Powerball Jackpot - $1.40 Billion - Next Drawing Monday

Powerball ^ | 07 October 2023

[Adder]

The difference is that welfare benefits others in a forced taking of your wealth.
The lottery may enrich one individual but for $2, that individual could be yourself.

[Mogger]

I think I would want to meet with a damn good accountant before I turned that ticket in.

And family trust lawyer.

I buy one ticket per $100 million.

No tickets below %100 million.

That limits my gambling, and should I ever win, it will be big.

[Baldwin77]

I can stop, anytime.

[zeestephen]

All remaining annuity payments would be paid into your estate if you pre-decease.

However, you make a good point.

Would those payments be subject to federal Death Taxes first, and then standard federal income taxes second?

That would raise total federal taxes into the 60% range, unless you were giving everything to charity.

[Palio di Siena]

I’d call in with anal glaucoma
I can’t see my ass going to work

[lowbridge]

So, how many tickets did you buy? ;-)

[lowbridge]

Well, I’m sure there are quite a few lottery retailers in your area. Try the nearest 7-11 store. I’m sure they sell lottery tickets.

That’ll be 10% of your winnings for my advice.

[Stravinsky]

I would take the lump, because I have several dream projects.

1. Establish a private school with lower (K-8) and upper (9-12) components. I have yet to see a school that combines all my views on education. There’d be both a physical school and an online distance learning/homeschool version. The distance learning/homeschool wing would have the same rigor and academic requirements as the “real” school.

2. Magazine/media property. I often bemoan the fact that wealthy conservatives don’t do enough in this area. The Left has taken over almost everything. My first thought was to buy something like Reader’s Digest, but at this stage in the game, it would be easier and much cheaper to start something new and focus on online.

3. Small charities that focus on environmental, homelessness, and other problems from a conservative POV. I know many here are all F$#$ that, but I believe there are potential solutions to these problems that are not being tried.

4. Bat cave. Yep, underground and gadgets.

[thesligoduffyflynns]

🙋my thoughts exactly🌱

[capydick]

Establish a private school with lower (K-8) and upper (9-12) components. I have yet to see a school that combines all my views on education. There’d be both a physical school and an online distance learning/homeschool version. The distance learning/homeschool wing would have the same rigor and academic requirements as the “real” school.

If we both win we'll partner up, I've had the same idea for years and even have an empty school in my town that was a K- 8 Catholic School that I'd like to use

[telescope115]

I’ll probably put down $10. Even if I won a small fraction, it would be great.
Good luck to you.

[Lib-Lickers 2]

virtually the same odds of winning with one ticket vs 10.. save the extra 8 bucks

[Lib-Lickers 2]

make that $18

[HartleyMBaldwin]

If you buy them in order to win, it is always a sucker’s bet, because the odds of you winning ... are infinitesimal.

It's not absolutely always a sucker bet. If the odds of winning the jackpot are, say, one in 300 million, but the jackpot is large enough to put $600 million in your pocket after taxes for your $2 play, then it's an even bet. If the jackpot is larger than that, it's actually a favorable bet. (This ignores the chance of another player also winning and sharing the jackpot. You can also calculate the probability of that if you know how many tickets will be sold.) But odds of one in 300 million are indeed infinitesimal, no argument there.

Personally, I never expect to win anything, not even $4, when playing the lottery. I'll buy a ticket tonight, but strictly for the entertainment value of imagining what I'd do if I did win the big one.

[UCANSEE2]

The best part about the lottery is standing in line at the convenience store listening to....”Give me 2 Treasure Troves, 3 Pink Elephants, 5 Easter Bunnies, and 1 Mega Momma. No, wait, make that 3 Treasure TRoves, 3 Pink Elephants, 1 Easter Bunny and 6 Mega Mommas. Also, can you check these 35 tickets I bought last week? Are the Mega Mommas selling fast today ? Which completely new tickets do you have? And I need a bag of 6 fresh chicken nuggets out of that rotisserie rack, a pack of Winston ULtra Lights, and 3 of those Royal Blunts. No... make it 4. And can I get a refill on my Big Gulp ?”

[Kalamata]

Has anyone else noticed that for quite some time now, the winners (especially the 2nd place winners) consistently come from more blue states? Seems like the winners are mostly coming from California, New York, Michigan, Maryland, New Jersey, etc.

I don’t know how, but it seems like they have figured out a way to rig it. God knows everything else is corrupt these days.

[Rockingham]

The full story is more complicated. As America was settled and developed, growing urbanization and religious and moral improvement crusades that were especially popular with women led to antivice laws. These banned or restricted alcohol, prostitution, and gambling and gave women the vote. By the 1890s state and federal laws ended lotteries, with small scale raffles and bingo surviving for charitable causes as a minor form of legal gambling.

Lotteries with big payouts made a comeback though beginning in the 1960s as a way to add funds to state coffers, often directed toward worthy causes popular with women voters like child services or education. In Florida, a state lottery was approved by referendum with the provision that the proceeds go toward education. On the net though, the influx of lottery money made little difference because public education is a hopeless money pit and other education funds were reduced to meet various competing state and local needs.

[gnarledmaw]

As strange as this sounds, "its about time". Not that I really want them to win. Actually Id prefer that no one else does until all my tickets hit. :) What I mean is that according to this Powerball page, the states with the largest populations dont seem to be doing too well. If the average participant across the country bought the same amount of tickets then the states with the largest population should tend to have the largest number of jackpot winners. Not every state joined at the same time though making that assumption incorrect. Still there were originally 23 states, so in theory those states would be a bit ahead over the years but there are a few that really stand out. Indiana has by far the most Jackpot winners with 39 total and, not including #2 (Missouri 31) and #3 (Minnesota 22), more than double number of any of the other participating state. Does the average person in Indiana just turn over their whole paycheck to the lottery?

[Kalamata]

I don’t know about any of that. I just know that for almost a year, the recent winners keep coming from California, New York, N.J., Michigan, Illinois, Oregon & Maryland; and often enough to have predicted it and have it confirmed with the new drawings.