One more drawing tonight — then it's gone for good
UPDATE: What happened to the huge leftover jackpot money
By Kate Northrop
Georgia players have just one last chance to play Jumbo Bucks Lotto before it's gone for good, with the final drawing taking place tonight.
After tonight's drawing, the Georgia Lottery's Jumbo Bucks Lotto draw game will be discontinued permanently. Players should buy tickets soon if they want one last shot at the progressive jackpot.
According to an announcement on the Georgia Lottery's website, Jumbo Bucks Lotto sales will permanently cease at 10:45 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. After the drawing occurs at 11:00 p.m. tonight, the game will be discontinued.
"The Georgia Lottery Corporation continuously evaluates our products and strives to create new and exciting game experiences for our players," Lottery Communications Director told Lottery Post. "New games, like our Quick Win instant play and instant win games with a rolling jackpot that starts at $50,000, are introduced and older games are often ended. As a result, our Jumbo Bucks Lotto draw game will end November 14, 2024."
This could be the night a new winner goes down in history as the final Jumbo Bucks Lotto jackpot recipient. If not, the last known winner remains a player who purchased a winning ticket in Jefferson and won a $15.2 million jackpot drawn on July 11, 2023.
If no one wins tonight's $12.9 million jackpot, then all Jumbo Bucks Lotto secondary prizes for the drawing will be multiplied by 5.
"Thank you for your loyal support of Jumbo Bucks Lotto over the years!" the Lottery says on their website.
Georgia players with a Jumbo Bucks Lotto winning ticket have 180 days from the draw date to claim their prize.
Launched in February 2015, Jumbo Bucks Lotto is Georgia-specific draw game that offers a starting jackpot of $1 million, which increases by $100,000 every time the drawing occurs without a jackpot winner. The odds of matching all six numbers to win the jackpot are 1 in 10.7 million.
The first-ever Jumbo Bucks Lotto jackpot was won by a player in Tennille, who took home the $2.1 million prize in the April 2, 2015 drawing.
With one game on its way out, more game offerings are on their way in. On Nov. 17, the Lottery is introducing the W!N family to its Quick Win catalog of games, Reddick revealed. Quick Win is a "Fast Play" style of game where instant ticket purchases offer a chance at a shared progressive jackpot.
UPDATE: After the last drawing
The Nov. 14 drawing didn't produce a jackpot winner, leaving some players wondering what happens to the unclaimed $12.9 million prize. While players might assume that the leftover jackpot would fund future prize payouts or perhaps trickle down into secondary prize categories, the Lottery used the jackpot to cover financial losses Jumbo Bucks Lotto incurred.
"Over the years, the game has incurred losses," Reddick told Lottery Post. "The cash collected for purposes of this jackpot will be used to offset these losses."
The Georgia Lottery clarified that the jackpot pool and all fixed secondary prizes are funded independently of each other, meaning a calculated portion of ticket sales will cover each type of prize.
Isn't a lottery supposed to divest the jackpot to lower prize levels? 5X the payout is issuing a mere few thousand. Where is the $12.9 million going?
Excellent question. I'm also skeptical multiplying all the lower prizes by 5 is equivalent to redistributing the entire jackpot. The lower tier prizes are very low and there are usually fewer than 10,000 winners total. For example, in the previous drawing there were 3 winners of $500, 223 winners of $50 and 4164 winners of $5, for a total lower tier prize payout of $33,470. Let's say the typical total payout for lower tier prizes is around $50,000 per drawing. Then multiplying that by 5 would only yield a $250,000 payout, which is nowhere near the millions in the jackpot.
I think the fairest and method of redistributing the final jackpot -- should nobody hit all six numbers tonight -- would have been to divide it equally among all the winners at the 5/6 prize level, and then at the 4/6 level if there were no 5/6 winners. (Historically there are usually a couple of 5/6 winners each drawing.)
PS - Stat$talker???? This post is right up your alley
Aand whyy just THIZ JaCkPoT?... They're ALL up my alley..!!
Naah joe, I passed, they're endin it cauze they're tired of running..!!
But, I'm gonna keep itz Database records az exhibit "A"
Exactly
I was able to win cple hundred dolllars a few weeks ago
I tried hard to win that jkpot, I won $300 from the $100 spent, made $200 profit by them multiplying x5
unbelievable nobody won in over a year
Yes that was a horrible game and no winners for over a year
they shld hv multiplied by 10
Georgia is being very evasive with how they will divest the money. May have to file a FOIA with Georgia courts.
"May have to file a FOIA with Georgia courts."
You dont have to go to trail to get a FOIA...You just go to Ga Lottery Hdqrts and ask for the form to fill out..if they claim they don't have one, then by Law, a citizen can by handwritten request ( on a blank sheet of paper ) get the info..
Hi all, we updated the news story, namely with info pertaining to the reasoning behind the discontinuation as well as a new game update for Georgia players. We did ask the Georgia Lottery about what would happen to the $12.9 million jackpot beyond the increased secondary prize payouts, so we will update the story if and/or when we get a response.
Hi Kate
an you advise where it was posted abt the new game update? Is it the W!N?
wonder is this a draw game?
"We did ask the Georgia Lottery about what would happen to the $12.9 million jackpot"
Notice how they never answered Kate's question..!! Whyyy Ole Stat$ think they should pay it to MEEE, for az much az they've intentionally dodged my numberzzz..!!
And Thank You Kate...!
If Georgia doesn't say anything voluntarily, they will have to in 20 business days.
The lottery shop at Term B in Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson is joke. Their revision date on back of ticket is still in 2010. I have one as recent as 2014 and did not have latest holiday instant tickets available. Their player activated terminal is very frustrating to navigate. My friend had an issue at welcome center in Savannah and couldn't get me tickets forcing me to fly down from Philly.
"My friend had an issue at welcome center in Savannah and couldn't get me tickets forcing me to fly down from Philly."
LOz are hopin traveling citizenz get their money tied up in thoze Airport machinez... Chancez are you wouldn't want to fly back for such a cauze , compared to the price of an Airliner ticket.. coincidence?.. I THINK NOT..
Couldn't they roll it down to the second prize tier?
The story has been updated with an explanation about what happened to the huge amount of money left over from the final jackpot. You might be a little (or a lot) surprised.