Jackpot at $250 Million for Powerball

Yahoo! News ^ | July 9, 2003 | LISA RATHKE

[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.

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On the Net:

Powerball: http://www.powerball.com

[discostu]

Ah yes the ever popular tax on the mathematically disinclined. Last I saw $.75 of each ticket when into the pot, so in order to build a $250 million jackpot that means over 333 million losing tickets have been sold since the last time somebody won. Think about it people.

[TomServo]

Okay, so I gotta buy a ticket. Back soon!

LOL! Already have mine (3).

[Catspaw]

I've thought about it.

I feel real sorry the people who bought losing tickets and when I win, I might even do something for them.

[TomServo]

I feel real sorry the people who bought losing tickets and when I win, I might even do something for them.

Don't forget to donate to FR.

[discostu]

And when you don't win and 60% of your 5 bucks goes to some Democrat who'll donate chunk of it to the DNC.

Odds are still 190 million to 1 against. You've got a better chance of being struck by microscopic particles of the moon than winning the lotery. You can see how low the chances are of winning just by how many times it rolls over because there is no winner.

[Keith in Iowa]

I got my ticket...

And, in case anyone wants to know, the Multi-state lottery association that puts on Powerball started in Iowa...

[Tijeras_Slim]

I let slip once at a gathering of Mrs. Slim's family that I bought tickets occasionally. They immediately started harping on some statistic that 80% of all lottery winners are broke in a couple years. I told them I knew why.

It was because the winners gave money to their in-laws.

[Tempest]

I'd have to expatriate myself if I won that much :D

[Catspaw]

Yup, the same argument my husband makes.

When I told him that if I won that I just knew he wouldn't want a dime from the proceeds of evil gambling, he said quickly, "this is a marital property state. I get half of anything you have."

[Catspaw]

Don't forget to donate to FR.

"Donate?" How about "endow."

[TomServo]

"Donate?" How about "endow."

Sounds too PBS'ish. I already told my wife how much we'd donate if we won. Hope JR ain't holdin' his breath.

[ewing]

A large number of lottery winners also kill themselves and go broke..

[toddst]

A large number of lottery winners also kill themselves and go broke.

Sources, please.

[skinkinthegrass]

Odds are still 190 million to 1 against. You've got a better chance of being struck by microscopic particles of the moon than winning the lotery. You can see how low the chances are of winning just by how many times it rolls over because there is no winner.

...A little less... combination formula...5 of 53 = 2869685:1 x 42 (powerball) = 120,526,770:1

Bye!...gotta buy a fiver..gotta support FR :))

[discostu]

It's not evil gambling, in gambling you actually have a useful chance of winning, in the lottery you don't. If you want to play for fun have at it, if you actually think you'll win understand that you won't.

[tet68]

I actually get tired of winning these things.
Now I just put them in the kitchen drawer with all
the other winning tickets.

[taxcontrol]

Oh boy, the things I'd do with $250M...

---

Ok lets get that in one lump sum. Whoops, now it's down to about $100 Million.

Oh and there Federal Tax that has to get paid first. I beleive it is 33% - down to $66 Million

Now state anywhere from 5 to 12% more, so you would end up with something on the order of:

$57 Million - Not bad for $1

Put it all in a 5% bond or fund and you would have a POST Tax income of about $150,000 PER MONTH!!!!

Yep, I could live on that.

[tet68]

Lets set the wayback machine to a time long ago..........
there was no powerball, no state lottery and about the only
lottery going was in a foreign country.

Yes, that's right, The Irish Sweepstakes, I remember it sounded so exotic, and tickets then were rather hard to
come by, couldn't just pick them up at the 7-11.

Any others?

[Catspaw]

Blah blah blah.

Please stridently and annoyingly lecture someone else. Make sure you shake your finger at them as you do.

[discostu]

Hey you replied to me, I'm just giving you the facts. The fact is you won't win. The fact is the chances are so far and away against you that you're better off wandering through parking garages hoping to stumble on a briefcase full of cash. Don't like the facts? Tough. The lottery is a tax on people that can't grock math, and you're proving it right now.