Prestige Weakens But Remains the Choice

A lucky player in Welland won one of Prestige's Grand Prizes last week. Another one was claimed since the last time I updated my data for this posting. The cumulative effect of the two wins will be to bring Prestige down to the territory of the other top games currently for sale. Players can now feel that any of the top five games are good choices. As of November 27th, the game with the largest imbalance of Grand Prizes to tickets sold is Frogger. But be careful - it only has one Grand Prize left to claim.

Top Rated Games

1. Prestige (66%)
2. Money Multiplier (33%)
3. $200 Million (33%)
4. Classic White (10%)
5. Fast 200s (26%)

Note: Have you seen the ads on TV for $200 Million? Lots of information on what you can win but nary a mention of the $20 cost of the ticket. This game is being sold nationally and sales are lagging (see below). Further, the game has been in the marketplace since early April. It's curious that the OLG would decide to push an old game for which the public has demonstrated resistance.

Games to Avoid

1. Cash For Life 1162 (30%)
2. Crossword 3203 (10%)
3. Cashingo (16%)
4. Keno 1410 (17%)
5. Bingo 3008 (14%)

Note: Percentage numbers represent the estimated amount of the ticket float left to be sold. Once the number is less than 20%, tickets become more difficult to find.

$1 - $2 Game Update

Fast 200s remains a strong choice in this area. Note that the Grand Prize for this game is only $200 but there are over 1000 of them left to be claimed.

$3 Game Update

Frogger is the best choice. This is a tricky area as most players prefer $3 games yet 4 of the 5 games to avoid are also $3 games. Be careful if you're purchasing $3 games.

$4 - $5 Game Update

Money Multiplier is becoming a better and better choice every week. Four - $100,000 prizes remain to be claimed.

$10 - $20 Game Update

Three of the top five rated games come from this area and the lowest rated game, Cash Blast, is not a bad choice either. If you're willing to pay $10 for a ticket, play whatever game tickles your fancy.

Comings and Goings

The OLG did us a favour by deleting Horseshoes this past week. It was a lame duck. Wild 8s was also retired with one of its Grand Prizes left to claim. It was the second rated $1 - $2 game at the time of its demise. That's annoying.

The OLG introduced its annual "Gift Pack" game this past week. It is a $10 play with several smaller games included. I haven't rated the game yet as those clever marketers at OLG have structured the game such that if any ticket in the envelope wins a small prize, there will be other winners included. The minimum total win is the $10 cost of the pack. I like that. There is also a free ticket for another game included. I don't like that as it stretches my limited mathematical evaluation model.

Personal Play

Six Prestige tickets contained one winner of $20. Not good. There are only four weeks of play left for this year. I am presently right about where I should be, in terms of results, and that is not good. I need some luck.

Thanks again to the folks that post comments on the blog. There is an excellent post by Trinitron on last week's update that describes what our actual chances of winning are in terms that humans can understand. Reading it helped me to not feel bad about my inability to hit a decent score. Go give it a read.

Game Sales

The following is a listing of all games for sale, as of November 27th, and the estimated number of ticket sales for that game over the course of the past month. The percentage is the percentage of the original float that was sold over the period measured.

Game	Tickets (000's)	% of Float
SuperBingo	2115	20
Cross Tripler 1755	1269	15
Cashingo	711	27
Prestige	643	4
Cash For Life 1162	513	5
$200 Million	480	3
Black Pearls	470	18
Money Multiplier	463	15
Keno 1412	460	9
Classic White	449	6
Crossword 3203	366	10
Cross Express	356	11
Fast 200s	329	10
Cherry Tripler	317	10
Bingo 3008	272	3
Frogger	267	11
Cash Blast	226	16
Cross Tripler 1743	196	2
Black Jack Tripler	187	7
Cherry Jubilee	185	6
Keno 1410	165	3

Comments: Keep in mind that Classic White, Prestige, and $200 Million are all being sold Interprovincially. In terms of percentage of their float, the sales for all of those games are low. I am also at a loss to explain why Keno 1410 continues to be sold. The OLG has a blind spot when it comes to this game when you consider that it has been for sale for all of 2013, all the Grand Prizes have been claimed, and it is the worst seller of all games. Pull the plug on this dog, I say.

Doug