Powerball Lottery

[bueller]

Hell I can't win on a slot machine lately how in world can I expect to win the lottery.

Now daily fantasy football and super bowl pools, I'm invested ;)

 

[chummer]

Hell I can't win on a slot machine lately how in world can I expect to win the lottery.

Now daily fantasy football and super bowl pools, I'm invested ;)

I bought $40 worth. I figure three days of dreaming is worth $40. My wife is in on her work pool, they have $135 in.

 

[Turkey Creek]

I bought my ticket yesterday. One is all you need right?!:)

 

[JackTerp]

I just got back from the local grocery store. the lady in front of me paid for a whole cart of snacks with a welfare EBT card. She then went over to the front desk and dropped $60 cash on powerball tickets. Just doesn't seem right to me.

 

[UP Powers]

No kidding, she should be buying produce, kale and tofu before the lotto tickets.

Aren't you from Chino Hills??? LOL Aren't you the winner?????????

 

[UP Powers]

Yep. Your odds are 290m/1. The second ticket drops your odds to 289,999,999. Fyi, the odds of being hit my lightning, an asteroid and having identical quadruplets and being the potus is 40m/1.

ehhhh not so much. your odds wouldn't drop by just one. Remember that you need to take into consideration human culpability and expected return. Hence why they give "estimates" on the jackpot. According to your math the jackpot estimate at 1.5 BB and the odds you describe seems like a reasonable return on investment. Meaning, I buy ALL available tickets at 289MM and eliminate all series numbers 12345, PB 1, 23456, PB 1 etc, which would leave that number drastically lower seems like an easy investment??? NOPE Your odds of winning will decrease as the "frenzy" grows because of the chances of multiple winners.

So, it's more of a probability game rather than increasing your "odds". Your expected value of the "pot" and your return on your investment, and coupled with the possibility of multiple wins leaves you with what happened last night. Multiple wins in multiple states, 1/3 of a huge jackpot, and some very happy people this am.

It's about the Math. :)