Powerball @ $245 million

[PhoenixOrion]

I just saw the billboard today that the jackpot is $245 million.

I never go into that shady gas station store down the road with some interesting characters always hangin out outside...........but I just might go in there to get my quick picks.

You donating to the education system for this drawing?

 

[TuxDave]

I already pay so much state income tax... what's another couple dollars?

 

[rivan]

I put $10 into my Powerball Retirement Fund this morning. It's as solid a gamble as most.

 

[PhoenixOrion]

I hardly play but I part a dollar or two every now and then when it gets up there close to the 300 mark.

My in-laws have a rule: they play an entire $5 set for every drawing over the 100M mark.

 

[ElFenix]

mega millions is up to 171 million right now. i think the odds of winning are about 1 in 170 million, so it's time to play.

 

[AmpedSilence]

Originally posted by: PhoenixOrion

My in-laws have a rule: they play an entire $5 set for every drawing over the 100M mark.

Thats not a bad rule at all. small amount of money and extremely controlled.

 

[jandrews]

The way I see it, I picture it as there is 1000 baseball stadiums lined up down the road, there is one winner in each stadium. You have to enter each stadium, become the 1 winner of the 30,000 fans and then move to the next stadium. You must be the 1 winner of 30,000 fans in each of the stadium to win the money. Is it worth it? No because its basically impossible. Sure, 'somebody' wins but lets get real here.

 

[TuxDave]

Originally posted by: jandrews
The way I see it, I picture it as there is 1000 baseball stadiums lined up down the road, there is one winner in each stadium. You have to enter each stadium, become the 1 winner of the 30,000 fans and then move to the next stadium. You must be the 1 winner of 30,000 fans in each of the stadium to win the money. Is it worth it? No because its basically impossible. Sure, 'somebody' wins but lets get real here.

Yeah.. but the odds aren't 1 to 30000^1000.

 

[PhoenixOrion]

Originally posted by: AmpedSilence

Originally posted by: PhoenixOrion

My in-laws have a rule: they play an entire $5 set for every drawing over the 100M mark.

Thats not a bad rule at all. small amount of money and extremely controlled.

What I find odd is that they have a rule or that they play to begin with......... considering they are 'old money' and probably don't need the money from any winnings....unlike me

 

[Q]

Let us do an ATOT pool I say

 

[trmiv]

I need to stop on the way home and pick up $10 worth of tickets. I only play when the jackpot gets this big. The way I look at it is, it's only $10, I almost waste that on lunch some days. If I don't win it's not the end of the world, but if I do......... Pretty good "investment" I think just for the "if I win" fantasies I get to live out in my head until the drawing.

 

[savvy]

It is almost a waste of money. :S

 

[Balt]

When it starts climbing above $100m I usually buy a couple of tickets. The $2 I scrape out of my ashtray probably weren't going to be of much use anyway.

 

[jandrews]

Originally posted by: TuxDave

Originally posted by: jandrews
The way I see it, I picture it as there is 1000 baseball stadiums lined up down the road, there is one winner in each stadium. You have to enter each stadium, become the 1 winner of the 30,000 fans and then move to the next stadium. You must be the 1 winner of 30,000 fans in each of the stadium to win the money. Is it worth it? No because its basically impossible. Sure, 'somebody' wins but lets get real here.

Yeah.. but the odds aren't 1 to 30000^1000.

oh pardon me, are they worse than that?

 

[SuperNaruto]

just got mine... not expecting to win but if the numbers are picked, i wont be complaining..

 

[MikeyLSU]

Originally posted by: jandrews
The way I see it, I picture it as there is 1000 baseball stadiums lined up down the road, there is one winner in each stadium. You have to enter each stadium, become the 1 winner of the 30,000 fans and then move to the next stadium. You must be the 1 winner of 30,000 fans in each of the stadium to win the money. Is it worth it? No because its basically impossible. Sure, 'somebody' wins but lets get real here.

you are actually way off.

The actual scenario would be you are picked in one stadium of 30,000, then go to another stadium with 5,666 people in it, if you win that one, that is the same chances of winning the lottery.

Far far better than what you described.

Plus there is still the chance at the lower winnings, like $200,000 which I am leaving out.

 

[jandrews]

Originally posted by: MikeyLSU

Originally posted by: jandrews
The way I see it, I picture it as there is 1000 baseball stadiums lined up down the road, there is one winner in each stadium. You have to enter each stadium, become the 1 winner of the 30,000 fans and then move to the next stadium. You must be the 1 winner of 30,000 fans in each of the stadium to win the money. Is it worth it? No because its basically impossible. Sure, 'somebody' wins but lets get real here.

you are actually way off.

The actual scenario would be you are picked in one stadium of 30,000, then go to another stadium with 5,666 people in it, if you win that one, that is the same chances of winning the lottery.

Far far better than what you described.

Plus there is still the chance at the lower winnings, like $200,000 which I am leaving out.

so the odds of winning the lottery, 245 million dollars is 1/35,666? Or are you somehow compounding it to go at 1/30,000 1/5666 and putting that together somehow? I am no mathmetician.

 

[kstu]

Originally posted by: jandrews

Originally posted by: MikeyLSU

Originally posted by: jandrews
The way I see it, I picture it as there is 1000 baseball stadiums lined up down the road, there is one winner in each stadium. You have to enter each stadium, become the 1 winner of the 30,000 fans and then move to the next stadium. You must be the 1 winner of 30,000 fans in each of the stadium to win the money. Is it worth it? No because its basically impossible. Sure, 'somebody' wins but lets get real here.

you are actually way off.

The actual scenario would be you are picked in one stadium of 30,000, then go to another stadium with 5,666 people in it, if you win that one, that is the same chances of winning the lottery.

Far far better than what you described.

Plus there is still the chance at the lower winnings, like $200,000 which I am leaving out.

so the odds of winning the lottery, 245 million dollars is 1/35,666? Or are you somehow compounding it to go at 1/30,000 1/5666 and putting that together somehow? I am no mathmetician.

The odds in Mikey's example are ~ 1 in 170 million, i.e. 1 in 30,000*5666. The odds in your example are ~ 1 in 1.322 x 10^4477, i.e. 1 in 30,000^1000.

 

[PhoenixOrion]

I don't remember what year it was but the jackpot got so big that I got a phone call from a cousin and another from a friend to tell me to buy them tickets. It was odd.

 

[jandrews]

Originally posted by: kstu

Originally posted by: jandrews

Originally posted by: MikeyLSU

Originally posted by: jandrews
The way I see it, I picture it as there is 1000 baseball stadiums lined up down the road, there is one winner in each stadium. You have to enter each stadium, become the 1 winner of the 30,000 fans and then move to the next stadium. You must be the 1 winner of 30,000 fans in each of the stadium to win the money. Is it worth it? No because its basically impossible. Sure, 'somebody' wins but lets get real here.

you are actually way off.

The actual scenario would be you are picked in one stadium of 30,000, then go to another stadium with 5,666 people in it, if you win that one, that is the same chances of winning the lottery.

Far far better than what you described.

Plus there is still the chance at the lower winnings, like $200,000 which I am leaving out.

so the odds of winning the lottery, 245 million dollars is 1/35,666? Or are you somehow compounding it to go at 1/30,000 1/5666 and putting that together somehow? I am no mathmetician.

The odds in Mikey's example are ~ 1 in 170 million, i.e. 1 in 30,000*5666. The odds in your example are ~ 1 in 1.322 x 10^4477, i.e. 1 in 30,000^1000.

hmmmm but would that be an accurate calculate of getting picked 1/30,000 then 1/5666? I dont remember how to calculate those odds. Well I use the stadium example because it is much easier to envision a packed full stadium. So what if I take it down to 30 stadiums at a 1000 people a piece

 

[MikeyLSU]

Originally posted by: jandrews

Originally posted by: MikeyLSU

Originally posted by: jandrews
The way I see it, I picture it as there is 1000 baseball stadiums lined up down the road, there is one winner in each stadium. You have to enter each stadium, become the 1 winner of the 30,000 fans and then move to the next stadium. You must be the 1 winner of 30,000 fans in each of the stadium to win the money. Is it worth it? No because its basically impossible. Sure, 'somebody' wins but lets get real here.

you are actually way off.

The actual scenario would be you are picked in one stadium of 30,000, then go to another stadium with 5,666 people in it, if you win that one, that is the same chances of winning the lottery.

Far far better than what you described.

Plus there is still the chance at the lower winnings, like $200,000 which I am leaving out.

so the odds of winning the lottery, 245 million dollars is 1/35,666? Or are you somehow compounding it to go at 1/30,000 1/5666 and putting that together somehow? I am no mathmetician.

yes, basically, in your example you put conditions that you have to win the first to move on to the second stadium...if that is the case, then you only need to win how I said it.

 

[MikeyLSU]

Originally posted by: jandrews

Originally posted by: kstu

Originally posted by: jandrews

Originally posted by: MikeyLSU

Originally posted by: jandrews
The way I see it, I picture it as there is 1000 baseball stadiums lined up down the road, there is one winner in each stadium. You have to enter each stadium, become the 1 winner of the 30,000 fans and then move to the next stadium. You must be the 1 winner of 30,000 fans in each of the stadium to win the money. Is it worth it? No because its basically impossible. Sure, 'somebody' wins but lets get real here.

you are actually way off.

The actual scenario would be you are picked in one stadium of 30,000, then go to another stadium with 5,666 people in it, if you win that one, that is the same chances of winning the lottery.

Far far better than what you described.

Plus there is still the chance at the lower winnings, like $200,000 which I am leaving out.

so the odds of winning the lottery, 245 million dollars is 1/35,666? Or are you somehow compounding it to go at 1/30,000 1/5666 and putting that together somehow? I am no mathmetician.

The odds in Mikey's example are ~ 1 in 170 million, i.e. 1 in 30,000*5666. The odds in your example are ~ 1 in 1.322 x 10^4477, i.e. 1 in 30,000^1000.

hmmmm but would that be an accurate calculate of getting picked 1/30,000 then 1/5666? I dont remember how to calculate those odds. Well I use the stadium example because it is much easier to envision a packed full stadium. So what if I take it down to 30 stadiums at a 1000 people a piece

well, if you wanted it put very simply like that...you would have to win in a stadium of 550 3 times.

 

[Kwaipie]

I love it when people don't play until it is an absurd amount of money. 245 million, sure! 50 million? why bother.

 

[jandrews]

Originally posted by: MikeyLSU

Originally posted by: jandrews

Originally posted by: kstu

Originally posted by: jandrews

Originally posted by: MikeyLSU

Originally posted by: jandrews
The way I see it, I picture it as there is 1000 baseball stadiums lined up down the road, there is one winner in each stadium. You have to enter each stadium, become the 1 winner of the 30,000 fans and then move to the next stadium. You must be the 1 winner of 30,000 fans in each of the stadium to win the money. Is it worth it? No because its basically impossible. Sure, 'somebody' wins but lets get real here.

you are actually way off.

The actual scenario would be you are picked in one stadium of 30,000, then go to another stadium with 5,666 people in it, if you win that one, that is the same chances of winning the lottery.

Far far better than what you described.

Plus there is still the chance at the lower winnings, like $200,000 which I am leaving out.

so the odds of winning the lottery, 245 million dollars is 1/35,666? Or are you somehow compounding it to go at 1/30,000 1/5666 and putting that together somehow? I am no mathmetician.

The odds in Mikey's example are ~ 1 in 170 million, i.e. 1 in 30,000*5666. The odds in your example are ~ 1 in 1.322 x 10^4477, i.e. 1 in 30,000^1000.

hmmmm but would that be an accurate calculate of getting picked 1/30,000 then 1/5666? I dont remember how to calculate those odds. Well I use the stadium example because it is much easier to envision a packed full stadium. So what if I take it down to 30 stadiums at a 1000 people a piece

well, if you wanted it put very simply like that...you would have to win in a stadium of 550 3 times.

odds are a funny thing, it would seem so much more likely to win 3 times out of 550 people than once in 175 million people, stuff like this makes my head hurt. Time to get the computer sim to do random odds testing!!

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Originally posted by: jandrews
Is it worth it? No because its basically impossible. Sure, 'somebody' wins but lets get real here.

There's a brilliant analysis: Somebody wins, but it's impossible to win. By your logic (or lack thereof) all those somebodies who did win should not have played because it was impossible for them to have won?