A Big Thumbs Down for the new Mega Millions matrix

The new Mega Millions matrix, match 5/75 + 1/15 started on 10/22/2013. The previous matrix was match 5/56 + 1/46. Hey thanks Mega Millions, for making the Jackpot and 2nd-Tier prize way harder to win. I don't care that the overall odds to win any prize have improved to 1 in 15.

The previous odds to win the 2nd-Tier Prize were 1 in 3,904,701. The new odds to win the 2nd-Tier Prize are 1 in 18,492,204. These new odds are much worse than the odds to win the jackpot for a standard 6/49 lotto game, which are 1 in 13,983,816.

The previous Mega Millions odds to win the jackpot were 1 in 175,711,536. The new odds to win the jackpot are 1 in 258,890,850. Are you kidding me? The old odds were already astronomical and the new odds are super astronomical.

LOTTOSOUP

In addition to scratch-offs, I also play lotto games. I just want to give a shout-out to lottosoup.com, this is a great website for serious lotto players who want comprehensive lotto statistics about past winning numbers. They cover all sorts of stats on all major North American and UK lotto games.

Prize Tiers

Here's an example of prize tiers from a Texas Lottery scratch-off game.
Game Name: Texas Lottery Black-Series IV-Limited Edition
The overall odds of winning any prize from this game are 1 in 3.29

It's a $10 game with 10 prize tiers:

Prize Amount    Tier
$1 MILLION           1
$10,000                2
$5,000                  3
$1,000                  4
$500                     5
$200                     6
$100                     7
 $50                      8
 $20                      9
 $10                    10

If you split these prize tiers in half the top half would be $1 MILLION down to $500 (prize tiers 1 to 5) and the bottom half would be $200 down to $10 (prize tiers 6 to 10). When playing scratch-off games you can expect that most of your prize wins will come from the bottom half of prize tiers because the odds of winning prizes from the top half of prize tiers are much worse than the bottom half. Don't be discouraged by this because this is the norm, however, if you have never won a prize from the top half of prize tiers the strategies outlined in WINNING SCRATCH-OFF STRATEGIES can help you find those prizes.

New Feature for Prizes Claimed on Texas Lottery Website

The Texas Lottery website (txlottery.org) has a cool new feature for scratch-off games. If you click on a scratch-off game you will see under No. Prizes Claimed there is a blue underlined number that is a link to another page. Click on the number and the new page will display Date Claimed, Selling Retailer, Selling Retailer Address, Selling Retailer City, Selling Retailer Zip Code, Pack Number, and Ticket Number. This feature is nice to have because it’s nice to know when and where the top prizes were sold. I hope other states follow suit.

Best Coin or Tool for Scratching Off the Playing Board

I have tried to scratch with quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies, and I found that pennies work the best. However, that is until I stumbled upon a better scratching tool. My family and I went on vacation to San Antonio to see the Alamo, the River Walk, and SeaWorld. While at the River Walk my daughter found a penny flattening machine that engraves an Aztec mask with the words AZTEC ON THE RIVER onto pennies. We put the penny in the machine and turned the crank and out popped a flattened penny souvenir into the dispenser. I picked it up and I thought the penny looked like a good scratching tool. So after we got home from vacation I gave it a scratch-off test drive. To my surprise it turned out to be the best scratching tool I have ever used and now I won’t use anything else to scratch with. It scratches smooth and fast and doesn’t leave any scuffs on the ticket. Just keep in mind the better scratch-off tool you have the faster and easier you can scratch off the playing board. You’ll get frustrated and tired if your scratch tool is cumbersome and takes too much time.

Here's a pic of my flattened scratch-off penny:

Does anyone use any unique tools to scratch with other than coins or pocket knives?

WINNING SCRATCH-OFF STRATEGIES Now in Paperback

WINNING SCRATCH-OFF STRATEGIES is now available in paperback at Amazon. I wanted to extend the book to readers who don't have a Kindle or Nook and to readers who prefer to have a print book over the ebook edition.

WINNING SCRATCH-OFF STRATEGIES [Paperback]
http://amzn.com/1477565140

Scratch-Offs at BWI Airport

Just got back from a trip to D.C. and I flew back into Texas from the Baltimore airport. When I was strolling through Baltimore's BWI Airport I noticed a scratch-off vending machine. I don't travel a whole lot but this was the first time I have ever seen a scratch-off vending machine in an airport. I thought that was pretty cool, however, the airport is an awkward place to play scratch-offs. I didn't play any scratch-offs from the vending machine because I was carrying too much luggage for my family and didn't have time to overlook the games that were offered.