May 28, 2003
Feel the Powerball

The Texas House has approved a bill that would allow Texas to join with other states in the Powerball lottery, a move that supporters say could bring in another $100 million per year. I guess that means the answer to my question is "this year if all goes as planned".

Posted by Charles Kuffner on May 28, 2003 to Jackpot! | TrackBack
Comments

I donate a dollar, twice a week, to the education fund and the Gods of Chance. Why? Because, frankly, I tend to have a dollar sitting around twice a week.

Yet I'd happily support a lottery repeal.

Posted by: Morat on May 28, 2003 12:59 PM

And this is going to generate addtional revenue how?

Posted by: Charles M on May 28, 2003 2:33 PM

And this is going to generate addtional revenue how?

The theory is that it's bigger jackpots that draw players to the game, and that's Powerball. The rejigged Texas Lotto was the first step. I'm not convinced, but that's the theory.

Posted by: Charles Kuffner on May 28, 2003 2:42 PM

Since New York has Powerball, and is dealing with an $10 billion deficit this year alone, I can assure you that the lottery is not the answer. What it has done is take money away from the New York Lotto since Powerball does not attract new customers. Considering that the odds of hitting the jackpot in Powerball is 120,526,770 to 1 (odds are posted on www.musl.com, which is based on selecting 5 numbers from a set of 53, plus one from a set of 42), this shows that New Yorkers are not all fools.

Posted by: William Hughes on May 28, 2003 6:09 PM

Like I said, it's the theory. The Texas Lotto was already rejigged to have worse odds but higher payouts on that theory.

To their credit, they're not claiming that this will balance the budget, just that it will bring in more cash. Which it well may, at least in the beginning. It's still a drop in the bucket and the wrong approach on many levels.

Posted by: Charles Kuffner on May 28, 2003 9:57 PM