Butterfinger sweepstakes website

Ok, this one is not a lotto game, but the odds looked better than a real lotto, so I decided to check it out.
Butterfinger is owned by Nestle, a Swiss company. If you can get over the fact that the Swiss now hold the America's Cup, you might want to play. I guess the Swiss team just drew on that long Swiss nautical tradition.

The odds as published on their web site:
(1) $1,000,000 prize 1:276,139,934
(10) $50 gift certs. 1:27,613,993
(50) $20 gift certs 1:5,522,799
(200) $5 gift certs 1:1,380,700
$1 rocket cash1:100
$.50 rocket cash 1:50
$.30 rocket cash 1:50
$.25 rocket cash 1:10
$.20 rocket cash 1:1.18

At a local grocery store, the candy bars are 4 for $1. The grand prize is payable as an annuity over 20 years. With such low intrest rates, the cash value of the annuity is probably about as high as it will ever be. I don't have a financeal calculator here, so I'll guess it is worth $600,000 for the sake of having a number to work with. Taxes!!! $600,000*.6 = $360,000 still not a bad prize.

To buy all gamepieces (you can't, I already have some) would cost 276,139,934/4 = $69,034,983.50

you would win:
$360,000 grand prize, after tax
$2000 in gift certificates
$58,401,173 in rocket cash*
For a total of $58,763,173 in cash and gift certificates, and 276,139,934 candy bars

Even if you figgure all prizes are worth full cash value, you don't break even, but it's better than any lottery I have checked out so far. With these numbers you can figgure each candy bar costs $69,034,983.50 - $58,763,173 = $10,271,810 / 276,139,934 candy bars = $.038 or 3.8cents each

*how rocket cash was figgured
(276,139,934 - 261gift certs = 276,139,673 rocket cash prizes)
$276,139 in $1 prizes
$2,761,370 in $.50 prizes
$1,656,838 in $.30 prizes
$6,903,492in $.25 prizes
$46,803,334in $.20 prizes