Powerball and FU billionaires

There are 298 million different combinations of powerball numbers. Tickets cost $2. The prize is 1.5 billion. If no jackass billionaire bought every possible combination in this drawing, please message me fast, I've got a fool-proof plan.

It sounded better at $1 a ticket. It's still a billionaire's folly...

a reply to: Vector99

Actually, it is $2 per game.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

i still have a pretty solid plan, didn't it used to be a dollar? Been 15 years since I lived in AZ.

a reply to: Vector99

The cash payout is around $930 million. If someone else wins you can halve that number. There are better ways for a billionaire to invest their money.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

ok, it sounded better at a buck a ticket... but still

What will happen to your plan when three other people win? Multiple winners..

a reply to: Bluntone22

off the others?

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

There are actually a group of wealthy investors that go around and buy out lotteries when their prizes go over possible combinations.

Here is one case of them in action I believe (quick search)

www.nytimes.com...

The lottery officials stated that 75% of possible combinations for the current jackpot have already been sold.

a reply to: Vector99

Lol..
Do the winning pass on to their families?

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: Vector99

Lol..
Do the winning pass on to their families?

not if they know what's good for them

It would cost $600 million to buy every combination at $2 per ticket. The single payout would be $930 million and then, by the time Uncle Sam got his share the payout would be less than $600 million, and then if there were more than one winner, that billionaire would be looking at quite a substantial loss.

a reply to: boncho
They only spent $5 million in the example you gave, I personally would not call that buying it out, more like playing the odds, same as all of us do. They just happen to do it with more money.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

that wasn't a powerball example, it was a better bet than what i proposed. It seems it worked

a reply to: Vector99

Understood, it is still no where near the same as dropping $600 million on the Powerball.

a reply to: Vector99

You physically wouldn't be able to buy all of the combinations, and even if one of those tickets did win you are likely splitting it with someone else.

This CNBC article says it would take a decade to print every ticket if you did it that way, hah

www.cnbc.com...

originally posted by: FamCore
a reply to: Vector99

You physically wouldn't be able to buy all of the combinations, and even if one of those tickets did win you are likely splitting it with someone else.

This CNBC article says it would take a decade to print every ticket if you did it that way, hah

www.cnbc.com...

It has been done. I wasn't able to find a link to the story. A group contracted with a number of vendors to print all the tickets if the jackpot reached a certain level. If I recall correctly one store bailed out but they still won.

The tickets are actually 3 dollars if you intend to win the grand prize.

There's 2 ways to play Power Ball, you can play 5 numbers for 2 dollars and if you hit those 5 you get a nice standard prize but not the jackpot. Or you can play 6 numbers for 3 dollars... 5 regular numbers + 1 super special ball drawn from it's own pool.

I rarely play the lottery but hey for 3 dollars it's worth a shot of a few hundred million (after taxes).

Good luck everyone

Not technically possible by yourself, there is only 604 800 seconds in one week. and the draw is on saturday and wednesday, so that leaves you with a maximum of 4 days to validate 292 million tickets. Lets admit you fill in your 292 million tickets before hand, you would still need 845 people to validate the tickets in 4 days, 24 hours a day no food no sleep no pee break nothing, providing you can validate 1 ticket per second, which you can't.

a reply to: Kali74

You can get the jackpot by playing the standard $2 game:

The jackpot - won by matching all five white balls in any order and the red Powerball - is either an annuitized prize paid out over 29 years (30 payments counting the first immediate payment) or a cash lump sum payment. If you choose the cash, then you get the cash, pay the tax, and can invest what is left over. If you choose the annuity, then we can invest the cash amount pre-tax, less an immediate first payment (more to invest means more earnings). With the annuity, you get an annual payment that is increased by 5% each year to keep up with the cost of living.

...

Each ticket costs $2. Powerball.com

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

oh pfft