Cash for Life $10 Loses a Grand Prize - Emerald 7's Takes Over Top Spot

The good and bad news with a game like the $10 Cash for Life Family is that it has a small number of large grand prizes. With a $2,025,000 Grand Prize the game was steaming along on top of my ratings. And then the bad news happened. Victor Ashun-Quainoo of Brampton took down one of the three grand prizes. Good for him – bad for the rest of us. The game has been knocked down from top status to middling status. It may be able to return to favoured status in time but for now we have to look elsewhere.

And that elsewhere is Emerald 7’s. This game has five of its seven grand prizes left to be claimed along with one of its two second prizes and only 30% of its float left to sell. The game is average within its group in terms of chances to win a prize. Its grand prize rating is not great as the grand prize is only $77,777 for your $5 ticket but it has lots of prizes between $100 and the grand prize amount. It also offers a low number of “winning” tickets that return the cost of the ticket. I like that. Your chances to win one of the grand prizes currently stand at 190,000:1 and that is the best of any game currently for sale.

$1 - $2 Game Update

The $2 Cash For Life Family game is creeping back up the ladder after surrendering an early grand prize. It is an excellent choice for an inexpensive game.

$3 Game Update

There is still more bad news than good news in this area. At present, the best rated game is Super Bingo #3013.

$4 - $5 Game Update

Emerald 7’s is the game of choice but Cash In is also a good choice. Cross-Tripler is the only poor choice in this area.

$10 - $20 Game Update

Avoid Classic Gold. You can play any of the others, including the $10 Cash for Life Family. That game has taken a hit but it’s still not a poor choice.

Comings and Goings

The OLG retired Money Multiplier and Black Pearls this past week. We were happy to see Black Pearls go as all the grand prizes had been claimed and with a $100,000 grand prize, it was the OLG’s policy to retire the game. Money Multiplier was another story. That game would be top rated if it was still in play. It had two $100,000 grand prizes left and only 13% of its float left to sell. That still amounts to 400,000 tickets somewhere in the system. I fail to understand why the OLG would not want to continue to sell the game. Or maybe I do understand all too well. 

The sobering reality of playing any of these games was reinforced by a poster who recounts that he found 12 Money Multipliers, bought them all, and managed a total return of $15 for his efforts. That would be enough to turn me off the game.  

Personal Play

Two Cash for Life $10 tickets were purchased this past week. Both were winners returning $25 in total. I know – nothing to shout about but it is my first winning week of 2014 so I’m patting myself on the back regardless.

I’ll be buying a Lotto Max ticket this week. A $50 million jackpot and twenty $1 million supplementary prizes is sufficient to drag me in based upon the wisdom of a reader comment of a few months ago. With three lines in play, and barring duplicate winners, I have 21 chances of 24 million:1 to snag one of the prizes.  As mentioned before, this is a “winners take all” sort of lottery. As an illustration, the chances of getting 4 or seven numbers on one line are a little over 70:1. The payoff for doing so is 3:1. Those kinds of odds will empty your pockets in a hurry. On the other hand, a 1.2 million to one shot to win $1 million (or maybe $50 million) for my $5 is worth the investment.

Best of luck to all.

Doug

Cash For Life Family $10 Remains the Best of Three Excellent Choices

No jackpot winners from any of the top three games means that there is no change at the top this week. Each of these games is a good choice. Play Cash for Life if the big Grand Prize is your priority (one chance in 900,000 to win $2 Million for $10), Prestige if you want the maximum smaller prize results (6 - $1 Million Grand Prizes remaining and 59.6% of the revenue returned to small prize winners)  and Money Multiplier for the best chance to win a $100,000 Grand Prize at 1 in 200,000 for $5.

Top Rated Games

1. Cash for Life $10 (75% of ticket float left to be sold)
2. Money Multiplier (13%)
3. Prestige (51%)
4. Emerald 7's (36%)
5. Cash In (37%)

Games to Avoid

1. Black Pearls (17%)
2. Cherry Triple (31%)
3. Fat Cat (51%)
4. QFG Crossword (85%)
5. Bingo Express (100%)

$1 - $2 Game Update

Cash For Life $2 is a good game and great value in the $1 - $2 game area.

$3 Game Update

Keno #1412 is the top rated game here. Avoid that monster Quest For Gold Crossword game. It is a dog at this point in time.

$4 - $5 Game Update

Avoid Black Pearls. The OLG should have retired this game by now. All the remaining choices are acceptable plays.

$10 - $20 Game Update

Avoid Classic Gold.

Comings and Goings

Two new games were added this week: $1 Bingo Express and $5 Aces and Eights. Bingo Express has absolutely nothing going for it. If you don't win a Grand Prize, the next best prize is $50. Aces and Eights is interesting in that there are 7-$100,000 Grand Prizes. The game has the potential to move up the ratings. I'm not sure that I'm totally on board with the marketing of the game. Was Aces and Eights not the hand that Jesse James was holding when he was murdered?

Personal Play

Two Cash for Life $10 tickets each returned the cost of the ticket. Two $2 Cash for Life and 1 Holly Jolly orphan that I happened upon all were losers. I continue to struggle. Maybe I'll break out in a big way!

And Finally

Thanks to the posters who keep us updated on their winnings. I find it encouraging to know that winning remains a possibility. Read the comments section to keep yourself updated.


Doug

Cash For Life Family $10 Extends Its Lead

Prestige lost one of its remaining Grand Prizes this past week while Cash For Life Family $10 did not. The result is that the Cash For Life game is extending its lead. Over 20% of the float has now been sold and all three Grand Prizes remain. I did not see that the Prestige Winner was listed on the OLG site thereby confirming the predictions of a few of the readers of this blog.

Your chances to win $3000/week for life ($2,025,000 Present Value) are presently 940,000:1. Another reason to like this game was offered by a regular contributor who points out that all of the profits for the game remain within Ontario whereas Prestige is an Inter-provincial Lottery Game which means that Ontario shares the profits with our confreres  in other regions.

Top Rated Games

1. Cash For Life $10 (estimated 79% of float left to be sold)
2. Money Multiplier (13%)
3. Prestige (54%)
4. $200 Million (51%)
5. Emeralds Seven (44%)

Games to Avoid

1. Black Pearls (17%)
2. Cherry Triple (34%)
3. Fat Cat (55%)
4. QFG Crossword (90%)
5. Mahjong (57%)

$1 - $2 Game Update

Cash For Life $2 is the choice here. Two Grand Prizes remain and there is always the chance of winning a free ticket to the $4 game.

$3 Game Update

This area has been in trouble for some time now. The best pick is Keno #1412. It will be interesting to track QFG Crossword. The game is poorly rated and it is a jumbo game with a float of over 25 million tickets. Let other players bang away on that one.

$4 - $5 Game Update

Money Multiplier towers above the other games here. Next in line is Emerald's Seven. A reader continues to play that game exclusively and I'm looking forward to hearing of his exploits.

$10 - $20 Game Update

Avoid Classic Gold. All the others are good choices.

Comings and Goings

The last of the Christmas games was retired this week when Instant Gift Pack was recalled. The OLG did well with this game selling an estimated 80% of the tickets that were sold as bundled smaller games. I was surprised by how well the game sold.

Personal Play

Three Prestige tickets and one $10 Cash For Life ticket returned exactly nothing. My numbers to begin the year are very poor. Have to soldier on.

Commentary

There was a lot of commentary this past week on the blog. I read it with interest. Some of it was with respect to the OLG Keno game. I don't know much about it but will take a look. There was also some suggestion about "rigging". To be clear, no one was suggesting that the lottery is fixed. I agree with the comment that the Lottery Organizations have no reason to do so. The odds are in their favour and always will be. A friend at work plays the Sports Lotto. When I commented that the posted odds for games are poor his response was that he understood that but he has the confidence that the OLG profits go to improving infrastructure within the province. That is a huge point that the OLG would never overlook.

That said, Trinitron comments on the seeming pattern that is inherent with Quick Picks. I have noticed the same thing but I have never worked out the odds. He claims an unusual number of tickets with consecutive numbers. That should only happen in one out of every three tickets. I also notice a certain symmetry and distribution in the Quick Pick numbers. It is not often that I see bunched numbers. The actual draw of numbers can be squeaky clean while having a randomizer program for Quick Picks that is slightly less than random. I am going to see what I can find out about that from the OLG.

Best.

Doug

Cash For Life Family $10 Gets Its Nose In Front

$10 Cash For Life Family and Prestige are in a virtual dead heat atop the ratings. Prestige is a rock solid all round game. The Cash for Life game is the best at the top end with 3 Grand Prizes, each with a Present Value of $2,025,000. This game is poor at the low end. For the player, the choice is personal: do you want the best value for Grand Prizes or the best balanced game? There is no right answer.

Top Rated Games

1. Cash For Life Family $10 (83% of float left to sell)
2. Prestige (56%)
3. Money Multiplier (14%)
4. $200 Million (52%)
5. Cash For Life Family $4 (64%)

Games to Avoid

1. Black Pearls (17%)
2. QFG Crossword (95%)
3. Mahjong (60%)
4. Cherry Triple (38%)
5. Instant Gift Pack (23%)

$1 - $2 Game Update

My pet game of $1 CFL Family took another hit this past week and is now a poor game. The $2 version of the game is the best in this category.

$3 Games

The OLG is turning things over in this area. That's good for players. Keno and Super Bingo are the best choices at present but I would recommend looking elsewhere for the time being.

$4 - $5 Games

Money Multiplier is a super choice but tickets are scarce. The $4 Cash for Life Family is a good choice. Emerald Seven's and Cash In are also reasonable choices.

$10 - $20 Games

Avoid Instant Gift Pack and Classic Gold. The other three games are superior choices.

Comings and Goings

It's moving time! The OLG retired all of the Christmas games this past week with the exception of the $10 Instant Gift Pack. Cashingo and Crossword 3203 also were recalled. Finally, the Inter-provincial folks sent Classic White to bed. That decision was overdue. The only one of those games that I lament seeing gone is Holly Jolly. I wanted to buy tickets for that game for weeks and could never locate any.

New on the scene are two $3 Games - More Lucky Lines and Bingo 3014. Bingo is a jumbo game with 9 million tickets. More Lucky Lines has 3 million. More Lucky Lines is better at the top end with 3 $75,000 prizes versus 10-$50,000 prizes for Bingo. Both games are OK and it is my hope that one or both of them become reasonable choices for players - just not yet.

Personal Play

My year is starting out poorly. One $10 Cash for Life ticket was a loser and 3 - $4 Cash for Life Family tickets returned one winner of $4.

A shout out to Ryan who, as indicated a couple of weeks ago, intended to pound away on Emerald Sevens. He reports that he has purchased $275 worth of tickets and obtained a total return of $278. I would have thought that the law of averages would have caught up to him by this time but his head is still above water. He has achieved his results by cashing on 19 of 55 tickets with the largest prize being $34. He's getting a lot of fun for his money, that's for sure.


Here's to scratching during Sochi.


Doug