Holiday Spectacular #1816 Gets Its Day In The Sun

Even though Holiday Spectacular is down to one Grand Prize from its original three, it takes over top spot given that only 14% (+/- 2%) of its float remains to be sold. You presently have one chance in 120,000 to get the last prize. The game has also reached its deactivation date meaning that retailers can no longer activate new packages for sale. Will a player manage to snag the last prize somewhere or will the OLG claim it indirectly? Time will tell. At present, $.21 of every dollar spent on the game will go to that Grand Prize winner.

Top Rated Games

1. $10 Holiday Spectacular #1816 - One Grand Prize left and the clock is ticking. 
2. $4 Bonus Cash For Life #1168 - Two Grand Prizes left, 2 million tickets left to sell. 
3. $4 Double Cash For Life #1170 - $1,350,000 prize for a $4 play. 
4. $10 Fortune #1779 - Nine $1 million prizes left. Can't find these tickets in my area. 
5. $2 Holiday Cashout #1812 - 450,000:1 to win $35,000. All three Grand Prizes remain and half the tickets are sold. 

Games to Avoid

1. $5 Cash In #1807 - Largest prize left is $2000.
2. $3 Crossword #3206 - Three $10,000 prizes left and 1.4 million tickets. 
3. $3 More Lucky Lines #1794 - I'm tired of beating this drum. Turns out the OLG can peddle these losers. 
4. $1 Lucky Lines #1770 - De-Activate these dogs, please!
5. $3 Crossword #3207 - 1 chance in 2.7 million to win $50,000? No thanks. 

$1 - $2 Game Update

Holiday Cashout is a remarkably good game for $2. 

$3 Game Update

Cashingo #1820 is new and is the best rated of the $3 games. 

$4 - $5 Game Update

Bonus Cash For Life #1168 still tops the list but I'm tired of losing with it. 

$10 - $20 Game Update

Instant Gift Pack has become a poor choice. Avoid. 

Comings and Goings

Four new games have come on line to start 2015. Check out CL66's reviews on the games in the comments to last week's update.

Double Cash For Life offers a lump sum payment of $1,350,000 which is attractive for  $4 investment but the 40.4% return to winners of more than $4 and up to $100 is the lowest of any game for sale. The cash rate of 1 in every 5.83 tickets for more than the cost of the ticket is also good. How can both things be true? The answer is that there are many small prize winners and not much else other than the Grand Prizes. 

The new Cross Word Tripler #1810 has potential but the older version (#1791) is a better choice at the moment. 

Cashingo #1820 is an odd game in that there are no prizes offered between $500 and $75. The prize structure at the top end is good for a $3 game. I did not get a chance to play the older version of the game as its ticket became scarce when it became a recommended game. I may try some of this version early on. 

Diamond 7s #1822 is hot off the press. Not crazy about the low Grand Prize of $77, 777 but the game does return 51% of its total revenue to winners of more than $5 and less than or equal to $100. That's a big plus. 

Personal Play

Started the year out with two Crossword Triplers and two 20X Lucky tickets. Also threw in a Lotto Max just for fun. I struck out on the 20 X Lucky Tickets but both Triplers were winners returning $15. Lotto Max won a free ticket. I must confess that the ticket that won $10 was one that I thought was a loser until I checked it at the store. Based on blog commentators, I'm not the only one to whom this happens. Always always always check your losing tickets with a scanner in the store. 

In Conclusion

There have been several media stories lately of mistake tickets showing up. Check the comments to last weeks posting for more. Here's one:

http://news.yahoo.com/not-fast-mexico-says-lottery-winner-213732609.html?soc_src=copy

I love these stories as they remind us that these games are not foolproof and forums like this one can serve to keep interested folks updated on glitches as they occur. 

I had occasion to call the OLG yesterday concerning the new Double Cash For Life game. The game sheet indicates that 69.63% of total revenue is returned to players. As part of my analysis of new games I always multiply out the prize structure for my purposes. According to my calculations, the return rate for the game is 64.6%. This is more in keeping with games that cost $4 or $5. I spoke to a very helpful young woman at the OLG. She indicated that someone would call me back within 48 hours. I think that there is a typographical error on the game sheet. I'll let you know the outcome next week. 

I hate delving into the political arena but I would recommend that more businesses and government departments set up their call centres in communities outside of major metropolitan areas. The OLG Centre is in Sault Ste Marie and I have never failed to have a positive experience when I call them. It makes sense to me that there are young people living in such communities who would choose to stay there instead of moving to the city if they could obtain employment. I imagine that the OLG jobs are good jobs and that the people who hold them, appreciate them. I also suspect that they stay with their employer for longer periods of time thereby becoming better assets to the employer. Frankly, I don't see a downside. 

Best to all. 

Doug

Bonus Cash For Life #1168 Strengthens Its Hold

The best of the new year to all who visit this blog. I had an update ready for Christmas but decided not to post in honour of the season. My family each received a Bonus Cash For Life ticket in their respective stockings from Santa. There were two known winners totaling $12 and four unknown results. If anyone leaves town shortly I'll know why.

Thirteen Grand Prizes were claimed over the past two weeks including two from the brand spanking new Bejeweled game. Alas, none was claimed from Bonus Cash For Life #1168. The game presently has three of its five $675,000 Grand Prizes left to be claimed and only 19% of its float left to sell. The odds to win one are now only 640,000:1 which is as low as I have ever seen for a Cash For Life game. $.264 of every dollar spent on the game will go to those three lucky winners.

The problem, for me, is that I am fed up with the game. And I'm not alone - several posters have also reported poor results. I'm going to take a week off from the game just to sooth my injured resolve.

Top Rated Games

1. $4 Bonus Cash for Life #1168 - Clear top choice
2. $10 Christmas Spectacular #1816 - 1 Grand Prize left and only 140,000 tickets
3. $10 Fortune #1779 - Nine $1 Million dollar prizes left - Inter-provincial game
4. $4 Cash For Life #1161 - main secondary prizes gutted - pass
5. $2 Holiday Cashout #1812 - 40% of float sold and all 3 Grand Prizes are left

Games to Avoid

1. $5 Cash In #1807 - All Grand and Second Prizes claimed
2. $3 Crossword #3206 - All Grand and Second Prizes claimed - less than 10% of float remains
3. $3 More Lucky Lines #1794 - the unethical sale of these dogs continues
4. $1 Lucky Lines #1770 - stunk since its debut
5. $3 Keno #1415 - 2 of 5 Grand Prizes gone in first 20% of tickets sold

$1 - $2 Game Update

Holiday Cashout is a very good choice in this group.

$3 Game Update

Scrabble #1821 is the best of a scraggy lot of games.

$4 - $5 Game Update

Bonus Cash For Life is much the best

$10 - $20 Game Update

Lots of Grand Prizes lost over Christmas. Go with Holiday Spectacular if you can find any.

Comings and Goings

Wild 10's and Horseshoes were both retired over the holidays. Each of the games had 15-20 % of their float remaining and were well rated games. I would like to have seen each stay in play longer and some of the games mentioned in the "Games To Avoid" section retired instead.

New on the scene is a $2 Blackjack, $5 Hit the Jackpot, and a $10 Bejeweled game. Please see the comments to the previous blog post for detailed descriptions of the games. It is noteworthy that Bejeweled has already lost 2 of its 6 Grand Prizes. That's enough to throw me off. The Blackjack game scores well on the rating formula. The Hit The Jackpot is a new brand of game. Comments are encouraged from any players who give it a try.

Personal Play

I extended play in the last fortnight purchasing two Holiday Gift packs, two Holiday Spectaculars and four Bonus Cash For Lifes. My total return was $20 and that was scored on the first ticket I scratched. I ended the year with a cash rate of 30% and a return on investment of 58%. This is the worst result for the three years that I have been playing. In 2013 I cashed at a rate of 37% with a Return on Investment of 72%. In 2012 I cashed at 38% with a return of 63%.

There were four games during the year for which I purchased more than 10 tickets. Of those, More Lucky Lines was the kindest yielding 37% winners and a return of 76%. The worst was our current top rated game, Bonus Cash For Life, that included 24% winners and a return of 49%.

In the end, my biggest problem in 2014 was that I enjoyed no cashes for more than $20. You have to hit a $50 or $100 winner if you want to boost the results. Of course, a nice little 4 figure win like Shelley enjoyed would be deeply appreciated.

Still, It's a new year and all the numbers are re-set to zero. Let's get out of the box like a lithe greyhound chasing "Sparky".

In Conclusion

I appreciate the growth in our little community over the past year. The current posting of this blog receives over 100 visits per day. The more folks who post add to the dialogue and I very much enjoy reading what people have to say. I also like that people post pictures of their $50 and up winning tickets. There is something very encouraging when I see that winning is possible. CL66 posted a $50 winner in $2 Cash For Life this past week. Now that's impressive!

My thanks to all. May 2015 be good to each and every one of us.

Next week I'll be taking a look at the new OLG on line platform.


Doug

Bonus Cash For Life #1168 Listing But Stays On Top

Sorry about my late post. Unexpected family responsibilities took me out of town for several days. Two weeks and a day since the last update but not much has changed. The top rated game lost a Grand Prize to a lucky player in Fergus but three of the original five Grand Prizes remain outstanding with only 30% of the float remaining. Your chances to snag one are 1:980,000 for $4. Seventeen cents of every dollar spent on the game will go to those three as yet undetermined winners.

This game, like all CFL games, has the lowest amount of prizes of less than $100 in its group. That is the trade off and several posters have reported bad luck on the game. I have experienced the same but those three Grand Prizes still look juicy and, in my opinion, are worth the trade-off.


 

The image on the ticket also looks mighty pleasing given our weather of late.....

Top Rated Games

1. $4 Bonus Cash For Life #1168 - Good bang for your playing dollar. 
2. $10 Fortune #1779 - IPL game is quietly working its way up. Ten $1 m prizes left. 
3. $10 Wild 10's #1785 - bored with this one? Still has good value and 22-$10,000 prizes left. 
4. $20 Extraordinary #1742 - lots of ads on TV for this one. Will they produce sales?
5. $10 Holiday Spectacular #1816 - Best Christmas game available. 

Games to Avoid

1. $3 Crossword #3206 - Only 9% of float left. Buy #3207, if you must play this game. 
2. $3 More Lucky Lines #1794 - Disgraceful. 
3. $1 Lucky Lines #1770 - a dog since it arrived on the scene. 
4. $2 Royal 7's #1790 - Nothing to like. 
5. $3 Scrabble #1821 - 1 of 3 Grand Prizes left and well over 2 million tickets left to sell. 

$1 - $2 Game Update

Holiday Cashout is the best choice and you're getting a free ticket with every Holiday Pack. Tempting...

$3 Game Update

Keno #1414 and Horseshoes #1806 are the top two picks in this group.

$4 - $5 Game Update

Bonus Cash for Life is the top pick, Black Pearls would be the next best choice.

$10- - $20 Game Update

You can find justification to play any game in this group. I rate Cadillac Riches as the poorest of the group but it is still 10th overall and CL66 rates it as the best game. The only question you have to ask yourself is whether you can mentally withstand a losing streak when buying $10 tickets?

Comings and Goings

The premature retirement announcement for Jacks Are Wild has now become a reality. All Grand Prizes were gone, In fact, the OLG was slow on the trigger retiring this game. Tough to pull the trigger, OLG,  once the Grand Prizes are gone. I understand.

New on the scene is $1 Cross Express #1811. This is a straightforward game. There are four $10,000 Grand Prizes and a good availability of smaller prizes. The trade off is that there are no prizes between $50 and $10,000. Still, a reader picked up a bunch as he is of the view that it has the highest chance of any game to double your money. I have not worked out those numbers for every game but he may well be right. Of course, that means a $2 cash in this case.

Personal Play

Two Gift Packs returned nothing. Two Bonus Cash for Life tickets were each a winner returning $24.

My year-to-date cash rate stands at 30% and my ROI at 59%. I'd like to nudge that up to at least 60% over the next two weeks.

In Conclusion

A couple of articles caught my attention:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/11/19/b-c-lottery-pulls-dragon-fever-slot-machine-after-it-dishes-out-100000-prize-due-to-malfunction/

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/50m-lotto-max-ticket-hidden-144925628.html

The second one reminds us that if you are in an office pool you should always have a signed document and be provided with a copy of all tickets for every draw. Don't be trusting. Sad.

A reader also has asked me to ask visitors what they use to scratch tickets with. A loony, a quarter, a lucky penny, a key chain? Post what you use to the reader comments. I like the idea of a lucky penny but I can never find it! Most often I use a loony.


Best


Doug

Bonus Cash For Life #1168 Rolls Along

Bonus Cash for Life burned through 50,000 tickets last week without losing a Grand Prize. The game is the clear leader in the evaluation system based upon 4 Grand Prizes of $675,000. Nine of the game's second prizes of $100,000 have been claimed, which is not good. Going lower down the top prizes, the percentage of claimed prizes falls roughly into where one would think is normal. At present, $.191 of every dollar spent on the game goes to the four Grand Prize winners. At the same time, 56.5% of the revenue for the game is returned to winners of less than $100. The main feature of this game is the extra 5% return offered on a $4 game from what one would expect. At this stage, the game could incur the loss of a Grand Prize and remain on top of the ratings.

Anyone playing this game must stay away from its plain vanilla version #1168. As Darth has indicated in one of his posts, these tickets have not been seen for some time yet apparently, the OLG deems the game to still be popular with the public.

Top Rated Games

1. $4 Bonus Cash For Life #1161 - Strong Choice
2. $10 Spectacular #1816 - Good metrics. Small pool. Game is selling fast. 
3. $10 Fortune #1779 - Inter provincial game, Massive 15 million ticket pool. 
4. $10 Wild 10's #1785 - Game is winding down. 16% of float estimated to be left. 
5. $20 Extraordinary #1742 - Inter provincial game. 28% of float sold after 6 months. 

Games to Avoid

1. $5 Jacks Are Wild #1787 - 1 , $8000 prize left, next largest is $1500. Shameful. 
2. $3 More Lucky Lines #1794 - OLG is right: game continues to sell. We're not buying. 
3. $1 Lucky Lines #1770 - A $1 with no Grand Prizes. Bottom feeder. 
4. $2 Royal 7's #1790 - Only 1 of 6 Grand Prizes left. 34% of float left. 
5. $3 Crossword #3206 - One teeny $50k Grand Prize left. 12% of float remains.

$1 - $2 Game Update

Cash Cow and Holiday Cash Out are the top two in this area.

$3 Game Update

Keno #1414 is the top rated $3 game.

$4 - $5 Game Update

Stick to Bonus Cash For Life.

$10 - $20 Game Update

All games are playable but Cadillac and Gift Pack are the two lowest rated.

Comings and Goings

No games were retired. Several are getting long in the tooth.

A new Scrabble game #1821 was launched. This game has good prize distribution for a $3 game. It has a normal float size of just over 3 million tickets. Here is the prize breakdown:

Grand Prize - 2.4% of revenue - 2nd of the 10 - $3 games.
<GP >= $100 - 3.4% of revenue - 1st of 10
<$100 >$3 - 46.3% of revenue - 9th of 10.
$3 - 12.8% of revenue - 3rd of 10 (negative)

This game begins its life as the 3rd rated of the 10 current $3 games. It has potential. See CL66's posting to last week's entry for a more detailed breakdown.

Another new game, $1 Cross Express #1811 is also on the listings but no game sheet has posted to date. Come on OLG - get those two things synced.

Personal Play

The euphoria of an almost break even week two weeks ago came to a thudding end this week as four Bonus Cash For Life's returned $0, a Holiday Spectacular returned $0, a Lotto Max and a 649 were losers, and a $10 Gift Pack returned $2 on the free $2 Cash For Life ticket. I'm back down to an ROI of 59%. I simply have to get to 60% by years end.

In Conclusion

Thanks to the posters who provided the information on the ability to transfer lump sum Cash For Life Grand Prizes and, according to the OLG, how long "life" is! Check the comments from last week if you want to learn about this interesting feature which I doubt that I will ever have use for :-)

A reader went out to buy a Gift Pack last week and ended up with a Holiday Spectacular by mistake - they're both white tickets. Not the end of the world as I rate the ticket he got by mistake as a better choice but he wanted the darned Gift Pack and thus remains slightly tweaked.

Skill testing question. I took a look at how much money the OLG made out of each game that remains active and has been on sale for at least one month. I calculated tickets sold, cost of ticket, and take out rate. here are the top three:

1. $3 Crossword
2. $5 Cross Tripler
3. $3 Super Bingo

And the worst performers:

1. $4 CFL
2. $1 Cash Cow
3. $2 Royal 7's


Enjoy your week.


Doug

Bonus Cash For Life #1168 Continues to Rule

The top rated game continues to click along with four of its five Grand Prizes left outstanding and 39 % of its float (+/- 3%) left to sell. This game offers prizes akin to a $10 game for $4. One caution is that nine of its ten $100,000 second prizes have already been claimed. Apart from one unclaimed $10,000 prize, the next available prize level is $1,500. $.177 of every dollar spent on the game goes to the remaining Grand Prize winners which is the highest for any game currently for sale.

Your likelihood to win any prize and any prize greater than the cost of the ticket is competitive with other games in the $3 - $5 price range but for some reason commentators have experienced poor results with the game. Some to the point of taking a pause in their play. I think that's a good decision. As soon as playing is not fun and feels a little compulsive, it's time for a time out.

 

Top Rated Games 

1. $4 Bonus Cash For Life #1168 - good game at a good price.
2. $10 Spectacular #1816 - top five prizes all remain. Tickets selling fast.
3. $10 Fortune #1779 - Slow selling game. Favourable prize distribution.
4. $10 Wild 10's #1785 - 17% of float remains. Tickets about to become harder to find. 
5. $20 Extraordinary #1742 - game has good numbers but $20 a ticket!!!???

Games to Avoid

1. $5 Jacks Are Wild #1787 - one prize left above $1500. Who is asleep at the switch?
2. $3 More Lucky Lines #1794 - keep disrespecting your customers, OLG.
3. $2 Royal 7's #1790 - only one GP left. Prize is small for  $2 game. 37% of float remains. 
4. $1 Lucky Lines #1770 - please send this game to OLG heaven.
5. $5 Cash In #1807 - only 1 of 7 GP left and a third of the float left to sell.

$1 - $2 Game Update

Cash Cow, Holiday Cashout and Cash For Life are all reasonable choices.

$3 Game Update

Keno #1414 and Horseshoes are the top two choices.

$4 - $5 Game Update

Bonus Cash for Life is the preferred choice.

$10 - $20 Game Update

Any game other than Cadillac Riches. More on the new Holiday Gift Pack follows.

Comings and Goings

Crazy 8's was retired this past week. 19% of its float was left and all of its Grand Prizes had been claimed.

$10 Holiday Gift pack was introduced this past week. It is a game that my evaluation method has some trouble with as it offers a "free" $2 Cash For Life ticket voucher in each pack. Players should know that the prize for every winning "pack" is at least $10. If one of the tickets has a lower prize value then at least one other ticket in the "pack" is also a winner. The good news is that the game contains an excellent number of winning tickets and winners worth more than $10. The 9.5% of revenue that is awarded to winners of at least $100 and less than the Grand Prize is the best of any game currently for sale. Cadillac Riches is second by this measure. The bad news is that the prize distribution for winners of more than $10 and less than $100 is poor. Only Cadillac Riches is worse. The other disappointing feature is the measly $50,000 Grand Prize, of which there are six. Only $.016 of every dollar spent on the game goes to the Grand Prize winners. That is $1 Lucky Lines territory!

The bottom line is that, without taking into account the free $2 Cash For Life ticket, the game is the lowest rated of any $10 - $20 game. But, that $2 ticket is not worthless. if you assume an average return of $1.28 on each ticket, the overall game fares much better but I have a hard time quantifying that feature. Lastly, there are lots of prizes and lots of tickets so if you want to split them up for Christmas Stockings, I can fully understand your thinking. Remember: if one person wins a small prize chances are another will as well.

Personal Play

My troubled play with Bonus Cash For Life took an upbeat this week just as others was going in the opposite direction. Twelve tickets contained five winners totaling $44. I was actually ahead until the last two tickets! My overall cash rate is 31% and my ROI stands at 61%.

In Conclusion

A big shout out to Shelley who bagged a $1020 winning ticket on $3 Holly Jolly. It could not happen to a more positive and enthusiastic player. That is the highest reported win this year. Congratulations Shelley!

Here is an interesting article from the National Post: http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/11/19/b-c-lottery-pulls-dragon-fever-slot-machine-after-it-dishes-out-100000-prize-due-to-malfunction/

It amuses me how the BC Lottery describes their action as a "good will gesture". That implies that she really did not deserve the winnings. We human beings are programmed to look for patterns. Darth has his suspicions about the placement of winning tickets inside packages. This sort of story reminds us that all forms of gambling, whether in casinos or not, are susceptible to quirks. When those quirks take place we get to peak behind the curtain, if only for a minute.

A commentator asked me about the lump sum payments for the Cash For Life games. Specifically, can you include them in a will. I'm going to research that this week. I suspect that the term "Cash For Life" is a trademarked expression and not meant to be taken literally.

Enjoy your week. It's good scratching weather.


Doug


 

Fruit Explosion Finished - Bonus Cash For Life #1168 Takes Over

The vain pursuit of the last Fruit Explosion Grand Prize has ended with it most likely belonging to the OLG itself. For those who have squirreled some away ( a friend has eight that he intends to scratch on Christmas morning), the last recorded chances for you were 182,000:1.

The new top choice is Bonus Cash For Life #1168. The game offers four of its five initial Grand Prizes of $675,000 after selling almost 60% of its float. The Cash For Life games are top heavy and my evaluation system rewards that fact. Your chances to win any prize larger than the cost of the ticket are 1:6.74 which is pretty good for the $4-$5 group of games. The advantage this game offers is that the "Bonus" comes in the form of a higher overall return to players than the cost of the ticket would indicate. In general, $5 games return 66-67% of the games revenue to the winners. Bonus Cash For Life returns 69.9% which is equivalent to the $10 - $20 games. Barring the loss of more than one Grand Prize, this game is poised to rule the ratings for several weeks.

Top Rated Games

1. $4 Bonus Cash For Life #1168 - Strong top pick,
2. $10 Spectacular #1816 - small float, tickets selling well,
3. $10 Fortune #1779 - jumbo inter-provincial game, good chance to cash. 
4. $10 Wild 10's #1785 - game winding down, still 25 $10,000 prizes left.
5. $20 Extraordinary #1742 - 7 , $3 games or one of these, very slow seller.

Games to Avoid

1. $5 Jacks Are Wild #1787 - all three top prize categories gone - we're waiting OLG!
2. $3 More Lucky Lines #1794 - OLG has sold 40% of float AFTER all GP's claimed!
3. $2 Crazy 8's #1765 - All 5 Grand Prizes claimed. 
4. $1 Lucky Lines #1770 - please make this game stop. It sucks.
5. $5 Cash In #1807 - terrible chance to win more than the cost of the ticket.

$1 - $2 Game Update

Cash Cow and Holiday Cashout are the top two choices.

$3 Game Update

With Fruit Explosion gone, Keno #1414 (not the new #1415) is the pick here.

$4 - $5 Game Update

Stick to the top rated game, Bonus Cash For Life #1168.

$10 - $20 Game Update

Here's an arguable statement - all the games here are playable with the exception of Cadillac Riches. (see the comment section for anticipated rebuttals)

Comings and Goings

Fruit Explosion, Scrabble #1799, and Crossword #3205 were all retired this past week. We were pleased to see the end of Scrabble and Crossword.

Newly launched were Crossword #3207 and 20X Lucky #1808. I'm not a fan of the Crossword games as the low Grand Prize structure of 10 - $50,000 prizes in a float of 20 million tickets is disappointing. Still, the game offers the best return percentage of all games for prizes greater than the price of the ticket and less than $100.  And I have to admit the game is fun to play.

20X Lucky offers a poor chance to cash any ticket (1:4.21) for a $5 ticket but what you get in return is a lower number of $5 winners. I was moaning about this last week so I guess that I have to like the game. Let's see how it develops.

Personal Play

Brutal! 6 Merry Money tickets included a single $5 winner. 2 Spectacular tickets returned 1 - $10 winner. 2 Bonus Cash For Life ticket returned zero. I am now at a cash rate of 30% and an ROI of 59%. Each number is a low for the year to date.

Posters report bad results on Bonus Cash For Life. That has been my experience as well. I have cashed 3 of 24 tickets for a whopping total of $20. Regardless, I am going to concentrate my play on this game this week.

In Conclusion

Received an invitation to visit the soon-t-be-launched www.playolg.ca site this morning. From the e-mail, "Blackjack, Roulette, Slots anda wholed lot more. PlayOLG provides a safe and fun enviroment where you can play your favourite games at your leisure. Plus, for the first time in Ontario, you will be able to legally purchase LOTTO MAX, LOTTO 6/49 and ENCORE online."

Gambling "at my leisure". I thought that I was already doing that. This is scary stuff for some poor souls.

Doug

Fruit Explosion #1803 - One Last Gasp

I am as surprised as anyone that Fruit Explosion remains on the outstanding prize list seeing how far we are past its deactivation date. But it remains there and two commentators have posted that they found tickets on their travels. Your chances to win the last remaining Grand Prize of $75,000 are now 192,000:1. This is the lowest of any game for sale ( Wild 10's excluded). Thirteen cents of every dollar spent on the game will go to that lucky winner (if there ever is one). At the outset of the game, only 2.9 cents of every dollar was directed to Grand Prizes. Your chance to win any prize greater than the cost of the ticket is 1:6.81 tickets which is not great. 12.9% of the game's revenue is returned to winners of the cost of the ticket. That reduces your chances to win a prize of any sort to 1:3.84 tickets, which is very good. The trouble is, I don't consider winning my $3 back as winning. I'd be happier if the OLG was to convert all of those $3 winners to more $5 winners. Let me know if you agree by posting a comment.

 

Top Rated Games

1. $3 Fruit Explosion #1803 - going, going, ......
2. $4 Bonus CFL #1168 - heir apparant - all 5 big Grand Prizes left and half of float sold. 
3. $10 Fortune #1779 - 10 million dollar Grand Prizes and a high cash rate
4. $10 Wild 10's #1785 - reader's cousin just won a $10k Grand Prize - 28 left to claim.
5. $10 Spectacular #1816 - began sale today. Small float. Small Grand Prize of $250,000. 

Games to Avoid

1. $3 Crossword #3205 - largest remaining prize is $100. Only 4% of float left. Lame. 
2. $3 Scrabble #1799 - All top 4 prize levels gone. 7% of float left. Also lame.
3. $5 Jacks Are Wild #1787 - Top two prize categories gone. What are you waiting for, OLG?
4. $2 Crazy 8's #1765 - All five Grand Prizes claimed. 
5. $3 More Lucky Lines #1794 - Still flogging this game. Sold a million tickets since last Grand Prize was claimed. 

Comings and Goings

How does one know that Christmas is approaching? The OLG introduces its suite of Holiday games. Stuff those stockings with scratch tickets folks. No games were retired. Here is the rundown on new games. Please see CL66's comments on these games for a detailed breakdown of prizes.

$2 Holiday Cashout #1812 - Not a bad $2 game. Your chances to win one of the three Grand Prizes is 1:850,000 which is the poorest for the $1 - $2 group of games. But, the percentage of revenue return to $2 winners is only 8.1% which is the lowest for any game currently for sale. As a result, the 47% of revenue returned to winners of more than $2 and less than $100 is very good.

$3  Holly Jolly Tripler #1815 - The 4.7% of revenue returned to winners of $100 or more is good for a $3 game. Otherwise, not much to recommend at the moment.

$5 Merry Money Multiplier #1814 - A welcome addition to the $5 group of games. 7 - $100,000 Grand Prizes combined with a good cash rate gives this game potential. May buy a few this week just to see how I like it.

$10 Holiday Spectacular #1816 - The game begins play with an overall rating of being the 5th best game for sale. Pretty darned good, I'd say. The low Grand Prize of $250,000 for a $10 game is offset by the low ticket float of 840,000 tickets. In addition to the 1:280,000 chance to win a Grand Prize, 3.9% of the revenue goes to winners of at least $100 and less than the Grand Prize. This is 4th overall. Cadillac leads in this category but a poster informed us that you may get more than you bargained for in that game as the car ain't exactly free. The overall cash rate of 1:3.30 is third best overall.

$3 Instant Keno #1415 - Not much to recommend here. A ticket float of 5 million with only 5 Grand Prizes of only $50,000 each is enough to turn me off right away. The best aspect of the game is 50.1 % of revenue returned to winners of more than $3 and less than $100. I recommend its sister game #1414 if you really have to have a Keno ticket.

In summary, the Holiday Games are good choices with the exception of the $3 edition.

$1 - $2 Game Update

The new $2 Cash For Life is the best choice here. The $67,500 Grand Prize for a $2 game is appealing.

$3 Game Update

Aside from the rare Fruit Explosion tickets, Keno #1414 and Horseshoes are the next best choices.

$5 Game Update

If you don't like Bonus Cash For Life, Black Pearls and Merry Money are the next best.

$10 - $20 Game Update

Fortune, Spectacular, and Wild 10's are all good choices.

Personal Play 

None. My pursuit of Fruit Explosion tickets was ultimately fruitless. Moving on, starting this week.

Meanderings

Heard a guest on the radio this morning from Carlton University whose class is testing the upcoming OLG online gaming site. I have to accept that buying 649 and Lotto Max or Pro-Line online is not a bad idea but I am not a fan of on-line Poker or on-line Slot Machines. They have the potential to create far too much damage to people's lives. On the plus side, at least players will know that the games are on the up-and-up unlike current offshore sites. The odds may suck but you're not being literally robbed.

This article also caught my attention: http://bit.ly/11c0Izm . The main plank of the OLG's Modernization Plan is to privatize parts of its operation. The private operator will invest in the network and thereby increase sales. The OLG will then receive a smaller cut of a much bigger pie that will overall return more money to the Provincial Treasury than is presently the case. I'm not convinced that this will be the outcome and the above article may indicate why.

The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month takes place tomorrow. I'll be thinking about my Great Uncle Charlie.


Doug