Understanding The Types Of Lotteries To Win Big!

Understanding The Types Of Lotteries To Win Big!

Posted: Wednesday, Jun 24,2020 | Time: 10:17 am | Edited by: The Lottery Lab Staff

Every rising day brings a new type of lottery game and a quick and easy way of making money. In the words of a famous lottery director, lotteries are not different from any other gaming product. Lottery players risk a discretionary amount of money against high odds to win a large prize, with the net proceeds going to the public good.

Lotteries played quite a relevant place in the early history of America, incorporating an important role in financing the establishment of the initial English colonies. The lotteries were then used to finance public work such as constructing dockyards and harbors, paving streets, and building churches. Since then a number of state lotteries have evolved focussing on public good while keeping a check on illegal gambling activities.

With these far-reaching developments in lottery games, the game structure or the format started undergoing changes and led to the advent of computerized vending. The major innovation the lottery format came up with was daily number games which were actually a backlash to illegal games historically present in all major American states. The introduction of legal lottery formats actually turned out as advantageous to the players with the ability to choose your own lucky numbers, ample sense of participation, and better winning payouts.

From a conventional approach towards lottery playing structures to a whole new establishment of legal lottery formats or also known as types of lottery. The system has come up to a flourishing conglomeration of highly engrossing lottery formats for you to win more often.

What Are The Basic Lottery Formats Adopted By The System

The Dailies

For players who like to try their luck every day and look for better odds of winning, this type of game structure is perfect for you. Playing the Dailies is as easy as picking up your daily grocery from the store. In most of the states, you can play these games twice a day, often on Sundays too, with cash prizes scoring up to $50,000.

For games like Pick 3, Fantasy 5, Cash 5, Daily 4, etc, you have to pick a specified number of playing numbers from the pool of numbers attributed by the game. Different Daily games offer distinct playslips with individual ways of playing such as Straight (Exact Order), Box (Any Order), Pairs, Straight/Box (Exact/Any Order), Combo (combination), etc. Typically the cost of the ticket depends on the type of wager you select, ranging from $0.50. $1, $2, $3, and keeps on increasing depending on the number of times you opt for the same wager.

Marking the type of bet or play as “Straight” will make you win the game if you match the winning numbers in exact order. While selecting “Box” will mean that you can win the game by matching your selected numbers with the winning numbers in any order. If you opt the “Straight/Box” wager, and your chosen numbers match the drawn numbers in the exact order, you win the prize for Straight as well as Box. And if you match the winning numbers in any order, according to this bet, you win a lesser amount of prize. For a “Combo”, you are covering all types of bets. This bet encompasses all possible combinations for winning. Let’s say, you chose the numbers 5, 8, 7, 3, and 2 for Fantasy 5 and the draw results are 2, 8, 7, 5, and 3. If players have marked, Straight, i.e. in the exact order they win nothing. If they have marked Box i.e. any order, they win a lower-tier winning prize. But if you have opted Straight/Box, i.e., exact/any order or Combo i.e. the combination of all possible outcomes, you bag a much bigger lottery prize.

The payouts offered by the Daily lottery games in most of the States are not determined by the pool of players, they are predominantly set amounts. The odds of winning Dailies are quite great as compared to other lottery formats, but the payouts are relatively lesser in amount.

The Dailies are easy to play and much likely to be won!

The Lotto

Lotto encompasses the classic lottery game structure and has been a favorite of lottery players for years. Games with Lotto format are present in most of the states and boasts bigger payouts. The format of the games is simple and straightforward, with prizes that are fantastic to win. Winning Lotto is like having a slice of a million-dollar cake. While playing one, it's like having a cake-walk!

Lotto games hold their drawings either every day or twice or thrice a week with prizes scoring beyond $100,000. For games like The Pick, Lotto Plus, SuperCash!, etc. you have to pick 6 numbers from a field of numbers as specified by the game. The retailer enters your selected numbers in the on-line terminal, which offers you the game ticket. Your ticket and not the playslip is your official bearer instrument for claiming and validating your prizes. Basic Lotto games offer greater odds of winning, fixed lower-tier prizes, and exciting ways to win, including Straight, Box, Pair, Combo, etc. The cost of playing Lotto for a single play is approximately $1 in most of the states. The cost of the ticket increases depending on the number of plays you like to play. But there are few states like Illinois that offer 2 plays for $1, which is quite a good deal to crack. A set of numbered balls are placed in an air-mix machine, or also known as the drawing machine. A fixed number of balls are drawn from this machine which determines the winning numbers for a lottery drawing. In Lotto, your numbers need not be matched in any particular order. If two or more people bag the jackpot prize by picking the correct 6 winning numbers, the winners have to split the prize equally. For Lottos, the jackpot prizes keep on rolling or increases with each draw, if no one hits the jackpot.

The amount of Lotto prizes depends on various factors. Now Lotto is particularly a pari-mutuel game, which means the amount of the lottery prize is determined by the total sales for each drawing and the number of winners. If there’s no winner for the game, the prize is rolled over or increased as compared to the previous amount. After each drawing, the lottery announces the estimated jackpot value for the next drawing. Even if players don’t hit all the six numbers, you can still match five, four or three numbers and hit a prize. Though the payouts for matching these numbers are slightly less, the odds are relatively high!

The Little Lottos

The Little Lottos too follow the path of a classic lottery structure and fall under the subcategory of The Lotto. This game format, known as 5 Ball Lottos is widely available and offers you some of the better odds of winning and higher payouts. The method of playing is very much similar to that of Lotto. The only factors that differ are the number of balls drawn and the number fields which are usually lower. 5 Ball Lottos are at times called Little Lottos because only 5 balls are drawn instead of 6 balls as done in The Lottos.

In the 5 Ball Lottos, the balls are numbered from 1 to some double-digit number. For instance, Gopher 5 uses balls numbered from 1 to 47 and is known by a 5/47 notation. The order in which the numbers are drawn isn’t something that players have to predict while playing Lotto. The jackpot remains progressive in nature just as The Lottos. The payouts for the game consists of two different game structures being played at the same time. On one side, we have the progressive jackpot which everyone wants to win. While the other side has a set of fixed second-tier prizes, that players can win by matching 4,3 or even just 2. The only difference between the two types of payouts is that the jackpot is treated as a pari-mutuel prize and the second tier prizes are not.

Typically, the drawings for Little Lottos are held more often than Lotto. The amount of prize money works on the same principle as Lottos. And since there are fewer picks or selection of numbers, i.e, 5 balls instead of 6 as in Lottos, your odds of winning such games become much better.

Multi-State Games

Originally, places with a relatively lesser number of inhabitants joined together to create games that offer bigger jackpots. These games are now called Multi-State games which include Mega Millions, Powerball, Lucky For Life, and Lotto America. These games now include a wide range of states, big money and of course a huge number of people. If you like grand jackpots, then these lotteries may turn out to be the ultimate game for you. Such billion-dollar games embrace the scenario of ultimate low risk and high rewards. So why not take a chance and try your hands on games that offer life-changing payouts.

Talking of Mega Millions, the game has two separate drawings. One includes the normal lottery drawings and the other is of the “Bonus” ball or the Megaball. Still called the Big Game, the game made headlines when it offered the largest jackpot in North American history of $363 million. And for Mega Millions, the jackpot has touched a whopping amount of $1.53 Billion. Not just Mega jackpots, the game offers Mega Odds. The lottery is offered in 46 jurisdictions, with an advertised jackpot of $40 million. The jackpot keeps on rolling by a minimum of $5 million until there’s a winner. For playing Mega Millions you have to pick 5 white balls from a pool of 70 balls and one golden Mega Ball from the other pool of 25 balls. You bag the jackpot if your selected numbers match the five numbers drawn from the first pool in any order, along with the Mega Ball number that is drawn from the second pool. You are entitled to secondary prizes, if you hit a combination of numbers which are quite higher in amount and are a pretty good option if you don’t hit the jackpot.

Another game with much higher stakes just like Mega Millions is the Powerball. The game has grown up to be played in 47 states. The advertised amount of jackpot is again $40 million which rolls over by a minimum of $10 million. For each Powerball play, the player has to select five distinct numbers from a set of 69 white balls and one number from 26 red ‘Powerballs’. The machine with 5 white balls draws 5 whites whereas the other machine draws 1 red Powerball that is a total of 6 winning balls. For the matching of your lottery numbers, you should have at least 3 white balls and 1 red ball, the same as the draw, to win. With high reward and low-risk scenario, if players even lose, it’s just the cost of your bet. So why not take a chance, and place a winning bet.

Winning Lucky For Life actually promises you luck for a lifetime. You have to pay $2 for one game and select five numbers from 1 to 48 and one Lucky Ball from 1 to 18, or you can choose a Quick Pick and have your numbers randomly generated. If you match all five main numbers plus the Lucky Ball, on the day of the drawing, then you have bagged the Jackpot.

The Multi-State Lottery, Lotto America offers a jackpot worth $2 million. You can win any prize if your selected numbers match the ones drawn. The more the numbers get matched, the greater is the payout. The value of your non-jackpot prizes can be increased by playing the All Star Bonus. For playing Lotto America, you have to pick five numbers between 1 and 52 and one Star ball between 1 and 10.

So why not go for these Multi-State lotteries with higher winnings. While the odds are better, the high amount of winnings attracts a considerable number of people. This means you will have to split the winnings with more people, a risk you may not want to take. For the annuity option, your jackpot prizes are split for over 29 years which is quite like a golden egg in your nest. Though the odds of winning the jackpot are pretty high, yet if you don’t bag the jackpot, the second and third-tier prizes offered are worth playing for.

With the establishment of the legal lottery system to framing up peculiar game formats that distinguish the various types of lotteries that function for the whole purpose of providing entertainment to the public, bigger payouts, funding general public issues, the lotteries have come a long way. And still, the system is constantly working hard to ensure that the lottery players have more and more responsible ways of playing the lottery and win money that serves good to all.