State's first raffle in 4 years
Lottery Post Exclusive
by Todd Northrop
On Friday, the Kentucky Lottery kicks off sales for its newest game, 50/50 Split the Pot Raffle.
Tickets for the new raffle game will only be available for a period of less than four weeks, and on June 10, one lucky winner is going to win half the proceeds.
Unlike a traditional raffle, the 50/50 game does not impose a limit on the number of tickets sold; rather, the more tickets that are sold, the better, because the jackpot is exactly half of the total sales for the game.
The concept has been tried before, and has led to big prizes. In Sept. 2010, the Michigan Lottery held a 50/50 raffle, producing one winner of a $1.3 million jackpot (see Michigan Lottery Ultimate 50/50 Raffle Results).
"It plays just like the split the pot raffles that have been around forever," said the Kentucky Lottery's Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing Steve Casebeer. "It's a simple game — one winner takes half the pot, and it's unlike anything we've ever offered.
Tickets for 50/50 Split the Pot Raffle cost $10 each. Sales begin Friday, May 13, and end at noon on June 10. The drawing will be held the afternoon of June 10.
"We wanted this game to have a short run, so players shouldn't wait to get a ticket," Casebeer said.
The winning number for the raffle will be published on Lottery Post's Kentucky Lottery Results page soon after the drawing. Players will also be able to check their tickets at lottery retail locations.
Players cannot choose their own ticket numbers, as the tickets are sold in numerical order.
"We believe players will really enjoy this exciting new game, and we'll be monitoring it to see if it's a concept we want to pursue," said Casebeer. If this raffle goes well, Casebeer said there's a possibility it could become a game offered for four weeks each quarter.
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I certainly hope this goes better for KY than it has for ID. One big difference is that Idaho is charging $20 per ticket. They call theirs Winner Takes All.
As of tomorrow the entry period will be half over and they have sold about 70,000 tickets for a JP of $70K. Yeeps. I'm beginning to be sorry I bought a ticket. I can only hope sales catch on fire for the last half cuz that's not much of a JP.
That doesn't make sense. If they sold 70,000 tickets, that's $1.4 million in sales, so the jackpot should be up to $700,000 by now. That's pretty good, and the draw isn't until June 9! (it will undoubtedly get much higher by then.)
You can see the details for the Winner Take All game on Lottery Post's Event Calendar (See month of June)
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
A 50/50 raffle run by a guy named Casebeer!
What the hell could be better than that?
YEEEEEEEEEEEE HAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Thank You Kentucky!
Ok my math is bad. The JP is around $70K according to their website which is usually updated every 10 minutes or so. (I see it's down now.) I did the math from there. Actually it's only 7K tickets sold, right? Not good!
I have no idea on the ticket sales, I'm taking your word for it. But if only 7,000 tickets were sold, I would be buying tickets left and right. Those are great odds of winning a big prize. 1-in-7,000 to win a $70,000 prize? I'm all in! Those are better odds than winning Pick 4 straight - and that's usually around $5,000.
Don't worry, sales of raffles tend to ramp up significantly in the final days before the drawing. Just ask Arkansas players, with the raffle that never ended because the lottery was scared they wouldn't sell out. They finally set a sales end date, and the week of the raffle, all the rest of the tickets were gobbled up.
Kentucky is being smart by keeping the sales period very tight. No need to extend it multiple months. Whatever the number of tickets sold, you can be sure the odds are good of winning a big prize, compared to the other games offered in the state.
Jack Daniels will be drawing the winning number and Jim Beam will present the huge cardboard check to the winner!
I take back every bad thing I said about Kentucky!
In fact, I'm gonna start growin a greasy mullet my own self today!
And in honor of their new raffle I even wrote a commemorative jingle that they can use free of charge in their ad campaigns.
When I'm feelin lucky
I head fer Kentucky
Not Tennessee
Where lottery's sucky
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
I really would like to see Texas have a raffle. Their jackpot games are getting a little stale.
KY is smart having a short sales period. I'm looking forward to seeing how it comes out.
Ridge, it sounds to me like you're ready to move in with yer friend tiggs.
This is an example of the perfect raffle. $10, short run time and I really like the 50/50 concept. Even if only a few thousand tix sell you have a good chance to win something!
Congrats Kentucky on the 50/50 Raffle
.......it seems as if every State has a Raffle except Oklahoma
now....now...now....let's not forget Margarita/Strawberry Daiquiri as the announcer
Count me in,I'll go Sunday to get my share....save me some ridge!
Not crazy about having just 1 big winner. And what if you have to take the annual payments instead of lump sum especailly if it's over a million. I rather have 5 or 10 winners split the pot and spread the wealth and increase odds of winning.