Granted, you need the right one, and when it comes to the Powerball, which is going for a whopping $1.23 billion for Saturday's drawing, depending on which payout option you choose, the odds of holding the right ticket are 1 in 292,201,338.
In other words, it's nearly impossible to win. But of course, someone will.
Sure, you can try to buy multiple tickets, but it only fractionally increases your odds and is so insignificant it probably isn't worth doing. But you just never know. When jackpots are this high, I might be okay with shelling out $10 or $20 for a few extra shots at it.
Why not? Besides. It's fun to dream, right? And I suppose I have wasted $20 on worse things? Hell, there was that time I bought a drone only to take it outside, hit one button, and watch it whizz straight up into the air and into the atmosphere never to be seen again.
Besides just being gosh darn lucky to win the thing, here are some fun other things that are far more likely to happen to you other than winning the big one which may help to put the odds into a bit of perspective.
You have a 1 in 2 million chance, for example, of finding a blue lobster in the ocean. 1 in roughly 2.5 million have a chance to be attacked by a grizzly bear in Yellowstone National Park. There's a 1 in 9 million chance you will be struck by lightning twice.
Odds are even better you might find a four leafed clover which is 1 in 10,000. You even have a better chance at winning an Olympic medal which is 1 in 660,000. 1 in 6.5 million have a better chance of dying from a bee sting than hitting the big jackpot. 1 in 10 million stand a chance of being struck by a piece of an airplane falling from the sky for Heaven's sake.
Even 1 in 3,800 have a shot at living to be 100 years old. 1 in 11 million are likely to be attacked by a shark. You could walk into a casino and have a 1 in 649,000 chance of sitting down at the poker table and having the very first hand dealt to you be a royal flush.
Odds are that not even one of these things will ever happen to you. But again, they are more likely to happen to you than winning the lottery.
I think the key with it is just to have fun. Let the dream fly, but not to get carried away and shelling out big bucks that won't really impact your chances of winning at all. I think we have all sat down and done some of the math just to see how much we might actually take home.
For example, most people choose the cash option, and that immediately takes a sizeable chunk of cash off the table right away since the published prize is not the actual total prize pool, but instead is the prospective value of the annuity that the prize pool would be invested in if you decided to choose to receive payments over 29 years.
The cash option in the next drawing on Apil 6th is estimated to be $595.1 million. Depending on the state where you live you could probably expect to take home about $357.06 million after taxes. It's a lot less than $1.23 billion, but nothing not to write home about and forever change your life.
Consider there is also a 1 in 584.4 million chance you may have to share you prize with someone else. And when jackpots are this high, it is more probable you will have to share it since more people tend to buy tickets.
Either way, $178.53 million after taxes is still a sizeable chunk of dough.
Ultimately, if I had one strong piece of advice for you on what to do, I'd say not to bother getting your own ticket. After all, I already have the winning ticket. I am pretty sure of that. I wonder what the odds are of finding a four leafed clover in a paved parking lot?
Like the way I write or the things I write about? Follow me on Facebook or on X to keep up with the latest writings wherever I may write them. Looking for a place to find the $2 you need to buy a lottery ticket, have a look at the Discover card, the card that pays you back 1% to 5% on your purchases.
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