California Gov. calls for expanding, privatizing lottery

Comment #16

Drivedabizness — Mon, 19 May 2008 17:37:04 GMT

If Daily 4 follows sales trends in the industry (at least for the Western US) , it will sell about half of what Daily 3 sells.

If I recall correctly, CA sells about 4 cents per cap in Daily 3. Half of that (2 cents) would be about 720k per week, or about 35 million per year - about 1 percent of total sales.

Unless or until CA changs its ruls to allow fixed prizes on online games, this Forest Gump-like you never know what you're gonna get for prizes will kill any meaningful chance... [ More ]

Comment #15

MeFirstYouLast — Sat, 17 May 2008 16:36:34 GMT

The purpose of the lottery is to take money away from you, giving you a small amount is something they have yet to find a way around. The politicians always claim to be on your side, but are N-E-V-E-R on your side. If you find a decent politician before the election, you can bet you won't find him after the election. Raise taxes or allow the lottery? As often as not, they'll choose both and be dishonest about both options.

Comment #14

JustFrozen — Sat, 17 May 2008 03:12:14 GMT

I agree the payouts in California are usually worse than other states, and it makes people not want to play as much. But it's not like they're ever gunna increase payouts

Comment #13

DC81 — Fri, 16 May 2008 22:43:42 GMT

I found it at Lotto Report.

I guess the Texas number is probably not accurate, but I doubt it's significantly different.

Comment #12

JWBlue — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:42:14 GMT

Where can Mega Millions sales by state be found

Comment #11

DC81 — Fri, 16 May 2008 20:06:44 GMT

Looking at the state by state sales for Mega Millions, California with it's population is over 35 million only sold about six million dollars in tickets, the number of people who play Mega Millions there is fairly low in comparison, it's similar with Texas. Maybe it's because there are more or maybe more attractive options with the state lotteries? New Jersey and New York seem to be the most popular though I'd imagine that there are a lot of people who go into either state to play which is why s... [ More ]

Comment #10

JimmySand9 — Fri, 16 May 2008 19:44:23 GMT

One thing that California is lacking is a good scratch-off game scheme. CA has some of the lowest payout percentages, if not the lowest, in the country. No scratcher pays out more than 64% of sales, compare that with it's northern neighbor Oregon, where no scratch-off pays out less than 65%. CA needs across the board increases in scratch-off prize returns, the more the better. They also need to remove the $5 price cap, as it is hurting revenue potential.

Plus, they need televised ball drawing... [ More ]

Comment #9

bobby623 — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:35:19 GMT

Texas has been trying, without success, to have MegaMillions and Powerball games, along with Texas Lotto, a nearly defunct Cash 5, Texas Two-Step and Pick 3 and Pick 4.

The problem is that the Mega group doesn't want the competition. Same with the Powerball folks.

Things may change in future, but no Governor can make it happen just to provide additional spending money.

IMHO, adding more games, or making the existing games harder to win, isn't going to attract more players. Just the oppo... [ More ]

Comment #8

kjs703 — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:01:06 GMT

Here is a question...

Is there a law or something which prevents a state from participating in both Mega Millions and PowerBall?

Maybe, the plan is to do both jackpot games within the same state

Comment #7

fastball 9 — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:00:49 GMT

An Example of using Lottery procedes as standard tax revenue.

More states are doing this, and have been. Since lottery revenues are fairly predictible, states have been using those funds as a substitute for taxes. Instead of raising taxes to pay for something, they use lottery money. For example, say a state spend $1 billion on education last year. This year, it needs 1.1 billion. Normally, they would raise taxes to cover the gap. Now, they'll take $100 million out of the lottery fund.... [ More ]

Comment #6

Todd — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:52:31 GMT

Adding a Pick 4 game will absolutely increase revenues. Just look at every other state that's done it and you will see that's how it works. It becomes a question of exactly how much revenue will be raised, but it is undeniable that it will raise revenue.

Comment #5

lottocalgal — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:59:07 GMT

I agree JW,

California seems to find more ways for us to play without increasing the payouts odds. When I saw the pick 4, it didnt even phase me; There is no way I will play any more games. I even stopped scratchers. I noticed that other states have the option of megaplier (for MM) but CA does not. Is it because we can win more money with the same odds? not sure. I look at the odds of some of the other states and CA seems to not even compare. I wish we coudl play powerball. I was even thin... [ More ]

Comment #4

JWBlue — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:38:48 GMT

I am not sure how having more games is going to increase revenue. They seem to have all the bases covered with a large jackpot lottery (SuperLotto Plus), smaller jackpot game (fantasy 5), daily games (daily 3 and 4), and scratchers. I don't think decreasing the odds of SupperLotto Plus in order to get larger jackpots is a good idea. We already have one low odds to win jackpot game with Mega Millions.

Comment #3

MeFirstYouLast — Fri, 16 May 2008 14:55:02 GMT

Todd:

FoxReader also worked for PDF files; without the call home and montioring feature requirement of Adobe. It is free and can be found by google search. No more slowing down of your computer while Adobe takes over your internet link.

Comment #2

Todd — Fri, 16 May 2008 14:40:46 GMT

I suppose the new Daily 4 game that starts Monday will have some impact on the bottom line.

Those who want to learn more about the new Daily 4 game, click the Event Calendar link on the left, and then click on May 19th. There is an official publication (Adobe Acrobat document) linked there for details.

Comment #1

MeFirstYouLast — Fri, 16 May 2008 14:31:53 GMT

Sooner or later, they had to find out the truth behind the Govenator. Nothing tops the ego, except taxes. When in doubt, raise taxes. Ten cents on the dollar, for the county state, is only the beginning. Wait until the Federal elections are over. By 2012, every American will be taxed to the max.

California Gov. calls for expanding, privatizing lottery

Lottery Post — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:41:58 GMT

Massively expanded lottery revenues are key to Schwarzenegger's budget plan

Called the lottery an underperforming asset

Anxious to avoid deep cuts in education spending, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday proposed dramatically expanding the state lottery and slashing entitlement programs, to help close a budget gap now pegged at $17.2 billion.

Schwarzenegger hopes to win voter support in November for a deal to obtain $15 billion from Wall Street firms, to be repaid from what the g... [ More ]