They Miscalculated, Lottery Officials Say : Gambling: Changes are planned to make it easier to win $1-million prizes. Many players were dissatisfied with a recent change increasing the odds to win.

Admitting they miscalculated player reaction when they increased the odds in Lotto, state lottery officials are preparing to order changes in the game that would make it easier to win $1-million prizes.

Lottery Commission Chairman Dennis Malody said player dissatisfaction with a decision implemented in June that nearly doubled the odds of winning super jackpots has led lottery commissioners to “revisit” the issue.

He said the five commissioners have given their staff a month to come up with recommendations for changing the game in a way that would “restore player confidence.”

Commissioners have asked the staff to look into an array of options, he said, including the introduction of a new game that would have smaller jackpots and better odds, modifications in the current game to improve the odds or a return to the game that was played before the June changes.

“My interpretation of the response is not necessarily that (the new game) is the problem. The odds issue is the problem,” Malody said. “The answer is to make the odds more attractive to the players and how that is accomplished I have to leave to the people who are more involved in game design than I am.”

To rekindle player interest in Lotto, the most popular of the state lottery games, officials made alterations in the game that were designed to generate more super jackpots. Instead of choosing six numbers from a field of 49, on June 21 players began choosing six from a field of 53. The expansion of the field changed the odds of winning from 1 in 14 million to 1 in 23 million.

Since then, Malody said, individual commissioners as well as the lottery have received a flood of complaints from players who objected to the higher odds. To add to their troubles, he said, the game changes have not yet produced a huge jackpot.

By expanding the field of numbers, officials had hoped to have more drawings where there were no winners so that one day’s pot would be added to the next one. While there have been several jackpots exceeding $30 million, there have not been a succession of rollovers to produce the kind of jackpots--like the recent $100-million lottery jackpot in Florida--that draw national publicity.

“We have a product on the street which is designed to be a large jackpot game under theory that there is a portion of the population who want to play for that jackpot,” said Malody. “There is also a group of people who play and do not want large jackpots. They would rather have 20 $1-million jackpots than one $20-million jackpot.”

Among the changes suggested by the lottery commissioners, was the introduction of a game that would have players choosing six numbers from a field of 40.

But more likely to be recommended by the staff are changes in the current Lotto game that would still allow super jackpots to accumulate and at the same time give players a chance at winning a smaller jackpot with better odds.

Joanne McNabb, the lottery’s communications manager, said officials are conducting a trial this week with a new twist on the game that makes all players holding three of the six numbers drawn participants in a second drawing. That drawing, to be held automatically by computer right after the main drawing, will pick 10 winners who each would be awarded a $1-million prize.

So far ticket sales have been brisk, she said. While the odds of winning a $1-million prize depend on the number of tickets sold, officials estimated they will be about 1 in 1.7 million. The odds of getting into the second pool are 1 in 71.

McNabb said the lottery staff has been aware for some time that there is a gap in the variety of lottery games offered and has been working on a new game to close it. She said studies show that a large number would like a separate game offering lower odds with a jackpot of around $1 million.

She said commissioners have asked the staff to study the possibility of hastening the introduction of the new game, now under development. It has been scheduled for introduction next summer.

“We want to be responsive to our playership and we don’t want them to feel . . . that we don’t care,” said Malody.