$1.73 billion Powerball

bertsmobile1

Lawn Royalty
Joined
Nov 29, 2014
Threads
64
Messages
24,705
Way back in my high school days the maths teacher used to call lotteries "taxation for the innumerate & stupid"
Nothing has changed in 55 years
Ask yourself "Why is the prize 1.75 billion"
Answer " because no one has won it for a very very long time "
What are your chances of winning it ?
Almost the same regardless of weather you do or do not have a ticket .
Remember there is no obligation for any one to win the big prize ever .
It could go unwon for the next 20 years .
In my final year the commerce teacher used to get every one to submit a pretend "pools" ( UK football betting system ) entry , put the same amount of money in a standard bank account & also pick a share to "invest " the same amount of money every week .
At the end of the year our imaginary profits were worked out
Of the 46 students no one "won" the pools & despite the smaller wins in every case the plain bank deposits had more money in them at the end of the year .
The shares were a mixed bag
A couple made it big time the bulk were marginally better than a bank deposit and a couple did their imaginary doe.
That teacher did the same thing year in & year out but when I went back for reunion I found out that this little experiment had gotten him sacked .
It taught us that you get rich SLOWLY but go bankrupt Quickly and the fastest way to go bankrupt quickly is trying to get rich quickly

My father was a hopeless gambler
My uncle ( who was a bastard ) had access to a company box at Randwick Race course and he would occasionally "treat" us to a day at the races purely to embarrass my parents .
While there he would get me to go look at the members car park, the bookies car park & where the punters came in by bus or foot .
He would instruct me to look at the cars then work out who was making the money which of course was the bookies .
Gambling is for fools , usually run by crooks and protected by corruption .

For a while I lived in a social security area
It was very saddening to see all of those on benefits cashing their cheques at the newsagent ( also lottery agent ) and spending way more than they could afford on various lottery systems .
I would see the same people regularly at the soup kitchen where I voluntered a day or so a week depending which shift I was on because by the end of the fortnight they had no money left over for food .
 
Last edited:

StarTech

Lawn Royalty
Top Poster Of Month
Joined
Feb 19, 2020
Threads
79
Messages
10,275
As I figured the winning ticket was sold in California. It seems all the large pots are won in Ca or the Northeast.
 

PTmowerMech

Lawn Addict
Joined
Apr 16, 2018
Threads
396
Messages
3,018
One thing to also consider, even if you don't win the big prize, there's still a LOT of prizes that going to net you way more than you spent. Seems there was 7 $1 million winners. 121 $50,000 winners, 10,000 $100 winners (tax free).
 

bertsmobile1

Lawn Royalty
Joined
Nov 29, 2014
Threads
64
Messages
24,705
One thing to also consider, even if you don't win the big prize, there's still a LOT of prizes that going to net you way more than you spent. Seems there was 7 $1 million winners. 121 $50,000 winners, 10,000 $100 winners (tax free).
But what you are overlooking is 22,000,000 tickets got no prize at all
Probability is not hard to work out
One of the Lottos down here has a 1 in 3,434,343,434 chances of winning the jackpot and a 1 in 428,000,000 chance or winning any price at all .
 

PTmowerMech

Lawn Addict
Joined
Apr 16, 2018
Threads
396
Messages
3,018
But what you are overlooking is 22,000,000 tickets got no prize at all
Probability is not hard to work out
One of the Lottos down here has a 1 in 3,434,343,434 chances of winning the jackpot and a 1 in 428,000,000 chance or winning any price at all .

I'm not overlooking it at all. This is why I hardly buy lottery now a days. I use my spare change for them.
I'm sure there's better things to do with spare change. But what the heck. It's mine.
 

PTmowerMech

Lawn Addict
Joined
Apr 16, 2018
Threads
396
Messages
3,018
Exactly, I don't drink, drug, or smoke. So if I wanna piss away some pennies, I will.

View attachment 67008


I don't do much of those either, except smoke cigs. But I'm rolling my own for about $1 per pack. Much better tobacco that way.


I tried that change machine at Walmart once. Where you dump all your change into the machine and it gives you cash. I didn't think I had that much cash. But woah, it charged me about $10 for all I had. I was pissed.
 

7394

Lawn Addict
Joined
Sep 5, 2014
Threads
84
Messages
4,718
Get a machine that can roll coins at home...

Walmart isn't giving anything away imo. But $10. is excessive.
 

PTmowerMech

Lawn Addict
Joined
Apr 16, 2018
Threads
396
Messages
3,018
Get a machine that can roll coins at home...

Walmart isn't giving anything away imo. But $10. is excessive.

I think the rate was like 10%. I should've read it. Once I had all the coins in, something popped up on the screen telling me how much I put in and how much it was going to charge me. But by then, there was no way to get my coins back.

I was just checking out the rolling machines. LOL.. Some of them get up to $250. I seen a decent one for like $60. I'd only use it once a year. I'll just stick to the old fashion way.
 
Last edited:
Top