Keno #1417 Ascends To The Top

With the retirement of other games, Keno #1417 has emerged as the top pick. The game offers three of its original five grand prizes still for sale. It has a Top Prize ratio of 2.24 with 22% of the Top Prize tickets outstanding representing 48% of the Top Prize money. There is an estimated 1.1 million tickets for sale meaning that you should be able to find some. Don't confuse them, however, with the sister version, 1418, of the game. I rate that version of the game 7th.

Top Rated Games

1. $3 Keno #1417 - Best Top Prize ratio and good cash rates. 
2. $3 Fruit Explosion #1866 - 2nd best Top Prize ratio but high number of $3 winners. 
3. $2 Golden 7's #1824 - 2 of 4 Grand Prizes left and only 18% of float. To be retired soon. 
4. $3 Pac Man Slots #1867 - Good choice and selling very well. 
5. $3 More Lucky Lines #1836 - All 3 Grand Prizes left and only 63% of the float. 

Games To Avoid

1. $1 Lucky Lines #1826 - Devoid of Grand Prizes. By far the worst choice. 
2. $1 Hit 100 #1849 - These $1 games are stinkers. 
3. $5 Bingo Doubler #1850 -  1 of 15 Grand Prizes left and 28% of the float. 
4. $3 QFG Crossword #3213 - I want to support the Olympians, but.....
5. $5 7 11 21 #1868 - Lots of better $5 games available. 

Games Devoid of Grand Prizes

• $1 More Lucky Lines

Comings and Goings

Jackpot, Lucky Dragon, and Crossword were all deleted since the last update. Of those three, Crossword is the one that will be the most missed. I'm still looking for those on the off chance....

New to the array are $1 Bacon Bits, $10 Mega Money, and $3 Keno. I was amused by CL66's comments that Bacon Bits is a terrible game but still the best of the three $1 games. Could not agree more.

There are, at present, 29 games for sale representing 98 million tickets.

Personal Play

Nothing to report.

Post Script

It was noted in the comments that a recent 649 draw produced an outcome of six numbers all 31 or less. There were 8 winners who shared the Grand Prize! That would suck. The lesson? Don't play birth dates without having some way to include a number or two over 31. Imagine having the luckiest day of your life watered down that way.

A sobering look at the OLG Modernization from a Canadian Lawyers Magazine: http://www.canadianlawyermag.com/5942/Ontarios-big-gaming-gamble.html . The article brings into question all of the OLG's assumptions about modernization. I am left with the empty thought about who will be accountable when none of the promised outcomes materialize. The answer? No one.

Here is an article from Orillia detailing the owners' of Rama's concerns about expansion at Casino Niagara. http://www.orilliapacket.com/2016/04/27/rama-chief-seeks-support-in-asking-olg-to-halt-development-of-entertainment-centre-in-niagara . Interesting that regardless of the OLG's exercise in creating zones intended not to cannibalize each other, both Niagara and Rama are concerned that their respective casinos will be the victims of increased competition. I suspect they're right. The gambling business is not entirely elastic.

And lastly, concern from North Bay about the impact of its future casino on existing Charity Gaming. https://www.baytoday.ca/local-news/north-bay-casino-could-deal-charities-a-difficult-hand-284433 . Again, I think that they are right to be concerned. The future operator will get theirs first, followed by the OLG. Local charities? They are way down the list of concerns.


Doug

Scrabble Retired - Crossword #3212 Resumes Top Spot

Last week saw the end of the top game with Scrabble being retired with only an estimated 7% of its float left. Resuming the top spot is Crossword #3212 that only has 5% of its float left. This game's time at the top will be very limited. The game has only one Grand Prize of $50,000 left so be very careful when buying to ensure that the prize remains outstanding. The game has a Top Prize ration of 1.86 which is the best of any game. The game is not great with the chance to win a prize greater than the cost of the ticket of 1 in 6.93. The game offers 56.1% of its revenue returned to winners of $30 or less. Your odds to snag the Gran Prize are 665,000:1 and your chances to win $100 or more are 5325:1.





Top Rated Games

1. Crossword #3212 - its light is fading.
2. Keno #1417 - new version may make this one harder to find.
3. Lucky Dragon #1843 - 1 of 3 Grand Prizes left and 15% of its float.
4. Golden 7's #1824 - it's rare to get a $2 game this highly rated.
5. Fruit Explosion #1866 - the golden era of $3 games continues.

Games to Avoid

1. Lucky Lines #1826 - terrible game, no sales, why?
2. Jackpot #1857 - retire this game, OLG. What's the hold up?
3. Hit 100 #1849 - save your dollar.
4. Bingo Doubler #1850 - 2 or 15 Grand Prizes remain and 1/3 of the float!
5. Quest For Gold Crossword #3213 - sorry Olympians - it's a dud!

Games Devoid of Grand Prizes

• Lucky Lines
• Jackpot

Best Grand Prize Games*

1. Wild 10's
2. Extreme Millions
3. Golden Treasure
4. Money Multiplier
5. 7-11-21

* I took CL66's list of grand prizes and divided the odds of winning into the dollar value of the grand prize. i then divided that number by the cost of the ticket. The result is the best dollar for dollar value play for the available grand prizes.

Comings and Goings

A remarkable five new games came on line this past week. Two of the games (Keno and Bingo) do not have game sheets yet. The other three games were $10 Platinum, $5 Black Pearls, and $3 More Lucky Lines.

Lucky lines provides a lot of differing prizes for $3. If I have any complaint about Triple Platinum it would be that the game offers more Grand Prizes than either the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th prizes. I prefer a pyramid structure of prizes. It would bug me to win $5000 knowing that it was three times as unlikely as winning the $500,000 Grand Prize.

Our top game, Scrabble, was retired. No surprise.

Personal Play

Nothing to report.

Post Script

I received a comment last week from a friend about the ineffectiveness of the ticket checkers. That struck a chord with me. Why are they so frustrating. Another posted informed us that Alberta has "An App For That". Could it be that the OLG is looking to sell the Instant Ticket part of their business and until they do they intend to make no further investments? Comments welcome.

I noticed in the North Bay Nugget that city council is now having second thoughts about signing up for a casino. A game of cat and mouse is taking place with the OLG who is saying the right things but you know they must be gritting their teeth. There are other communities in the zone that may be interested but the OLG and any future operator only want the major community in the zone, and that is North Bay. Interesting to watch.

Also of note was the winner of $50,000 in Shanty Bay. I'm sure that is Shanty Bay's second large win. I remember looking it up on Mapquest previously.

Good luck to all.

Doug

Scrabble #1861 Leapfrogs To The Top

 It's been a full month since my last post. I am still dealing with the aftermath of the B&E that cost me my computer. I'm presently out of the country and I won't be buying a new one until I return. Hence, I am using an old Acer Notebook with lots of unsupported software. If this post looks wonky, it's for that reason.

Not much has changed since the last post - the top two games remain on top, just in reverse order. Both are working with extremely low float estimates (7% and 5%) and will likely be dropped from next weeks update. If you can find any of either of the top two games, scoop them up.

Top Rated Games

1. $3 Scrabble #1861 - Back on top.
2. $3 Crossword #3212 - took a hit but is still worth a try.
3. $3 Fruit Explosion #1866 - best game available with a sizable float left to sell.
4. $3 Keno #1417 - A good choice if you like that kind of game.
5. $3 Lucky Dragon #1843 - It's the era of the $3 game.

Games to Avoid

1. $1 Lucky Lines #1826 - what else is new?
2. $5 Jackpot #1857 - all top prizes claimed - BEWARE!
3. $1 Hit 100 #1849 - buy some Tic-Tacs instead of this stinker.
4. $3 QFG Crossword #3212 - jumbo game is a stinker. Oh-oh.
5. $5 Bingo Doubler #1856 - behind the 8 ball.

Games Devoid of Grand Prizes

• Jackpot
• Lucky Lines

Comings and Goings

Red Hot 50's was mercifully KO'd. Three new games were introduced: $5 High Roller, $3 Pac Man Slots, and $5 Instant Tripler.

We need a good $5 game to play so I hope that one of the new ones manages to move its way up the list. The Pac-Man slots game has lots of ways to win for your $3 ticket. Usually the OLG makes you pay $5 to enjoy such possibilities. High Roller is interesting in that the highest prize one can win (other than the Grand Prize) is $2000. You'd think that would translate into a higher cash rate with more plentiful smaller prizes. It doesn't. Still, for a guy whose biggest cash was $75, I'll take the $2000. Will study this game more closely to see what's up.

Personal Play

Nothing to report. Out of country.

Post Script

Lots of bits to report on since the last update.

CL66 reports that the BC Lottery Corporation is still selling Classic White. The game has not been available in Ontario for the past month as all the Grand Prizes had been claimed. Kudos to the OLG for its decision and a big raspberry to their compatriots in BC. Maybe the price of housing theory contributor can theorize on the situation.

A story on unclaimed winning tickets by the CBC. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/unclaimed-lottery-wins-1.3461990 . I would suggest that they add the winning and unsold Grand Prize scratch tickets to their accounting ledger. There is a good post from Randy on March 26th on the subject. Malikeh also posted about DART. I'm impressed by the work that unit does. They were featured on a CBC news show a couple of years back. The subject was the unclaimed lottery winner that they tracked down. Impressive.

Thanks to Benjoi for actually posting a video of him scratching a winning ticket. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4u7DH_795A . Way better than that fake one from a couple of months ago that featured some charlaton scratching a $200,000 winner. A lesson from Benjoi as to how he did so would be appreciated.

Good news that the Dresdan Harness Track will continue to operate for at least the next five years. The OLG's latest promoted hire is Elissa Blowe. She was a one woman Communications Shop at Fort Erie. I'm certain that her experience in that setting will be a great asset to these little tracks. Dresdan only operates 11 days a year. It's impossible to have lofty plans with that small of an operation. Good luck to Elissa.

I close with a reminder to all readers that the OLG Slots workers at Rideau-Carlton are still locked out. No doubt a broken union of workers is worth more to the future owners than a union of people making a reasonable wage.

Doug