1.5 Billion Dollars (you're not good enough)

[Jangler]

Probably will be 1.7 by the next drawing.

[Squirrel]

Yeah just saw that.  Still couldn't buy the Panthers outright with that. But could get a big share of them. 

[Jangler]

Somehow tho when it hits, 5 people will win. still a lot of money.

[Anybodyhome]

Keep in mind that while the lottery number may be $1.7B, the actual; winning amount will be only half of that (the rest goes to whomever sponsors the lottery. NC Education or whomever). 

So $850M is the total winning amount. Subtract the 39.4% for the IRS and you have $510M.... hardly worth my time. 

[Captain Morgan]

so I bought 1 ticket for the drawing yesterday.  woke up to find I matched 4 numbers, worth a hundred bucks.  If I'd matched the powerball with that, I would have 50k and the drinks would be on me.

[pstall]

I will gladly take 510 million

[bigjohn]

I do a group buy with my teaching buddies at my school when it hits 300 mil or so.  Usually about 30 of us pitch in for tickets. In the past we've won $4-$10, usually nothing. Any small winnings go to the cafeteria ladies for kids who come in without lunch money.

The $2 investment (ok not really an investment--throwaway money) is worth it though just for the conversations after school and occasional email. Actually it's worth it just to dream of the conversation with our superintendent.  "Uhmmm... Doc... you're gonna need about 30 substitute teachers over here for the foreseeable future".

 

[Davidson Deac II]

The NC education fund gets part of the profit overall from the lottery, but I don't think they get a percentage of your winnings.  However, the 1.7 billion is (I think) the number you might get if you accept the 20 year payout.  If you take the lump sum, the payout is lower. 

[Jangler]

Yeah, I heard on the 900m, lump sum would be 500m. so probably after taxes 200m...still a lot of money. 

And it will be 2 billion by Wednesday.

[h0llywood]

The 1.3 billion is based off the actual money ($806 Million Cash) invested over 29 years with interest and inflation (29 years is if you take the annuity option). 

Finance class taught me that the cash option is always better than annuity payments so I guess i'll take the measly $450 million in cash after taxes.

[Bronn]

FWIW if you know someone with the money and the time, you can actually now guarantee a profit by buying up every single number combination... That is IF nobody else wins and you have to share it.

IIRC the odds are 1 in like 175,000,000 or so... Each combination is $2, so you'd spend $3.5 million and, if nobody else hit, get at least 150 million from the jackpot alone.

You'd also guarantee to hit (I think) $5 million in $100,000 prizes because you'd have all 5 white numbers correct 50 times and other lesser value prizes as well.

I read an article about this the other day, but in order to coordinate the effort, you'd basically need 525 or so TRUSTED people, each of whom you would give over $600,000 to to use for ticket combinations. Then you would have to trust them to pick their right numbers (over 300,000 sets) and not overlap someone else's numbers in your group. Then you have to trust them to share the winning ticket with the rest of the group.

If this doesn't tell you how astronomically stacked against you the odds are, and how difficult the lottery is to win and how much luck comes into play, then I can't help you.

That said, I plan on dropping $10 on 5 sets of numbers for Wednesday. Can't win if you don't play, I guess.

[Captain Morgan]

On 1/10/2016 at 9:32 AM, Captain Morgan said:

so I bought 1 ticket for the drawing yesterday.  woke up to find I matched 4 numbers, worth a hundred bucks.  If I'd matched the powerball with that, I would have 50k and the drinks would be on me.

just learned that I was only 1 number away from a million bucks.  

[PandaPancake]

Quote

 

North Carolina: 5.75% State Tax - $2,683,333		- $49,910,000
Your average net per year: $32,316,667		Your net payout: $601,090,000
After 30 payments: $969,500,010   Colorado: 4% State Tax - $1,866,667   - $34,720,000 Your average net per year: $33,133,333   Your net payout: $616,280,000 After 30 payments: $993,999,990   Wyoming: No State Tax on Lottery Prizes! Your average net per year: $35,000,000   Your net payout: $651,000,000 After 30 payments: $1,050,000,000

 

I buy my tickets in Wyoming. And if I won I'd refer to everyone as poor men. Especially stray animals.

[Jangler]

Even the Cash 5 is high, over 800k. Cash 5 is what I play most because of better odds.