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  • Powerball Jackpot: Will Buying More Lottery Tickets Really Increase Your Chances Of Winning?

    The $700 million Powerball jackpot prize certainly is enticing, but what are the chances of winning the grand prize?

    Lottery hopefuls have a 1 in 292.2 million chance of winning. According to Jeffrey Miecznikowski, Associate Professor of Biostatistics at the University at Buffalo, the odds of getting all the winning combinations correctly are almost the same as the odds of flipping a coin and getting heads 28 times in a row.

    The odds of winning come from all the different winning 5-ball combinations “multiplied by 26, because for every five-ball combination you’ve got 26 different associated Powerballs,” Miecznikowski explained.

    The probability of winning the $1.4 billion jackpot on Wednesday is the same as that of winning in November, when the prize was only $40 million. However, the expected return is much bigger now than before. The expected return is calculated by multiplying your odds of winning by the payout amount. For one Powerball ticket ($2) with a one-in-a-292-million chance of winning $1.4 billion, your expected return is almost $5 on that $2 ticket.

    However, the results are a little deceiving. The winner will only get $1.4 billion if he/she chooses to be paid in installment for 30 years. If they claim the entire prize money at once, the amount will only be $868 million because of tax deductions.

    Does buying multiple tickets better the chances of winning the Powerball jackpot? The odds will increase with the purchase of more tickets but the probability of winning is still very small. Buying 10 tickets increases your odds of winning by 10 times, according to Scott A. Norris, an assistant professor of mathematics at Southern Methodist University.

    However, the odds are really small that 100 multiplied buy that number is unlikely to win. This does not change even if one buys a million tickets.

    If you are thinking of buying all possible winning numbers, you would only end up losing money as it would cost you $584 million. There are also taxes to be subtracted, and you must also consider the possibility of splitting the prize if another ticket holder hits the same Powerball jackpot combination.

  • Powerball Jackpot Prize Could Reach A Staggering $1.3 Billion

    The Powerball jackpot prize could climb up from $949.8 million to $1.3 billion since no ticket matched Saturday night’s Powerball winning combination.

    The prize is estimated to reach more than a billion dollars by the next draw scheduled on Wednesday. Ever since the rules were modified last year, winning the prize has become even more difficult.

    The chances of winning the Powerball jackpot are so slim – 1 in 292 million people from a previous 1 in 175 millionpeople – that the probability of getting killed by an asteroid or getting struck by lightning is said to be higher than picking the right combination.

    Even so, tickets were reportedly sold as fast as 25,000 per minute in Texas.

    Saturday’s winning numbers were 16, 19, 32, 34, 57, and Powerball number 13. The ticket holder must get all the numbers correctly to hit the jackpot prize. The first five digits can go in any order but the sixth must match the Powerball jackpot number.

    Check Out the Powerball Jackpot Numbers Worth $950 Million

    “At our peak last night, we were selling more than $1.2 million in Powerball tickets every single minute,” Texas Lottery executive director Gary Grief revealed.

    Grief also told ABC News that 25 players had each won a $1 million dollar prize and three others got to take home a $2 million prize on Saturday’s draw.

    The estimated $1.3 billion prize would be twice as huge as the previous biggest U.S. lottery prize paid by Mega Millions in March 2012, in which three lottery hopefuls shared a $656 million grand prize.

    This coming Wednesday’s jackpot would also be more than double the $590.5 million pot money that Powerball gave away in May 2013 for one lucky ticket holder in Florida.

    An estimated cash value of $806 million dollars is due to be given away on Wednesday. The $1.3 billion imbursement will only materialize if the Powerball jackpot winner chooses to receive staggered payments.

  • Lottery Winners: Learning From Winners Of Jackpots Past

    Lottery winners were not found for the $900 million dollar jackpot last night and that brings the jackpot up to over a billion dollars and counting.

    A billion dollars is a lot of cash to for lottery winners to figure out.

    Sometimes, the lives of lottery winners change for the very best. Sometimes winning the lottery is the worst thing that has ever happened.

    There are countless cautionary tales out there about lottery winners who decided that giving it away was the most satisfying and went on to live long, happy lives. After a period of buying lots of fun stuff, of course.

    However, there are too many lottery winners who blew everything, lost their families and dignity or even succumbed to murder or suicide, all because of instant wealth.

    For example, Andrew “Jack” Whittaker of West Virginia was the lucky lottery winner of a 2002 $315 million Powerball jackpot.

    Whittaker was already a successful and wealthy married businessman. In fact, he was already a millionaire.

    After the joining the golden list of lottery winners, Whittaker quickly began to live a life of excess.

    Like other lottery winners, he blew large sums of money at strip clubs and even had a briefcase full of cash stolen when he passed out drunk in one.

    He said, “People have tried to rob me a dozen times.”

    Again, like many lottery winners, his marriage ended in divorce and things aren’t going so well for him these days.

    He is now married again and owns two businesses that “haven’t been doing very good. I’m still working and I’m 68 years old.”

    For an even worse example of lottery winners whose lives were ruined, William “Bud” Post won $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania lottery in 1988.

    Of his experience, Post said, “I wish it never happened. It was totally a nightmare.”

    Within a year, he was $1 million in debt and his own brother was in jail for hiring a hit man to kill him.

    What do you think would happen if you were among the lottery winners when this goliath jackpot is dispersed? Will you be happier or exceedingly more miserable?

  • Powerball Jackpot To Soar Past $1 Billion If No One Wins Tonight

    Powerball Jackpot fever is hotter than ever as a record-breaking $800 million estimated jackpot goes up for grabs in tonight’s drawing.

    If tonight’s Powerball Jackpot isn’t claimed, the jackpot will soar to over an unheard-of $1 billion dollar jackpot.

    It becomes hard to even wrap the mind around what one could do with the winnings from that Powerball jackpot.

    But, it seems people are big enough dreamers that ticket sales are still on fire. In fact, Iowa lottery spokeswoman Mary Neubauer said some Iowa stores were running out of paper for tickets, leaving lottery workers in a frenzy to resupply.

    This unprecendented jackpot, while shocking, was expected.

    Back in October, Powerball jackpot rule changes made the odds even smaller that someone would take home the jackpot.

    This naturally brought on the record breaking increases that have come from no one winning the Powerball jackpot since November.

    However, the Powerball jackpot rule changes made odds higher that one would win one of the smaller prizes, as low as $4.

    But still, $800 million is enough to drive even the biggest statistics skeptic to buy at least a ticket or two.

    Ron Wasserstein, executive director of the Alexandria, Virginia-based American Statistical Association, said, “Once you get numbers that size, it’s hard for people to wrap their minds around them.”

    He continued, “You take odds that were really, really small before, and now they’re nearly twice as small as they were before.”

    Obviously, though, as his job title would suggest, he’s not a big player of the Powerball jackpot.

    He added, “I can assure you, there is no office pool for the lottery at the American Statistical Association.”

    Sounds like a fun place to work.

    Are you going to run out and buy Powerball jackpot tickets today?

    What would you do with the winnings from an $800 million dollar Powerball jackpot?

  • Powerball Jackpot At $400 Million, Highest Since September 2013

    Powerball Jackpot fever is spreading across the country as hopeful winners dole out their dollars for a chance at a monstrous $400 million dollar jackpot.

    The Powerball jackpot grew to that number after no one claimed the $334 million dollar pot on Saturday.

    Back in October Powerball jackpot rules changed, which altered the number of red and white balls so that your chances of winning the jackpot are even slimmer.

    But, your odds of winning a smaller prize, as little as $4, are better.

    That’s not stopping the frenzy that will continue to build around the latest $400 million dollar Powerball jackpot.

    If a person were to win this $400 million dollar Powerball jackpot and choose the lump sum option, they would walk away with only $244.8 million.

    I use “only” loosely, of course.

    Despite the odds of winning the Powerball jackpot being an astounding 1 in 300 million, hopes are running high as ordinary people dream of what could be done with the money.

    We’re due for another winner pretty soon! The last Powerball jackpot winner was in back in November. It was a ticket holder from Tennessee who claimed the $144.1 million prize.

    This new Powerball jackpot begs the question: What would you do if you won $400 million dollars?

  • Powerball Jackpot Jumps To $152 Million

    It’s that magical time again! The Powerball jackpot has hit climbed over $100 million. It usually takes the Powerball climbing to nine figures for otherwise non-interested members of the public to take a chance. And now with each passing win-less jackpot, more and more lottery fans are definitely going to participate.

    After the Saturday drawing failed to produce a winning ticket, “America’s Favorite Game” saw its jackpot value climb to $152 million.

    The winning numbers were 15, 16, 28, 49, and 55. The red Powerball was 18 and the Power Play number was 2.

    In addition to missing out on the jackpot, there were no Match 5 Power Play winners.

    The good news is that though the bigger prizes remained untouched, there were a couple of lucky million dollar winners last night.

    Two tickets that matched the five numbers but missed the Powerball and Power Play were sold in the states of Pennsylvania and Washington.

    The official Powerball website revealed that there were a total of 561,807 winners for the 5/24/14 drawing. Prize money won totaled $5,312,552.

    Those who missed out on the suspense of possibly becoming a mega millionaire overnight will have another shot on Wednesday May, 28th. That’s when the drawing for this latest jackpot will occur.

    If there are no winners in midweek, there’s no telling how high the jackpot could climb as persons across 43 states, Washington D.C., and the citizens of the Virgin Islands try their hand at winning.

    If someone were to win the upcoming Powerball jackpot, he or she will have their choice between the annuity option valued at $152 million or a lump sum cash option of $89.6 million (before taxes).

    It’s been ten drawings since a winning ticket sold for $148.8 million in Florida back on April 23rd. With the jackpot surpassing that amount, it could mean we’re due for at least one lucky winner.

    As for the Mega Millions, the jackpot is back at $20 million following the news that a ticket worth $149 million was sold near Pittsburgh, Pa.

    Image via YouTube

  • Powerball Winner: Good Reasons To Stay Unknown

    Days after the winning numbers were announced in the $425 million Powerball jackpot, the lone winner has yet to make his or herself known.

    Some are wondering if the individual is even aware that they have a winning ticket. God forbid they accidentally threw it away!

    Many lottery participants dream of standing on a stage with a big old smile on their face as they hold a giant check for a huge amount of cash. It could be that the presently unknown winner has no such ambition. They may even lack a desire to rush to claim their prize.

    Not rushing to claim a huge jackpot prize might actually be the smartest thing a person could do.

    First, for all the glitz and glamour of winning the lottery, it is an existence that is filled with tragedy. Some jackpot winners wind up worse off financially than when they started and a number of past winners or their families come to regret the “magic ticket” ever finding its way into their lives.

    Second, the above is usually what happens to those star-struck winners who leap head first without stopping to look ahead or plan.

    Going from living paycheck to paycheck to a hundred million dollar existence is quite a leap. A person has to know what they intend to do. “Go shopping” seems like an obvious answer, but it’s hardly the only answer or most sensible.

    Lottery winners are advised to stop and take the time to plan out what their future life will be like, get reliable financial advice, and avoid a life of massive spending sprees.

    The need for calm and sensibility is another reason to stay anonymous. After all, once everyone who ever knew you becomes aware that you are suddenly worth hundreds of millions of dollars, they will be more eager than you to spend your lottery prize.

    This is why individuals are often encouraged to accept their prize as anonymous and quietly move on with their lives…and let as few people in on this brave new world of theirs as possible.

    One can only hope these thoughts have crossed the mind of California’s newest mega millionaire. Otherwise a few years from now, we’ll be reading about yet another jackpot win gone horribly wrong.

    Image via YouTube

  • Powerball Jackpot: $425 Million Ticket Sold

    Powerball Jackpot: $425 Million Ticket Sold

    If you are in the state of California, and you just happened to buy your Powerball ticket at a gas station in Milpitas, you may want to go check to see if you have the winner.

    Turns out that there was a single winning Powerball ticket worth about $425 million sold at a gas station in Milpitas, California. The winning numbers for that ticket were 1, 17, 35, 49, 54, and 34. The Powerplay was 3X.

    Unless the ticket was purchased as part of a “workplace pool”, there’s a good change one lucky California native or visitor will have hundreds of millions of dollars all to themselves.

    That is, if he or she were to opt for the yearly annuity payments. The lump sum or cash option will grant them at least $227.8 million before taxes. Many have chosen to simply “take the money and run” and with so much money up for grabs it would be hard to blame them if they asked for all their cash at once.

    While many will be disappointed to have not claimed the big prize, there’s still plenty of reasons to be excited. There were a about a dozen Powerball tickets that that missed out the jackpot by a single number, however the ticket owners will still walk away with quite a bit of cash. Someone in Texas managed to match five numbers with the Powerplay, gifting that person a ticket worth $2 million.

    There were $1 million tickets sold in each of the following states: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.

    In all there were 2,678,556 winners, and a total $36,295,345 worth of non-jackpot cash was won between all but one ticket buyers. As of right now, the lucky winner has yet to step forward. He or she may not even be aware they have the winning ticket. It’s not unheard of for individuals to accidentally lose or throw away winning tickets or forget all about having bought them.

    If that’s you and you are in the area, consider this your reminder. Go check your tickets right now and good luck to you!

    Image via Youtube

  • Powerball Jackpot Rises To $400 Million

    Powerball Jackpot Rises To $400 Million

    Do you feel lucky?

    If you do and maybe even if you don’t, now is the time to consider snagging a quick pick (or several) and hoping for the best.

    Yesterday’s drawing saw $21,219,895 worth of prizes handed out to over 1,384,629 winners. Including a ticket in Texas going for $2 Million. There were seven $1 million winners. But nobody claimed the big prize, which sent the pot value soaring.

    Depending on where you are, there’s a very good chance that you can get your hands on a Powerball ticket. The game is played in 43 states, Washington D.C. and even the Virgin Islands.

    Expect plenty of Americans from across the country to try their luck in Wednesday’s drawing. If a winning ticket or tickets are sold, the lucky persons will split what could be the sixth largest lottery prize of all time. If the person or persons opt out of annuity payments, the cash option is a staggering $227.8 million.

    The largest jackpot to date was actually a Mega Millions jackpot, which went for a whopping $636 million.

    The big numbers are the Powerball’s best bet in luring ticket buyers as the price of tickets doubled at the start of 2012. The starting jackpot also doubled, to $40 million. The now $2 tickets mean that the jackpot will likely climb faster should there be yet another drawing that doesn’t result in a winner.

    Meanwhile the Mega Millions jackpot is also rising. It sits right now at about $154 million. This means could be seeing back to back winners of major cash prizes in the coming days. We may even witness a new jackpot record in the coming weeks.

    So let’s say you’re feeling lucky after all and get your hands on a winning ticket. What would you do with $400 million dollars? Perhaps you opt to take a cash prize of $200 million after taxes. There is a lot of advice available for lottery winners to help them avoid the pitfalls of winning. If that happens to be you, good luck and don’t spend it all in one place!

    Image via Youtube

  • Powerball Jackpot Climbs To $194 Million

    The winning numbers for the Powerball drawing on January 29th were 11, 23, 28, 32, and 47; the Powerball number was 20. The Power Play number was 2.

    There were no winners of the $171 million Powerball jackpot prize. As the winning numbers continue to elude eager participants, the jackpot continues to grow.

    Not everyone walked away empty handed, as winnings for the last drawing totaled roughly $8.66 million. There were 592,462 winners in all.

    The latest failure to claim the major prize resulted in the lottery jackpot increasing to an impressive $194 million. The cash value of the jackpot for those seeking a lump sum would be $110.7 million before taxes.

    If the huge jackpot alone isn’t enough to lure participants, the recent return of the Power Play multiplier might entice individuals to try their luck. The multiplier option is an additional $1, but instead of simply doubling one’s winnings, participants who use the multiplier have the chance to multiply their winnings as much as five times.

    The exceptions are of course anyone who wins the jackpot as well as anyone who wins the $1 million for matching five numbers but missing the Power Ball. The second largest prize can only be doubled to $2 million. With rule changes occurring all the time, eventually this may change as well.

    At the same time, it’s hard to imagine anyone so disappointed with losing out on the big prize that they would turn down hundreds of thousands of dollars. Not to mention a chance to pocket more than a million in cash. In the end, winning big is relative.

    The larger the jackpot becomes, and it is already just shy of $200 million, the more hype surrounds it and the more excited potential winners become. Expect the jackpot to balloon significantly as more and more people participate—That is if we have no winners in the coming weeks.

    Meanwhile the Mega Millions jackpot continues to climb. though it hasn’t reached the exciting nine figure stage yet. At present, it’s worth $84 million in annuity payments, with a cash option of $46 million.

    Image via ABC News Youtube

  • Powerball Increases To $152 Million

    Powerball Increases To $152 Million

    There was no winner in the January 22nd Powerball drawing and so the amount at stake for the next jackpot drawing has gone up. The annuity value of the January 25th drawing has climbed to $152 million. The one-time payout option would be worth $85.6 million (before taxes) should a lucky individual pick the winning numbers on Saturday.

    When the Powerball climbs to over a hundred million, this is usually when the clamor begins, which means that each jackpot where there fails to see a winner will serve to only massively increase the money on the line for future drawings.

    As for the previous drawing, though no one claimed the millions, three individuals came closer than anyone. Three Powerball tickets were sold in California, Indiana and New York that matched five numbers, but missed the Powerball. As each ticket is worth $1,000,000, it’s hard to consider the near-miss a total bummer. This even as the million dollar tickets from the very jackpot where the Powerplay Multiplier was re-introduced. This meant the lucky winners could have doubled their winnings if they’d spent a single dollar more on the winning ticket. Oh well. It’s doubtful they’ll take time to care between all the backflips and moon-walking.

    According to an announcement by Hoosier Lottery, there were four $10,000 Powerball tickets sold in Indiana, specifically in the cities of Yorktown, Elwood and Mishawaka and Bluffton.

    Even though the Powerball jackpot is already over a hundred million, the Mega Millions hasn’t gotten there yet. The next drawing will be Friday, January 24th and the jackpot value will be $62 million. The pre-taxes lump sum option will be $33.7 million.

    When and where will the winning tickets be sold? Anyone’s guess as always, but just as the last major jackpots occurred around Christmas, maybe it’s in the cards that the jackpots will see winners around Valentines Day?

    Image via ABC News Youtube

  • Unclaimed $16M Powerball Jackpot Set to Expire

    There is a $16 million Powerball lottery ticket on the loose, and it has yet to be found. According to Florida Lottery officials, the jackpot remains unclaimed and is set to expire tonight, Thursday, November 21, 2013, at 11:59 p.m. “It’s here, we’re ready to give it to the rightful owner. We want to give the money away,” stated David Bishop, a spokesman for the Florida Lottery. Hopefully the owner of the winning Powerball lottery ticket does not realize after it is too late.

    There have been neighborhood residents who have continued to question Florida’s missing ticket. Most do not understand why an individual would purchase the ticket, win the $16M jackpot, and then not claim it. Laura Winkles said, “I wish I had it. How could someone be so silly? This is just free money.” But she is not the only one who questions where the ticket is located. Nidia Tannous, the owner of the store where the ticket was sold, wonders about the winner everyday and has even placed signs in her store’s window since Memorial Day. “The store is a neighborhood store, and pretty much ninety percent of our customers are regular customers. We still have a little bit of hope that somebody will come before Thursday,” she said. The store also received $25,000 for selling the winning lottery ticket.

    According to the Florida Lottery website, if a Powerball jackpot is not claimed within its 180-day deadline, “the funds to pay the unclaimed jackpot will be returned to the lottery members in their proportion of sales for the jackpot rollover series.” The drawing was held on Saturday, May 25, 2013, and was purchased at Carrollwood Market on West Village Drive in Tampa, Florida. The winning numbers are: 02, 06, 19, 21, 27, and a Powerball of 25.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Powerball Ticket Worth $16 Million Expires Tonight

    On May 25th, an unknown person or persons bought a Powerball ticket in Tampa Bay, Florida at Carollwood Market. The numbers of the ticket were: 2, 6, 19, 21, 27, Powerball number 25. That ticket wound up being a $16 million winner but the prize has gone unclaimed. The 180-day deadline to cash in is fast approaching, and at 11:59 pm tonight, the ticket will be worth nothing.

    David Bishop, a spokesman for the Florida Lottery, stated, “It’s here, we’re ready to give it to the rightful owner. We want to give the money away.”

    So what happened to the winner? We can only speculate at this point. No one knows for sure. There was another large unclaimed lottery jackpot in Florida in 2003. A whopping $53.7 million went unclaimed. No one found out what happened to that winner either.

    And where does the unclaimed cash go? The Florida Lottery website says that 80% of the money goes to education. In fact, the Florida Lottery has given $25 billion dollars to the state for public education over the past 25 years. The other 20% is put back into the Florida Lottery prize pool.

    Powerball runs every Wednesday and Saturday nights at 10:59 pm Eastern. In order to hit the jackpot, you must match all five white balls and one red ball, which is the Powerball. Each ticket costs $2. There are several different cash prize payouts a player can win without hitting the jackpot. Last night’s numbers were: 4, 18, 23, 32, 45, Powerball 7. However, no one hit the big jackpot, which will rollover to Saturday night. The estimated jackpot for Saturday’s drawing is $50 million.

    Image Via Wikipedia

  • Powerball Jackpot Tops $300 Million

    The Powerball jackpot has topped $300 million once again, for the fourth time this year. The lottery game has only had eleven jackpots total that topped that figure.

    Wednesday night’s drawing yielded the numbers 11, 19, 33, 42 and 52, with a Powerball of 33; no one hit every number, so Saturday’s jackpot will be $317 million, or $176.3 million if the winner takes the cash in a lump sum.

    The record for the lotto game was set in May, when a Florida woman hit the $590.5 million jackpot. She ended up taking the cash and was left with a paltry $379 million (before taxes). The record-setting jackpots are likely the result of a redesign of the game, which raised ticket prices to $2 but changed the length of time it takes to garner big pots.

    “It usually took a handful of months, if not several months, for a jackpot to reach this large amount,” Iowa Lottery spokeswoman Mary Neubauer said. “Now it’s achieving that within a handful of weeks. I think the redesign is achieving exactly what we had wanted it to achieve, which is the bigger, faster-growing jackpot.”

    The biggest Powerball jackpot ever was won in November of last year and totaled $587.5 million; the largest lotto jackpot was Mega Millions’ $656 million annuity, which was split between three tickets in March of last year.