Lottery rollovers and roll downs
There is no game based on luck more profitable for winners than lottery, yet again no other game is so difficult to win. The idea of competing for millions of dollars while investing a single digit amount is immensely popular among people regardless of background. At the same time, only a small fraction of players wins significant prizes and very few can honestly say that they won more than the amounts invested over a long period of time. The focus remains on winning the big money and this is why it is important to understand notions such as lottery rollovers and roll downs.
Lottery rollovers lead to huge jackpots
The prize structure in a lottery differs depending on how the ones responsible with running the game understand to reward players. The jackpots are lower or higher depending on how expensive the tickets are and how much money goes towards fueling the prize pool. Furthermore, it is entirely up to the organizers to direct lower or higher amounts towards the main prize or to divide most of it among lower tier winners. The price structure can be easily read on the official website, but even so the jackpots vary in size from one week to the other and lottery rollovers are the catalyst for higher payouts.
The idea behind lottery rollovers is intimately connected to the fact that the odds of winning the jackpot are slim to none. This is why many players failed to win the first category for weeks in a row, which leads to ever higher amounts accumulating. Lottery officials frequently choose to roll over the unclaimed amounts and the vast majority of the money is incorporated in the next jackpot. The longer the winless streak lasts, the higher the jackpots get, which in turn generates even more enthusiasm among the players. Many increase the number of tickets they buy when lottery rollovers promise to lead to record payouts.
How do lottery roll downs work?
The mechanism behind lottery rollovers is easy to understand and many game organizers use them routinely to stir up the interest of their players. Statistics show that whenever the jackpot is significantly boosted by these rollovers, lottery players become more active. On the other hand there are situations when the organizers decide to roll down the jackpots and this usually applies to those lotteries that have a jackpot cap.
The EuroMillions is a shining example of such a lottery because the jackpot cannot exceed €190 million and when this amount is hit, the excess money is rolled down. In a nutshell, lottery rollovers propel the jackpots to higher levels until they reached the maximum allowed amount and then the roll down kicks in. At a first glance it might look like this latter procedure defeats the purpose of the rollover, but for those who win the second category it is a godsend.
Check out How to claim your lottery winnings anonymously? as well.
