The odds are 292 Million to one but the pay off, is about 292 million {lump sum pre-tax} which is one to oneI used to work for an Options Trading firm, and the traders there all thought this way. They would ignore the lottery until the payout exceeded the odds, and then they would all rush out to buy tickets. None of them won, of course.
But for two bucks vs 565 million, WTH.But most lottery players can't really afford $2 per drawing. That's $200/year for nothing, and if you watch the poor chumps buying their tickets, you see that very few of them are limiting themselves to a single ticket.
It's like getting hit by lightning.My Mother knew someone who had been hit by lightning on two separate occasions. The second time killed him. FYI, the odds of being struck by lightning is just under 1:1,000,000. Therefore, getting hit by lightning is hundreds of times more likely than winning the PowerBall.
“I used to work for an Options Trading firm, and the traders there all thought this way. They would ignore the lottery until the payout exceeded the odds, and then they would all rush out to buy tickets. None of them won, of course.”
I have a similar system. I don’t worry about the odds, but I don’t play unless the jackpot becomes really large. It keeps me from throwing away money, not that I wouldn’t mind winning a low paying jackpot.
I have a cousin who won when it was at 11 or so million. His wife divorced him, he became a hermit, and he doesn’t talk to anyone now.