It's that time of the year again: with both the Mega Millions and the Powerball lotteries accumulating jackpots greater than $350 million, countless Americans - mostly those in lower income groups - are splurging on lottery tickets, hoping to get rich quick.
Unfortunately for virtually everyone, it will never happen: the odds of winning both (or either) are absolutely staggering, a bit worse than 1 in 75.6 quadrillion, or 1 in 75,648,252,765,957,300 to be precise. On a percentage basis, one only has a 0.000000000000000013% chance of holding both winning tickets. Putting these odds in context, they are about 6,000 times worse than the odds experts have calculated of being killed by a meteorite strike -- at the same time you're being attacked by a shark. The odds of winning "only" one jackpot are not much higher: the Powerball winning odds are 1 in 292 million, while those for Mega Million are slightly better: 1 in 259 million.
Here is an even more stunning statistic: in 2016, Americans spent more than $80 billion on lottery tickets last year, more than they spend on movies, video games, music, sports tickets and books - combined.
Some enjoy mocking American stupidity: "If you buy both tickets, you've doubled your odds of winning," said Ben Auerbach, lead data strategist for Allstate, which technically is correct; the odds are still pretty much zero. Auerbach, who said he never buys lottery tickets himself, calculated the very long odds of a double win not for work but because "it's fun to do this rather than run numbers about premiums and insurance."
Still, for many Americans in the declining middle class and growing lower class, this remains the only hope of success: "You see more people in line buying both tickets when both games are over $300 million," Jeff Lenard, spokesman for National Association of Convenience Stores, whose members sell about two-thirds of the nation's lottery tickets told CNNMoney.
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11 comments:
Never bought one and neither has my spouse - many years ago Perdue use to give them to chicken growers and until she died, my mother gave us a couple at christmas - have never won a dime.
Most people don't buy them but we have all been in line behind someone buying $100 bucks worth and they do that every week!
The lottery pulled the biggest scam a few years ago by adding numbers. the ruse was, according to them, you would have more chances at winning. It was just the opposite - the odds of winning are now less, and these mega jackpots prove the point. there is less winning going on and the state is making lots more money.
Someone should sue them for that lie..
However, so many people pay $7+ a day for cigarettes.
So what ever happened to all that money that was supposed to go to the schools
Buy a ticket or two when the money gets big,it's just fun.One things for sure,the odds of winning if you don't play are zero.
5:46, ALL that money goes toward EDUCATION, not schools!
Think about THAT for a while, and you will learn not to buy into lottery tickets!
NOW, you are EDUCATED!
I read a report this morning that the movie theaters have had the worst year yet. Both the lack of quality and political correctness from Hollywood have kept people from going.
I seldom buy tickets but I'll spend $2 on each.
I know a few people who work a second job and put all of the money from it into lottery tickets.
Every first of the month, i try to avoid any store that sells lottery tickets! They line up to throw away their cash!Its pathetic , the lower their income, the more they buy these tickets.
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