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Comments - E-mail Us - Click here
Originally Posted: Nov. 25, 2000 |
Texas Lottery
The Scratch Off Tickets
Everything The TLC Fails To Tell You
Compliments of
The Lotto Report
(All About the TxLottery)
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Comments - E-mail Us - Click here
Originally Posted: Nov. 25, 2000 |
Winning vs Breaking Even
To purchase a scratch off ticket, you will spend $1, $2, $3, $5 or $10 to buy it.
When you get the exact amount back that you spent to buy the ticket, tell me, do
you consider that you won? If so, what did you “win?” Didn’t you just break even?
Well, the TLC considers this "winning" - the IRS does not - but the TLC
uses the number of "break even" tickets anyway to calculate and lower the "odds."
This is nothing more than a way for them to make the odds
"look" better - but it's clearly not the truth.
I don’t know about you, but I like to know the truth about my odds
of “winning.” So, to use Governor Bush's words, I call their math - “fuzzy math.”
Again, I emphasize, the Tx Lottery owes us the truth. They can make as much
money as they want - as much as people are willing to spend - but I want them
to tell us the truth and quit misrepresenting the facts. So, I'm doing
this page
so you can get the truth as they refuse to change their ways citing this
is an "industry standard" that they are following ... which means
that all lotteries must misrepresent the odds on the scratch offs!
A Major Victory
On November 29, 2000, a group of San Antonio College students
convinced the Texas Lottery (TLC) to change their
ways about this very issue. Click here to read all about it.
Did you know ...
Sales of scratch off tickets makes more money for the TLC than any
other game. And, what the TxLottery really likes, is that so many winning scratch off
tickets are bought but players don't realize they are winners. The end result is that those
winning tickets get thrown away and the prize is never claimed. Thus more money for
the state! For GET REAL members, the "unclaimed prize money" is one of
our complaints. We think this money should be returned to the players.
What "Odds" Means
When you see "Odds of winning are 1 in 4.77." Well, in laymans terms, that means
that for every 4.77 tickets, one ticket should be a winner. Or it averages out this
way - the catch 22 here is the TLC makes a point of saying "overall odds."
But, the truth is ... breaking even is not winning.
How to figure odds? It's simple. You take the total number of tickets printed and
divide by however many prizes there are. For instance, for Texas Gold Gusher,
they quote approx. 20,000,000 were printed and there are 84 tickets that pay
$3000. So, you divide 20,000,000 by 84 and that gives you 238,095. That means
for every 238,095 tickets that you purchase, one should be worth $3000.
Sounds like a ridiculous gamble - huh? But this is the truth.
Hot Tip
Pay attention to the game numbers when you are purchasing the "favorite"
games. (Those are the games that have been reprinted) Like Break the Bank,
Weekly Grand, 25,000 Diamonds, 9's in a Line. You see, let's use 25,000 Diamonds
as an example - it is game #196 and then it was reprinted and came back as
game #222. Well, game #196 has no $25,000 prizes left where as game #222 has
6 as of this writing (Nov. 2000). But, guess what, they still have #196 left to sell.
So be aware, are you buying a ticket that even has the big prize? You MUST specify
which game number you want or you may be buying the old ones. Each ticket has the game
number on the back of the ticket and ALL clerks know where the game number is located.
Another Hot Tip
Beware of buying tickets marked "Mystery Game." As a general
rule, the theory behind this point of sale sign was to enable the retailers
to unload OLD games so the TLC (Texas Lottery) won't have to buy them back.
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The Scratch Tickets You Can Review On This Web Site Are ...
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#297 - Beat the House (2-12-03)
#340 - Triple Cash Stampede (1-15-03) #336 - Holiday Million (11-27-02) #325 - Instant Cash - (10-2-02)
#313 - Hot Streak (7-26-02) #281 - Loot Pursuit (3-27-02)
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#282 - Cash Reward - ( 2-27-02) #274 - Delux 7-11-21 (1-23-02) #704 - Big Bonus Bucks (12-5-01) #700 - Texas Trails (10-17-01) #207 - Texas Glory (8-29-01) #230 - Money Machine (6-20-01) #228 - Break The Bank (2-23-01) #231 - Triple 3 (12-6-00)
#202 - In The Chips (8-18-00) |
IMPORTANT NOTICE
On the TLC's promotional pieces in place at the stores,
the Tx Lottery still refuses to disclose how many prizes
there are for
each prize and they refuse to tell us how many tickets they ordered.
This is WRONG? Click here for details.
** Dec. 2001 - California players are suing the California Lottery for
non-disclosure of scratch ticket data. Click here to read the story.
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#297 - Beat the House ($2) See how many winning tickets remain unclaimed - Click here. (pdf)
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| Prizes | # of Tickets | Odds of Winning | ||
| $20,000 | 14 | 1 in 873,536 | ||
| $2000 | 28 | 1 in 436,768 | ||
| $100 | 17,522 | 1 in 698 | ||
| $50 | 48,918 | 1 in 250 | ||
| $40 | 48,918 | 1 in 250 | ||
| $20 | 48,899 | 1 in 250 | ||
| $10 | 97,774 | 1 in 125 | ||
| $8 | 48,918 | 1 in 250 | ||
| $5 | 147,070 | 1 in 83 | ||
| $4 | 978,324 | 1 in 12.50 | ||
| Totals Overall Odds of Winning (Getting Back more than your $2) |
1,436,385 | 1 in 8.514 | ||
| $2 (Break-Even) | 1,198,273 | 1 in 10.21 | ||
| Totals Overall Odds of Not Losing |
2,634,658 | 1 in 4.64 | ||
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The TLC says ... "Overall odds of winning any |
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Out of 12,229,500 tickets, there are: |
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#344 - Easy 8's ($1) See how many winning tickets remain unclaimed - Click here. (pdf)
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| Prizes | # of Tickets | Odds of Winning | ||
| $800 | 189 | 1 in 78,981 | ||
| $188 | 1862 | 1 in 8,017 | ||
| $88 | 3747 | 1 in 3,984 | ||
| $48 | 18,671 | 1 in 800 | ||
| $18 | 59,710 | 1 in 250 | ||
| $10 | 29,813 | 1 in 501 | ||
| $8 | 74,614 | 1 in 200 | ||
| $5 | 59,710 | 1 in 250 | ||
| $4 | 104,603 | 1 in 143 | ||
| $3 | 119,417 | 1 in 125 | ||
| $2 | 1,492,928 | 1 in 10 | ||
| Totals Overall Odds of Winning (Getting Back more than your $1) |
1,965,264 | 1 in 7.60 | ||
| $1 (Break-Even) | 1,194,019 | 1 in 12.50 | ||
| Totals Overall Odds of Not Losing |
3,159,283 | 1 in 4.72 | ||
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The TLC says ... "Overall odds of winning any |
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Out of 14,927,500 tickets, there are: |
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#721 - Double Down ($5) See how many winning tickets remain unclaimed - Click here. (pdf)
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| Prizes | # of Tickets | Odds of Winning | ||
| $40,000 | 3 | 1 in 1,016,025 | ||
| $5000 | 9 | 1 in 338,675 | ||
| $1000 | 75 | 1 in 40,641 | ||
| $500 | 275 | 1 in 11,084 | ||
| $200 | 375 | 1 in 8,128 | ||
| $100 | 4502 | 1 in 677 | ||
| $50 | 25,497 | 1 in 120 | ||
| $20 | 81,282 | 1 in 38 | ||
| $15 | 60,968 | 1 in 50 | ||
| $10 | 203,198 | 1 in 15 | ||
| Totals Overall Odds of Winning (Getting Back more than your $5) |
376,184 | 1 in 8.10 | ||
| $5 (Break-Even) | 629,930 | 1 in 4.84 | ||
| Totals Overall Odds of Not Losing |
1,006,114 | 1 in 3.03 | ||
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The TLC says ... "Overall odds of winning any |
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Out of 3,048,075 tickets, there are: |
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#346 - Roses & Riches ($2) See how many winning tickets remain unclaimed - Click here. (pdf)
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| Prizes | # of Tickets | Odds of Winning | ||
| $20,000 | 8 | 1 in 1,004,750 | ||
| $1000 | 50 | 1 in 160,760 | ||
| $500 | 335 | 1 in 23,994 | ||
| $200 | 2697 | 1 in 2,980 | ||
| $100 | 4952 | 1 in 1,623 | ||
| $80 | 16,104 | 1 in 499 | ||
| $40 | 32,152 | 1 in 250 | ||
| $20 | 32,134 | 1 in 250 | ||
| $10 | 112,530 | 1 in 71 | ||
| $5 | 385,900 | 1 in 21 | ||
| $3 | 514,432 | 1 in 16 | ||
| Totals Overall Odds of Winning (Getting Back more than your $2) |
1,101,294 | 1 in 7.30 | ||
| $2 (Break-Even) | 610,888 | 1 in 13.16 | ||
| Totals Overall Odds of Not Losing |
1,1712,182 | 1 in 4.69 | ||
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The TLC says ... "Overall odds of winning any |
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Out of 8,038,000 tickets, there are: |
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#333 - Winning in 3's ($3) See how many winning tickets remain unclaimed - Click here. (pdf)
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| Prizes | # of Tickets | Odds of Winning | ||
| $30,000 | 6 | 1 in 1,018,104 | ||
| $3000 | 9 | 1 in 678,736 | ||
| $1000 | 150 | 1 in 40,724 | ||
| $100 | 6495 | 1 in 941 | ||
| $50 | 48,869 | 1 in 125 | ||
| $20 | 73,260 | 1 in 83 | ||
| $15 | 97,738 | 1 in 62 | ||
| $10 | 73,389 | 1 in 83 | ||
| $9 | 97,645 | 1 in 63 | ||
| $7 | 97,789 | 1 in 62 | ||
| $4 | 146,688 | 1 in 42 | ||
| Totals Overall Odds of Winning (Getting Back more than your $3) |
642,038 | 1 in 9.514 | ||
| $3 (Break-Even) | 879,699 | 1 in 6.94 | ||
| Totals Overall Odds of Not Losing |
1,521,737 | 1 in 4.01 | ||
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The TLC says ... "Overall odds of winning any |
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Out of 6,108,625 tickets, there are: |
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Click here to review more scratch offs
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The Lotto Report
(All About the Tx Lottery)
Dawn Nettles
P. O. Box 495033
Garland, Texas 75049-5033
(972) 686-0660
(972) 681-1048 (Fax)