Instant Millions #1683 Solidifies Its Position

Our old friend Bejeweled has gone from the penthouse to the outhouse in two short weeks. May 14th was a remarkable day for the game as 3 of the Top Prizes were claimed on the same day. Lucky winners in Oshawa, Bobcaygean, and Concord took away the loot. The last top prize was claimed this past week. The game has now become one to avoid as no top prizes remain and fully one quarter of the tickets remain to be sold. That equates to 400,000 tickets. What's worse is that all of the secondary prizes of $100,000 and $50,000 have also been claimed. As of today, one $10,000 prize remains. Lets see if the OLG moves to retire this moribund game.

Our recommended game is also teetering as both the second prizes of $100,000 have been claimed. I'm not crazy about this game as it is poor when it comes to minor prizes. Only one in every 7.45 tickets is worth more than the price of the ticket. It gets the nod due to those two juicy $1,000,000 prizes that remain to be claimed. You have one chance in 660,000 to snag one.

Best Overall Rated Games

1. Instant Millions
2. Scrabble #1730
3. Wild 10s
4. $200 Million
5. Pick 3

Best Games to Win the Top Prize

$1 - $2 Games - Pick 3 ($500)
$3 Games - Scrabble ($75,000)
$4 - $5 Games - Instant Millions ($1,000,000)
$10 - $20 Games - Wild 10s ($10,000)

Best Games With Pure Odds to Win Top Prize

$1 - $2 Games - Pick 3 - 8,400:1
$3 Games - Scrabble - 175,000:1
$4 - $5 Games - Cleopatra - 345,000:1
$10 - $20 Games - Wild 10s - 7,800:1

Games to Avoid

• Tetris
• Cash For Life Blowout
• Bejeweled

My interest in Instant Games was sparked by a previous version of Instant Millions that was retired with prizes remaining outstanding. I wrote to the OLG at that time asking what criteria was used to make the decision to retire a game. The thorough response I received listed five criteria:

1. Inventory for a game is completely sold out.
2. All top prizes are claimed for games with $100,000 or greater top prize.
3. Average weekly sales reflect significantly decreased customer demand and a new replacement game is scheduled to be launched or has launched.
4. Quality issue with game in market.
5. Security issue with game in market.

Number three is the key item. The sales of Instant Millions have been lagging of late and I find it odd that the tickets are becoming difficult to find. Some retailers have told me that they were asked to return unsold Instant Millions tickets to the OLG. This sort of information has proven to be very faulty in the past so I'm not convinced as I was able to find tickets in Toronto. More than 1.3 million tickets in this game remain to be sold. Retailers can't sell tickets that they are not provided with. Those 1.3 million tickets represent $6.5 million of revenue to the OLG but, and this is a big but, within those tickets are 2 - $1 million winners. It may be more profitable to the OLG to retire the game now rather than let those two winners be discovered.

It is this sort of potential conflict of interest that concerns me. Under the OLG Modernization Plan, Instant Ticket games will be privatized. I'm not sure how that would be different than it is today as contractors already make the tickets and sell them. The OLG is, however, accountable for how the games are managed. Will this remain the case under privatization? I'm not sure.

Comings and Goings

Two new games were introduced this past week. Neither $1 Wild 8s Doubler nor $2 Cherry Jubilee is particularly exciting at this point. Wild 8s provides 2.0% of total game revenue to the grand prize winners (6), has no prizes of more than $200 other than the top prizes, and provides 44.4% of total revenue to winners of more than the cost of the ticket and less than $100. By comparison, Cherry Jubliee provides 2.4% of revenue to the four top prize winners, 1.8% of revenue to winners of $1000 or more (excluding the top prizes), and 1.0% of revenue to winners of at least $100 and less than $1000. The same 44.3% of revenue goes to little winners and 11.5% goes to the dreaded "I won my Money Back" prizes. That figure rises to 12.5% for Wild 8s Doubler.

One should expect a better deal for a $2 ticket versus a $1 ticket and that is the case here.

Personal Play

My nervousness over the potential retirement of the top game caused me to go a little strong this past week. Ten Instant Million tickets included 3 winners totaling $35. My year to date cash rate has now dipped to 39% and my total return on investment to 84%. I need a $100 winning ticket to give my results a boost.

I can't conclude this week's post without mentioning the departure of Mr. Godfrey from the OLG. Premier Wynne has a vision as it relates to the OLG that differs from that of Mr. Godfrey, and by extention, Mr.'s McGuinty and Duncan. Instant Games represent a small part of the OLG mandate. The OLG Modernization Plan projects an additional profit of $180 million per year through privatization of lotteries, creating on-line ticket sales of games such as Lotto 649 and making Instant Games ubiquitous in our society.

Many of these ideas cause me concern and it appears that the same is true for the Premier. Foremost among my concerns is accountability. The OLG is a public institution and falls under all prevailing laws dealing with openness and public accountability. They measure up to those stringent standards, in my experience. If that virtue is put into question in a privatized environment, then count me out.


Here's hoping that a reader of this blog snags a big one this week.


Doug

Bejeweled Returns to Top Spot

Neither Bejeweled nor Instant Millions lost a top prize this past week but Bejeweled strengthened its position as the recommended game by selling more tickets. You presently have one chance in 120,000 to win one of the four $250,000 top prizes left to claim. Instant Millions continues as the strong second choice. You have one chance in 700,000 to win one of the two $1 Million top prizes. Bejeweled is a better play for smaller prizes with one in every 5.13 tickets being worth more than the $10 cost of the ticket. Instant Millions has a poor rating in this area of one in every 7.45 tickets. Just under 30% of the Bejeweled ticket float remains to be claimed which means that you should not have any trouble finding tickets.



Best Games to Win the Top Prize
$1 - $2 Games - Pick 3
$3 Games - Scrabble #1730
$4 - $5 Games - Instant Millions
$10 - $20 Games - Bejeweled

Best Games to Win a Prize Greater than the Cost of the Ticket
$1 - $2 Games - Pick 3
$3 Games - Bonus Keno
$4 - $5 Games - Cross Tripler #1743
$10 - $20 Games - $200 Million

Best Overall Rated Games

1. Bejeweled
2. Instant Millions
3. Scrabble
4. Wild 10s
5. $200 Million

Games to Avoid

• Tetris
• CFL Blowout

Comings and Goings

Two new games were introduced over the course of the past week. Each one is quite different from the other. $10 Wild 10s is a game like Pick 3 and Fast 100 where the idea is to provide a greater number of smaller Top Prizes. This is the first time I have seen this approach used in a $10 game. The Top Prize is only $10,000 for your $10 investment however there are 150 top prizes to be won. The game then scrimps on secondary large prizes by offering only 30 - $1000 prizes and 135 - $500 prizes. In total, 97.6% of the prizes of $1000 or more are awarded to the Top Prize winners and 16.5% of the total prize pool is reserved for winners of $1000 or more, which is a high rating. What are you giving up? The prospect of a large prize.

The other new game is $3 Texas Hold'em Poker. I expect this game to be popular given its premise, much like Tetris has proven to be. This game has a more standard breakdown of prizes with 66% of the total prize money for prizes of $1000 or more going to the three Top Prize winners of $75,000 each. The prizes distributed to the winners of $1000 or more prizes represents 6.7% of the total prize payouts. In other words, it is a more democratic game and I rate it as the third best $3 game to play behind Super Bingo and Mahjong, at this point in time.

Personal Play

I am unable to explain why I fail to follow what I have learned to be the only way for me to play. Every time I deviate from the plan it results in punishment. This past week I bought 4 Bejeweled tickets with the result of one $10 winner - a loss of $30. Instead of taking my punishment and moving on I purchased a fifth ticket while out of town. It was a loser. I then bought a $5 ticket in another game - you guessed it...loser! I need to stick to what I know works best for me. Others have differing approaches and if it works for you, great. My cash rate is now down to 40% and my total return on investment has dipped to 85%.

The punishment for my lack of discipline is to cut back to two tickets this week. I know that if I acknowledge my sins and apply my own corrective action, that lady luck will forgive me.

Here is a link to a story that recently ran in the Toronto Star http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2011/02/04/toronto_man_cracked_the_code_to_scratchlottery_tickets.html?app=noRedirect
The problem was inherent with the Scrabble and Crossword games. In those games you can see the numbers or letters and you scratch them when they match the numbers or letters on the top. The tickets are made by contractors and they follow some sort of algorithm in their production. As you can see, there was a flaw in the program. Good on the OLG for acting quickly but it just goes to show you that we should not take everything we are told as the gospel truth.

Happy Scratching.

Doug

Bejeweled and Instant Millions Vie for Top Spot

Neither game surrendered a Top Prize this past week. Bejeweled sold just over three percent of its tickets over the course of the week - 35% of the float remains. Your chances to win one of the four remaining $250,000 Top Prizes are 1:133,000. Instant Millions kept its 2 - $2 million Top Prizes in play with 39% of its tickets left to be sold. Your chances are 1:710,000 to win $1 million for a $5 investment - not bad. Remember that you can't get everything in one game. Although Instant Millions offers a better proposition for a big jackpot, only one ticket in every 7.45 sold has a prize larger than the $5 cost of the ticket. Bejeweled rewards its players with one chance in 5.13 to get a ticket worth more than its $10 cost. It comes down to personal preference - either game is a good choice.

For players who are turned off by the ticket price of the recommended games, Scrabble #1730 is a well rated game for its $3 cost. Those tickets will be hard to find as less than 10% of the float remains to be sold. Keep your eye open for them.


 

Best Games To Win a Top Prize
$1 - $2 Games - Pick 3
$3 Games - Scrabble #1730
$4 - $5 Games - Instant Millions
$10 - $20 Games - Bejeweled

Best Games to Win more than the cost of the ticket
$1 - $2 Games - Pick 3
$3 Games - Bonus Keno #1413
$4 - $5 Games - Cross Tripler #1743
$10 - $20 Games - $200 Million

Best Overall Rated Games

1. Bejeweled
2. Instant Millions
3. Cash For Life Blowout
4. Scrabble #1730
5. $200 Million

Games to Avoid

• Tetris #1737

Tetris revealed its last Top Prize winner this past week. It has also revealed both of its second prizes. The most anyone can now win is $1,112 for your $3 investment. The problem for the OLG is that over 40% of its tickets remain to be sold. They will no doubt continue to sell these tickets to unsuspecting players. Readers of this blog know better!

Comings and Goings

$1 Bingo Express was retired this week. One of its $10,000 prizes was left and just under 20% of its tickets were left to be sold. Ticket sales had ground to a trickle which is likely why OLG pulled the plug.

Personal Play

I went back to my old system and bought 4-Bejeweled tickets from the same supplier. Two were winners returning $60. I have cashed 50% of the Bejeweled that I have bought and am up 15% on the game. Overall, I stand at 41% cashes and am down 9% of total funds invested so far this year.

Norm in Mississauga reports that his luck in Bejeweled started poorly and has remained there. I hope that he's at least lucky in love.

Great weather today - make a point of scratching your tickets outside.


Doug

Bejeweled and Instant Millions Lead the Pack

Back from some entirely unearned vacation. Lets get back at it.

No movement on our top two games (Bejeweled and Instant Millions). They continue to be the games of choice. My personal preference is Bejeweled as I have enjoyed more success with it and it has a broader base of prizes. Instant Millions is a very vertical game with the remaining two Top Prizes of $1M earning the game its high rating. Forty percent of its tickets remain to be sold while 2 of its 3 Top Prizes remain to be claimed. There are only 165 remaining prizes of $100 or more in the 1.4M remaining tickets. I am more attracted to Bejelewed where 580,000 tickets remain to be sold of which 4,000 are worth $100 or more. Bejeweled also has the best pure odds of winning a Top Prize of one in 146,000. If you prefer the game with the biggest Top Prize then Instant Millions has the edge. Either game is playable.





Best Top Prize Games
$1 - $2 Games - Pick 3
$3 Games - Scrabble
$4 - $5 Games - Instant Millions
$10 - $20 Games - Bejeweled

Best Games to Win Any Prize More Than the Cost of the Ticket
$1 - $2 Games - Pick 3
$3 Games - Bonus Keno
$4 - $5 Games - Cross Tripler #1743
$10 - $20 Games - $200 Million

Best Overall Rated Games

1. Instant Millions
2. Bejeweled
3. Cash For Life Blowout
4. $200 Million
5. Scrabble

Games to Avoid
For the first time in a long time the OLG is not selling any games for which all the Top Prizes have been claimed. This was accomplished when Crossword #1299 was retired.

Some new games have created potential confusion for the ticket buying player. Keep the following advice in mind:

• Bonus Keno #1413 and Keno #1410 are equivalent games with Bonus Keno being the slight choice.
• Play Cash for Life Blowout #1160 and avoid Cash for Life #1159.
• Play Cross Tripler #1743 over Cross Tripler #1720.

Comings and Goings

Crossword #1299 and Fast 100 #1688 were both retired over the past two weeks. Crossword was a sucker play while Fast 100 was a good play if you were going to be satisfied with a maximum prize of $100. It had an unusual prize structure but I'm sure that there are some people out there who liked the game.

New games include $4 Cash For Life #1159, $5 Crossword Tripler #1743, and $5 Cleopatra #1728. I'm not a big fan of the Cash For Life games due to their prize structures. This game has only 5 prizes of $5000 or more out of almost 8 million tickets. Cleopatra has 12 from 2.5 million tickets.

Personal Play

I enjoy receiving messages from visitors to the site telling me how they play. It's interesting. Of course, how you play does not affect your chances of winning. My personal preference is to play one game per week and to buy my tickets from one seller. I violated my method last week when I bought three different games from a different seller. The result was my first whitewash of the year. This reduced my win rate to 41% of tickets purchased and my Return on Investment to 87% of money invested. I'll be back on to my normal method this week: lesson learned - again!

For any readers who have an interest in the OLG beyond Instant Tickets, the following article may be of interest to you; http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/phil-froats/ontario-lottery-and-gaming-corporation_b_2980425.html?ir=Canada&utm_source=buffer&buffer_share=1884c .

I'm tired of seeing OLG ads on TV and at the theater. The article makes a good point about the value of marketing in an environment where you have a monopoly. Makes one wonder what the OLG is trying to convince us of.

Good Luck
Doug

Instant Millions #1683 Takes Over

Bejeweled lost another of its Top Prizes this past week dropping the game from first to third place in the new rating system. Bejeweled now has 4 of 6 Top Prizes of $250,000 left and 45% of its tickets left to sell. Your chance to win one is 1 in 170,000. Instant Millions has 2 of three Top Prizes of $1 Million left and 42% of its tickets left to sell. The odds to win one of the two remaining $1 million prizes is 1 in 780,000. Why then is Instant Millions rated ahead of Bejeweled? It's because the tickets are half the price and the Top Prize is four times greater. If you are committed to Bejeweled, you can continue to play as it retains a positive rating overall. Instant Millions has a poor rating for small prizes but if it is the $1 million you're after, this is the game for you.



Best Top Prize Games
$1 - $2 Games - Silver Gold
$3 Games - Mahjong
$4 - $5 Games - Instant Millions
$10 - $20 Games - Bejeweled

Best Games to Win any Prize more than the Cost of the Ticket
$1 - $2 Games - Pick 3
$3 Games - Bonus Keno
$4 - $5 Games - Jacks are Wild
$10 - $20 Games - $200 Million

Best Overall Rated Games

1. Instant Millions
2. Cash For Life Blowout
3. Bejeweled
4. $200 Million
5. Fast 100

Games to Avoid

• Crossword #1299

Comings and Goings

Super Bingo #3011 was retired this past week. It had none of its Top Prizes left and less than 10% of its ticket float at the end of its run. No new games were introduced.
A noteworthy point is that some of the games available for sale are sold across the country. In these cases, an organization called the Inter-provincial Lottery Corporation (ILC) runs the game. Lotto 649 and Lotto Max are games run by this organization which is owned by the five Lottery Corporations operating in Canada. Extravaganza and $200 Million are also ILC games. The OLG received 5,301,000 of the 14,893,800 tickets printed for this game. The prizes could be revealed anywhere. Ontario should roughly expect to receive 4 of the 12 $2 Million winners. The outstanding prize information listed on the OLG website is for all of Canada. One thing I don't like about this mysterious organization is that it only reports on prizes of $1000 or more. I prefer seeing reporting down to the $100 level. Thinking that I'll drop them a line to that effect.

Personal Play

Four Bejeweled contained two winners and $20. After 19 Bejeweled tickets purchased to date, 10 were winners totaling $215. Year to date, I have cashed 29 of 66 tickets (44%) and returned $514 of $566 "invested" (91%).

Bill in North Bay reports success with Bejeweled winning $65 for $20 invested. A re-investment of $20 won a further $10.

A reader just completed an experiment when they purchased 50 Quest For Life Crossword tickets. The $150 investment returned a measly $80. That's bad. She's going to switch to Bejeweled for this week.

Other News

I have altered my overall evaluation system. I am now taking the Top Prize rating and modifying it based upon two factors: the chances to win any prize greater than the cost of the ticket and the overall return rate for the game. I may tweak the formula as I go along in the never ending quest for the magic answer.

I am leaving for vacation tomorrow so there will be no blog update next week. See you the week of April 22nd. Until then I wish you all fortuitous scratching.


Doug

Bejeweled #1724 Still The Choice

Another week revealed no further Top Prizes in the recommended game. Total ticket sales have now just crossed the 50% mark and five of the six Top Prizes of $250,000 remain to be claimed. The game provides a 1 in 146 chance to win $100 or more and one chance in 150,000 to win a Top Prize. Both numbers are the best of any game currently offered for sale.



A note to players is that you play this game by scratching the symbols up top (there are 22 of them), then scratch off the corresponding coordinates below. If you play like Norm in Mississauga and scratch all of the symbols below to begin, you'll have a hard time figuring out if you have won anything! Norm did verify his ticket at the ticket checker machine (like everyone should do for every ticket) but using only that method takes the fun out of playing the game.

Best Top Prize Games
$1 - $2 Games - Bingo Express
$3 Games - Mahjong
$4 - $5 Games - Instant Millions
$10 - $20 Games - Bejeweled

Best $100 Prize Games (or lowest prize listed on web site)
$1 - $2 Games - Pick 3 & Bingo Express
$3 Games - Quest For Gold Crossword
$4 - $5 Games - Money Multiplier
$10 - $20 Games - Bejeweled

Best Overall Rated Games

1. Bejeweled
2. Fast 100
3. Jacks are Wild
4. Mahjong
5. Money Multiplier

Games to Avoid

• Crossword #1299
• Super Bingo #3011

Comings and Goings

Three new games were introduced this past week: $3 Super Bingo #3012, $3 Tetris #1737 and $20 $200 Million Supreme #1740.

The Super Bingo game is an exact duplicate to Super Bingo #3011 which remains in play. Be careful as you want to avoid game #3011 as all of its Top Prizes have been claimed. We should see the OLG retire 3011 shortly as less than 10% of its ticket float remains. Game #3012 has a large ticket float of over 10 million tickets so this game will be with us for some time. One aspect of the game is that it offers 10 Top Prizes of $50,000 but only 4 for each of the $25,000 and $10,000 and $5000 prizes. This means that you have to be luckier to win a smaller prize. I have trouble getting my head around that one.

Tetris has 2 - $75,000 Top Prizes and 2- $25,000 prizes. The next highest prize is $1,112 ,which is quite a drop off of intermediary prizes. Your chances of "Any Cash" or "Any Cash more than the price of the ticket" are not very good when compared to other $3 games.

$200 Million Supreme presents me with a conundrum. It is the same problem that I had with Bejeweled versus Turbo Cash. The game does not score well on my evaluation system but that is because of how I have set up the evaluation. The game only has 559 prizes of $1000 or more in a float of almost 15 million tickets. $1000 is the smallest prize listed on the OLG site for the game. As a result, my method gives it a poor secondary prize rating. But (and this is a big but) the game is rife with prizes of $100 and lower. Your chances to win any prize are one in 3.00 and your chances to win any prize more than the cost of the ticket is one in 4.30. These are excellent numbers. It makes sense as any player spending $20 on a ticket is bound to become discouraged easily if they have even a few consecutive losing tickets. Instead, the lottery gurus want to give you lots of small encouragement. Works for me!

What is wrong is my overall evaluation system. I'm happy with the Top Prize evaluation system but I need to come up with a new formula for the second system. $200 Million Supreme is a good game, if you have the resources to play it. Any input from readers to help me with this dilemma would be appreciated.

Personal Play

Four Bejeweled tickets included two winners totaling $65 boosting my Year to Date return to 94%. Thanks to a reader who sent me a comment about this subject. The 94% figure represents what I have received back of my total investment. Another way to express this is to say that I am down 6% on the year.

Thanks to readers who have sent me questions and information about their results. Some are bad, such as Frank in Scarborough who went 0 for 9 with Bejeweled, and some are good such as a reader in Mississauga  who took his entire profit of $150 and invested it in 15 Bejeweled tickets that returned $220. His win included a $100 winner which is something that has yet to happen to me. Congratulations.

Other News

I publish a link to blog updates through my Twitter address of @Usockem. Through that channel I discovered a Twitter address @ScratchOdds and its respective web site of www.scratchodds.com . The site allows you to download an "App" that provides the remaining prize data that the OLG publishes daily, to your mobile device. There is no evaluation of the data but it does allow you to check any games that you might be buying at the time of purchase. Not sure if the owners have a scheme to monetize the "App" but it is free for now.

This blog only updates weekly so I would recommend that players use the site to get up to date information on remaining prizes. But don't leave me forever - this is the only place where you can get commentary on the "Games People Play". Please follow us both on Twitter - I promise to follow you in return.

Sorry for the long post.

Doug

Bejeweled #1724 Remains on Top - Turbo Cash Retired

The OLG retired Turbo Cash this past week leaving Bejeweled as the clear best choice. Fifty-four percent of its tickets remain to be sold with 5 of its 6 top prizes left to be claimed. Your chance to win a Top Prize is presently 165,000:1. This is the best of any game.



Best Game to Win a Top Prize
$1 - $2 Games - Bingo Express and Silver Gold
$3 Games - Mahjong
$4-$5 Games - Instant Millions
$10 Games - Bejeweled

Best Game to Win $100 or more (or smallest prize listed on web site)
$1 - $2 Games - Bingo Express
$3 Games - Quest For Gold Crossword
$4 - $5 Games - Money Multiplier
$10 Games - Bejeweled

Best Overall Rated Games

1. Bejeweled
2. Fast 100
3. Money Multiplier
4. Jacks are Wild
5. Mahjong

Games to Avoid

• Crossword #1299
• Super Bingo #3011

Comings and Goings

Turbo Cash and Frogger were retired this past week. All of the Top Prizes for Frogger had been claimed and most of its tickets sold making it a good candidate for retirement. Our old friend Turbo Cash still had one of its $250,000 Top Prizes to be claimed at the end of its run. I'll be watching to see if that prize was actually claimed. The OLG retires games, where the Top Prize is $100,000 or more, once all the Top Prizes have been claimed. In my opinion, they should also not retire these same games until all the Top Prizes have been claimed. At the point of Turbo Cash's retirement, it was our second rated game. People who have been playing it should be able to continue to chase the elusive Top Prize for as long as it remains outstanding. But that's just me.

Personal Play

Four Bejeweled yielded three winners totaling $55. My Year To Date cash rate is slightly over 40% and my total Return on Investment is 84%.

Big Winners over the past two weeks were located in Windsor, North York, Hamilton, and Burlington ($100,000 each). One lucky $1,000,000 winner was located in Brampton.

The OLG is proceeding to privatize its lottery operation. You can find information about this at http://www.olg.ca/about/modernizing_lottery_and_gaming_project_status.jsp . I have concerns over the "modernization" of the OLG which I will begin to share in future postings. Don't worry, no rants on my behalf - just information.

Best of Luck.

Doug

Bejeweled #1724 Loses Top Prize - Still Top Pick

Bejeweled sold almost 6% of its float in the nine days between postings. One of its Top Prizes was revealed. Five of the six top prizes remain and 65% of the tickets. This game started strong and has continued to offer the best choice for players. For those who continue with Turbo Cash, tickets are likely scarce now. Less than 15% of the float remains to be sold and less than one half of one percent of the tickets were sold over the past nine days. There is only one Top Prize left to be claimed but it remains a viable option.

Crossword #1299 and Frogger #1718 gave up their final Top Prizes last week. We now have three games that players should absolutely avoid. All three games have sold the majority of their respective tickets and should be therefore retired in short order.




Best Games to Win a Top Prize
$1-$2 Games - Silver Gold
$3 Games - Mahjong
$4 - $5 Games - Instant Millions
$10 Games - Bejeweled

Best Games to Win $100 (or minimum prize listed on web site) or more
$1 - $2 Games - Bingo Express and Pick 3
$3 Games - QFG Crossword
$4 - $5 Games - Money Multiplier
$10 Games - Bejeweled

Best Overall Rated Games

1. Bejeweled
2. Fast 100
3. Turbo Cash
4. Money Multiplier
5. Jacks are Wild

Games to Avoid

• Crossword #1299
• Frogger #1718
• Super Bingo #3011

Comings and Goings

No games were retired this past week. $1 Pick-3 was introduced this week. It's a hard game to evaluate as 255,253  of the 1,141,757 prizes are actually free plays in the Pick-3 game. I guess this is someone's idea of cross marketing. I can't really count those prizes as "winning tickets" as the majority of them will turn out to be worthless. At least it's better than awarding Leafs/Senators tickets as prizes like the OLG did last year in the "Battle of Ontario" game. They were definitely not worth their advertised value. Pick-3 is also a game akin to Fast 100 as its Top Prize is only $500. There are 427 of them mind you, but it hardly represents anyone's idea of a Pot of Gold.

Personal Play

Four Bejeweled tickets included 2 winners - 1 worth $50 and 1 worth $15. This positive result boosted my cash rate to more than 40% and my YTD return on investment to 84%. Those are both positive results.

A special mention this week to a reader from Toronto who has been pounding away on Bejeweled and Mahjong with what only can be called miserable luck. My advice is to stay postive, change retailers, and never chase your money. Don't let the OLG get the best of you.

Good luck.

Doug

Bejeweled #1724 Extends Its Position

Another 4% of the Bejeweled float was purchased this week without revealing a Top Prize winner. One third of the tickets have now been sold and none of the six Top Prizes has been claimed. Your chance to win a Top Prize is now 164,000:1 which is the best of any game. The game is also the best choice for $100 (or more) wins. Your chance there is 1:146. Bejeweled started off as being a strong game but it is now in the territory of being a justifiable "investment", if you can ever say such a thing about a lottery game.




Best Top Prize Games
$1 - $2 Games - Silver Gold
$3 Games - Mahjong
$4-$5 Games - Instant Millions
$10 Games - Bejeweled

Best $100 (or lowest prize on website) Games
$1- $2 Games - Bingo Express
$3 Games - Crossword and QFG Crossword
$4 - $5 Games - Money Multiplier
$10 Games - Bejeweled

Best Overall Rated Games

1. Bejeweled
2. Fast 100*
3. Turbo Cash
4. Money Multiplier
5. Jacks are Wild

* Top Prize for this game is only $100


Games to Avoid

• Super Bingo #3011

Comings and Goings

A quiet week. No games retired and no new games launched. The OLG must be getting ready for a spring blitz.

Personal Play

The OLG has put in a concerted effort since the time of their scandals and the scathing report from the Ontario Ombudsman. Players should check every ticket on the little blue machines and sign each winning ticket. Last week I bought one Bejeweled and two Money Multipliers. I thought that I had won $5 on one of the Money Multipliers but low and behold the Bejeweled ticket turned out to be worth $10 too!

I am now at a cash rate of 38% and a total return on investment of 77%. I have received messages from a some readers over the past two weeks indicating that returns have been scarce of late. I am certainly heading in the wrong direction. I'm hoping to get some better news from readers this week.

Big winners over the past two weeks hailed from: Windsor, Mississauga, Thorold and Richmond Hill.


Remember to check and sign all tickets.

Doug

Bejeweled #1724 Keeps on Truckin

Bejewled #1724 got through another week without surrendering a Top Prize winner. It is a solid top pick but you can continue to play Turbo Cash #1713 if you have been playing that game for the past while. It is the second best game. At present, you have one chance in 175,000 to win one of the six Top Prizes available in Bejeweled and one chance in 146 to win $100 or more. There is only one Top Prize left in Turbo Cash but with only 14% of its tickets left to sell, you have a 1:205,000 chance to pick it up.



Best Top Prize Games
$1 - $2 Games - Silver Gold
$3 Games - Frogger and Mahjong
$4-$5 Games - Instant Millions
$10 Games - Bejeweled

Best $100 Prize (or more) Games
$1 - $2 Games - Bingo Express
$3 Games - Crossword and QFGCrossword
$4-$5 Games - Money Multtiplier
$10 Games - Bejeweled

Best Overall Games

1. Bejeweled
2. Fast 100*
3. Turbo Cash
4. Money Multiplier
5. Jacks are Wild

* - Top Prize in this game is only $100.

Games to Avoid

• Super Bingo #3011

Comings and Goings

After last week's purge, there is not much for the OLG to clean up other than Super Bingo. That game has less than 10% of its float left so I expect that it will be retired soon.

The new game for this week is More Lucky Lines #1733. This game is typical of $3 games. It begins its run as the 4th rated $3 Game behind Mahjong, Frogger, and Scrabble. Your chances to win any prize are 1:3.27 and your chance to win more than $3 is 1:5.87.

Personal Play

Mercifully, a frantic week has come to an end. I spread out last week buying a variety of tickets. Those tickets included one Bejeweled, one Turbo Cash, one Money Multiplier, one Jacks are Wild, one Mahjong, and one Silver Gold. Call it a means to break my well established habit of pounding away on Turbo Cash. My free spirit was crushed as I returned a measly $5. My cash rate is now below 40% and my total return on investment in now below 80%. Both of those numbers are good but I'm headed in the wrong direction.

My daughter was home this past week. She bought a Bejeweled and got her $10 back. She took that money and bought 3-Scrabble tickets. All were losers. She is well beyond the age of majority for those who think that I am corrupting a young soul.

As I sit here today, it definitely feels like spring is not far away. Good Luck.

Doug

Bejeweled #1724 Is The Top Play

Bejeweled sold over 4% of its ticket float this past week without disclosing a Top Prize winner. It remains the Top Play with Turbo Cash a distant second choice. Your current chances of winning the $250,000 Top Prize in Bejeweled is 190,000:1 and 150:1 to win $100 or more. Seventy-four percent of the tickets remain to be sold which means that this game will be with us for some time.




Best Games for Winning the Top Prize
$1 - $2 Games - Silver Gold #1711
$3 Games - Frogger #1718
$4 - $5 Games - Instant Millions #1683
$10 Games - Bejeweled #1724

Best Games for Winning $100 or more (or lowest prize listed on www.olg.ca)
$1 - $2 Games - Bingo Express #1707
$3 Games - Crossword #1299 & QFGCrossword #3201
$4 - $5 Games - Money Multiplier #1692
$10 Games - Bejeweled #1724

Top Overall Rated Games
$1 - $2 Games - Silver Gold #1711
$3 Games - Mahjong #1731
$4 - $5 Games - Jacks are Wild #1732 & Money Multiplier #1692
$10 Games - Bejeweled #1724

Games to Avoid

• Super Bingo #3011

Comings and Goings

Christmas is over, readers. The OLG undertook a mass retirement purge this past week ending eight different games. Included were all four Christmas games: Instant Gift Pack, Merry Money, Wonderful Life, and Holiday Tripler. Wonderful Life had no Top Prizes left to be claimed. Two other loser games were retired as well: More Lucky and Golden Goose. The tragic loss was the end of Snow Globe. This game had 40% of its ticket float left to sell and all four of its Top Prizes left to claim. If you can find some of these tickets at your local seller, take a shot with them. It was the $1 - $2 Game of choice. I intend to ask OLG why the game was retired. Stay tuned.

The good news is that we can look forward to a number of new games being introduced over the next few weeks.

Personal Play

Two Turbo cash tickets purchased in Brockville were both losers. I now stand at a 39% cash rate and 83% Return on Investment.

Big winners this week were unveiled in Toronto ($100,000), Welland ($100,000) and Wasaga Beach ($100,000).


Play sensibly and it will always be fun.

Doug

Bejeweled #1724 Takes The Reigns

Our long ride with Turbo Cash #1713 is coming to an end. A second top prize was claimed this past week reducing the number of Top Prizes left to one. The game remains a decent choice but the claim puts distance between Turbo Cash and Bejeweled #1724. All six top prizes of $250,000 remain to be claimed for Bejeweled and 80% of the tickets remain to be sold. You have one chance in 200,000 to win a Top Prize and one chance in 146 to win $100.



Best Games for Winning the Top Prize
$1 - $2 Games - Snow Globe #1727
$3 Games - Frogger #1718
$4 - $5 Games - Instant Millions #1683
$10 Games - Bejeweled #1724

Best Games to Win $100 (or lowest prize listed on www.olg.ca)
$1 - $2 Games - Bingo Express #1707
$3 Games - Crossword #1299 & QFGCrossword #3201
$4 - $5 Games - Money Mult #1692
$10 Games - Bejeweled #1724

Best Overall Games
$1 - $2 Games - Snow Globe #1727
$3 Games - Frogger #1718
$4-$5 Games - Money Mult #1692
$10 Games - Bejeweled #1724

Games to Avoid

• Golden Goose #1700
• More Lucky #1712
• Super Bingo #3011
• Wonderful Life #1714

Comings and Goings

Our old favourite, $5 Jacks are Wild, is back. The new game #1732 has 7 Top Prizes of $100,000 and a Ticket Float of 3,550,400. Your chance of any cash is 1 in every 3.85 tickets and your chance to win something more than the $5 you paid for the ticket is 1 in every 6.08 tickets. Those are both good numbers when compared to other $5 games. The game begins as the third highest rated $5 game behind only Money Mult and Merry Money.

The OLG continues to flog 4 games with no Top Prizes. Be smart - don't play those games.

Personal Play

Three Turbo Cash tickets produced 3 winners but each was for the $10 cost of the ticket. My first Bejeweled was a loser. I am cashing at a 41% rate with a total return on investment of 88%.

Big winners this week were from Burlington ($1 Million), Windsor ($100,000), Peterborough ($250,000) and North York ($750,000).

Play smart.

Doug

Turbo Cash #1713 and Bejeweled #1724 Continue to Battle

Neither Turbo Cash nor Bejeweled surrendered a top prize this past week. $250,000 is the top prize for each game. Bejeweled has 6 top prizes left with current odds of 220,000:1 to win one. Turbo Cash has 2 top prizes left and odds of 130,000:1 to win one of them. Bejeweled has the best chance of any game to win $100 or more with 1 chance in 130 to do so.

Either game is a strong play.

A reminder that if your goal is to have the best chance to win $100, taking into account the cost of the ticket,  Fast $100 #1688 is your game. The downside here is that $100 is the top prize for the game. Your current chances are 1 in 800 for your $1 investment. Not bad.

 

Best Game for Winning the Top Prize
$1 - $3 Games - Snow Globe #1727, Frogger #1718, Mahjong #1732
$4 - $10 Games - Instant Millions #1683, CFL Blowout #1760, Turbo Cash #1713

Best Game for Winning $100 or more
$1 - $3 Games - Crossword #1299, QFGCrossword #3201, Bingo Express #1707
$4 - $10 Games - Bejeweled #1724, Merry Mult #1723, Turbo Cash #1713

Best Overall Games
$1 - $3 Games - Snow Globe #1727, Frogger #1718, Mahjong #1731
$4 - $10 Games - Bejeweled #1724, Turbo Cash #1713, Money Mult #1692

Games to Avoid
Golden Goose #1700, More Lucky #1712, Super Bingo #3011, Wonderful Life #1714

Each of the first three games to avoid has less than 20% of its ticket float left to sell. Wonderful Life still has 37% left. It will be interesting to see how long the OLG continues to offer this lame duck game to uninformed  players.

Comings and Goings

I tip my hat to the OLG this week. Their policy states that any game with a top prize of $100,000 or more and has all of its top prizes claimed, is canceled. I was ready to jump on them this week as Black Tripler met those criteria last week. Sure enough, the game was retired during the past week. About 23% of its float remained to be sold which made me suspect that the OLG would try to squeeze some more sales out of game before following their own policy. I was pleasantly surprised.

No new games were added this week.

Personal Play

Even though Bejeweled is a marginally better choice, I continue to stick with Turbo Cash given my investment in this game to date. Four tickets last week yielded one $50 winner. This is the exact reason that I prefer Turbo Cash --- the game offers $800,000 more prizes between $10 and $100 than Bejeweled. My overall cash rate has declined to 39% but my total return on investment in 2013 is 90%.

Even though I continue to spend over my budget amount ($20/week), I am fatally hooked on Turbo Cash. Even so, my local seller had 6 tickets for sale when I arrived for my "fix". There was no way that I was spending $60 and I am certain that if there was a big winner among the six, that I would miss it when taking only 4 of the tickets. My only solution is to have the retailer pick the four tickets for me. If I see a Turbo Cash Top Prize winner in Ottawa any time soon, I'm certain to have some bad dreams.

There was one $100,000 winner this past week. The lucky winner lives in Thunder Bay. The big winner was in the Cash For Life Blowout where a very lucky player in Almonte won $1000/week for life. The OLG allows players to accept $750,000 in lieu of the weekly pay out. Which prize would you take?

Play Smart.

Doug

Turbo Cash #1713 Is The Best Play

Sales of Turbo Cash slipped this week to 2% of its float. No Top Prize was won and it remains our top play.  
Your chances of winning the $250,000 Top Prize stand at 160,000:1 - no other game is better.



Best Top Prize Games
$1 - $2 Games - Snow Globe #1727
$3 - $5 Games - CFL Blowout #1160
$10 - $20 Games - Turbo Cash #1713

Best $100 or More Games
$1 - $2 Games - Snow Globe #1727
$3 - $5 Games - Money Mult #1692
$10 - $20 Games - Turbo Cash #1713

Best Overall Plays
1. Turbo Cash #1713
2. Money Mult #1692
3. Merry Money #1723

Note: Fast 100 #1688 remains the best pure value play to win $100 at odds of 740:1 on a $1 ticket.

Comings and Goings

The $100k Per Year for Life game was retired this past week. This had been a game for sale across the country. Fourteen percent of the tickets and one Top Prize remained to be claimed when it was canceled.

Two new games were introduced this week: Bonus Keno#1413 and Bejeweled #1692. I am going to take a very close look at Bejeweled as it rates very highly on my rating system right from the start and this should not be the case. It is a $10 Game. Here is how it compares to Turbo Cash, the recommended game for play:

Game                                            Turbo Cash            Bejeweled
Float Size                                       1,428,000             1, 528,000
Chance to Cash                                 1:3.13                   1:3.18

% Cashes for $10                                 20%                     18%
% Cashes >$10 <=$100                      55%                     51%
% Cashes >$100 <= $1000                 16%                     11%
% Cashes >$1000                                  9%                     20%

The current evaluation system looks at the amount of Top Prize winnings available to be won as a percentage of the tickets left to be sold and the raw number of $100 or more prizes left to be sold as a percentage of total tickets left to be sold. The way Bejeweled is structured rates it high on both scales as it has 6 Top Prizes versus 3 for Turbo Cash and many more $100 prizes than Turbo Cash. On the other hand, Turbo Cash returns 75% of all of its prizes to people winning $100 or less whereas Bejeweled only returns 69% by this metric. In short, Turbo Cash is more egalitarian than its sister game. Your chances to win a $250,000 Top Prize is 1:250,000 for Bejeweled and is currently 1:160,000 for Turbo Cash. I will be looking at this in more depth during the coming week.

Personal Play

A crazy week of play saw the purchase of Turbo Cash, Money Multiplier, Merry Money, and Snow Globe tickets. The cardinal sin of re-investing winnings was made. I apologize for that lack of discipline. In total, $68 of tickets returned $54.

Winners of $50,000 or more this week came from: North York, London, Chelmsford, North Gower, Ingersoll, and Toronto. Faith should be restored in players from Toronto. It is possible to win!


Good Luck
Doug

Bejewled #1680

A short week as the last blog posting was only five days ago. Bejeweled remains the game of choice. The public likes the game as 5.6% of the ticket float was purchased over the course of the last five days. The game's rating is -5 but that is pretty close to zero. Hats off to any players who can forego the temptation and wait until the game gets above zero. The next best games are the two Cash for Lifes. Both of them are rated at -12. The worst game? 100 Jumbo. Twelve of the fourteen grand prizes have already been claimed and they have only sold 27% of the tickets yielding a rating of -89.

In terms of pure odds to win a grand prize, try $3 Super Bingo. A mere 120,000:1 against winning the $50,000 grand prize.

Two more Bejeweled tickets for me tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Bejeweled #1680

The OLG purged the Christmas games this week. Eight games were canceled including the best game that was in play, the $1 Reindeer Game. The good news is that they canceled the $10 Cash Cruises which was one of the worst games that was in play.

Of the games that are left, the best game is the $10 Bejeweled #1680. 20% of the tickets in this game have been sold and all three $500,000 prizes remain to be claimed. If you are only interested in winning a jackpot, play $5 Wildstar. The odds of hitting the $100,000 jackpot are 252,000:1. Not bad.

Games to avoid are: $2 Golden Ticket, $3 Space Invaders, $3 Crossword and $3 Scrabble. The grand prizes for each of these games have already been claimed.

The one problem with playing $10 games is that I don't get many tickets to scratch. I purchased two Bejeweled tickets this week winning $15 on one of them. A $5 loss for the week is tolerable.