Game had no monopoly on players’ interest
The Monopoly lottery game did not have time to pass Go. It’s gone after 69 days.
Monopoly Millionaires’ Club, with a theme based on the age-old board game, had its last drawing Friday night. The game launched in 23 states, including Pennsylvania, Oct. 19.
“It did not perform to expectations,” Gary Miller, spokesman for Pennsylvania Lottery, said Monday. He added that the state lottery systems decided collectively to terminate, announcing Dec. 16 Monopoly ticket sales would end the day after Christmas.
Drawings were Fridays, with a 10:15 p.m. cutoff for ticket purchases on those days. A ticket cost $5.
The status of “Monopoly Millionaires’ Club TV Show,” a second-chance opportunity for players, has not been determined.
If only the other 22 states performed as well as Pennsylvania. Miller said the Keystone State led the nation in Monopoly sales at 5 cents per capita, more than twice the 2 cents per capita other participants pulled in.
“(Monopoly Millionaires’ Club) did not resonate with players in other states, as anticipated,” Miller said.
This was the first multi-state lottery game to be introduced in 12 years, a venture similar to Powerball and Mega Millions, but “with fewer participating states,” Miller pointed out.
Two major criticisms of Monopoly were high ticket cost and the rules were difficult to understand. Apparently, some players didn’t know whether they won or lost.
Monopoly fared better in Pennsylvania than elsewhere, though, a circumstance Miller attributed to retailers actively promoting this game. He said “tens of thousands” of players won money statewide, including a $1 million recipient in Shamokin, Northumberland County.
Miller advises anyone who played in Pennsylvania’s Monopoly finale Friday to check his or her numbers because payouts were proportionately adjusted Friday – meaning “they took a prize significantly higher than in a regular drawing.”
He said, for example, the one player who matched four of five and the property number received $97,253 instead of the usual $20,000 prize. Also, a winning ticket worth $5 got $97.50.
There were 6,557 winning Monopoly tickets Friday totaling $1,092,609 in prizes.
Players have one year from the drawing date to cash in.
For more information, visit palottery.com.