Pick Three is coming next Monday

GEE! Hasn't it been awhile since you blogged? Why yes, yes it has, it's been busy, so sorry. They have posted all of the new and exciting ways that they plan to take cash out of your pockets! PICK THREE, it starts Monday and by a preliminary crunching of the numbers I can give you this preview. The top prize is smaller than any scratcher on the board ($500) but the odds MORE than make up for it! And with such exotic plays like boxing, there is a few nice ways to make some decent scratch, not retirement scratch mind you, but "make your day a little more brighter" scratch to be sure.

FOR example. Let's take $2 and try to win $40 (a 20X payback). Here is the odds for that prize (or close to it) for each of the two dollar scratchers in play.

• Wild Cherry Doubler Win $40. 1 in 401.
• All The Money Win $35. 1 in 299.
• Stocking Stuffer Win $40. 1 in 401.
• Money Madness Win $50. 1 in 333.
• Jumbo Bucks Win $30. 1 in 445.
• Crazy 8's Win $50. 1 in 2486.

• Arkansas Riches Win $40. 1 in 264.

If you  play a 6 Way Box for 4 different number combinations in the Pick Three. You cover 24 unique numbers. AND if you make it a 50 cent wager, you pay $2.00. The odds of winning $40 with this set of circumstances? 1 in 41.6! Which bests even the best scratcher odds by a factor of over six!

I urge you to go over to myarkansaslottery.com and check out the complete rules for the PICK THREE game. I will have a complete workup on Monday along with some recommendations for what to play.

12.04.09 Update: This is new, a card to AVOID

For the first time in this blog's 67 odd day existence, I finally have a card to avoid. It is time to avoid this card because it has only ONE top prize left and the odds are simply better elsewhere right now, in fact the odds are better pretty much anywhere right now. Maybe they'll recharge this card and get it off the schnide but I doubt it as it is one of the Christmas Themed cards. It is the $50,000 Holiday Cash ($3) scratcher. It has shed just a tremendous amount of value and should be steered clear of.

Super 7's continues with its $1,000 hot spot.

AND if you were one of the lucky Second Chance winners congratulations. The next second chance drawing is coming for the ($2) Money Madness cards. Deadline to get those cards in is Tuesday December 8th.

NEW SCRATCHER INFO! NEW SCRATCHER INFO!

Well, finally they got around to posting the new scratcher info for us pleebs. I must say that the new bunch show some great promise (well except for a notable exception) read on and find out MOAR!

Game 013 - Beat the Dealer ($1) - Top Prizes $2,000 - $100 - $50
Oh look, another one dollar throw away card to beat on. Seriously, if I have said it before I have said it at least 355 times, if you only have $1 to play the lottery, save yourself another dollar and buy a $2 card. Especially when the $2 cards released in this go around are actually pretty nice comparative to what is out there now. Initial Recommendation on this card, a resounding 'Meh' which translates to HOLD.

Game 014 - All the Money ($2) - Top Prizes $22,000 - $1,000 - $250
This car boasts the best back of the card odds of any offering at this price point right now. A nice top prize and a cool grand in the second prize tier. A solid 64% EV put this card in the upper echelons of the $2 price point, and definitely better than any of the $1 offerings. Initial Recommendation, Better than a quick poke in the eye, could be a real sleeper as far as prizes go, so BUY.

Game 015 - Wild Cherry Doubler ($2) - Top Prizes $20,000 - $300 - $125
What this card has going for it is a TON of lower prizes, I mean the prizes off this card fall off a cliff, from a $20,000 top ALL THE WAY down to a $300 second prize. What this means is that you won't get rich off of this card BUT you will have fun raking in the metric ton of lower prizes available. In fact it has the best odds at snatching up a prize at the silver level ($11-$25) than any other $2 scratcher. So for the initial recommendation I say this card COULD make your day just a little brighter, so BUY.

Game 016 - Money Mania ($5) - Top Prizes $100,000 - $2,000 - $300
So now we get to the new $5 offering from the ASL. Let me just say, I LIKE this card. It has the best odds a the Bronze ($1-$10), Silver ($11-$25) and Gold ($26-$99) dollar prize levels, and the second best odds at the Platinum ($100+ excluding the top prize) level of ANY card on the board (exception of course is the steroid fueled $10 Jackpot Card). This is the best card on the board right now out of the gate, and thus gets my highest recommendation. STRONG BUY!


And the rest.
$1 tier, 3 Times Lucky and Money Bags. Yawn! IGNORE.
$1 tier, Candy Cane Cash. Similar yawn, HOLD.
$2 tier, Arkansas Riches and Stocking Stuffer. IGNORE. Time to either re-up Arkansas Riches or put the old warhorse to bed.
$2 tier, Jumbo Bucks. Ditto, HOLD
$2 tier, Money Madness and Crazy 8's. MILD BUY, better buys on the board.
$3 tier, Holiday Cash. BUY
$5 tier $100,000 Cash Bonanza. HOLD
$5 tier $uper 7s, Hot Spot, so MILD BUY.
$10 tier $500,000 Jackpot. Strong numbers still on this one, still $10 though, BUY.

11.29.09 Update: Delays, delays...

Well since the lottery commission had the weekend off they obviously decided NOT to post any numbers for their new cards (starting tomorrow). I guess no one at the commission could be bothered to pre-make the web-pages and then spend oh, two minutes on Friday logging in remotely from wherever they were and turned them on. Cripes! Numbers as soon as I get them. Were just waiting on YOU Lottery Commission...

Happy Thanksgiving

No news on the lottery front really. Recommendations will remain right where they are until Friday or so when everything will go on its customary hold until the new numbers are in. Happy Thanksgiving folks!

Update 11.23.09 : Biting the Bullet

I can no longer deny the fact that the best buy on the board right now is the most expensive card in the game. The ($10) $500,000 Jackpot scratcher is pricey, yes! But right now it is the best odds and the best prizes on the board. If you can afford to part with $10 (and that is a big IF for some people) this is the card to currently buy, at least until someone knocks off one of those one-in-a-million $500,000 top prize. There have been a few moves over the weekend, let's sum up.

$500,000 Jackpot UPGRADE to Strong Buy. It's just the best value on the board right now.
$uper 7s UPGRADE to Mild Buy. The Hot Spot on the card helped that decision.
Stocking Stuffer UPGRADE to Mild Buy. The numbers are looking better on this card.
Jumbo Bucks DOWNGRADE to Mild Buy. The old veteran is showing his age.
Candy Cane Cash DOWNGRADE to Buy. It is the best buck waster on the board.

Next Tuesday we have new scratchers already. Of course the second the numbers are posted I am analyzing and reporting to you!

Update II 11.18.09: You're recommending WHAT?

I thought I would never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never neverdo what I am about to do.

My current recommendation ($1) Candy Cane Cash.

BUT EXILED YANKEE (You shout at your monitor) YOU ALWAYS SAID THAT $1 CARDS ARE A RIPOFF! YOU SAID SAVE YOUR MONEY AND GO AHEAD AND BUY A $2 CARD! Well I did, it's true. but a unique set of circumstances has presented itself.

1. My old STRONG BUY recommendation ($3) $50,000 Holiday Cash. Has shed one of its top prizes and is no longer as attractive as it was. 
2. NONE of the $2 tier of cards are lightning my world on fire right now. Including the ($2) Arkansas Riches card that needs to be drug out into a field and shot.
3. The $5 cards are nice, but they are $5 and not everyone has that all the time.
4. The $10 card is AWESOME, but it's $10, which even I think is pushing the envelope on how much you should pay for a scratcher.
5. The ($1) Candy Cane Cash, was just RECHARGED and has a TON of prizes available and hey, it IS only a buck, even *I* can afford that right now!

So I guess the moral is never ever say never ever! If you have a buck or two, pick up one of these little gems!

Reported by: Cecillea Pond-Mayo, KARK 4 News

The Arkansas Lottery Commission approved 3 new games to begin early 2010. They include Cash 4, MegaMillions, and an instant win add-on to draw games.

So what does this mean. Well along with the Cash 3 (pick three numbers, should be a daily game) we are going to get a Cash 4 (pick four numbers, again should be daily), Mega Millions (Like Powerball with better odds, say the odds of an ice cube in hell rather than the odds of a snow cone in hell), and an instant win add-on to draw games (actually kind of a neat idea, I saw it last summer in New York if it is what I am thinking of. When you buy a Cash 3 ticket for example, if you buy the instant win booster then the machine prints out a quickie game piece right on your ticket for the possibility of an instant win). Do not know the odds of those add ons yet, but I have applauded the transparency of the Arkansas Lottery so far in such matters, so when they post the odds I will analyze them for you.

NEW SCRATCHERS are already coming in on December 1st. (yep, that soon!) From what I can cull so far they are...

• MONEY MANIA (unknown dollar amount, unknown top prize) Looks to be another premium card however.
• WILD CHERRY DOUBLER (unknown dollar amount and prize)
• ALL THE MONEY (unknown dollar amount and prize) presumably not "All The Money" however.
• BEAT THE DEALER (Looks to be a $1 card, unknown prize) I have a soft spot in my heart for all poker based cards, we'll see what the numbers look like!

Odds Should be released on November 27th, so take a break from Black Friday shopping and check out my recommendations!

Update 11.16.09: Second Chance Drawing dealine announced!

You know that pile of loser scratch-offs that are just lying around your dwelling. You keep saying to yourself, YEAH, I need to enter those into the second chance website one of these days... Well that "one of these days" is drawing close, QUICK!

you have until November 20th, (Friday) to get the tickets registered for the following games to be registered for the following prizes.

One prize of $100,000 to be drawn from $100,000 CASH BONANZA entries;
One prize of $25,000 to be drawn from JUMBO BUCKS entries;
One prize of $20,000 to be drawn from ARKANSAS RICHES entries;
One prize of $3,000 to be drawn from 3 TIMES LUCKY entries;
One prize of $2,000 to be drawn from MONEY BAGS entries.

So register and good luck! Numbers did not do enough moving over the weekend to quantify a Recommendation change on any level. So for now we are keeping them right there.

EDIT: OOPS! What I meant to say was, the $5 $uper 7s scratcher has a $1,000 Hot Spot, still a hold on the card but if you feel like gambling, there is a plethora of $1,000 prizes on this card right now!

FRIDAY THE 13th update of **DOOM**

Ok not really. With 12 available scratchers out there the numbers are not as volatile as they used to be, the result of this being fewer updates as the numbers don't change NEARLY as much as they used to. As of right now all recommendations hold right where they are. There were two BIG winners over the last few days, someone hit the $2 Stocking Stuffer and the $2 Jumbo Bucks for one top prize each, congratulations! Arkansas had a coupe of $10,000 powerball winners, good for all of you. As for myself, I am in a lottery dead streak, I can't seem to buy a winner lately, *shrug* ah well, it's going to a good cause. (or at least it better, we'll be wathing you legislature!)

Small Update: 11.10.09

Watch out for the new scratchers that should be hitting the stores today. MY recommendation is the $3 $50,000 Holiday Cash card. The $10 $500,000 Jackpot is nice if you can afford one. THERE has been a recharge on the board, as the Arkansas Lottery Commission has purchased a new slate of the $2 Money Madness cards, these cards are a former STRONG BUY, and are now upgraded from HOLD to MILD BUY. Good luck.

THE DOPE ON THE NEW SCRATCHERS

Tomorrow (Tuesday November 10^th) we are receiving the third release of scratch-off tickets for the Arkansas Lottery. There is a Christmas Theme, with 3 out of the 4 cards following suit. Oh, this is cute; these lottery scratchers have little TO and FROM places on them in case you want to give them away as gifts. Question, what would you do if you gave one of those away as a gift and it HITS? Merry Christmas, here’s $50,000! And what did you give me? A Snuggie, wow, that seems a little off there.

11.06.09 Update: Now just hold everything!

Arkansans bought Over $1M in Powerball tickets for the first drawing. Powerball paid out to Arkansans $98,832 in winnings. That sets the EV (Expected Value) of a powerball ticket at no better than 9.8%. So based on the last drawing, for every dollar you spend on a Powerball ticket you can expect to get roughly 9.8 cents back!

Let's compare that to the EV of the scratchers.

• 3 Times Lucky (59.6%)
• Money Bags (59%)
• Arkansas Riches (63.3%)
• Jumbo Bucks (65%)
• Money Madness (62.3%)
• Crazy 8's (62.6%)
• $100,000 Cash Bonanza (68.8%)
• $uper 7s (68.3%)
• POWERBALL (9.8%)

Digest that the next time you are in line to buy a Powerball ticket. Again the smart thing is to organize a Powerball club. Smaller individual risk, smaller return, but more chances to win. My little club is on track to purchase 50 tickets (with power play) for this Saturday's drawing.

SO why a hold on every scratcher? Because this is the time when you should hold your money in antici.... (SAY IT!) pation for the new scratcher release. A Christmas themed release with 3 of the four scratchers following suit. The scratcher that does not have a Christmas theme will be Arkansas' first $10 scratcher, Top Prize $500,000! I WILL be breaking down the numbers all weekend, and give you my detailed recommendation on Monday. Until then the smart money says "save me"!

Update 11.04.09: Cooldown, new scratchers, and POWERBALL

A reminder, KARK Channel 4 (anyone else miss Roy Mitchell?) will be your local POWERBALL station. It will broadcast the POWERBALL drawing tonight at 9:59PM so turn in if you have a ticket, as Arkansas is dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century!

Money Madness? Had a hot spot Monday and Tuesday? Cooled down quickly. No hot spots currently on the board and it's recommendation is back down to MILD BUY. Crazy 8's $500 tier is now a COLD SPOT. Ignore this card! Everything else is holding right where they usually are.

That won't last for long however, as shortly everything will go to HOLD for the new scratchers. If Der Arkansas Lottery goes along with form, I will get the numbers Friday, they will release the cards Tuesday, and you can actually buy them in the stores, oh sometime around 2010 (no, probably later in the day, we'll see). OF COURSE don't buy a scratcher until you see the numbers here! It's just smart!

Good luck with POWERBALL tonight folks, $66M prize ($33.5M Cash Option) I have one ticket, because one is all I need ;)

11.02.09: Recharges and a new HOT SPOT!

Went to the river for the Arkansas Lottery Powerball party. Neat little time, a little music, some food (did not partake in), and if you bought $5 in scratchers you got a spin on a prize wheel. I bought $5 spun and won a $5 scratcher ($100,000 Cash Bonanza) and wound up winning $20. Plus three handfuls of those little red lottery scrapers. Funtime, remember that the first Arkansas Powerball drawing is this Wednesday, estimated jackpot is $66M.

Friday I should get the numbers for the new scratchers that are going to be introduced next Tuesday (Nov 10th) I will publish those numbers just as soon as I can. As for our current fleet, The $1 Money Bags ticket has been recharged. I still cannot endorse any of the two $1 offerings out there, but I have raised the recommendation for this scratcher from IGNORE to DON'T BUY. The $2 Money Madness ticket has developed a $1,000 HOT SPOT, lots of those prizes available and that raises it's recommendation from MILD BUY to BUY. The $2 Jumbo Bucks is still leading the recommendations with a STRONG BUY. A winner has stepped forward for the $5 $100,000 Cash Bonanza top prize. So that card goes down to MILD BUY. It's cousin the $5 $uper 7s scratcher is up to a BUY from a MILD BUY. It's top prize is getting warmer.

As always remember to play the lottery for entertainment only, if you HAVE to win you HAVE to stop, contact your local gambler's anonymous.

Update 10.30.09 : Where to watch your balls.

Powerballs that is. Yesterday it was announced that KARK NBC4 will be the station that will locally air the Powerball drawings at 9:59PM On Wednesdays and Saturdays. The drawings are held at the Universal Studios in Orlando (Mickeyland) Florida.

Powerball.com go ahead, go there, take a look at the Powerball odds, go ahead, they're right there off the front page, I'll wait... RIDICULOUS aren't they? You are better off at buying a scratcher for a prize totaling $100 or more! Don't believe me? Approximate odds to win a $100 prize or more.

• $2 Arkansas Riches, 1 in 2557
• $2 Jumbo Bucks, 1 in 1808
• $2 Money Madness, 1 in 1209
• $2 Crazy 8's, 1 in 13310 (why I was never huge on this card!)
• Powerball starts at 1 in 13,644! for a $100 Prize!

 So play Powerball alone at your own risk, realizing you will never see that cash again. The reason I say alone, is that Powerball teams, are definitely the way to go to play this Multi-State Lottery. Where people pool their money together, buy a large amount of tickets and then find some fair and equitable way to split the winnings. You are going to want as many tickets in the game as possible to bring those astronomical odds down, to at least the Stratosphere anyhoo!

Card Recommendations remain right where they are. Here is a small update, On November 10th the new slate of scratchers come out, for $10 you can buy a chance at $500,000! Posted Odds on the back of the card for the $500,000 prize? 1 in 1,000,000 (even!) Good Luck this weekend, I'll see you all at the Powerball Party (maybe)

10.28.09: It's a party and you're invited.

It seems that there is going to be a Powerball party at the River Market Halloween night starting at 9:00 pm. There will be music, refreshments, and spins on a prize wheel (If you buy $5 worth of scratchers). Culminating at around 10:15pm when they will drop a big Powerball a la Times Square and you can start purchasing tickets. I don't know, I might go, it may be worth it to see the whole spectacle in person. If you are done trick-or-treating and the little crumb munchers are in bed, might be a good place to waste an hour of your time.

Crazy 8's ($2) has been shedding top prizes like crazy! Not only has its $18,888 Top Prize gone cold but its second tier $500 Prize has gone cold as well. Ignore this card. The $2 Money Madness card has also shed two of its top prizes, recommendation further downgraded to MILD BUY from BUY. The $2 Jumbo Bucks is still the best value on the board. We have heard rumors of another $100,000 winner from the $5 $100,000 Cash Bonanza card, but until it is official on the site, it is just hearsay as far as I am concerned.

And here we are, at day 30 of this experiment called the Arkansas Lottery. As of my current number run it has given out $26.5M in prizes, averaging about $890K a day. A poll came out yesterday reporting that fully half of Arkansans are just too pure of thought and mind (or just really smart probably) to ever think of buying one of those (scoff) lottery tickets. Well fine there Mr. Stick-up-your-arse, more for us sinners out here!

Update 10.27.09: New Top Recommendation

Looking at this morning's numbers I am downgrading the $2 Money Madness from STRONG BUY to BUY. I am upgrading the $2 Jumbo Bucks from MILD BUY to STRONG BUY. It is my official recommendation right now as the scratcher to buy.

10.27.09: Date Update

Here are the upcoming important dates for the Arkansas Lottery

OCTOBER 31st 10pm: Powerball tickets go on sale for the first time for the next Wednesday's drawing.
NOVEMBER 10th: Release THREE of the scratchers are unleashed. (Including a $3 card that I am keeping a close eye on!)
DECEMBER 10th: Release FOUR of the scratchers are unleashed. (Rumor still has it of a $20, $1,000,000 top prize card in this release)
DECEMBER 14th: Pick 3 daily game starts.
JANUARY 31, 2010: (still unconfirmed) MEGA-MILLIONS tickets go on sale for the Arkansas Lottery.
FEBRUARY 2010: Pick 4 daily game starts.

There was a $25,000 Jumbo Bucks winner yesterday, if the numbers have drastically changed overnight, I will of course have them here.

10.26.09 : Big moves over the weekend

The $2 Crazy 8's game has shed another one of its top prizes over the weekend. This leaves 3 of the 5 top prizes remaining in the game. This is a good reason to IGNORE that card, as the $18,888 prize tier has gone cold! The $2 scratcher to buy still remains in my opinion, the $2 Money Madness card, lots of good prizes remain on that card including its full slate of $18,000 top prizes. Want to try your mojo elsewhere in the $2 tier? The numbers for Jumbo Bucks still look spectacular.

Towards the more Mediterranean Avenue end of the spectrum, the throw-away $1 Money Bags ticket has developed not one but TWO cold spots on it! Both the $50 and $100 tier have shed many of their prizes. It is time to IGNORE this card more than you should already be ignoring it! My first rule of the $1 card tier remains, "Save another dollar and buy a $2 card".

To round out today's update, The $5 $100,000 Cash Bonanza card has developed a hot spot. Right at the top! The $100,000 prize is now hot! It is going to hit any day now, so if you have the $5.00 extra and simply cannot stomach another foot-long, I say go for it!

Remember, Saturday starts Powerball, later in the week I will tell you why that isn't such a big deal.