In the town of Sweet Home, Orgeon, four residents have claimed a $1.8 million jackpot after picking the correct numbers in Oregon Lottery's Megabucks game on Saturday.
Carol Leest, Ralph Martin, Helen Wick-Martin and Chuck Smith picked up their prize Monday at the Lottery headquarters in Salem.
Gerald Leest, Carol's husband, said Wednesday that the four who went in on the ticket are longtime friends and neighbors who have been buying a ticket together for about six months.
He said that he and Chuck Smith have been friends for a long time and that Wick-Martin is Ralph Martin's daughter-in-law.
"We were hoping to keep this quiet," Leest said. "But then I heard it on our local radio station. I guess the word's out."
The four winners had purchased a $10 Quick Pick Investment Plan ticket at the Sweet Home Safeway for the Dec. 29 and Jan. 1 Megabucks drawing.
The Investment Plan pays one-half of the posted jackpot up-front instead of paying it out over 20 years. Each of the four families received $450,000 before taxes.
The ticket contained 10 sets of numbers with the eighth set 12-18-28-30-43-48 being the winning combination New Year's Day.
Leest said that despite his wife's good fortune, she will probably at least finish out the year as a teacher's aide at Hawthorne Elementary School in Sweet Home.
"It's not going to change us," he said. "It will just help things a little in retirement."
Leest said they will probably do some traveling after his wife retires.
"It was a good way to start the New Year," Leest said.
To me its the best lottery state in the country. Anyone have any other favorites? NY is by far the worst. I would love to see a state -come up with an online game that pays back in the area of 75% and a game that has a top prize of around 50k that makes it more possible to win. All of these states now are adding games with ridiculous prizes and odds that really are quite deflating to play.
Quote:Originally posted by qutgnt on January 6, 2005
To me its the best lottery state in the country. Anyone have any other favorites? NY is by far the worst. I would love to see a state -come up with an online game that pays back in the area of 75% and a game that has a top prize of around 50k that makes it more possible to win. All of these states now are adding games with ridiculous prizes and odds that really are quite deflating to play.
i disagree with oregon being the best lottery state. i play there a lot and it is a pain in the butt. the only reason i play there it is the closest place for me to play powerball. the payout that these people won is something new for the megabucks game. since washington started megabucks their cross state players went way down. still they won't increase the drawings from more than four drawings. i have hit in oregon for several times but i do all that i can do to get a ticket in another powerball state when i can. i can't comment on the rest of your statement but i definitely disagree with this one.
My favorites are New Jersey, Georgia, Florida, Ohio, Texas, and Kansas. (Maybe a strange list, but what can I say?) I also like New Mexico because they have 4 This Way and because they have a great team there, although I would like to see a standard Lotto game there.
75% of jackpots... Wow, more people must be buying QP's these days. How fast things change. Last I read in Gail Howard's book, for NY Lotto more than half did buy QP's, but QP's accounted for only 38% of the winners. Less than 50% of jackpot winners did not use QP's. In Canada, 47% of tickets sold were QP's, but only 20% of the jackpot winners were QP's.
Most people do buy QP's. I agree with that from what I read. It's how many jackpot winners that were QP's, is what I find hard to believe. Gail Howard wrote, " if the majority of tickets sold are QP's, then it makes sense that the majority of jackpots won should be with QP's---at least that is what I used to think". The info I posted in my last post is what she continued saying.
If she said the percent of jackpot winners using Quick Picks did not mirror the percentage that bought Quick Picks, then yes, I would say that she is wrong.
To me its the best lottery state in the country. Anyone have any other favorites? NY is by far the worst. I would love to see a state -come up with an online game that pays back in the area of 75% and a game that has a top prize of around 50k that makes it more possible to win. All of these states now are adding games with ridiculous prizes and odds that really are quite deflating to play.
i disagree with oregon being the best lottery state. i play there a lot and it is a pain in the butt. the only reason i play there it is the closest place for me to play powerball. the payout that these people won is something new for the megabucks game. since washington started megabucks their cross state players went way down. still they won't increase the drawings from more than four drawings. i have hit in oregon for several times but i do all that i can do to get a ticket in another powerball state when i can. i can't comment on the rest of your statement but i definitely disagree with this one.
My favorites are New Jersey, Georgia, Florida, Ohio, Texas, and Kansas. (Maybe a strange list, but what can I say?) I also like New Mexico because they have 4 This Way and because they have a great team there, although I would like to see a standard Lotto game there.
... again those darn quick picks
Quick Picks win 75% of all prizes, so don't be bummed - it's normal.
You don't mean jackpots do you? If yes, which lottery game/lottery state is that statistic for?
"It's not going to change us"...I like that approach
Oh, "and all other prizes". Ok.
75% of jackpots, 75% of second-tier prizes, 75% of third-tier prizes, etc., etc.
75% of jackpots... Wow, more people must be buying QP's these days. How fast things change. Last I read in Gail Howard's book, for NY Lotto more than half did buy QP's, but QP's accounted for only 38% of the winners. Less than 50% of jackpot winners did not use QP's. In Canada, 47% of tickets sold were QP's, but only 20% of the jackpot winners were QP's.
Maverick,
Those percentages you got are just totally wrong. Most people use Quick Picks, unless they are not available.
And the percentage of winners using Quick Picks always mirrors the percentage that buys Quick Picks.
I would defy anyone to produce a statistic in writing that shows differently. (A real, official source, of course.)
Most people do buy QP's. I agree with that from what I read. It's how many jackpot winners that were QP's, is what I find hard to believe. Gail Howard wrote, " if the majority of tickets sold are QP's, then it makes sense that the majority of jackpots won should be with QP's---at least that is what I used to think". The info I posted in my last post is what she continued saying.
That would mean Gail Howards findings are wrong.
If she said the percent of jackpot winners using Quick Picks did not mirror the percentage that bought Quick Picks, then yes, I would say that she is wrong.