I normally don't like to be the bearer of bad news, but I've noticed something about FF5 that I think I ought to share.
Total dollar jackpot amounts are at an all time low. Weekday jackpots are running at about $110,000 while Saturday jackpots are about $125,000. (Saturday is FF5's big day) For whatever reason, the most FF5 tickets are sold on Saturdays which causes higher jackpot amounts.
Because of this I've been considering buying FF5 tickets in a different way. I usually buy tickets on various days of the week. It doesn't matter to me what day it is, but I do wait until after the midday drawing has been held before I buy them. Some weeks I'll buy three days, other weeks I might buy on four days, and if I have any "fun money" leftover I might even buy on five different days of the week. I never buy on Sunday because I know that's the day when jackpots are the lowest, and that's if there wasn't a rolldown. That said, more "single winner" jackpots are sold on Sundays so you're best chance of not splitting a jackpot is on Sunday. Most weekdays the jackpot is split among multiple winners. Single winner jackpots do happen, but not all that often. Last night's total jackpot was $110,200, but it was split between two players.
So I've been thinking I'll only buy my FF5 tickets on Saturday's, but I might buy three or four in one fell swoop. I also intend to save any Free Tickets I might have won and cash them in on Saturday. The big downside of only buying on Saturday's is that Saturday jackpots are almost always divided between two or three (sometimes four) winners. That sucks! But on the rare occasion when there was a single winner on Saturday, a $135,000 to $150,000 jackpot was won. My guess is those $150,000 jackpots were when The Snowbirds had landed in Florida. Most Saturdays there isn't a rolldown, somebody usually wins the jackpot.
So far this week, I haven't bought any FF5 tickets. (or any other tickets for that matter) So this coming Saturday might be the first time I try out (test?) my new ticket buying strategy. G5