple game this week. The game had 1 of it's six grand prizes left to be claimed and 15% of its ticket float at the time of its cancelation.

Two new games were introduced this week, $3.00 Horseshoes and $3.00 Bingo #3007. The Horsehoes game came charging out of the gate, already selling 10% of its float.

Next weeks entry will include a comparison of the Florida Lottery web Site versus the OLG. "Teaser Alert" - the OLG's is better!

Good Luck

Gold Tripler Still on Top

During the course of the past week, the Gold Tripler game sold 3.6% of its float with none of the grand prizes being claimed. It remains our top play. It is an expensive game at $10/ticket. For those seeking less   expensive games, the $2 Banco 1591 is also playable. Tickets in that game will be a bit tougher to come by with only 24% of the them remaining to be sold.

The OLG retired another sucker game this week when they cancelled the $5 Texas Hold'em game. That reduces the three the number of games to avoid. They are: $1 Lucky Lines, $3 Battleship, and $5 20X Lucky.

The $5 Instant 649 game is the best game if you are looking to hit the grand prize. The game is structured much more like the actual 649 game with the majority of the return going to those who hit the $100,000 grand prize - there are 30 grand winning prizes. If you want the best chance to win at least $1000, the $3 Keno game is the the choice for you.

As for my personal play, another wipeout last week. Two Gold Tripler tickets bought - two losers. That puts me at 0 for 4 since it became the recommended play. This is the down side of playing expensive tickets. Less action and more risk. The good news is that I will get two more shots this week.

Gold Tripler #1695 Remains the Choice

The $10 Gold Tripler remains the play. Two-Thirds of the tickets have been sold and all 3 grand prizes remain to be claimed. Next in line is the $2 Banco and either Cash for Life game. Supply is waning for all of these secondary choices.

Be picky as you don't want to be buying tickets for games that have already had their grand prizes claimed. $1 Lucky Lines, $3 Battleship, $3 Crossword 1296, and $5 20XLucky are all in this category. The OLG retired the $2 Golden 7's game this week. It had been in that "loser" status for several weeks.

The current "hot" game is $5 Instant 649. Introduced last week, 8.3% of its tickets were sold over the course of the week. In terms of pure odds, the game with the best chance to win its grand prize is the aforementioned $5 Instant 649. This is a result of it having 15 grand prizes. It is a top heavy game. If you'd be happy with $1000 or more, play $3 Keno 1409.

Personal play was a wipe-out this past week. I bought 2 Gold Tripler tickets (my budget is $20/week) and got nothing in return. One in three tickets is a winner so I must have left the winner in the store for the next purchaser. Hoping to correct that with two more plays this week.

Gold Tripler #1695

Greetings readers. Just back from a vacation in Florida. Sorry for the delayed post.

The new playable game is the $10 Gold Tripler #1695. It is not often that one of the expensive games becomes playable. The game has sold 30% of its tickets and all three $500,000 prizes remain to be claimed. You have one chance in 340,000 of cashing a Grand Prize in this game, at present. If $10 is more than you wish to spend, and I can fully understand that, the $2 Banco 1591 and either of the $4 Cash for Life's are good plays.

There have been lots of changes since my last post. Seven games have been retired, five of which had no Grand Prizes remaining. Good work OLG! There are still five games left for sale that remain in this "sucker" category. Avoid $1 Lucky Lines, $2 Golden 7's, $3 Battleship, $3 Crossword 1296, and $5 20XLucky.

The big seller continues to be Deal or No Deal. This game is selling as briskly as the former Mah Jong game. I'm sure that the human behaviour specialists at OLG as busy trying to figure out why.

As for personal play, I have been away and therefore have nothing to report. I did play a scratch and win game in Florida. I'm going to visit their web site and compare it to our own in terms of disclosure and the fairness of the games. In the land of the "Stand and Deliver" law, who knows what they have up their sleeve. I will report on what I find next week.

Deal or no Deal #1694

We have finally graduated from Lucky Lines and More Lucky Lines. Both games had their grand prizes claimed within the past week. The new game is Deal or no Deal. This is a relatively new game and it is selling like hot cakes. 16 % of the float was sold last week alone. Have not seen a game this popular since Mah Jong came on the market. 32% of the tickets have been sold for the game and all 3 grand prizes remain to be claimed.

Next in line to play are: $4 Cash for Life #1155 and $2 Banco #1591. The recommended play if you are looking for $1000 cash and up (as opposed to the grand prize only) is #1409 Keno. Deal or no Deal is second on this evaluation as well so it certainly is a preferred play.

OLG retired the moribund $2 Golden Ticket game this week. About time. There remains 6 games where all the grand prizes have been claimed. Avoid them like the plague: $2 Golden 7's, $3 Bingo, $3 More Lucky Lines, $3 Scrabble, $5 Scrabble, and the colossally wasteful $10 100 Jumbo. The OLG publishes the fact that these games are sucker plays but it still irks me that they flout these tickets under the guise that their market research indicates that players don't care. Really?

A new game this week is the $5 Cross Tripler. 15 grand prizes of $100k each. Past games of this sort yield a few winners coming right out of the chute. We don't play now, but that has been the pattern.

Personal play last week was reduced to one $2 Banco ticket for which I received my $2 back. Gonna load up on Deal or no Deal this week.

We're Back to #1620 More Lucky Lines

We lost a "playable" game this week when one of the Grand Prizes for Lucky Lines was claimed. That leaves us with #1620 More Lucky Lines as the only "playable" game. There are only 13% of the ticket float left for that game. Next in line are: #1155 $4 Cash for Life and #1591 $2 Banco.

A reminder that my evaluation method is based upon winning the grand prize. If you'd be happy just to win $1000 and you want the best "value" proposition to do so, $3 Keno #1409 is the play for you.

The big seller this past week was the new $3 Deal or No Deal #1694. 15% of the ticket float was sold over the past week - and none of the grand prizes were claimed. With any luck we'll be playing this game soon.

There are five games where all of the grand prizes have been claimed: $2 Golden Ticket, $3 Bingo, $3 Scrabble, $5 Scrabble, and $10 100 Jumbo. Players need to keep on top of this. The OLG is sneaky. Can you imagine how many 649 tickets would be sold if the OLG informed players that the Grand Prize will not be claimed this week? Exactly!

In terms of personal play, I have been taking a beating but it looks like my luck is beginning to change. I bought 5 - $1 Lucky Lines tickets at the loser joint and won with one. It paid $2. I bought another 6 at another establishment winning $12 on a $10 and a $2 winner. In total, $14 return on an $11 investment. That's what I need - keep treading water hoping to get lucky.

Lucky Lines #1666 and More Lucky #1620 Still On Top

The good news is that the two games are in positive territory which means that they are strong plays. The bad news is that I have had absolutely no luck with either game. I have played 25 More Lucky tickets winning $3 twice! This past week I played 14 Lucky Line tickets and came away with two winners and $3 in total returns. In total, 39 tickets, 4 winners, and a $9 return on a an $89 investment. This is so bad that I am beginning to think that there is something going on. I'll be playing these games again this week but I am determined to find a new store. All of the tickets I have played were purchased at the same place.

The definition of "playable" is premised upon winning the jackpot. If that is not your goal and you would like the best value chance to win $1000, play Keno #1409.

Super Bingo was retired this week and it was about time. Only 4% of the tickets have been available for the past month. I find that once the float goes below 20% it becomes hard to find available tickets. At 4% they would be like hen's teeth.

Three new games were introduced this week - $1 Cross Xpress, $3 Deal or No Deal, and $10 Classic Blk2. Classic Blk1 was a bust for the OLG - let's hope that the winning tickets stay unclaimed for a while. I like playing the $10 games - not as many tickets to scratch but bigger payouts.

Good luck.

More Lucky Lines and Lucky Lines

As much as I hate to admit it, More Lucky Lines #1620 remains a top play. It has been eclipsed though by the $1 Lucky Lines #1666. This game has 3 grand prizes remaining and only 1/3 of the ticket float left. I have been very discouraged with my own play on More Lucky Lines. I have purchased 25 tickets and had exactly 1 - $3 cash. It's odds defying. Tomorrow I'm going to call the OLG to see if any complaints have been filed against the retailer.

If you're looking for the best value play for prizes of $1000 or more, try Super Bingo 3004 and the $5 Scrabble game.

OLG begrudgingly canceled the $10 Bejeweled Game. It was a disaster for them with all six grand prizes being claimed with 1/2 the ticket float remaining outstanding. It has been replaced with a new $10 Gold Tripler game.

Top sellers this week were Battleship, Crossword, and 20X Lucky with each game selling over 6% of its float.

In answer to a visitor who asked what makes a game playable, it is a value judgement on my part. I take the percentage of grand prizes left to be claimed, subtract from it the percentage of total prizes left ( as indicated on the OLG Site) and then subtract the percentage take that the OLG has for the game. For example, if 80% of the Grand Prizes remain to be claimed and the house take on the game is 40%, then the game would become "playable" once 40% of the tickets have been sold. At this point the player has overcome the house take and the "wager" involved in buying the ticket becomes a positive play for the player. Your odds of winning remain slim, but you can be satisfied knowing that you made a reasonable play as opposed to buying tickets on games for which potentially all the grand prizes have already been claimed.

Hope that helps.

More Lucky #1620 still the play

We are within a hair's breadth of having a real life "playable" game. More Lucky has been the play for several weeks now and has a current rating of -.9. Once a game goes into positive territory it is blast off time. The problem is that only 16% of the ticket float is left so it may be tough to find tickets.

In a pinch you can play the $1 Lucky Lines. This game is currently rated at -7 which is pretty good.

The OLG is going to have a problem flogging its new $20 - $100,000 for life game. Three of the six grand prizes have already been claimed in the first two weeks of play. Only 7% of the tickets have been sold!

My personal play is defying odds. I went 0 for 6 with my More Lucky tickets last week. That makes me 0 for 18. What are the chances of that you ask. Well, 1 in every 3.34 tickets is a winner. The chances of going 0 for 18 is 1/5th of 1 percent. In other words, not bloody likely. What's going on? I am inherently suspicious of these games but I love streaks. I was in the store today and they still have the tickets available. I'll be back for six more tomorrow. Any one want to bet at to whether I can break the streak? Something smells here.

Still More Lucky #1620

No change this week as the three top games remain $3 More Lucky, $1 Lucky Lines, and $4 Cash For Life #1155. More Lucky is slowly approaching "playable status".

Two new games were added this week, $1 Go Bananas and the familiar $5 20X Lucky. That means 5 new games have arrived in the past two weeks. One of them is bound to be a good one for followers. It seems unlikely that it will be the $20 $100,000 for life. Two of the six top prizes were won during the first week during which only 4% of the ticket float was sold. It will be some time, if ever, that this game will become a good play.

The stinkers remain $2 Golden Ticket, $3 Scrabble, $3 Space Invaders, and $10 Bejeweled. All the top prizes have been claimed for each game. Poor old Bejeweled has reached this point after having sold only 52% of its tickets. The OLG brass must be having lots of meetings about this game. Think I'll ATIP them on that score.

As for my play, I am cold cold cold! Six more $3 More Lucky produced zero return. That makes it 12 losers in a row! Completely unacceptable. The question is whether I should boycott the seller or not. I'm going to look elsewhere but there aren't that many tickets left for this game so I may be driven back to the scene of the crime.

More Lucky #1620

More Lucky Lines continues to be the best game to play this week. There is only 21% of tickets left for sale so you may have difficulty locating them. I always like it when $1 games creep into playable status. It's rare but the $1 Lucky Lines is the second best game on the market at present. Cash for Life #1555 rounds out the top three.

The big seller for the week was the $3 Crossword with over 9% of the float being sold.

A new $10 game was introduced this week - $100,000 for Life. This is a nationally distributed game with six Grand Prizes. It will be interesting to see how ticket sales progress for this game. The overall odds of winning at 3-1 which is very good. If we can nudge this game into "playable" status, I'll be happy.

What I'm not happy with was last week's plays. I purchased 6 - More Lucky Lines tickets and was shut out! Unacceptable! I'm glad that the game remained our top game; I've got six more tickets for this week.

Satisfy your urge and scratch.

Cash for Life and Lucky Lines

Lucky Lines #1620 has crept back towards the top this week. Only 1 grand prize is left and only 27% of the ticket float is left so the tickets may begin to get harder to find. Strangely, 43% of the Cash for Life #1155 tickets are left but I'm having trouble finding them. You can play either game but neither one is great bet at this point - just the best game on the board at present.

After cleaning out some of the old games over the past few weeks, our OLG friends have introduced 4 new games this week: $2 Crazy 8s, $3 Battleship, $3 Super Bingo, and $5 Money Mult. In time, let's hope that one of them becomes a playable game.

The best sellers this week were $3 Crossword and $5 Scrabble - each selling a bit over 6% of their float.

I have hinted at this in an earlier post --- there were 12 Scratch and Win tickets cashed during the past week for $10,000 or more. How many were sold in the GTA, you ask? Zero! Odd, don't you think.

I purchased 3 Cash for Life's this past week. One was a winner paying $12. A break even week which is never a bad thing.

No Playable Games

Well, last week's play dropped off the table when one of the More Lucky grand prizes was claimed in Whitby. We are now back to the unenviable position of having no playable games. What's worse is that it does not look like things are going to change for a while. The best game to play at present is the $4 Cash for Life # 1155. The other Cash for Life has a double grand prize but the first game represents better overall value.

Two games were cancelled this week: $3 Crossword and $5 Wildstar. Both games were long in the tooth with only 5% and 6% of the ticket float left in circulation when the OLG recalled all unsold tickets. Neither game was playable so good riddance to them.

Games to avoid this week are: $2 Golden Ticket, $3 Scrabble #1664, $3 Space Invaders #1272. All grand prizes for these games have been claimed.

The biggest seller this past week was the $3 More Lucky Lines. 15% of the float was sold this week. That's a lot. Are more people reading this blog than I think? The answer is no!

More Lucky #1620

We have a playable game. The $3 More Lucky game only came on to the market three weeks ago and the tickets are flying off the shelves. Forty-seven percent of the tickets have been sold and the two $75,000 grand prizes remain outstanding yielding a rating of +11.

We don't often get games into the plus column so get out there and play this game until one of the grand prizes is claimed. Right now your odd are 484,000:1 to win. Wildstar has the best chance to hit the jackpot at 228,000:1 but the game is not playable.

Games to avoid are: $2 Golden Ticket, $3 Crossword #1296, $3 Scrabble and $3 Space Invaders. Space Invaders is particularly galling as all 3 second prizes have also been claimed! The most you can win in this game is $1000 - stay away from it.

Cash For Life #1157

Bejeweled has quickly fallen out of favour with two of the $500,000 grand prizes being claimed last week. One was in North York and the other was in Grassie - Population 2000. I have my suspicions about that but that is fodder for a future series of posts.

It's too bad about Bejeweled, I bought six tickets last week, cashing four of them for $65.

There are, at present, no games that are playable. If you must play, $4 Cash for Life #1157 is the best option, followed by $3 More Lucky, and $3 OFGCrossword. There are currently 2 Cash for Life games in play so be careful although the other game is not a bad choice either.

Games to avoid are $2 Golden Ticket, $3 Space Invaders, $3 Crossword and $3 Scrabble. The top prizes for Space Invaders and Crossword have all been claimed since early January. The OLG should be ashamed of themselves for continuing to sell these games.

With fewer games in play, there are some big sellers. Banco and Scrabble each sold 10% of their float this past week but the champion game was More Lucky which sold 24% of its float in one week! That's amazing.

If it is the Grand Prize that whets your appetite, then $3 Super Bingo 3004 is your game. You've got one chance in 98,000 to hit the jackpot. Pretty good.

Bejewled #1680

A short week as the last blog posting was only five days ago. Bejeweled remains the game of choice. The public likes the game as 5.6% of the ticket float was purchased over the course of the last five days. The game's rating is -5 but that is pretty close to zero. Hats off to any players who can forego the temptation and wait until the game gets above zero. The next best games are the two Cash for Lifes. Both of them are rated at -12. The worst game? 100 Jumbo. Twelve of the fourteen grand prizes have already been claimed and they have only sold 27% of the tickets yielding a rating of -89.

In terms of pure odds to win a grand prize, try $3 Super Bingo. A mere 120,000:1 against winning the $50,000 grand prize.

Two more Bejeweled tickets for me tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Bejeweled #1680

The OLG purged the Christmas games this week. Eight games were canceled including the best game that was in play, the $1 Reindeer Game. The good news is that they canceled the $10 Cash Cruises which was one of the worst games that was in play.

Of the games that are left, the best game is the $10 Bejeweled #1680. 20% of the tickets in this game have been sold and all three $500,000 prizes remain to be claimed. If you are only interested in winning a jackpot, play $5 Wildstar. The odds of hitting the $100,000 jackpot are 252,000:1. Not bad.

Games to avoid are: $2 Golden Ticket, $3 Space Invaders, $3 Crossword and $3 Scrabble. The grand prizes for each of these games have already been claimed.

The one problem with playing $10 games is that I don't get many tickets to scratch. I purchased two Bejeweled tickets this week winning $15 on one of them. A $5 loss for the week is tolerable.

No Game to Play

We had one of the $1 million prizes claimed in the Ontario Millions last week. As a result, there are no games that are qualified for play this week. The best rated game is $1 Reindeer Game.

A new $10 Bejewled game was introduced this week and two new Scrabble Games came on line last week. We'll watch how those games progress.

The $10 Classic Black game was canceled this week. It was a blood bath for the OLG as all 14 Grand prizes were claimed while 51% of the tickets float remained to be sold.

A reminder that Space Invaders, Crossword, Wonderful Life, and Cash Cruises are all to be avoided as the grand prizes have been claimed for each of those games.

Ontario Millions #1661

Ontario Millions is the only game that is playable at this time. The $5 game has all three grand prizes left to claim after having sold 35% of its ticket float. I bought six of them last week winning $5 on each to two tickets. Not a good result but I will pound away again this week.

The OLG was up to its questionable practices last week when it canceled Keno #1406, the highest rated game. There was fully 30% of the tickets left but the OLG had already introduced Keno #1409 thus spelling doom for the earlier game. There is something unethical about selling 70% of the tickets for a game, still having 3 of the 4 grand prizes left to be claimed, and canceling the game.

The losing games to avoid are: Cash and Cruises, Wondeful Life, Space Invaders, and Crossword #1291. The OLG cancels a good game to play while permitting players to purchase tickets on games where all of the top prizes have been claimed. Crazy!

We're Back to Keno #1406

Last week's recommended game of Cash and Cruises has now become a game to avoid. Both remaining $500,000 were claimed. One was in Collingwood, the location of the second one has yet to be posted. It strikes me that more winning Scratch and Win tickets are won in smaller communities than one would expect. More on that in future posts.

The best game to play is the $1 Hol Trippler but these tickets are becoming very hard to find. We may find that the game has been cancelled. Stay tuned. Keno #1406 has fought back into playable status. Thirty percent of the tickets remain. The $5 Instant Millions is almost playable and should be next week barring the claim of any winning tickets.

Games to avoid include Space Invaders, Crossword, Wonderful Life, Lucky Dragon, Cash and Cruises, and Classic Black. None of the expensive games are worth the effort. This is good as you can wisely get more tickets for your weekly budget.

One final observation this week is the popularity of  Mah Jong. They are selling 10% of the 3 million ticket float each week. That is very high. I'm sure that the good people at the OLG have noticed this trend. Sadly, the game is not playable to followers of this blog but who knows about the future.

Good luck.

Cash and Cruises is the best play

There are three games that are currently playable. The best game is the $10 Cash and Cruises. The next best game is the $1 Hol Tripler. It is unusual that a $1 game ever becomes playable due to the high house take out and the relatively small grand prize. At present, your odds against winning the jackpot is a mere 133,000:1. That's pretty good. The third game is the Keno #1406 that has snuck back up the list since the claiming of one of the grand prizes two weeks ago.

The games being played most by the public over the past week were Mah Jong, Crossword, and Texas Hold'em. Mah Jong sold over 8% of its ticket float in one week! That's fine. Stick to the recommended games and get the best bang for the buck.

I play $20/week and this week I am going to focus on the Hol Tripler. Last week I bought 2 Cash and Cruises tickets, winning $15 on one of them. With what is going on in Italy, I'm not so sure that I want to win a cruise right now.

New Recommended Game - Cash and Cruises #1681

The new year has brought in several new games and the termination of 5 old games. Keno is no longer the recommended play as two of the grand prizes have been claimed. Instead, $10 Cash and Cruises is the game of choice.

Over 40% of the tickets have been sold and both grand prizes remain to be claimed. The odds of winning the grand prize stand at 345,000:1, down from the 606,000:1 at the outset. Winners appear at a rate of 3.11:1 which is good for a larger prize game.

Four games continue to be sold for which all the grand prizes have been claimed. They are: $3 Crossword 1291, $3 Woonderful Life 1077, $ Lucky Dragon 1674, 45 Merry Money 1677. Avoid these games like the plague.

One point of interest is that the $1 Holiday Tripler 1675 has become a playable game. This is unusual as the cheaper games have a larger house take and therefore more to overcome before they become playable. The good news is that for $1, you can make a reasonable wager by buying this game.