[Misc] Wednesdays National Lottery.

[Guy Fawkes]

The freaky main Lotto numbers (five multiples of "Lucky 7") meant that there were a large number of 5+bonus (6) and 5-match (4,082 - the 3rd highest ever) winners, resulting in extremely low individual prizes for both (£10,016 and a record-breaking £15 respectively). It was unsurprisingly the first time an individual prize amount was less than the prize two tiers lower - yes, you won more for matching 3 numbers than 5!

Why the fixed prize pool for each winning combination, surely it should have been adjusted to make sure that 5 numbers would still pay out more than 4 or even 3 as it is harder to achieve (regardless of how many actually achieved it in a particular draw) - as far as i am aware, they don't publish how much each prize pool is for each tier, so they should be free to change it, even if it means that the winners with 3 and 4 numbers right receive less

 

[French Seagull]

Why the fixed prize pool for each winning combination, surely it should have been adjusted to make sure that 5 numbers would still pay out more than 4 or even 3 as it is harder to achieve (regardless of how many actually achieved it in a particular draw) - as far as i am aware, they don't publish how much each prize pool is for each tier, so they should be free to change it, even if it means that the winners with 3 and 4 numbers right receive less

I don't think it should be adjusted, it was just 'Freaky' numbers - 7's, we know thousands still play 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 if five of them came up again it would be a poor payout.

It should just be a bit of fun - a dream for £2 as I said I am pleased I stand a chance of winning £1 million if I play, even better if I won the jackpot, I know the chance is incredibly small, Camelot and the Government will always win. However it has made quite a few millionaires that never 'expected' to win, who have managed to change their lives and perhaps that of their families and friends.

I am not going to get caught up in the odds of smaller prizes, it should never be regarded as an 'investment' and surely never has been. Perhaps it is a concern that it can be regarded as a tax on the poor in some cases and some others put on more than they can afford.

Anyway good luck to anyone who has tickets for this Friday Euromillions £19 million + five £1 million raffle prizes that must be one or Saturday's Lotto £28.2 Million + one £1 million raffle.

PS I don't work for them!

Good luck!

 

[GT49er]

I used to use a regular set of numbers twice a week. The minute the greedy b*******s shoved on a 100% price hike, I decided that was it. I haven't bought a single ticket since then, and I don't regret it one iota.

I wonder how many more people did the same as me? They don't seem too anxious to disclose how many customers they lost. Anybody seen any figures?

 

[Guy Fawkes]

I don't think it should be adjusted, it was just 'Freaky' numbers - 7's, we know thousands still play 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 if five of them came up again it would be a poor payout.

It should just be a bit of fun - a dream for £2 as I said I am pleased I stand a chance of winning £1 million if I play, even better if I won the jackpot, I know the chance is incredibly small, Camelot and the Government will always win. However it has made quite a few millionaires that never 'expected' to win, who have managed to change their lives and perhaps that of their families and friends.

I am not going to get caught up in the odds of smaller prizes, it should never be regarded as an 'investment' and surely never has been. Perhaps it is a concern that it can be regarded as a tax on the poor in some cases and some others put on more than they can afford.

Anyway good luck to anyone who has tickets for this Friday Euromillions £19 million + five £1 million raffle prizes that must be one or Saturday's Lotto £28.2 Million + one £1 million raffle.

PS I don't work for them!

Good luck!

Would you be happy if there was a freak result and the prize for 5 numbers and 5 numbers + the bonus ball paid out more than the jackpot for 6 numbers if too many had the winning combination or if it was a real freak result and those with 3 or 4 numbers won more than those correctly predicting more numbers correctly (ie, if your 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 came up)?

 

[Guy Fawkes]

I used to use a regular set of numbers twice a week. The minute the greedy b*******s shoved on a 100% price hike, I decided that was it. I haven't bought a single ticket since then, and I don't regret it one iota.

I wonder how many more people did the same as me? They don't seem too anxious to disclose how many customers they lost. Anybody seen any figures?

it went down hill as soon as they introduced the Wednesday draw, ever since it seems like they are chasing players with their gimmicks to try to lure them back, such as their extra raffle winners and need for a big jackpot that has rolled over so many times that it finally reaches the levels we had soon after the lottery first started caused by the extra numbers added.

 

[French Seagull]

I used to use a regular set of numbers twice a week. The minute the greedy b*******s shoved on a 100% price hike, I decided that was it. I haven't bought a single ticket since then, and I don't regret it one iota.

I wonder how many more people did the same as me? They don't seem too anxious to disclose how many customers they lost. Anybody seen any figures?

I am sounding a bit obsessive about all of this and would remind all that 12% goes to the Government in tax and 'only' about 50% to prizes. So if you put in millions you would only get back 50% and the 'banker' always wins. How the winnings is divided best I guess is the discussion and what would make people buy more tickets, not just higher prizes but perhaps recession, fear of the future, uncertain government. Or to be opposite having extra cash in your pocket, no fear of having a flutter.

Sales figures: you should totally realise that all the changes were because and did not did not cause the drop in sales. I think some people started to realise that the lottery was not a definite path to becoming a millionaire and cut back or stopped after the initial excitement.

For Camelot now a great deal of money comes from their scratch cards. From March 1995 until the end of 2011 the total sales were £14,768,654,219.

Lotto:
Average ticket sales 2016 about £28.5 Million
Average ticket sales 2015 about £25 Million
Average ticket sales 2010 about £25 Million
Average ticket sales 2005 about £30 Million
Average ticket sales 2000 about £40 Million
Average ticket sales 1995 about £65 Million

Highest sales Sat 6 Jan 1996 £127,824,795
lowest Wed 2 Oct 2013 £13,821,607

During the first half of the 2015/16 financial year (1 April – 26 September 2015), National Lottery ticket sales were £3,615 million – an increase of £145 million on the corresponding period last year and the highest interim total since The National Lottery launched in 1994

So Lotto sales did not change much financially when they made the changes. So why are sales higher this year?

 

[Guy Fawkes]

I am sounding a bit obsessive about all of this and would remind all that 12% goes to the Government in tax and 'only' about 50% to prizes. So if you put in millions you would only get back 50% and the 'banker' always wins. How the winnings is divided best I guess is the discussion and what would make people buy more tickets, not just higher prizes but perhaps recession, fear of the future, uncertain government. Or to be opposite having extra cash in your pocket, no fear of having a flutter.

Sales figures: you should totally realise that all the changes were because and did not did not cause the drop in sales. I think some people started to realise that the lottery was not a definite path to becoming a millionaire and cut back or stopped after the initial excitement.

For Camelot now a great deal of money comes from their scratch cards. From March 1995 until the end of 2011 the total sales were £14,768,654,219.

Lotto:
Average ticket sales 2016 about £28.5 Million
Average ticket sales 2015 about £25 Million
Average ticket sales 2010 about £25 Million
Average ticket sales 2005 about £30 Million
Average ticket sales 2000 about £40 Million
Average ticket sales 1995 about £65 Million

Highest sales Sat 6 Jan 1996 £127,824,795
lowest Wed 2 Oct 2013 £13,821,607

During the first half of the 2015/16 financial year (1 April – 26 September 2015), National Lottery ticket sales were £3,615 million – an increase of £145 million on the corresponding period last year and the highest interim total since The National Lottery launched in 1994

So Lotto sales did not change much financially when they made the changes. So why are sales higher this year?

Ticket price going up to £2 from £1?

 

[French Seagull]

Ticket price going up to £2 from £1?

But the price went from £1 to £2 in October 2013 and average tickets sales stayed about the same,

 

[French Seagull]

It would be just one of those things, you can not have rules for every eventuality that you decide is not quite right, life is far from perfect!

 

[French Seagull]

Would you be happy if there was a freak result and the prize for 5 numbers and 5 numbers + the bonus ball paid out more than the jackpot for 6 numbers if too many had the winning combination or if it was a real freak result and those with 3 or 4 numbers won more than those correctly predicting more numbers correctly (ie, if your 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 came up)?

It would be just one of those things, you can not have rules for every eventuality that you decide is not quite right, life is far from perfect!

 

[Ernest]

Have a million max as top prize and have plenty of smaller winnable prizes of £100 and £50 etc instead of these stupid roll overs that you get now

 

[French Seagull]

Have a million max as top prize and have plenty of smaller winnable prizes of £100 and £50 etc instead of these stupid roll overs that you get now

I agree a million top prize -it would suit me. Every week there are two wins guaranteed through the raffle of £1M which can not be shared, one hundred prizes plus a year of £1M. That I believe was a positive change and perhaps the draw should (in my opinion) include more of these (perhaps instead of the £20K raffle?)

The only thing is that the public are greedy and put more on as the jackpot gets higher. Syndicates would want more than a million I guess?

However, Camelot profit are set at 0.5% of sales so they have to find a formula to sell the most tickets, they can not take any more than 0.5% and the Jackpot formula they are using sells more tickets as shown below, to them sales make more profit, sales increased every week. They must love rollovers.

Sales:

Last big one 9th Jan: Ticket sales Saturday £95,141,760 jackpot £66,070,646 (won by two tickets) The next draw Sales were only £18,707,454 with a jackpot of £2,773,612

Ticket sales Wed 6th Jan Ticket sales £44,243,706 jackpot £52,964,701

Ticket sales Sat 2nd Jan £38,752,538 jackpot £47,405,023

Ticket sales Wed 30th Dec £27,233,710 jackpot £42,659,372

Ticket sales Sat 26th Dec £33,754,408 jackpot £39,529,852

Ticket sales Wed 23rd Dec £25,092,188 jackpot £39,529,852

Ticket sales Sat 19th Dec £34,513,260 jackpot £32,690,115

Ticket sales Wed 16th Dec £21,788,784 jackpot £28,573,124

Ticket sales Sat 12th Dec £33,611,990 jackpot £26,267,667

Ticket sales Wed 9th Dec £20,856,038 jackpot £22,284,273

Ticket sales Sat 5th Dec £33,007,204 jackpot £20,192,107

 

[Thunder Bolt]

My other half's office syndicate binned the national lottery a long time ago. They now play the Health Lottery, and very often win £10 prizes. The prize money is held until Christmas, and divvied out.
At least the profits go towards health projects rather than Camelot's bank.

 

[Ernest]

My other half's office syndicate binned the national lottery a long time ago. They now play the Health Lottery, and very often win £10 prizes. The prize money is held until Christmas, and divvied out.
At least the profits go towards Richard Desmond's bank account.

Just corrected that for you

 

[French Seagull]

My other half's office syndicate binned the national lottery a long time ago. They now play the Health Lottery, and very often win £10 prizes. The prize money is held until Christmas, and divvied out.
At least the profits go towards health projects rather than Camelot's bank.

Health is an important thing (and a bottom less pit) so any money raised is good however, the game has been criticised for donating only 20.3% of the ticket price to good causes, compared with 28% donated by the National Lottery.

 

[ArfurW8]

Hot picks 2 number and Hot picks 3 number for me each time.
Pays 60 and 800 respectively.

Used to do set numbers but stopped doing that about 10 years ago,I still remember the numbers and doubt I would have won £50 with them since then.

 

[Albion my Albion]

Your chances of dying of a heart attack on the way to buy the lottery tickets are greater than your chances of winning.

 

[sir albion]

Very interesting and it's clear the national lottery is a complete joke...will cancel my DD now

 

[French Seagull]

Very interesting and it's clear the national lottery is a complete joke...will cancel my DD now

Not sure why you have reached that conclusion?

- but each to their own decision

 

[French Seagull]

Your chances of dying of a heart attack on the way to buy the lottery tickets are greater than your chances of winning.

Yet over 4,000 people have won in excess of £1M since the start and an average of six new millionaires a week, as well as the billions to good causes. Just shows 'odds' can be strange!

Who would have put much on Leicester at the start of the season?