The Illinois Halloween Raffle

Reply #29

Rowen — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:30:58 GMT

Don't feel too bad because I got ya beat!!! I missed the 100,000 by 4 numbers a year or two ago. Arghh...what a difference a few minutes make. Fate was not smiling on me that day.

Reply #28

markp1950 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:06:09 GMT

I missed by 336 for the $1,000

But 2 stores that I often buy tickets at sold $1,000 tickets....

MarkP

Reply #27

Ice Man — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:22:26 GMT

only bought 2 this time, after all the speculation. they use a computer to draw the winning numbers. why not air the 4 million dollar prizes on television? (there isnt enough time, they say) it cant any longer than the lotto balls.

its amazing how many 1000 prizes were still unclaimed from last years halloween raffle - makes ya wonder....

BTW, i didnt win, i was within 150 of one of the numbers tho.

Reply #26

London — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:39:24 GMT

So yeah I bought one ticket.....didn't win. But I thought it was worth a shot. I'll probably buy a couple more during the next raffle. I really feel like Illinois lottery should take some hints from the Michigan lottery, there raffles are great; with much better odds.

Reply #25

markp1950 — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:57:52 GMT

PS

Millionaire Raffle Tickets Left - 13,380

Ticket Count Updated - 10/29/09 10:00 PM

So all the tickets should be sold out tomorrow...

MarkP

Reply #24

markp1950 — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:56:04 GMT

Combined state and fed taxes is 28% for Ill.

Of course the winner will fall into O s over 250K camp so taxes might be a bit more....

So the million $ winner should get a check for $720,000....

I would NOT complain about paying taxes on a million.... :-)

MarkP

Reply #23

Ice Man — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:38:42 GMT

all this money the state is making and we are still in debt so deep. same as the government - you win 200 million - IRS is going to take 30-40%, 80 million dollars - where does that go

Reply #22

markp1950 — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 02:08:49 GMT

Good or bad, I bought 1 raffle ticket today......

Millionaire Raffle Tickets Left - 105,266

So 394,734 sold

$7,894,680 sold

$5,000,000 in prizes...

$2,894,680 in profit so far....

MarkP

Reply #21

Coin Toss — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 01:30:41 GMT

Cha$e-IL

Not sure if you're talking Number games or the raffle, but if it's number games there sure are a lot of winners in Chicago.

Here's the Little Lotto jackpots for this year.

https://www.lotterypost.com/thread/186805/10

The Pick 6 (Lotto) hasn't been hit enough to really show anything.

The last 2nd Chance promotion had most of the winners in Chicago, most 2nd Chance promotions do - unless, of course, if you call anything south of 183rd Street Downstate .

Reply #20

Cha$e-IL — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:42:17 GMT

I think I played once...didnt like the odds...I'm convinced th Il lottery is rigged or least somthing funny is going on...I called the lottery once to ask for a list of winning ticket locations, I was asked why I needed that info,and after I explained that it was part of my playing strategy they then told me to send a blank check because at this time they didnt know how much it would cost...Now who in the hell does that...So now I have to check their website after every drawing since its listed... [ More ]

Reply #19

Ice Man — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 23:59:25 GMT

Hi all, new member - just found website.

I have been playing these raffles since they began - in what 04 - 05 ? usually buy about 5 tickets spread out a few weeks apart. never even close. i know quite a few people who have purchased each time - again never even close.

i sent an email to the illinois lottery asking why they dont have the million dollar drawings live on television and i was told it was all computer generated, it would take too much time. again i had to emphasize just the 4

Reply #18

markp1950 — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 07:23:37 GMT

I went all the way down to Illinois and forgot to buy my raffle ticket....

I remember at one time it said that it could be extended of not all the tickets were sold.

Wisconsin had a raffle and they ran the drawing even though not all the tickets were sold. No wonder that they only ran one raffle!

MarkP

Reply #17

Coin Toss — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 04:01:42 GMT

Good questions!

From the Illinois Lotery website:

How do you play HALLOWEEN MILLIONAIRE RAFFLE?

Buybuying a ticket! Tickets for the Illinois Lottery's HALLOWEENMILLIONAIRE RAFFLE can be purchased at Illinois Lottery retailersthroughout the state. A total of 500,000 raffle tickets will be available, and will be sold in numeric order. Sales begin October 1 andwill be available through 2 p.m. on October 31, 2009 - or sooner ifearly sell-out occurs.

Reply #16

rdgrnr — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:52:38 GMT

That's interesting that they might not sell all the tickets and makes me wonder about something.

Do they take all the unsold ticket numbers out of the drawing and just draw from the sold numbers so that all prizes are won?

Or do unbought winning ticket prizes just go unawarded

Reply #15

caipiao — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:43:31 GMT

illi raffle's behind in selling. There are 260,000 tickets left and it's past mid-oct.

So what if, what if ! there are 100,000 tickets unsold by oct 31? they hold drawing, and give out 5 millions and some 100k prizes and some 1k prizes , if giving same # of prizes you odds are much better, sort of like winning a bunch of millions from 400,000 random numbers instead of from in 500,000

Reply #14

markp1950 — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 11:20:58 GMT

I did a little study on the risk/reward taking into account jackpot size and $20 for the raffle. The bigger the number the better...

I don't know how this will format on the screen...

Powerball MegaMillions Raffle

Jackpot (Cash) .055 .450 .400

100K(250k MM,200KPB) .039 .064 .100

1,000Raf 10,000(MM PB) .014 .015 .050

Also take into account no smaller prizes for raffle.

So for the bigger prizes the raffle is much better unless the PB/MM jackpot is huge....

MarkP

Reply #13

Coin Toss — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:36:29 GMT

Todd,

True. I'm not really anti-raffle, I'm just taking a real deep look at it.

I just think of it as a bookie's wet dream, which it is.

Illinois has the population to handle a 1,000,000 ticket raffle at $10 a ticket, I just wonder why they don't.

Table games, slots, and Pick 5 , Pick 6, and 5 + 1 games don't have known results beforehand as far as will anyone win. Raffles do. Not who will win, but how many will win. That's a lopsided house advantage.

Like I said, good luck all.... [ More ]

Reply #12

four4me — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 23:22:59 GMT

funny thing about raffles is about the same with scratchoffs somebody's gonna win small prizes and somebody's gonna win the big prizes and nobody knows who thats going to be until it done and over with. While the odds are enormous theres a chance that it might land in your lap.

It's one of those things you have to wait and see while there will be plenty of disappointed people everyone holding a winning ticket will be glad they won something.

Reply #11

Todd — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:57:26 GMT

I hope you did not think I was answering your post. In fact, at the time I wrote my message I had only read the very first post in this thread and answered it directly.

I'm definitely aware that there are people who don't like raffles, and I would never consider faulting anyone for their like or dislike of any game. There are lots of different games for a good reason -- something to fit any perspective

Reply #10

Gamblor — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:55:58 GMT

The Illinois Lottery posts all the winning numbers. I just made a mental note of it.

Reply #9

Coin Toss — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:33:39 GMT

To each their own Todd, but let me add this.

In Nevada when a new game goes into a casino it's given a test run to see how popular it is, etc. But if the Nevada Gaming Commission deems that the game has too much of a house advantage over the player, out it goes.

I'm wondering how they would treat one of these raffles, if they had a lottery.

On the lighter side, it's really ironic that so many here at LP that are anti-quick pick can't wait to buy a $20 serial numbered raffle ticket. I kn... [ More ]

Reply #8

Todd — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:53:03 GMT

Raffles are awesome, go for it! They are not created for people who like small prizes less than $10, so if that's you I would avoid it. However, if you're looking for a much better shot at a big prize, raffles are perfect.

Reply #7

caipiao — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:32:53 GMT

It seems like the $100,000 and $1,000,000 prizes are won in the 20,000 to 250,000 range

how to you know? if true, it narrows down the range. how do you know most would fall in that range, any theory? it's then not truly random or is it

Reply #6

Coin Toss — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:44:58 GMT

Here's somethinng else to think about. At a $20 buy in even if you win $1,000,000 each of those twenty dollards has won $50,000 compared to a $1 lottery ticket that wins even $2,000,000 at the jackpot start point for a Pick 6 state lottery.

If you win $100,000 each of your dollars has wom $5,000 - a Pick 4 straight pay off in Illinois, and if you win $1,000 each buck won $50.

All that is, of course, if your ticket is one of the 509 winners and not one of the 499,491 losers.

Raffles are... [ More ]

Reply #5

Gamblor — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:47:36 GMT

Hello everyone. First time poster, long time lurker. I ve played the Illinois raffle games for a couple years and never won anything. What s interesting and frustrating at the same time is checking your raffle number when the winning numbers come out. Every time I played I ve been off at least by a thousand in either direction. And that is for a $1,000 prize. Say my raffle number was 10,000. The closest winning numbers would be 9000 and 11,000. So I could have bought 2000 tickets at $20 a pop fo... [ More ]

Reply #4

caipiao — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:16:06 GMT

does it have better chance at a million than scratchers? i think so.

I don't know if IL 20-dollar cards have a scratching chance of 1 in even a million at $1,000,000

Reply #3

rdgrnr — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 06:17:57 GMT

Man, I was feeling pretty good for a while there Coin Toss! Then you had to come up with all them dad blame facts and figures!

I got somebody getting me a ticket up there and now I'm gonna... well... have another shot of Jack I guess.

Seriously though, the way I see it, it's a lot better shot at a million than $20 put on any other game, right

Reply #2

Coin Toss — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 05:51:10 GMT

From the Illinois lottery website:

Your Best Shot at a Million!

Since only 500,000 tickets will be sold, your odds of winning a million dollars have never been better!

4 Prizes of $1,000,000, odds are 1 in 125,000! 5 prizes of $100,000 each, odds are 1 in 100,000! 500 prizes of $1,000 each, odds of 1 in 1000!

THAT S 509 TOTAL AVAILABLE PRIZES WITH OVERALL ODDS OF 1 IN 982!

________________________________________________________

I look at it this way, 500,000 tickets will be

Reply #1

rdgrnr — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 05:44:31 GMT

The odds are that way because there are no small prizes. You either win a big prize or nothing at all.

There are 4 one million dollar prizes.

Five $100,000 prizes.

And 500 $1,000 prizes.

There will only be 500,000 tickets sold.

Sounds like it's worth a shot to me.

Good luck

The Illinois Halloween Raffle

London — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:34:50 GMT

I am considering buying a couple of these raffle tickets. Yet, I am a little hesitant because the odds of winning anything at all are 1:982. Do you guys think thats a bad bet