Power Ball jackpot is now worth winning

[Rye Catcher]

The current cash payout is $376,900,000. The winner will pay $149,200,046 in federal taxes leaving him with $227,699.954. Not bad. The odds of winning the big jackpot, playing one $2 ticket are 175.1 million to one. I have 10 tickets, so my odds are reduced to 17.5 million to one. What would you do with that much money?

[lonewolf]

Re: Power Ball jackpot is now worth winning

Back during the 80s oil boom in Oklahoma astronomical prices were paid for oil/gas leases. Farmers who had barely survived from year to year were suddenly multi-millionaires.. A classmate of mine, one of the few who stayed on the family farm(s) in SW Oklahoma, when asked what he was going to do with all that money, drawled, "Waalll, I reckon I'll just farm it up."
I reckon I would just drill it up.

[bambam]

Re: Power Ball jackpot is now worth winning

Driving back from an ortho meeting yesterday at Hilton Head I bought 2 Powerball tickets when I stopped for gas - what the hell, right?

I did not win. I'm very disappointed.

[Dutra5]

Re: Power Ball jackpot is now worth winning

Winning ticket sold about 15mi from where I sit now. Unfortunately I did not visit that particular store this week.

[scottmitchell74]

Re: Power Ball jackpot is now worth winning

My wife and LOVE to travel, and I particularly like seeing the world's ancient buildings/temples/works, so we would do a lot of traveling. That's the big thing we talk about.

I'd never mow grass or weed-eat again, my wife would never cook again (I don't mind cooking) and I'd probably own a number of classic and modern muscle cars.

[Master Po]

Re: Power Ball jackpot is now worth winning

well, I also didn't win. Oops, I forgot to buy a ticket. Next time. In any case, were I to win a mega-jackpot, I would give most of it away, because the tiny bits of philanthropic-charitable donations I can make now are satisfying, and I have always wished I could do more in that area. As for what I kept for myself, I would travel as much as possible, starting with T&F-related and arts-related travel, which I have mostly been unable to do.

In the meantime, I will continue to travel, but mostly to work...

[tandfman]

With the jackpot now at a record level, it is good to know how Powerball actually works:

http://www.theonion.com/graphic/how-powerball-works-37970

:-)

[jeremyp]

It would be much better to follow the Spanish lottery method where there are multiple winners. Limit It to $10 million maximum per person and have more winning numbers. 150 winners not one. Much more exciting and "democratic."

[KDFINE]

I'm with jeremyp. The problem with this idea however is that the lotteries make the best money when there is a feeding frenzy. If we win (my wife bought 5 tickets and we're in a community property state so she's stuck with me) the first thing I'll do is get a multi-year subscription to T&Fn. I told her though that we have a better chance of being hit by lighting twice while having sex standing up in a hammock. Semi-seriously, I saw a piece on the news claiming that 70% of all big lottery winners wind up broke.

[tandfman]

Semi-seriously, I saw a piece on the news claiming that 70% of all big lottery winners wind up broke.

I'll tell you what--gimme a winning Powerball ticket for tomorrow, and I'll take my chances about winding up broke. I think I'll somehow manage to end up with a positive net worth.

[KDFINE]

I guess it would be one way to find long lost relatives.

[lonewolf]

I saw a piece on the news claiming that 70% of all big lottery winners wind up broke.

How big is big?
I suspect that may be true of people who win $1 to 5 million but I would nt know how to blow Multi-Hundreds mill.

[KDFINE]

I don't recall what their definition of "big" was, but I suspect that it was at least above 3 million which I think is the minimum for the big jackpot prizes. Once in a work pool I won about $200 - it was a 1 /18th share from getting 5 of 6 numbers. That was when in New York you'd get 2 picks for a dollar and had to get 6 of I believe 49 or 50 numbers. Then they switched to one pick for a dollar and increased the numbers to 55. I guess they figured the odds weren't long enough. I used to play once in a while when I figured I still could enjoy taking it in 26 annual payments.

Getting back to your original question, the 70% figure includes a lot of "small" winners.

[tandfman]

I used to play once in a while when I figured I still could enjoy taking it in 26 annual payments.

I think they raised the number of annual payments to 30 at one point, but I was under the impression that annual payments was still an option that Power/Mega/Lotto etc. winners could choose. I could be wrong about that--I haven't looked recently.

[26mi235]

The odds of winning have been almost double to just under 1:300,000,000, which is why the pot has gotten so large. Super-large pots are 'free advertising' (sort of like the Donald Trump advertising). Even now the odds are not good enough to be a truly fair bet in terms of the net value of the money to almost any player.