Mega Millions vs Ohio 6/49

Reply #8

CASH Only — Mon, 16 Sep 2002 00:26:48 GMT

New Jersey Pick-6 Lotto, and Florida Lotto, are two other games that have 30 annual payments. It would not surprise me if one day there will be LONGER lottery annuities-I've heard of sweepstakes where the annuity was in FIFTY annual payments

Reply #7

RJOh — Sun, 15 Sep 2002 22:15:48 GMT

Once the 30yrs annuity becomes acceptable in a few of the big lotteries, it will become the standard for most of them, after all it's a way to increase the jackpot with the same amount of money and most pool players only play when the jackpot reach a certain level. Ohio $20M jackpot with odds of 1:13,983,816 sounds good regardless of the payout. RJOh

Reply #6

CASH Only — Sun, 15 Sep 2002 21:37:29 GMT

Currently, both Mega Millions' and Powerball's cash value are about 60% of the annuity. (MM=26 payments; PB=25 payments.) I'm guessing that when PB changes next month, the cash value will be about 55% of the (30-payment) annuity. Then, compare the percentage of the Powerball cash value/annuity vs the 44% in Ohio 6/49.

Reply #5

smd173 — Sun, 15 Sep 2002 21:21:13 GMT

I don't know why this hadn't occured to me sooner, but when PB goes to the 30 year Annuity, they most likely will have a larger annuity value for less cash. This could be a good thing, since the Jackpots are mostly advertised based on their Annuity value. And the higher the jackpot the more casual players they will draw.

Reply #4

CASH Only — Sun, 15 Sep 2002 14:32:48 GMT

RJOh: The 5,952,380 or so amount for Mega Millions was for the starting $10 million jackpot LAST Tuesday (9/10). The cash value percentage of the Mega Millions annuity is virtually the same as Powerball's. (Never mind PB soon will go to 30 annual payments.) The Ohio Lottery needs to be much more reasonable about the cash value percentage of the Ohio 6/49 annuity; otherwise, the right thing to do would be to make Ohio Lotto an ALL-CASH game (since Ohio itself cannot produce mega-jackpots).... [ More ]

Reply #3

RJOh — Sun, 15 Sep 2002 13:39:17 GMT

Have you checked the Ohio Lottery website lately? They have to cash value of Megamillion jackpot at $5,952,380, maybe they calculate cash value differently. Their current SuperLotto jackpot of $20M has not be updated, so it might be that its webmaster may not have the information. That being what it is, it you play for cash, the annunity rates or payout shouldn't matter.RJOh

Reply #2

CASH Only — Sat, 14 Sep 2002 13:55:51 GMT

Todd, I've mentioned before that it's not so much the longer annuity period in Ohio Lotto (30 payments) than in MM (26) but the fact that the Ohio Lottery makes TWO calculations of the annuity; one to determine the actual cash value of the annuity, and one to determine what is PAID to the winner(s). Different percentage rates are used (unless it has changed, the %ages differ by 1 1/2 points; ie, 4.25% might be used to compute the actual retail... [ More ]

Reply #1

Todd — Sat, 14 Sep 2002 13:25:53 GMT

The reason for the disparity in cash value has to do with the annuity payment period. The annuity jackpot (the one that is most commonly referred to by the lottery) is actually calculated FROM the cash value, not the other way around. Mega Millions has more cash in the pot right now, but the 4-year shorter annuity payment period means that less interest will accrue over its shorter payment period, and hence the annuity jackpot is smaller.This also clearly illustrates the clear reasoning behi... [ More ]

Mega Millions vs Ohio 6/49

CASH Only — Sat, 14 Sep 2002 12:37:11 GMT

Next MM jackpot: $17 million. Next Ohio 6/49 jackpot: $18 million. Approximate CASH VALUE of MM: $10.1 million; of Ohio 6/49: $7.9 million. That's right, the MM cash option is ~59 1/2% of the annuity, but the Ohio 6/49 cash value is _only_ 44%! (The four extra payments in the Ohio 6/49 DO NOT represent a true 15 1/2 percentage-point difference.) Michigan (Millions) and Pennsylvania (Super-6) are planning to replace their single-state jackpot games next year. Ohio needs a NEW game as well (ALL-CA... [ More ]