I GOT THE POWERBALL!!!!

[Diomedes]

Zing!!

[MadMarchHare]

Full of shtein, as usual.
Still, the annuity doesn't inflate in value over time.  You can make much more money in the long run with the lump sum.

[mussa]

i won 35 dollars last wednesday.  i got 2 numbers and powerball, but played the powerplay. multiplier was 5. so u would normally win 7 dollars, but since i played the powerball/powerplay it gets multiplied.  only the 3rd time i ever played.  i don't play until it goes up to 300mil or more. 

[phattymatty]

I got 3 out of 5 numbers on the Megamillions last week, and the bitch only paid me $7.  Weak.

[Sgt PSN]

i won 35 dollars last wednesday. i got 2 numbers and powerball, but played the powerplay. multiplier was 5. so u would normally win 7 dollars, but since i played the powerball/powerplay it gets multiplied. only the 3rd time i ever played. i don't play until it goes up to 300mil or more.

Yeah, because anything less than 300 mil is so totally not worth the effort. 

[phattymatty]

What gets me is the idiots who think that the more people who play it, the higher the odds go up.  They don't realize that you're still picking from the same numbers, regardless of the number of people playing.  I was just arguing with someone about this the other day. 

The chances of YOU winning are always the same.  Now the chances of you splitting it with someone go up, but not of you winning it.  Am I thinking wrong?  Shouldn't the odds of winning always be the same, regardless of number of players?

[Sgt PSN]

I think you're on to something there.  If you're playing roulette, the odds stay the same regardless of how many people are at the table. 

The difference is that if everyone throws their money on the same # for roulette, the pay out is the same for each of them regardless of how many people place a bet.  But if several people hit the lotto then they split the winnings. 

So while the odds of you hitting the lotto don't change regardless of the amount of people who play, the odds of you being the sole winner do. 

[MadMarchHare]

Your correct, Matty.  There are 146.1 million combinations - that defines the odds of hitting all 6 numbers, and doesn't change depending on the number of tickets sold.

[PhillyPhreak54]

So if you were a millionaire you could technically spend $146.1M to play every number combo, right?

And if the pay out was $177M you just made $31M by spending your $146.1M on tickets.

[phattymatty]

I guess technically that's true, but you're taking the risk that no one else also gets it.  So if you spend that, and 5 other people also match the numbers, you're taking a pretty big hit.

So you'd spend $146.1M, even if only one other person matches you'd lose like $75M.  probably not worth the gamble.

[Zanshin]

And it's still based on odds...it's not a gimme.

[PhillyPhreak54]

Yeah, true.

But if you've got a coupla mil to blow like that chances are your name is Bill Gates or Paul Allen or some other ungodly rich dude who has nothing better to do. So losing a few mil wouldn't hurt.

[Tomahawk]

Plus imagine how long you'd spend filling out 146.1 different cards.

[phattymatty]

Yeah, true.

But if you've got a coupla mil to blow like that chances are your name is Bill Gates or Paul Allen or some other ungodly rich dude who has nothing better to do. So losing a few mil wouldn't hurt.

true, but you'd also be pissing off millions of broke folk who dream of the lottery as their big break.  probably not a great PR move.

[phattymatty]

not that i would give two shteins about PR if I were that rich