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