Posted on 07/25/2022 1:33:10 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Is $810 million worth $2?
That’s a good question, given it costs $2 to buy a Mega Millions lottery ticket that could pay off with an estimated $810 million prize — the nation’s fourth-largest jackpot — after the game’s next drawing Tuesday night.
ISN’T IT AN OBVIOUS QUESTION?
Not really.
To start with, your chance of winning the grand prize is minuscule, at one in 302.5 million. You have better odds of a smaller payoff, such as winning $1 million for matching five regular numbers but missing the Mega Ball.
STILL, A SHOT AT $810 MILLION SEEMS WORTH $2
Ah, but even if you somehow beat the odds you are not going to get $810 million.
First, that’s the amount for winners who take the annuity option, paid over 30 annual payments. But winners nearly always opt for cash, which for this drawing would pay out an estimated $470.1 million.
And then there are federal taxes, which will slice 37% off that cash prize, so that would leave less than $300 million.
SO, IS IT WORTH GAMBLING $2
If you have fun dreaming of a massive windfall that most likely won’t actually blow your way, buy a ticket. But if you need to watch your money, consider keeping the $2 in your wallet.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
I read the stories from analysts who tell you the odds.
A woman I know won $1 million in 1987.
A woman at my workplace won $500 million in 2018.
What are the chances? If it can happen to those two, it can happen to me. It’s worth a $2 ticket to me.
Nope. I’m too good at math.
You can’t win, if you don’t play, I’m in for $4. Wouldn’t buy me a gallon of gasoline. FJB. Would donate some of the money to Very Conservative causes.
A measly $50 million?
Never.
Wait for the big payout and then we are talking real money.
A better option is to take out life insurance on motorcycle riders under 25. With a $300k investment you are almost guaranteed a million.
From 2019, Jon Wertheim’s report on Jerry and Marge Selbee, a retired Michigan couple who made $26 million using “basic arithmetic” to crack the code on certain lottery games
Hambone571
1 month ago (edited)
This is a great story. This man did nothing wrong or illegal. He’s smart at math and figured out the odds. This is the same reason, similar people are banned from Vegas casinos (private businesses). Those good at math aren’t allowed to play there because they would lose money. All the, “State lottery” could do is, shut down, “this” version of lottery game. When the casinos win, OR the State wins, it’s ALL oKay…. BUT, when a person who is good at math and “plays the odds” it’s suddenly , NOT ALL OKAY…..Sad. But true.
$810,000,000? I could pay most of my debts with that.
The megapelier doesn’t apply to the jackpot.🤔
Chances of getting hit by lightning is about a million to one. So, you’re 15 X more likely to be hit by lightning than to hit the lottery.
play lottery for one reason. It makes an excuse to not go to Vegas and other similar gaming venues.
Oddly you can not buy lottery tickets in Las Vegas or anywhere in Nevada.. in Las Vegas you have to drive 30 miles to Stateline/Primm and the have a lottery ticket just across the state line in California
Maybe so, but I'd much rather win the lottery than get hit by lightening.
We each make our own choices!
Buy one ticket to allow God scope to act on your behalf. More that one is a tax on the statistically challenged.
I think I can get buy on $300 million.
“The megaplier doesn’t apply to the jackpot.”
True, but if you won a smaller amount you would be kicking yourself for the rest of your life for not spending the extra dollar.
I don’t know how it works with MegaMillions, but in Power Ball, for each drawing, the multiplier is 2, 3, sometimes more, so, with a lesser winning ticket, you could really clean up by spending the extra dollar.
_______
The total number of combinations of Jackpot winning numbers in Mega Millions is 302,575,350. The calculation is very simple, but I don't want to bore y'all. Let's just say it has to do with factorials (represented by a "!") - Thus: 70! (total regular balls) for 5 digits, divided by 5! (five regular balls selected) * 25 Mega Balls).
Since it costs $2 to buy a ticket, you have to double the calculation.
Thus the "True" gambling odds of winning the bet are 605,150,700.
It would be a "good" bet if you were handed $605,150,701 or more in cash, tax free, if you were fortunate enough to win.
Accordingly, it's currently not a good bet. : (
True,but you’ve got to win a prize for the multiplier to do you any good.
Most of the time you don’t win anything and you waste your money.
$810 reduced to $300 million.
Quite the money maker for the gov’ts.
One time, when Power Ball was REALLY a large amount, I bought several tickets for $3.00 each.
The multiplier was 3, and when I won $9.00, it was tripled to $27.00. The “largest” amount I ever won. It didn’t make up for all the tickets I bought that were worthless.
A number of years ago, (now) former New Hampshire Senator Gregg won $200,000 playing Power Ball. It was configured differently back then. There must have been a multiplier in effect because his total haul was $600,000!
Some people here in Maine have had luck with scratch off tickets.
A young woman who worked down the road in a small neighborhood supermarket and lunch counter went to a charity event in another town.
She bought a raffle ticket; the prize was a basket of scratch off lottery tickets. She won the basket.
Most of the scratch offs were duds, but one was worth $100,000. After state and local taxes, she had about $77,000 left.
There was another woman in another small Maine town. She was about 60 and looked down and out.
She went to play Bingo and won $2,000. She used her winnings to buy 100 $20 scratch off lottery tickets.
Again, most were duds, but one ticket was a winner....$500,000!
Awhile ago when one of these lotteries was way up there I went down the rabbit hole of what happened to the winners. Lots of stories of folks that spent big, got divorced, went broke, or worse. One story had the couple divorced and both were found dead in their own mansions weeks after they had died alone. Nobody missed them.
And then there were the numerous stories where the couple went on a nice vacation, bought a new car and carpeting for their home and repaired the plumbing, donated a bunch to their church and put the rest in trust funds for their kids and grandkids.
“Someone asked me once what I would do if I won the lottery.
I said, disappear.”
Years ago my wife got me a metal detector and so I started reading up on them, treasure hunting sites, etc.
One guy told the story of how he and a buddy would go metal detecting together and then get together with the others for lunch at the local hangout.
Until his buddy got into searching old abandoned farms and homes, which the one guy wasn’t comfortable with doing.
The guy said one time at lunch he was with his new metal detecting buddy and the others at the dinner. His friend drove up and brought him out to his car where he popped the trunk. Inside were three or four old suitcases filled with cash. His friend drove off and he never saw or heard from him again!
I guess I’ll have to make a point of heading to the store this week and wasting $10 on some tickets. Probably the same odds as exploring old buildings for a big score, and less of a chance of getting shot.
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