No winner for the $900M Powerball jackpot, Wednesday draw worth $1.3B

[Anomalism]

Don't forget your buddies at DP if you win!

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/10/no-w...erball-jackpot-wednesdays-draw-worth-13b.html

No ticket holder had the winning numbers for the record $900 million U.S. Powerball jackpot drawn on Saturday night, which means Wednesday's draw will balloon to an estimated $1.3 billion. According to the official Powerball site, the $1.3 billion jackpot would be worth $806 million if a single winner chose to take the windfall as a cash lump sum rather than over time as annuity payments. Saturday's draw would have been worth $558 million in cash. It will be the first U.S. lottery jackpot to reach $1 billion, Reuters reported.

 

[calamity]

wow!!

 

[OrphanSlug]

$1.3 Billion... the lines for numbers tickets should be epic.

opcorn2:

 

[ttwtt78640]

Quick! Rush out to your local lottery ticket seller, stand in along line and voluntarily offer the government $2 in exchange for a 1 in 292 million chance of hitting it really, really big! Never mind that the government will get between 1/3 and 1/2 of the (eventual) winnings without buying a single ticket. The sheeple are so stupid.

 

[Deuce]

Quick! Rush out to your local lottery ticket seller, stand in along line and voluntarily offer the government $2 in exchange for a 1 in 292 million chance of hitting it really, really big! Never mind that the government will get between 1/3 and 1/2 of the (eventual) winnings without buying a single ticket. The sheeple are so stupid.

Oh my God you mean I'd only get to take home like four hundred million dollars? Pssh. Forget it!

 

[Kal'Stang]

Quick! Rush out to your local lottery ticket seller, stand in along line and voluntarily offer the government $2 in exchange for a 1 in 292 million chance of hitting it really, really big! Never mind that the government will get between 1/3 and 1/2 of the (eventual) winnings without buying a single ticket. The sheeple are so stupid.

The odds may not be that great. But for 1.3 billion...I think i'll take a chance.

 

[ttwtt78640]

The odds may not be that great. But for 1.3 billion...I think i'll take a chance.

It was your $2.

 

[Cardinal]

Quick! Rush out to your local lottery ticket seller, stand in along line and voluntarily offer the government $2 in exchange for a 1 in 292 million chance of hitting it really, really big! Never mind that the government will get between 1/3 and 1/2 of the (eventual) winnings without buying a single ticket. The sheeple are so stupid.

Leaving me with only 500 million dollars. I'd rather put a bullet in my first born than make him live a life of such poverty.

 

[haymarket]

The only time I ever buy lottery tickets is when it gets to these stratospheric numbers. I did buy ten bucks for the last two drawings - Wednesday and Saturday. yes -I know the odds and its a pure waste of money but its fun for a day or two to fantasize and thats pretty cheap entertainment.

I built a 2500 square foot two story library and exhibit area that is just stunning with outside towers, lots of stone and marble and enough display cases to house all my goodies - and then twice as much I will buy with some of the money. It looks great.

My wife built an equally large kitchen anodizing area and had it designed by the Property Brothers with all the latest gadgets and appliances.

 

[OrphanSlug]

Quick! Rush out to your local lottery ticket seller, stand in along line and voluntarily offer the government $2 in exchange for a 1 in 292 million chance of hitting it really, really big! Never mind that the government will get between 1/3 and 1/2 of the (eventual) winnings without buying a single ticket. The sheeple are so stupid.

Don't be too harsh, you gotta have some fun with this.

Even if you end up with just 1/4th of the prize after taking the cash option and taxes it is still somewhat fun to consider what kind of impact that could have on one's life.

 

[Cardinal]

Don't be too harsh, you gotta have some fun with this.

Even if you end up with just 1/4th of the prize after taking the cash option and taxes it is still somewhat fun to consider what kind of impact that could have on one's life.

Like having relatives you never knew existed come out of the woodwork to "reconnect" with you. One couple who won the lottery was smart enough to immediately hire a lawyer to set them up as an LLC, and bam, they collected the money anonymously.

 

[Winchester]

Don't be too harsh, you gotta have some fun with this.

Even if you end up with just 1/4th of the prize after taking the cash option and taxes it is still somewhat fun to consider what kind of impact that could have on one's life.

I think of mostly the bad stuff, lol. I didn't get around to buying a ticket yesterday, but will probably buy one for Wed's drawing. The relatives will come out of the woodwork if I win. :lol:

 

[EnigmaO01]

Naah the chances are even less than you think of winner take all. A syndicate will buy all the potential number combinations and still make a profit with a jackpot this size even if there are multiple winners. There are only so many permutations and 1.3 billon is a lot more than that.

Group Invests $5 Million To Hedge Bets in Lottery - NYTimes.com

What I would like to know is what are the odds of there being no winners with the amount of people playing? The odds of that seem low too don't they?

 

[FieldTheorist]

Quick! Rush out to your local lottery ticket seller, stand in along line and voluntarily offer the government $2 in exchange for a 1 in 292 million chance of hitting it really, really big! Never mind that the government will get between 1/3 and 1/2 of the (eventual) winnings without buying a single ticket. The sheeple are so stupid.

That depends. I tend not to judge people's forms of leisure, although I do think that gambling can be a pretty dangerous one. People like gambling with cards, where the odds are higher (but the favor is always in the house's direction) and I think that's fine. Some friends I bought a few tickets (first time, and probably the last). It provided some fun and amusing conversation, but I don't think that anyone seriously thought that anyone was going to win. I'm well aware of what a .0000003% chance means.


Still, I think that uneducated people buy these tickets, and really get their hopes up, and spend probably thousands of dollars over the year on it on a very limited paycheck. I think that speaks to how sad neoliberal capitalism is, but that's a side conversation.


So the winnings are over a billion then next? (Paid out over 30 years --again, the bull**** that they can pull over on poor people is pretty astounding. Even with terribly interest rates on mediocre investements, you could make 2.5 billion over that same time period.)

 

[JasperL]

Quick! Rush out to your local lottery ticket seller, stand in along line and voluntarily offer the government $2 in exchange for a 1 in 292 million chance of hitting it really, really big! Never mind that the government will get between 1/3 and 1/2 of the (eventual) winnings without buying a single ticket. The sheeple are so stupid.

There are dumber things, like paying 2.50 for a glass of tea with dinner instead of drinking free water. There's no chance that dumb decision (by me) last night will pay off....

Sheesh, it's entertainment. As long as people go into it with open eyes and don't spend money their family can't afford, harmless fun.

Frankly with current odds the bet isn't even irrational. Risk $2 for a payoff that odds adjusted exceeds the amount at risk. Frankly, if a Wall Street firm could be assured of being the ONLY one to pick a winning number, it would be an easy slam dunk to buy every possible combination. If the odds are 1/292M, the expected payout is (unless my reasoning is off) is roughly 800m/292m = or about $2.72 for a $2 bet. Or to put it differently, you could spend $584 million for a guaranteed payout of over $800 million, and only have your money tied up for a few days.

Just realized I forgot taxes. So if 35% taxes, $800m payout, risk $584 to get $520m, or $1.72 per $2 bet. Not quite there yet...

 

[Cardinal]

That depends. I tend not to judge people's forms of leisure, although I do think that gambling can be a pretty dangerous one. People like gambling with cards, where the odds are higher (but the favor is always in the house's direction) and I think that's fine. Some friends I bought a few tickets (first time, and probably the last). It provided some fun and amusing conversation, but I don't think that anyone seriously thought that anyone was going to win. I'm well aware of what a .0000003% chance means.


Still, I think that uneducated people buy these tickets, and really get their hopes up, and spend probably thousands of dollars over the year on it on a very limited paycheck. I think that speaks to how sad neoliberal capitalism is, but that's a side conversation.


So the winnings are over a billion then next? (Paid out over 30 years --again, the bull**** that they can pull over on poor people is pretty astounding. Even with terribly interest rates on mediocre investements, you could make 2.5 billion over that same time period.)

500 mil split up over 30 years would leave me with 16.6 mil/year. I think I could stretch that out somehow. I might have to drink boxed wine a couple nights out of the year, but I could do it.

 

[ttwtt78640]

There are dumber things, like paying 2.50 for a glass of tea with dinner instead of drinking free water. There's no chance that dumb decision (by me) last night will pay off....

Sheesh, it's entertainment. As long as people go into it with open eyes and don't spend money their family can't afford, harmless fun.

Frankly with current odds the bet isn't even irrational. Risk $2 for a payoff that odds adjusted exceeds the amount at risk. Frankly, if a Wall Street firm could be assured of being the ONLY one to pick a winning number, it would be an easy slam dunk to buy every possible combination. If the odds are 1/292M, the expected payout is (unless my reasoning is off) is roughly 800m/292m = or about $2.72 for a $2 bet. Or to put it differently, you could spend $584 million for a guaranteed payout of over $800 million, and only have your money tied up for a few days.

Retry your calculations using the net, rather than gross, payout.

 

[Captain America]

Hmmmm......

It seems, since that dude got busted for rigging the lottery (underlining point: the lottery can be rigged,) and they have expanded their investigation in to other states.....

Nobody seems to be winning.

Makes me rib my chin and go "Hmmmmmmm............." :coffeepap

Iowa lottery-rigging probe widens

 

[JasperL]

Retry your calculations using the net, rather than gross, payout.

You're right - realized almost immediately I forgot taxes. See edits. $1.72 per $2.

Still harmless fun and lots of games in Vegas have far worse odds and an entire city is built on people willingly taking that bet and thinking they have a chance to win.

 

[Deuce]

Naah the chances are even less than you think of winner take all. A syndicate will buy all the potential number combinations and still make a profit with a jackpot this size even if there are multiple winners. There are only so many permutations and 1.3 billon is a lot more than that.

Group Invests $5 Million To Hedge Bets in Lottery - NYTimes.com

What I would like to know is what are the odds of there being no winners with the amount of people playing? The odds of that seem low too don't they?

Theres no way for purchasing every combination to be profitable. Or even possible. You can't physically print that number of tickets in the time between drawings.

 

[ttwtt78640]

You're right - realized almost immediately I forgot taxes. See edits. $1.72 per $2.

Still harmless fun and lots of games in Vegas have far worse odds and an entire city is built on people willingly taking that bet and thinking they have a chance to win.

As to that (bolded above) assertion - name one that is worse than 292.2 million to 1.

 

[JasperL]

Hmmmm......

It seems, since that dude got busted for rigging the lottery (underlining point: the lottery can be rigged,) and they have expanded their investigation in to other states.....

Nobody seems to be winning.

Makes me rib my chin and go "Hmmmmmmm............." :coffeepap

Iowa lottery-rigging probe widens

The Powerball is different. They pick balls out of a bowl (in essence) on TV so the only way to rig that is to use different size or weight balls. Looks like in the case above a computer picked the supposedly random numbers and was rigged to pick certain numbers on that day.

 

[FieldTheorist]

500 mil split up over 30 years would leave me with 16.6 mil/year. I think I could stretch that out somehow. I might have to drink boxed wine a couple nights out of the year, but I could do it.

No, but that's the kind of narrow thinking that they want poor/middle-class people to have. Your choice, over 30 years, is either making 900 million or, if you invest it in a middling way, 2.5 billion. Which one should you pick?

 

[JasperL]

As to that (bolded above) assertion - name one that is worse than 292.2 million to 1.

That's the wrong question. The expected payout is $1.72 per $2, or house odds of about 14%. Here's a table of house odds. There are many with worse odds than 14% for the house...

House Edge of casino games compared - Wizard of Odds

 

[ludin]

the annuity payment is 1.3b
the one lump cash sum is 800m

that is before taxes.