Powerball tickets going to $2.00...

[conehead433]

Good, maybe it will help create astronomical jackpots. I won when it hit $422 million. Oh wait, that's the future.

 

[Patranus]

---

 

[CPA]

Damn evil corporations! oh, wait....

 

[Engineer]

Damn evil corporations! oh, wait....

This does not change anything about corporations and, as with corporations, one can vote with their wallet and not buy them.

 

[alkemyst]

I still haven't seen how the odds have improved.

 

[blinblue]

I still haven't seen how the odds have improved.

Well in some situations (I believe this was the case last year) the jackpot can get so big that it makes mathematical sense to play if you know that the jackpot won't get shared. So $2 tickets means fewer people will play, which a lower chance that another person will have the winning ticket and therefore a lower chance of a shared jackpot.

Step 1: Wait for jackpot to reach that point
Step 2: Buy every single lotto number
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Profit

 

[DrPizza]

Well in some situations (I believe this was the case last year) the jackpot can get so big that it makes mathematical sense to play if you know that the jackpot won't get shared. So $2 tickets means fewer people will play, which a lower chance that another person will have the winning ticket and therefore a lower chance of a shared jackpot.

Step 1: Wait for jackpot to reach that point
Step 2: Buy every single lotto number
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Profit

That's ridiculous. Mathematically, you will NEVER know that the jackpot won't be shared. It's entertainment, nothing else. Buy 1 ticket or buy 20 tickets, it doesn't matter, since your probability remains essentially the same. IF it ever got to the point where it was a good investment to buy every combination, then more people would do that, defeating the purpose.

 

[alkemyst]

Well in some situations (I believe this was the case last year) the jackpot can get so big that it makes mathematical sense to play if you know that the jackpot won't get shared. So $2 tickets means fewer people will play, which a lower chance that another person will have the winning ticket and therefore a lower chance of a shared jackpot.

Step 1: Wait for jackpot to reach that point
Step 2: Buy every single lotto number
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Profit

you realize you'd have to buy and have them process 175,223,510 combinations to guarantee a win. That does not guarantee you wouldn't be sharing it.

 

[TallBill]

Even they ain't happy. Daughter knows the son of a guy that won 43 million (after taxes), and he is terrified that his grandkids will be kidnapped for ransom. Even moving, changing to unlisted phone, etc., etc., they are still constantly hounded by con artists and charities, and just people begging for money with their sob stories, some probably real, some not.

I'd be willing to handle that "burden". I could pay someone $10,000 a year to do all of my simple tasks, one of such tasks being handling my mail.

 

[sixone]

http://news.yahoo.com/pricey-picks-powerball-tickets-doubling-2-180402765.html

Interesting logic here...



I think it will cause fewer people to play as $2 just doesn't sound and feel as good as a $1.00 ticket.

:thumbsdown:

Edit: It might keep people who should not be playing (i.e. don't have the money) from spending money that they don't have but I doubt it.

Those who can't or won't pay $2 per ticket will play MegaMillions instead. Those cost a dollar, and the game is very similar to Powerball.

 

[JEDI]

right now if u buy a powerball tix, u get a free raffle tix.

no idea what they're raffling. or how many winners.

just saw the poster at my local store.

edit:
one prize of $100,000 and 400 prizes of $250. limited # of raffle tix.

still not going to make me buy $2 powerball at this low measy jackpot amount.

 

[blinblue]

That's ridiculous. Mathematically, you will NEVER know that the jackpot won't be shared. It's entertainment, nothing else. Buy 1 ticket or buy 20 tickets, it doesn't matter, since your probability remains essentially the same. IF it ever got to the point where it was a good investment to buy every combination, then more people would do that, defeating the purpose.

Oh I know, but I would imagine it does ever so slightly influence it, and then you could say the odds are better. Every person that doesn't play ever so slightly increases the expected value. And higher ticket prices would likely cause fewer people to play (of course perhaps for some reason $2 ticket prices might cause more people to play, in which cause all bets are off). An expected return of $2.00000001 for every $2 spent is still slightly better than $2.000000001 for every $2 spent

 

[mrrman]

It's all a ploy to bring back the $2 bill.

I think I have one stashed away

 

[gorcorps]

Smart move. I know a number of people that'll buy a random ticket at the gas station if the jackpot gets high enough and they're already there getting something. The dollar increase won't affect their decision or how large of a jackpot they're willing to jump in at, so if it gets to that number more often they have more of their money overall.

 

[rudder]

I won $48,000 from powerball and didn't even buy a ticket. My kids each get $4000/year for lottery scholarships. That is... as long as those people in the ghetto keep buying tickets.

 

[Gothgar]

I already dont buy them. Now I have even less of a reason to waste my money.

 

[jpeyton]

If the hike to $2 gets less people to play the lottery, I'm all for it.

 

[JEDI]

right now if u buy a powerball tix, u get a free raffle tix.

no idea what they're raffling. or how many winners.

just saw the poster at my local store.

edit:
one prize of $100,000 and 400 prizes of $250. limited # of raffle tix.

still not going to make me buy $2 powerball at this low measy jackpot amount.

powerball $250M (160M cash)

400k free raffle tix left.
drawing march 1st