Prestige Returns to the Top

Cash Blast’s reign on top was short lived after it coughed up two of its five Grand Prizes this past week. The incurred damage reduced the game to the #4 spot, leaving Prestige standing head and shoulders above all other games currently for sale. Prestige is an Interprovincial Game and has only surrendered 1 of its $1,000,000 Grand Prizes after selling an estimated 20% of its float. The game has a balanced prize distribution with 8.2% of revenue going to Grand Prize winners, 2.2% going to winners of $100 or more but less than the Grand Prize, 50% going to winners of less than $100 and more than the cost of the ticket, 9.6% going to people who got their money back, and 30% going to the OLG and, according to them, your local hospital. Your chance to win any prize more than the cost of the ticket is one in every 4.80 tickets – that’s very good. Lastly, and I know that this is ridiculous, I like the scratchability of the ticket – nice and smooth.

Top Rated Games

1. 1.       Prestige (79%)
2. 2.       Fast 200’s (54%)
3. 3.       $200 Million (64%)
4. 4.       Cash Blast (71%)
5. 5.       Cherry Jubilee (42%)

Games to Avoid

1. 1.       More Lucky Lines (19%)
2. 2.       Scrabble #1754 (6%)
3. 3.       Black Jack Tripler (46%)
4. 4.       Bingo #3008 (35%)
5. 5.       Frogger (59%)

$1 - $2 Game Update

These are good days for players who like inexpensive games. Fast 200’s is a top game and all the other games are reasonable choices. That is not always the case for these games.

$3 Games

It’s treacherous in this area. Four of the five lowest rated games are $3 Games. The best choice in this group is Horse Shoes.

$4 - $5 Games

Black Pearls is a new game and is the top rated game in this group. Avoid Black Jack Tripler and Poker Multiplier.

$10 - $20 Games

Avoid Classic White. Although Wild 10’s has been retired, if you can find any loose tickets, they are a good choice. Otherwise, Prestige is the stand out choice.

Comings and Goings

Wild 10’s and Super Bingo were retired this week. Wild 10’s was a playable game over a period of several weeks. I purchased 34 of them, cashing on 10 for a total return of $180. A disappointing result, to be sure. I did not have occasion to play Super Bingo. Wild 10’s had 20 of its 150 - $10,000 Grand Prizes and 15% of its float left to sell. Super Bingo had 1 of its 10 - $50,000 Grand Prizes left and 6% of its float.

Black Pearls is a $5 game that was introduced this past week. The game rates well right off the bat within its group of games. It is light on its intermediate prizes with only .6% of its total revenue going to those winners. In fact, there are only 9 prizes greater than $105 and that is not good for a $5 game. It also returns 10.7% of its revenue to people who win their money back. That is also high. Still, the 7 $100,000 Grand Prizes is good. The odds against winning one are presently 360,000:1 and that is excellent.

Personal Play

I have a system that has some flexibility and some boundaries. I know from experience that if I venture outside of my established boundaries bad things happen. I played 2-Cash Blast and 2-20X Lucky tickets last week. I cashed on one of each for a measly total of $25. Early this week I was at the Grocery Store when I saw that they had two orphan Wild 10 tickets left. My system does not permit me to buy tickets mid week. Too much could have happened since I last updated the blog. Nevertheless, I bought the tickets and paid the expected price by getting skunked. Just another lesson in a lifetime of them.

Best of Luck to all readers.

Doug

Cash Blast #1752 Blasts Into Top Spot

Cash Blast has wrestled the top spot away from Prestige although both games are eminently playable. Prestige has yet to surrender a Grand Prize of $1,000,000 and it was the top pick last week which makes it tough to understand how it could have slipped in the ratings. The answer is that Cash Blast has also not surrendered a Grand Prize and it is selling its float at a quicker rate than Prestige. Cash Blast was only released 10 days or so ago and has already sold 20% of its float. Prestige has sold 17% of its float but has been selling since early August.

Cash Blast returns $.11 of each ticket to its Grand Prize winners. This is a very high number. Your current chance to win a Grand Prize is 224,000:1, down from the 285,600:1 when the game began.

Top Rated Games

1. Cash Blast
2. Prestige
3. Fast 200's
4. 20X Lucky
5. $200 Million

Games to Avoid

1. Scrabble #1754
2. More Lucky Lines
3. Blackjack Tripler
4. Bingo #3008
5. Frogger

I will save my breath on Scrabble. This game should have been put to bed long ago. By every measure the OLG should have retired it, but instead they continue to push the tickets. Be aware!

$1 - $2 Game Update

Fast 200's is a top pick and Cherry Jubilee is also not a bad choice.

$3 Game Update

If you must, Super Bingo #3012 is the best choice.

$4 - $5 Game Update

20X Lucky is the only good choice in this category.

$10 - $20 Game Update

Avoid Classic White. Otherwise, the other games are all good choices.

Comings and Goings

No changes to report this week. Lets hope that Scrabble and More Lucky Lines are both torpedoed over the course of the coming seven days.

Personal Play

Two Cash Blast and two 20X Lucky returned 2 winners and $35. That is my first profitable week in some time. My cash rate is 37% and my return on investment is 74%.


Doug

Prestige #1741 Takes Over Top Spot

I apologize for the delay in posting this update. I was in New York City last week attending, among other things, the US Open. It is a spectacular event.

During my absence, the OLG got to doing quite a bit of housekeeping. Five games were retired and three new games introduced. It must be a new school year. Sadly, two of the preferred games were retired (Texas Hold'Em and Cleopatra). The good news is that one of the new games (Cash Blast) enters the market as the second rated game.

The new game of choice is Prestige. This is an Inter-Provincial game with a ticket float in excess of 14 million tickets. A poster had previously asked the open-ended question of when the first of the 12 available $1,000,000 was going to be won and where. Well, for those who thought later rather than sooner, you were right. All 12 prizes remain outstanding after an estimated 10% of the float having been sold. The prize distribution for the game is average for $10-$20 games insofar as grand prizes is concerned. The prizes less than the grand prize and at least $100 are low. This is compensated by the number of winners of less than $100 and more than the price of the ticket. The chances to win any prize more than the cost of the ticket are third best of all games currently offered for sale. Despite this, Shelley has reported that she bought 18 Prestige tickets only winning back half of her investment. Be careful out there!

Top Rated Games

1. $100 Million Prestige (90%)
2. Cash Blast (90%)
3. 20X Lucky (29%)
4. Wild 10s (16%)
5. Fast 200's (63%)

% figures represent the estimated precentage of the original float left to be sold

Games to Avoid

1. More Lucky Lines (21%)
2. Scrabble #1754 (8%)
3. Bingo #3008 (37%)
4. Keno #1410 (32%)
5. Bonus Keno #1413 (22%)

Players need to be very careful with the $3 games. They are the games in highest demand yet all five of the games to avoid are $3 games. Keep your wits about you if you're buying those tickets. Trinitron00 has posted his concerns about Scrabble #1754. I agree with him.

$1 - $2 Game Update

Fast 200's is the best game in this area and one of the top overall rated games. Good value for $2.

$3 Games

It's a minefield! There is nothing really to recommend but if you are determined, Super Bingo #3012 is the best choice.

$4 - $5 Games

20X Lucky stands out in this area.

$10 - $20 Games

Stay away from Classic White. Otherwise, all the other games are acceptable choices.

Comings and Goings

Jacks are Wild, Cleopatra, Texas Hold'Em, Silver Gold, and Pick 3 were all retired. Each game had less than 20% of its float left to sell and readers were having trouble finding some of the tickets. This is common when the available tickets get down to that area. My question is that there are four other games with less than 20% of their tickets left that continue to be sold. Scrabble #1754 is the most glaring example of a game that should be buried. Why is the OLG so inconsistent about this?

Cherry Tripler ($1), Frogger ($3), and Cash Blast ($10) have all come online for sale. Cherry Tripler does offer some prizes for less than the grand prize and at least $100, which is good. On the down side, there is a high proportion of tickets worth the $1 you paid for them. Cashing for $1 seems like a waste of time. Triniton00 reports that he does not like Frogger due to the 35% takeout. That number is about standard for $3 games. The game does suffer from a high level of $3 winning tickets. Your chance to win more than $3 in this game is the second worst of any game currently for sale. Cash Blast is an interesting game and has already sold 140,000 tickets without revealing a Grand Prize winner. Another week like the last one could move this game up to top spot.

Personal Play

Three 20X Lucky tickets returned one winner of $20 and 4 Texas Hold'Em tickets returned nothing. I am now sitting at a 37% cash rate and a 73% return on investment.

Hats off to Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic!

Doug