Maryland Lottery's Million Dollar Spectacular Game Review

While visiting a friend's liquor store, I discovered Maryland Lottery's newest $1,000,000 prize scratch off game called Million Dollar Spectacular. I remembered reading one big winner's strategy where he'd play the new games as he felt there would be a greater chance to hit a big prize initially. It worked for him but, it didn't work for me. I ended up with 4 losers in a row before I hit back to back small winners.

The game is your standard $1,000,000 prize scratch off game. There are three $1,000,000 (see note) prizes (all still available at the time of this post), six $50,000 prizes (all still available at the time of this post), twenty-four $10,000 prizes (all still available at the time of this post), thirty-seven $5,000 prizes (35 remaining at the time of this post) and 733 $1,000 prizes (701 remaining at the time of this post) as well as various smaller prizes starting with $20. You match 1 or more of the 5 numbers at the top of the ticket and you win that prize. The game does have 1 difference from other big prize games in that there is a box at the upper left of the ticket. The box contains 6 prize amounts. If you match 3 of the prize amounts, you win that prize instantly. I liked this feature though I had crummy luck with it. The game started December 28, 2015 so, it hasn't been out that long. Like all new games, losing tickets are eligible for lottery reward points. Overall (meaning overall for the ENTIRE game) odds are 1 in 2.97 of winning. You can do better or you can do worse like I did initially.

Overall, I thought it was a nice game though not a great one. I plan to try it again some time and see if I can a bit better luck with it. To me, it's a pretty standard $1,000,000 prize scratch off game. If you like playing the newest game out in Maryland, you might want to give it a go. Good luck!

Note: the $1,000,000 is paid out over 20 years in an annuity. The winner has 60 days after turning in the winning ticket to inform Maryland Lottery if they want a cash option i.e. all the money immediately. If they choose that option, the payout will be LESS than $1,000,000. If they don't inform them in time, they will automatically receive the annuity (source: one of the game tickets I bought).

Lastly, my source for the odds in the game was one of the tickets I bought. My source for how many prizes remained at the time of this post was the Maryland Lottery webpage for this game. That web page can be found under the $1,000,000 prize scratch off games.