Mega Millions is raising the price of its lottery ticket from $2 to $5. Although better odds and larger jackpots are promised, I hate this. Way to take the fun out of it. There go my dreams of donating hundreds of millions to Iowa State. Sorry Jamie Pollard.
Mega Millions ticket price to go from $2 to $5
- Thread starter Spam
- Start date
Seems like an excellent move ... for powerball.
Voluntary tax on fixed income seniors and others who can't afford to throw money away.
Everyone would love a billion dollars. But give away 5 Million 200 times. Or a guaranteed winner every drawing. Might as well play a scratch off. I don't think they are making the odds that much better to justify the increase.
I've had a similar view for decades.
Many ways you could do it, I won't go into extensive detail, but I'm not any more motivated to play if it's $1.3B than I am if it's $20M or if it were something like $500K. Or what if odds were better to win $1,000 w/ a $5 entry? Maybe I'm an outlier.
Ohio Lottery used to do a raffle for new years. They sold like 500k tickets and gave away something like 6 $1million prizes and a dozen $100k and so on. Supposedly it was the best odds to win a million on the planet or at least it was marketed that way.
I remember they stopped it because there was a couple years in a row that they didn’t sell all the tickets and they were just barely over the break even mark. But I enjoyed the format.
Humans are simple creatures and the bigger the number the more is sold and this has consistently been the case when they went from $1 to $2 and then changed the odds to get more consistently bigger $1B like jackpots.
$5 from $2 is pretty steep though so I’m curious what the structure is gonna be.
I personally wait till it’s about $500M before I throw down $20 or so, maybe a bit more whenever it goes over a billion. It’s a cheap “daydream” to me.
For better odds lower jackpots, there are always scratch games. But those attract a different category of people.
A lot of people who buy mega or powerball tickets at 1B+ jackpots never buy scratch offs. This includes people who understand probability. I would imagine $2 and $5 are perceived very differently for these people.
A lot of people who buy mega or powerball tickets at 1B+ jackpots never buy scratch offs. This includes people who understand probability. I would imagine $2 and $5 are perceived very differently for these people.
PowerBall went to $2 7 years before Mega Millions went to $2. PowerBall will likely change their format sometime as well if this proves to be successful.
Scratch offs have always had much better odds plus there is more entertainment value
Powerball and MegaMillions feast on dreams people have of striking it rich, when in actuality that’s all it is…. A Dream
I chip in if my office buys a grip of tickets.
I can't imagine a bigger regret than the morning of that next work day
I can't imagine a bigger regret than the morning of that next work day
KidSilverhair
Well-Known Member
It’s an odd move considering Mega Millions has had a couple of giant jackpots recently. Do they think they need jackpots of $2 billion instead of $1 billion to get people to play?
It also reflects the diminishing returns of lottery systems. When people play every week and never win, after a while some of them will stop. The only way to bring them back is to offer bigger, shinier jackpots.
It also reflects the diminishing returns of lottery systems. When people play every week and never win, after a while some of them will stop. The only way to bring them back is to offer bigger, shinier jackpots.
I'm guessing they're trying to get the jackpots to around a billion faster. I'm curious how much slower ticket purchases will be after the jackpot resets. $700million is the totally arbitrary point where I'll throw $10 at it.
