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Jackpot at $250 Million for Powerball
Yahoo! News ^
| July 9, 2003
| LISA RATHKE
Posted on 07/09/2003 12:57:23 PM PDT by El Conservador
EAST MONTPELIER, Vt. - Denise and James Webster were going fishing when they took a detour to test their luck first elsewhere: buying their first Powerball lottery ticket in Vermont.
The couple, along with hundreds of thousands of people in 25 states and territories where the game is played, have been lured by a jackpot that stood at $250 million Tuesday and could climb higher by Wednesday evening's drawing.
"Everybody's got a chance to win," James Webster said. "Now we're gonna try our luck at fishing."
To many Vermonters, the high stakes game is entirely new and the jackpot $250 million mind-boggling. Some Vermonters are buying lottery tickets for the first time and they're picking up five or 10 at once.
"I've got a lot of people buying who've never have been buying before," said Mike Finnell, owner of Mike & Terry's Exit 4 Sunoco in Putney.
State lawmakers approved including Vermont in the Powerball lottery last winter. Powerball profits will go to the Vermont Education Fund and are expected to generate an additional $3.2 million in the first year.
Lottery officials say the game's novelty and the size of the jackpot lured more players than expected the first week. The jackpot has already rolled over 17 times since May 10, making Wednesday's jackpot the game's fourth largest.
"Number one: The game is just starting so it's a new game for players. Number two: The jackpot started out at $165 million, so obviously there's a lot of interest," said Lottery Director Alan Yandow.
Rick Wisler, New Hampshire's lottery director, said many people buy more than one ticket, believing they are dramatically increasing their odds of winning. But, he said, any improvement is minuscule.
At Middlebury College in Vermont, Mathematics Professor Bill Peterson, who teaches probability, put it this way:
Buy one ticket and there are 119,999,999 other choices. Buy two, there are 119,999,998 other choices. Buy 100, you still have 119,999,900 other possible combinations of numbers.
His non-mathematical advice: "Don't quit your job."
The largest Powerball jackpot was captured last year by a 55-year-old West Virginia contractor who won $314.9 million on Christmas Day. The richest lottery prize in U.S. history was $363 million in the Big Game jackpot, won by two players in Illinois and Michigan in 2000.
___
On the Net:
Powerball: http://www.powerball.com
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Vermont
KEYWORDS: powerball
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Oh boy, the things I'd do with $250M...
To: El Conservador
Frantically grabbing phone....
"Hello...Mom?"
2
posted on
07/09/2003 12:58:01 PM PDT
by
mhking
To: All
Free Republic. More Bang For The Buck!
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3
posted on
07/09/2003 12:58:48 PM PDT
by
Support Free Republic
(Your support keeps Free Republic going strong!)
To: El Conservador
I bought my 5.
I won't hold my breath.
4
posted on
07/09/2003 1:00:46 PM PDT
by
MNlurker
To: El Conservador
I know one you'd definitely do. $$$$$ PAY LOTSA TAXES $$$$$
5
posted on
07/09/2003 1:01:34 PM PDT
by
kylaka
To: El Conservador
You guys can stop all those fund raising posts. I'm gonna win this thing, so lets just say that FR won't have any financial problems for a loooooooooooooong time.
6
posted on
07/09/2003 1:02:43 PM PDT
by
The G Man
(The left hates Bush more than they love America)
To: kylaka
True. The actual cash value is half. Assume about 40% would go in taxes and the jackpot is really worth about $75 million. I think I could scrape by on that.
To: El Conservador
Peanuts! I'm not buying a ticket until it hits $1 billion. ;-)
To: El Conservador
Got my ticket....even after I take the cash and pay the taxes, I'll be sitting in the front rooooow.
9
posted on
07/09/2003 1:12:38 PM PDT
by
Catspaw
To: Catspaw
And, you sure can't win if you don't play. We have friends who won a few years back so it does happen to regular people all over the country.
10
posted on
07/09/2003 1:15:30 PM PDT
by
toddst
To: kylaka
I know one you'd definitely do. $$$$$ PAY LOTSA TAXES $$$$$ WHO CARES
To: El Conservador
Have my enemies driven before me, and listen to the lamentations of the women?
12
posted on
07/09/2003 1:18:36 PM PDT
by
SoDak
To: LibWhacker
Wrong. The odds of winning are 120 million (or is it 180 million?)to 1.
The jackpot is greater than the odds...therefore the odds ARE IN YOUR FAVOR!!. Thus you cannot afford not to get a ticket. ;^)
13
posted on
07/09/2003 1:36:08 PM PDT
by
RJCogburn
("Who knows what's in a man's heart?".....Mattie Ross of near Dardenelle in Yell County)
To: toddst
A quirky old guy from my old neighborhood won a few years back. In his largesse, he said he was giving each of his kids $1000. He really didn't realize how much money he had won.
14
posted on
07/09/2003 1:38:18 PM PDT
by
Catspaw
To: Catspaw
I'd put a quarter of it in a trust that paid out in income once a year, and blow alot of the rest on friends, family and charities, and maybe even buy my momma a double-wide.
15
posted on
07/09/2003 1:59:04 PM PDT
by
SoDak
To: RJCogburn
190,000,000 to 1...last I checked.
16
posted on
07/09/2003 2:00:46 PM PDT
by
TomServo
(Free Illbay!!)
To: Catspaw
A quirky old guy from my old neighborhood won a few years back. In his largesse, he said he was giving each of his kids $1000. He really didn't realize how much money he had won.Interesting. Guess he didn't count the zeros.
Here's another interesting fact:
In 2002 a $51.5 million jackpot drawn September 14 was never claimed and forfeited by someone in Indiana. Right now there is one unclaimed for $21 million in Louisiania that will be forfeit soon.
I guarantee if I have a winning ticket it WILL be claimed!
17
posted on
07/09/2003 2:01:20 PM PDT
by
toddst
To: El Conservador
The cash option is $141M...figure 40% in taxes, and you clear around $86M in cash.....in the bank, earning a piddly 1% a year, and you can live off the $840K and not even touch the principle.
That'll buy a couple cases of beer, eh?
To: TomServo
Okay, so I gotta buy a ticket. Back soon!
19
posted on
07/09/2003 2:16:54 PM PDT
by
RJCogburn
("His lower lip? What was you aiming at?".......Emmitt Quincy)
To: toddst
The old duffer just died--I'd bet his kids divided what was left of his winnings.
He was this strange little guy who'd collect scrap metal, lived in a tiny one bedroom house & collected rusted hulks of old cars. His only indulgence was to restore those old cars and buy a few more. He never moved out of that tiny house--although he did put siding on it.
I remember running into him at one of the local grocery stores in the old neighborhood after he had won. It was lottery drawing night & he was too late to buy a ticket. He was fighting with the manager, saying by HIS watch it wasn't too late to get a ticket. After he walked out of the store, the manager and I had a good laugh about it.
20
posted on
07/09/2003 2:20:16 PM PDT
by
Catspaw
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