What do you do wish for when you're granted that one wish? More wishes, of course. And that's sort of what our win for life-type instant games are like. When you see a Lottery commercial or visit a Lottery retailer you might see signs about winning for the rest of your life. Which seems like a pretty good deal but maybe doesn’t seem real, a little too good to be true. I swear on my life, winning for life is very real. When it comes to Lottery tickets, there can be a lot of fine print - game rules, how to play, how to win, where to check the ticket and all sorts of information most people don’t read until they think they might have won. To get the real story, I sat down with the Ohio Lottery’s Instant Ticket Manager, Ron Fornaro. According to Ron, when we say that you can win for life, we mean it. And win for life prizes almost always offer two ways to receive your winnings - cash or annuity. If you win and you’d rather not wait for yearly payments, you can claim a cash prize right away. The choice is yours. Once your cash option claim is processed you’ll receive a check for half of the value of the total prize. If you’re a more patient person and want to look forward to receiving a nice check each year, claim the annuity option. When you claim your annuity prize, you get a check every year for the rest of your life. [caption id="attachment_653" align="alignleft" width="145" caption="This ticket's prize guarantees $100,000 per year for 30 years"][/caption] “Win for life games are exciting because you usually get a higher payout than some of our other instant games,” explains Ron. With each win for life prize, you are guaranteed at least 30 years of payments until you reach the full value of your prize. And if you live longer than 30 years after you win, and we hope you do, you could continue to receive prize payments from the Ohio Lottery every year for the rest of your life, depending on the game. If the worst happens and you die before the prize term ends, your estate will continue to receive Lottery prize payments for the reminder of the 30 years. Cash or annuity options are available for $5, $10 and $20 win for life-type games. Winning the Lottery is always exciting. The only thing that can beat winning just once is winning a prize that pays off every year... for the rest of your life! It's like getting more wishes.

BETTING ON MARCH MANIA I’m not a mathematician or a statistician. But I do have have access to some fine statistical minds. With the March Mania Keno event happening, I thought it would be interesting to delve into some of the odds and probabilities of winning. The matrix. Every game has one. It’s the result of the complex math that determines game odds, amounts and prizes. It’s how you get a fair chance to win a Lottery prize... the shape of the game, sort of. See the Keno matrix? [caption id="attachment_620" align="alignleft" width="237" caption="Keno odds"][/caption] I wanted to compare the odds of picking a winning March basketball bracket versus picking winning Keno numbers plus the Slam Dunk Dough EZ PLAY® ticket you get with every $10 Keno purchase. Is it a little unfair to compare? You have no idea. But it’s just for fun, right? Here are some random stats I found online searching from my home computer (data from vegaswatch.com): The odds of all your favorites making it through round one: about 1 in 19,000. The matrix widens greatly from there, ending with the odds of all your favorites winning out through the final round: about 1 in 3.475 billion. TIME OUT: One of our experts here completed a bracket using a stochastic process (Google it) and projected a VERY strong probability that a University from the State of Ohio will appear in the finals. Can’t say who though… According to University of Illinois computer science professor, Sheldon Jacobson, and his probabilistic seed-based prediction tool, BracketOdds, the odds of all four top-seeded teams reaching the final round is 0.026, or once every 39 years. The odds of all four 16th-seeded teams reaching the finals? A probable frequency of once every 800 trillion years. And of the 100 top seeds since 1985, only 44 have advanced to the final round. Yes, the odds of one top seed making it to the finals are nearly 1:1. But two top seeds in the final? Not likely. And the odds you’ll correctly pick the final two teams are not very good. Happily, while you’re out there at your favorite Keno bar battling your bracket probabilities, you can play some relatively great odds. For example, the odds of winning a prize on a Keno four-spot wager (picking four numbers out of 80) are 1 in 3.86. (Note: these are overall odds, we don't mean to imply that you'll win on every fourth game you play.) Odds on a ten-spot bet are 1 in 9.05. And the overall odds of winning a prize on Slam Dunk Dough are 1 in 3.41. With Keno plus a free Slam Dunk Dough ticket, the odds are about three times better. That’s why we have a lot of Keno winners - like hundreds of thousands. The odds are relatively good you’ll win something. It may not always be a huge prize, but when you’re out having a good time with friends and watching a few games, it’s nice to occasionally win enough to buy a round for the house. Or put a down-payment on a house. It’s happened. So enjoy the games and good luck beating the odds! And make sure you tell us when you’re a winner – post your story at ohiolottery.com/winners.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7ZZN-SdgfQ] Response to feedback regarding the new Web site launch.

True story, from Kassan, Office of Product Development:  At the age of ten I began to dream of a Professional Basketball career. I assumed a High School growth spurt would take me to my ideal basketball-playing height of 6-foot 6-inches. It never happened. I only grew to around 5-foot 10-inches and 115 pounds. I was known as the skinny little Arab kid who could run like the wind. As skinny as I was, the wind often impeded my forward progress on the outdoor courts. [caption id="attachment_565" align="alignleft" width="103" caption="5 foot-something, 100-something pounds"][/caption] Even so, I felt that my excellent jump shot, court vision and basketball IQ would help me make the high school basketball team. I was wrong. I did go on to excel at the local recreation center and YMCA. But no D1 scouts ever came to watch me play at the rec center.  My love for basketball has never faltered, though. I follow, play, and enjoy the game as I did when I was a ten year-old boy (but now my vertical leap is even less than before, my knees affect my forward progress and I am nowhere near 115 pounds). Last year, one of my all-time-best-dreams came true as I won the opportunity to go to Indianapolis and see the last four big college basketball teams battle it out for the championship.  At age 34, I was just as excited as when I was ten years old.  I arrived in Indianapolis on Saturday at 3 p.m. I could not believe how excited I was! The first game started at 6:10 p.m. and the second game ended at 11 p.m. When the underdog “home team,” Butler, beat all odds and made the final round, the entire city went from electric to a HIGH VOLTAGE. The next day, the day before the championship game, was spent navigating the city and making plans. We made a friend along the way (pictured) and we donated money to his cause. [caption id="attachment_562" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="he was honest and friendly and gave us good directions"][/caption] We went back to the hotel early that night and prepared ourselves for the big game. On Championship Monday we visited Indianapolis’ beautiful downtown mall and took part in a bunch of game-day events. One hour before tip-off we headed to the arena. I didn’t really care who won the game but my heart was racing. Lucas Oil Stadium was loud and excitement showed on every one of the 100,000 faces in attendance. For four quarters the game was close.  It was an incredible game, one of the best championship games ever. When the final horn sounded the final score was 60 to 59. The standing ovation for the Butler team (even though they came up one point short) was so deafening that I got goose bumps.   Time had run out on the hometown team and on my dream basketball weekend. We drove back to Cleveland right after the game. The five-hour drive felt like an hour because I spent the early morning hours replaying the images from one of the most exciting sports weekends of my life.  [caption id="attachment_564" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="an incredible atmosphere"][/caption] I work in Products for the Ohio Lottery. I get excited every year at this time, partly because of the exciting games (ours and the basketball), and partly because we always do a great promotion that ties in with the tournament. In this case, March Mania – we give you a free $2.00 Slam Dunk Dough EZ Play with every ten bucks of Keno. I never could slam dunk. But I’m psyched to see the games and watch our players win some extra prizes. In my work, and in my heart, it’s all about the games. There will only be one winner on April 4. But at the Lottery, we have hundreds of thousands of winners everyday. And I still have a nice jump shot. Enjoy the games!

In honor of the big college basketball events currently in play across the country, featuring some of our esteemed Ohio colleges (you know what we’re talking about), we’re hosting a statewide Keno promotion - March Mania! Here’s the deal: For every $10 KENO play, get a $2 Slam Dunk Dough EZ Play ticket free! March Mania runs at all Ohio Keno locations from 6:04 a.m. to 2:28 a.m. on tournament game days, which include March 8-13, 15-20, 24–27, April 2 and 4 - 18 days total. So when you visit your local Keno establishment to watch the games, you can play a little Keno and maybe win a little, or a lot, more! Check it out! Then check back here or on our Twitter feed for updates. And if you’re a lucky March Mania winner, or the Keno MVP at your favorite hangout, tell us your story here or at www.ohiolottery.com/winners. Watch the March Mania spot: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-RuMuNm5NM]

We take fun and games seriously here at the Ohio Lottery. We strive to deliver innovative and fresh products that are fun to play. Which is why, as many of you have noticed, we updated our Web site, www.ohiolottery.com. For those of you that have yet to see it, take a look around and let us know what you like best. The new site has a number of improvements that emphasize access to Ohio Lottery games, programs, and opportunities. In addition to the information contained on the former Web site, the new site offers an interactive and informative experience including the following changes:

• Watch the Drawings: You now have the ability to view televised drawings online.
• Learn How To Play New Games: Interactive how to plays for all of our draw and EZPLAY games show you what to do when you try a new game or play-style.
• Find Retailers Near You: Search for the nearest Ohio Lottery retailer or bank cashing location. The site also provides driving directions and maps to help you along the way.
• Fill out Forms Faster: Forms that you might need, i.e. claim forms and retailer applications, can be filled out and saved to your personal computer before you send them to us.
• Access Information Easily: Retailers and winners can easily request information online, like duplicate W2Gs and public records.
• Faster and More Frequent Updates: The new Web site receives a variety of feeds from the gaming system, which means data is updated in a close to real time environment, giving you access to current information faster.
• Find My Game: Find the perfect game or let us suggest new games that suits your preferences. Try this new application to see which game is your perfect match.
• Just for Fun: Play Ohio Lottery online games on your computer! Try Pig on the Rocket or Ultimate Mega Millions Crush just for fun.

And we’re not done yet! We wanted you to know that there were some extra updates made to the Web site just last night!

• Past 20 Drawings: To find the last 20 drawings, click on the game name, follow the Past numbers link in the Recent Winning Numbers bar or click on the Winning Numbers link at the top of the homepage.  Once on the winning numbers page, choose your game, click See Past Draw Results – the results will go back 180 days.
• Odds of Winning: Instant ticket information now includes the odds for the game!
• Press Releases: All press releases are updated and current.

There’s more work ahead of us and some exciting changes for you to look forward to in the coming weeks:

• New Instant Ticket Games: The new instant ticket games will be added to the site.
• Recent Winning Numbers Bar: The Recent Winning Numbers on the home page will show both the mid-day and the evening Pick 3 and Pick 4 numbers. The Cash Option value of the jackpot games will be listed beneath the jackpot amount. Also, Ten-OH! Draw Numbers will be attached to each set of winning numbers.
• Prizes Remaining: An instant ticket prizes remaining page will be added that can be accessed from the Instant Ticket landing page.
• Redball Results: A PDF with the Redball results by drawings will be added under the Redball promotion.
• March Mania: The March Mania promotion will be shown on the homepage.
• Mobile Site: In Phase II, the site will launch as a mobile site. More pages and functionality will be added.

Thank you to everyone who has sent in comments or questions.  We'll continue to do our best to keep you updated an informed. As always, if you have any comments or suggestions about the Web site or for the Ohio Lottery, please let us know here on the blog or e-mail us directly OLCWebMail@olc.state.oh.us. After all, we take our jobs pretty seriously, even though they’re all about fun and games.