Mega Gazliion Buck Fever

[Rapscallion]

It's not just fresh from the machine that's lucky - the very last ticket from the machine is the luckiest, as the newsagent next to us found out when the lottery started over here.

Of course, he closed a half-hour before the draw, and he got his ticket then...

Rapscallion

[Becks]

Today, we sold over $1100 in Powerball on 1st shift alone.

Did you buy me one?

[Plaidman]

Today, we sold over $1100 in Powerball on 1st shift alone.

We work in a gambling area. 1100 dollars on one shift is a slow shift for lotto.

I think we solded a total of 9400 on Sat.

[JustADude]

I always say, I'd be happy with ONE million (after taxes of course!). Its enough to make me fairly comfortable but not so much money that everyone i know come crawling out of the woodwork, looking for a handout. Of course, if i ever won a gazillion dollars, I would share with family and friends...but i wouldn't even come forward to claim until I'd met with an attorney, financial advisor, and changed my phone number to unlisted! (you can see I've put some thought into this!). Only after I had all my ducks in a row would I acknowledge that I was the winner...but then again, the odds are so low that I most likely won't ever have to worry about that!

Just as an interesting fact, I went to the Missouri State Lottery page on what to do if you just won a jackpot (LINK) and they give very similar advice to what you had in mind.

Oh, and someone won the last Powerball, so it's back down to "only" $15 million.

But still, here's a little bit of math, since I find working with even fictional cash to be quite fun:

PAYMENT PLAN:
$300 million Gross Prize
-$75 million for Federal Taxes
-$12 million for State Taxes
-----------------------------------------------------
$213 million Net Prize
/30 annual Annuity payments
-----------------------------------------------------
$7.1 million per year for 30 years


LUMP SUM:
$300 million Gross Prize
-$150 million Lump Sum Fee
-$37.5 million for Federal Taxes
-$6 million for State Taxes
-----------------------------------------------------
$106.5 million Net Prize
x 7% APR interest bearing account*
-----------------------------------------------------
$7.455 million per year, compounding forever on whatever you don't spend.


As you can see, even though you lose a big chunk up front to recoup the interest THEY won't be making, you actually come out ahead by taking the hit, especially if you're planning on leaving something for your kids.

*Most banks only advertise 5%-6% APR savings accounts, but I've been told they'll shell out an extra couple percent to get a client depositing a chunk of change that huge in a long-term savings account, since businesses may have bigger accounts, but most of them have too much in and out for the bank to get much work out of their money.

[Racket_Man]

For those of you who sell powerball tickets and to a lesser degree megamillions tickets may the force be with you as I am sure there is going to be some stories to tell after this weekend. With the powerball at 300million and the megamillions at 200million every nut that scrape together a buck will beout getting one.

But each of those 5 people got at least 50 bucks worth of tickets each. I get up there and get my one ticket and when i ask for it the guy behind me snorts and goes "Just one? Feeling lucky?" I turn shrug and say "Ones all it takes my man. And If I loose then I aint out but a buck." Somehow I dont think he liked that idea. I stuck around to see how many he got and he blew 100$ on them.

.

The guy ONLY bought $100 worth????????!!!! at the gas station I used to work at when the jackpot got upwards of $250 million, people used to come in with $200 or $300 to buy tickets. since I worked nights (3p - 11p) I had the midshift person stay until about 8p and use one register JUST FOR large lottery purchases and nothing else. always had extra rolls paper out just in case.

[Catwoman2965]

Just as an interesting fact, I went to the Missouri State Lottery page on what to do if you just won a jackpot (LINK) and they give very similar advice to what you had in mind.

Part of my reasoning is just common sense, and part of it is having seen accounts on various tv shows of people who win big, and the problems they face AFTER they win, and being hounded by everyone and their brother is number one on the list. I think too, if you get your stuff together, and have a plan, you're less likely to blow it all, and be poor within the next few years.

[morgana]

"It's worth a dollar to just daydream about what you would do with the money for a couple of days."

I've said this to people as well. In fact, the roommate and I have whole fantasy *lives* planned out, for after winning Powerball.

[sms001]

"It's worth a dollar to just daydream about what you would do with the money for a couple of days."

I've said this to people as well. In fact, the roommate and I have whole fantasy *lives* planned out, for after winning Powerball.

Ditto, but mine is so sad. It never really involves things I'm not going to do anyway, just gets it done for me faster (like hiring someone to put up new fencing, rehab a house...) or maybe just a bit higher quality. (No more paperbacks, steak instead of hamburger more often.) It's not that I don't have a good imagination. (I hope.) Maybe I'm some pathetic time warped "grew up in the Depression" throwback.

[wagegoth]

My simple daydream:

Pay off my debt
Put my kids through the colleges they want without worrying about cost
Buying a house someplace wonderful, involving mountains and oceans
Quitting my job
Traveling anywhere I want, when I want

Yeah, it got more complicated, but the first two are the most important.

[blas]

I still play scratch off tickets just for fun. Every Tuesday I buy one or two $1 ones. At least I have decent odds of winning my dollar back.

I figure I'm not wasting a single dollar on a Powerball ticket until I've been abducted by aliens or struck by lightning, considering that's what the odds of winning the Powerball are.

[TruthHurts]

I prefer scratch and win tickets because you know instantly whether you win or lose. I simply do not have to patience to wait like you do with lotto tickets.

[JustADude]

Part of my reasoning is just common sense, and part of it is having seen accounts on various tv shows of people who win big, and the problems they face AFTER they win, and being hounded by everyone and their brother is number one on the list. I think too, if you get your stuff together, and have a plan, you're less likely to blow it all, and be poor within the next few years.

Oh, definitely. That's probably how they got their list together, by combining past problems with some procedural advice that only they'd know.

Me, I play the lottery once in a blue moon, but as you can tell from my math, I'd take the lump sum option, put aside an even 100 million of it in interest bearing stuff, give 1 million to various charities (Gotta tithe the Fates, donchaknow), blow about 1 million in Vegas (Can't forget to tithe The Nameless Lady either, and leaving it at her altars is the only way to do it ), and use the rest to set myself up nice and comfy.