Powerball - $1.3 billion jackpot on Wednesday

[TheNewYorker]

Would anyone here be interested in doing a pool? I don't normally waste money on the lottery, but that's a lot of money...

A pool means, everyone pools money together, someone buys the tickets, and if one of the tickets is a winner, the jackpot is split.

So say you get 50 people to do it, and everyone contributes 3 tickets, that's 150 tickets, or 150 chances to win. Split 50 ways, $1.3 billion would be $26 million each. Not a bad payout for the increased odds.

I would take paypal, buy the tickets Tuesday night, scan them in as proof and post if anyone is interested. Of course you would have to be highly trusting of whoever is doing it.

[V4Vendetta]

I'm game... but there has to be a rule... members who joined within a year, can't play, they can't be trusted yet lol

[TheNewYorker]

Ok. Well see how many are interested. It will only be worth it if I can get at least 5-6 people.

I think maybe any winnings should be divided by how many tickets worth you contribute.

Keep in mind of course it's no guarantee to win at all. I was in a pool 3 years ago for powerball at my work, and we had 230 people sign up for the pool. BUT we didn't even win $20. Lol.

But 1 out of 3 jackpot winners are pools though

[V4Vendetta]

Cash Option is 50% of the jackpot I believe. That's approximately 650 million - minus about 45% in taxes = 357 million
So that'll be 357 million divided up however many ways, in one lump sum.
I don't want the payment. I want the cash, right away, all of it lol

[SilentBull]

I've never understood people who only buy a powerball ticket when the jackpot goes up to 600+.

"300 million??? $#@! that. I ain't gonna waste my $1 on that $#@!. Let me know when it hits 700 million." - Says the guy with $4,372 in his bank account.

[V4Vendetta]

I've never understood people who only buy a powerball ticket when the jackpot goes up to 600+.

"300 million??? $#@! that. I ain't gonna waste my $1 on that $#@!. Let me know when it hits 700 million." - Says the guy with $4,372 in his bank account.

I never have either, but I'm that guy lol

[TheNewYorker]

I've never understood people who only buy a powerball ticket when the jackpot goes up to 600+.

"300 million??? $#@! that. I ain't gonna waste my $1 on that $#@!. Let me know when it hits 700 million." - Says the guy with $4,372 in his bank account.

Mostly because it only enters my mind to play it when the jackpots are high, because then I hear about it everywhere

Lol

[SilentBull]

I never have either, but I'm that guy lol

Lol

[SilentBull]

Mostly because it only enters my mind to play it when the jackpots are high, because then I hear about it everywhere

Lol

Lol yeah I think that's what it is for most.

[juleswin]

I've never understood people who only buy a powerball ticket when the jackpot goes up to 600+.

"300 million??? $#@! that. I ain't gonna waste my $1 on that $#@!. Let me know when it hits 700 million." - Says the guy with $4,372 in his bank account.

I only buy the lottery only when its above 200m. The way I see it, I would only ever have 1 lucky pick to win the lottery and if I am going to win, it better be a big one. So I sit back and let the rubes fund it up to 200m and I come in and use my 1 time luck and win it all.

Its a great plan as far as I am concerned

[Brian4Liberty]

I've never understood people who only buy a powerball ticket when the jackpot goes up to 600+.

"300 million??? $#@! that. I ain't gonna waste my $1 on that $#@!. Let me know when it hits 700 million." - Says the guy with $4,372 in his bank account.

Risk/reward. When the reward increases, people are more willing to ignore the odds (and reasoning) and go for it.

Buying more than a single ticket is another thing that people do that is futile. Sorry it doesn't really help. Your best bang for the buck is one ticket. That takes you from zero odds to actually having a change. Any more tickets than that is uselessly attempting to increase your minuscule odds. I.e. Minuscule odds x 10 = still minuscule. Minuscule odds x 10,000 = still minuscule.

[pcosmar]

I wonder how much the coffers will be filled by the hopeless masses. I guess a lot.

[CPUd]

I've never understood people who only buy a powerball ticket when the jackpot goes up to 600+.

"300 million??? $#@! that. I ain't gonna waste my $1 on that $#@!. Let me know when it hits 700 million." - Says the guy with $4,372 in his bank account.

What happens is once a jackpot gets sufficiently high, the expected value will be higher than the cost of the ticket. You can see an example of the formulas here:
https://www.wyzant.com/resources/les...expected_value

[Dianne]

What I wish they would do is rather than one huge jackpot like 500 million, they would split it up into 500 one million dollar winners. That would make everyone's odds so much better to become a millionaire.

[MelissaWV]

What I wish they would do is rather than one huge jackpot like 500 million, they would split it up into 500 one million dollar winners. That would make everyone's odds so much better to become a millionaire.

There were no jackpot winners Saturday, but 18,315,365 players across the nation won more than $159.1 Million in prizes

I didn't search too deeply, but there are usually plenty of millionaires. That's actually more why I play, to answer the OP: I'm good with the "lower" prizes. I'd be more than happy to win $50,000 (four numbers plus the PB) or, hell, $100 for a $1 purchase (four numbers, or three numbers plus the PB) would be dandy. Winning anything at all offers an increase on that $1 purchase, and your overall odds are 1:25 or something along those lines.

As for why people play when it's higher, there's also the fact that no one is going to get a billion dollars. Nearly everyone takes the one-time payout ($800mil I think) at which point you can slice that right in half (taxes) and divide it with other winners (by the time it gets this high the odds of multiple winners increases as so many tickets are sold). It's nothing to sneeze at, but if you knock some zeroes off, it becomes a little less worth the headache.

[TheNewYorker]

Actually I think you can buy every number combination for like 600 or so million dollars worth of tickets, guaranteeing a win.

In previous jackpots, this was fruitless because it cost more to buy them than what you got back if you won. But this might be the first jackpot in history where you would actually profit.

Wouldn't that suck if some billionaire came through and bought every number combination and won?

If I was a billionaire, id do it and donate the extra 200 or so million in profit to a rand Pac

[oyarde]

I've never understood people who only buy a powerball ticket when the jackpot goes up to 600+.

"300 million??? $#@! that. I ain't gonna waste my $1 on that $#@!. Let me know when it hits 700 million." - Says the guy with $4,372 in his bank account.

If you are playing odds , I would buy a state lotto ticket ea week the powerball exceeds 200 million or so.

[BamaAla]

I'm in. PM the details and I'll kick in $10 (5 tickets.)

[Rudeman]

Actually I think you can buy every number combination for like 600 or so million dollars worth of tickets, guaranteeing a win.

In previous jackpots, this was fruitless because it cost more to buy them than what you got back if you won. But this might be the first jackpot in history where you would actually profit.

Wouldn't that suck if some billionaire came through and bought every number combination and won?

If I was a billionaire, id do it and donate the extra 200 or so million in profit to a rand Pac

Unless there are multiple winners, then you lose quite a bit.

[CaptUSA]

Unless there are multiple winners, then you lose quite a bit.

Exactly. If you think the odds of winning are insane try to imagine the odds of being the only winner.

[TheNewYorker]

Exactly. If you think the odds of winning are insane try to imagine the odds of being the only winner.

It's possible.. I mean the last couple drawings saw no winners at all

[RickyJ]

It's possible.. I mean the last couple drawings saw no winners at all

It is possible but way too much of a risk to buy every combination for the chance to be the lone winner. No, any billionaire with a brain would not take that chance. I sure the heck wouldn't. I have never bought a lottery ticket ever, but I am thinking of getting one now though. A chance, however remote, vs. no chance seems to be worth the price of the ticket to me. However I hear some people claim that gambling is a sin, but they have no scripture to back that up. I don't think I will go to hell for buying one lottery ticket, and I would just use it to buy food anyway and I need to lose a little weight.

[TheTexan]

Just bought 30 tickets. If you'd like to join my pool, just +rep this post with how many tickets you bought.

[Anti Federalist]

Actually I think you can buy every number combination for like 600 or so million dollars worth of tickets, guaranteeing a win.

In previous jackpots, this was fruitless because it cost more to buy them than what you got back if you won. But this might be the first jackpot in history where you would actually profit.

Wouldn't that suck if some billionaire came through and bought every number combination and won?

If I was a billionaire, id do it and donate the extra 200 or so million in profit to a rand Pac

Yeah, I've seen this as well.

The logistics of purchasing that many tickets by one person is impossible however.

[CPUd]

It would be extremely difficult logistically to buy ~200M powerball tickets. Drawings are on Wed and Sat, so you have at most 4 days to do it. A single machine definitely wouldn't be able to print that many in 4 days. You would need to hire people and give them large amounts of cash, plus vans to transport the printed tickets, etc. The more people you bring in, the higher a chance someone is just going to take your cash and hit the road. Then the winner could have been in the numbers they were supposed to cover...

[TheNewYorker]

It would be extremely difficult logistically to buy ~200M powerball tickets. Drawings are on Wed and Sat, so you have at most 4 days to do it. A single machine definitely wouldn't be able to print that many in 4 days. You would need to hire people and give them large amounts of cash, plus vans to transport the printed tickets, etc. The more people you bring in, the higher a chance someone is just going to take your cash and hit the road. Then the winner could have been in the numbers they were supposed to cover...

I think in some states you can buy tickets online (in bulk) and download a copy of the tickets, but I'm not sure if there's a limit.

[timosman]

Actually I think you can buy every number combination for like 600 or so million dollars worth of tickets, guaranteeing a win.

In previous jackpots, this was fruitless because it cost more to buy them than what you got back if you won. But this might be the first jackpot in history where you would actually profit.

Wouldn't that suck if some billionaire came through and bought every number combination and won?

If I was a billionaire, id do it and donate the extra 200 or so million in profit to a rand Pac

According To Math, Here's When You Should Buy A Powerball Ticket - http://www.businessinsider.com/heres...werball-2013-9

• The expected value for the cash-up front Powerball winnings is always negative.
• Taxes will probably mean that it is never profitable or sensible to play the lottery

[TheNewYorker]

[RonPaulIsGreat]

I've never understood people who only buy a powerball ticket when the jackpot goes up to 600+.

"300 million??? $#@! that. I ain't gonna waste my $1 on that $#@!. Let me know when it hits 700 million." - Says the guy with $4,372 in his bank account.

For me it's a way to limit spending on something I know is stupid.

So, it's fun and a trivial expense to spend 4 dollars once or twice a year. Spending 4 dollars every single week is just to wasteful and I'm sure the fun from the fantasy of "winning" couldn't be sustained perpetually. It's like pot, if you smoke it once a year, you'll get high off .25 worth, if you are a stoner, you smoke multiple times a day for less buzz.

I'm buying a fun fantasy 1 or two times a year. I'd probably die if I actually won, my joy would rip the space time continuum, and instantly annihilate me.

[r3volution 3.0]

I'm not pooling, as I don't want to share my winnings with you people.

My money!

Mine!

I have big plans for it.

First thing I'd do is buy the house across the street from O'Reilly's, demolish it, and replace it a giant two-story "$#@! You Bill" billboard.