Should You Play Powerball? Science Solves The Mystery

Tell that to my neighbor who just hit the powerball jackpot....

Poor devil. He only gets $528 million. /maybe winning a little.

I used to gamble. Gave it up because the odds suck.

I had good luck at horse track one year when I lived near one. Good luck=not losing/maybe winning a little.

Bought two tickets. yesterday. Didn't win.

Life goes on.

At these odds. If Florida's population were 15 times greater you would have only one winning "neighbor"

-play on. The odds be with you.. ..or at least with your neighbor.

Well there's a shock.

Can't access the link due to having an adblock program running.

Oh well.

Here's the crux:

Your odds of actually winning the Powerball jackpot are pretty slim: one in 292,201,338. In fact, your odds of winning anything aren't very good either, since the three most common results:

• no matches of any type (65.23%),
• one white ball and no powerball (27.18%), and
• two white balls and no powerball (3.565%),

all pay out absolutely nothing, and add up to 95.98% of the possible results.

But that means, 4.02% of the time, you will win something. And if - on average - it pays out enough, it will be worth it to bet.

Your expected payout for a $2 ticket for all the prizes other than the jackpot is 36 cents before taxes or about 26 cents after taxes. As the jackpot amount increases, the value of the ticket should increase. It would reach break even at a 1.4 billion dollar jackpot except for the fact that as the jackpot gets larger, ticket sales get larger and the odds of having to share winning increases.

From the article:

Yes!

I have essentially a statistically equal chance at winning the lottery as anybody else and I don't buy tickets!

Let's expand. If your work group is making a lottery pool, should you join ?

I would, because if the nearly impossible happens, I would end up without a job....if I didn't participate.

I didn't play. I put my extra money into my retirement savings account. I win on average about 6-10% on it every year depending on the stock market.

I think getting up in the morning and driving to work is gambling enough for me.

Don't play often just when the pot gets high and wining would be big life changing even.

Then I look at the money like it's paying taxes. If there were no lottery system. My share of the taxes to make up for it would be greater.

I play very infrequently and only when the pot is high. Will a $1.5B jackpot change my life? Without a doubt! I'd take $20M off the top and buy everything I wanted.

1. Gotta have a nice collection of cars. All of mine go away and are replaced by: A modern supercar like a Porsche 918, a rare collectible car like early 60's Ferrari V12 (250 SWB or GT), a Ford GT or a Lamborghini Miura P400, a cool daily driver - Maserati Quattroporte GT, Porsche Panamera Turbo S or an Aston Martin Rapide S and a fun convertible like a Ferrari 488, Lamborghini Huracain or Porsche Turbo. Oh yeah, a safe everyman's car like a Volvo S60 or V60.

2. A nice house on the beach in Corona del Mar. Must have an incredible view and privacy.

3. Mom needs a new place, so a house on the Lake in Kenilworth, Winnetka or Lake Bluff.

4. Furniture, entertainment center, appliances and housewares for both houses.

5. A worldwide vacation to all the places I've wanted to see!

Then I'd settle down - put a nice hunk away for retirement. Keep some as buffer money and the rest I'd work with to find a way to make a difference in the world.

I play... once a month I buy one number for 4 different lotteries:

• Powerball
• MegaMilions
• Texas Lottery
• Texas Two Step

It's a $5 expenditure 12 times a year, $60 annually. It's part of my play money that I allow for in my budget. Play money in that there is no anticipated value or return gained from its use other than enjoyment.

I will never win, I never plan on winning, and if I do win I wouldn't know what to do because I never really thought about it.

I have just always budgeted a small amount of money to blow... no regrets that way when I spend it stupidly... that's what it's for.

I will play when the prize is greater than the odds. As PB is $2, I won't play until the payout is $584 X 10⁶. A cup and a half of salt contains 300 X 10⁶ grains, a pinch, 1000. Even if you bought 100,000 tickets, your chances are slim to none of you picking one grain of sugar in 1 1/2 cups of salt

That's an interesting perspective on the odds.

Gambling is one vice I've no interest in pursuing. This is my way of keeping it at large. I used to stop at a deli for coffee and roll on the way to work. It was amazing to see the folks in line religiously buying tickets. They were counting change to buy them. Just as there are requirements to open a stock market account, and age requirements for tobacco and alcohol, there should be minimum net worth requirements to purchase lottery tickets. They specifically target the poor and less informed. They came into vogue right after the Earned Income Tax Credit came into effect. They specifically sought out folks who now got a boost of not paying FICA with holdings from their jobs. I can think of little more evil than stealing from those who have so little to begin with. I grew up in an upper middle class school district. The fellow in front of me in Home Room parents' owned an insurance agency. (This is '60's mind you) Two brothers, they had a twin engine corporate plane that seated 8. They traveled to Vail and Stowe each winter. The guy in front of me gambled that away, he was forced to leave the state, but allowed to live.

I totally agree with you. I have to hand it to the politicians. They figured out a way to tax the poor and no one complains about it.

Better than the casino I suppose, (down here at least) a portion of the lottery money goes to public Charity's.

Depends on how the money gets counted, distributed, embezzled, and misappropriated.

Some states are more corrupt than others over here.

Hey - my Wife hit it, well, almost. On one of the intermediate attempts to get a winner, she had a number combo that paid out the small fortune of $7.00. Unfortunately she was in a group of 22 others, so it gets split 23 ways. She is calling her lawyer to see how to protect her 30 cents.

Most people don't know some close combos do pay out lesser amounts.

I won $4 Wednesday night so I'm only out $26 :-(. I actually had to go to the Powerball website to figure out if I'd won anything. Shows you how often I play the lottery. How do the people who design these games of chance figure out how to do it?

Why don't more lotteries restrict winnings to a finite amount, say $30 million. I personally would be happy with say $10 Million.

Also, restrict the "rollovers" to say max of 2 or even 3, then the pot gets divided with the next level down winners.....or even every time, no "rollovers".....

The UK has problems with its new style lottery too, different problems,but few major winners are happening as the odds have gone up by over 4 times.....

I play the Euro lottery with some friends, we know that the chances of being murdered are higher than winning, but if you don' play, you have already lost!!

A lot of the folks that buy tickets don't have a lot of disposable income. The very few that win some money assume a lavish lifestyle until the money is gone, at which time they are unable to sustain this new lifestyle and they are in worse condition than they were before winning. In ten years, half are bankrupt.

Many are lucky if they even get to spend the money. Sharks come out to sell them garbage investments. Relatives have sob stories and come with their hands out. Then there are the charities making them feel guilty. Finally, there are the salesmen who sell them a dream, but never deliver.

These "winners" are sometimes better off without the money. The problem is that they've tasted the good life and when they lose everything, they have to go back to their dull, drab life. Many times they've acquired debt that they can't pay back and have to file bankruptcy. Very sad!

The best thing for these people is to take the payouts in annual amounts. Since they don't know how to handle the wealth, they can't blow it all at once. At least they will have a nice annual income.

The lottery does not make people poor, they play because they are poor.
Or think they are. Happiness is not in money but in good health and being
content with one's lot. Appreciating life and the opportunities it offers.

I buy a ticket occasionally, when the impulse over comes my sanity, because
their value is in the dream, of winning. Not that I give it credence at these odds.

Even when I had 6 numbers correct out of 6 (!!!) my dream was cruelly crushed
by winning only £1 - due, they said, to so many winning tickets. (same numbers)
Which may speak volumes for the duplicity. (in all senses.)

I think a much fairer system (for the good of more people) would be to limit the
maximum prize to e.g. £2 million, and rearrange the number choice / odds to
allow more winners. While the mega bucks does attract ticket sales (proven) I
am quiet sure most ordinary folks could live on / be grateful for, 2 million or less!

Without sour grapes, think of the joy for thousands of people winning only 2 Million
compared to (IMO) the ridiculous excess of > 1 Billion for 1 person. When these
increasingly large number of winners prevail, so will the ticket sales also increase.

Even the UK premium bonds - a fairer system, is swamped by huge ticket holders.
Some with up to 100,000 tickets! (deposits.) Who can compete with this chance?

The value of £2.... to pay for a ticket which is just a dream, - of financial escape.
The sadness is, the operators could make that dream come true for far more people.
But, it's not my lottery, and I'm not running it. Give unto....

jt.
It is neither wealth nor splendour, but tranquility and occupation which give happiness.
A word to the wise isn't necessary -- it's the stupid ones that need the advice.

A student comes to a young professor's office hours.She glances down the hall,
closes his door, and kneels pleadingly.
"I would do anything to pass this exam," she says.
She leans closer to him, flips back her hair, and gazes meaningfully into his eyes.
"I mean," she whispers, "I would do anything…"

He returns her gaze, "Anything?" "Anything." She says.
His voice softens, "Anything?" "Anything," she repeats again.

His voice turns to a whisper."Would you … study?"

Best odds are if only one person buys a ticket but that's also the worst winner return.