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