I Haven't Won SQUAT!

Say Uncle notes that in its first week the Tennessee lottery has paid a staggering 0.719% in prizes! Less than a percent!

According to law (scroll to the bottom), 50% of earnings go to prizes. It may be that since the big games haven't come out yet, we are seeing this piddling return. I hope so. I've been hearing from coworkers, and on local black talk radio, some anger at the small numbers of winners and the small takes.

From the Commercial Appeal comes a breakdown of the odds of winning:

The odds of winning something - most often, a free ticket - in the Tennessee Millionaire game are 1-in-4.

Another inaugural game is Tennessee Treasures, which features $2 tickets bearing scenic photos from around the state. The maximum prize will be $25,000. Overall odds of winning will be 1-in-4.

A third game, called Lucky 7's, requires the player to find three 7s in a tic-tac-toe-winning arrangement and will pay out up to $7,000. Those tickets will cost $1 and will carry overall odds of 1-in-5.

The fourth game is the $100,000 Jackpot. Tickets will cost $5. Overall odds are 1-in-3.

Huh. I've played the lottery. Yeah, even though I opposed it. I've only invested $6 and I haven't won a DAMN THING. So, I'm not playing any more. Probably.

Googling around for this story, I ran across a study done by Middle Tennessee State University on the impact of the lottery on enrollment, retention and staffing. It's an eye-opener. According to the study, the rate of students elible for lottery scholarships drops pretty markedly as the students move through their four years of schooling:

Freshman year: 85%
Sophomore year: 38%
Junior year:22%
Senior year:18%

There's some confusion about the way the data is presented, but still, this is disheartening. Read the report for yourself; it's a brisk read with lots of tables.