Powerball $425 Million

Less than three months since the $590,000,000 jackpot. So what are the odds no winner tonight?

Quote: chickenman

Less than three months since the $590,000,000 jackpot. So what are the odds no winner tonight?

Can I answer that question tomorrow? ;)

Yep :-)

It is interesting, though, because if no winner then next drawing likely to break all time top jackpot record.

Three winners: 448.4 million jackpot. Winners in Minnesota(1) and New Jersey(2). :(

Three winners is probably a fluke, sales probably weren't that high.

And :( indeed. I did get one powerball to create a net $6 loss though, yay.

Quote: tringlomane

Three winners is probably a fluke, sales probably weren't that high.

And :( indeed. I did get one powerball to create a net $6 loss though, yay.

Imagine how many winners there would be if the numbers came 1,2,3,4,5+6. Many people including my sister will play those numbers and the amount has to be quite large if some combinations come out. They should have some kind of information available combinations being played or let you know how many other people might be playing the numbers you want. The last thing I would want would be to split with 100 people essentially making breaking the odds worthless.

I remember in an Ohio Lottery game, there was someone who bought 28 of the same numbers which hit and got 28/29 shares of the maximum payout of 1 million. If there was only one winner, the winner received a progressive value of basically $100,000. I think the person in question with the 28 tickets was probably the same person who was involved in a lottery scandal buying tickets on credit, which is illegal.

Quote: onenickelmiracle

Imagine how many winners there would be if the numbers came 1,2,3,4,5+6.

It's not a bad bet. That combination is as likely to win as any other. But yes, I believe you would be sharing the win with a great many people.

Quote: onenickelmiracle

The last thing I would want would be to split with 100 people essentially making breaking the odds worthless.

Second to the last thing I would want. Winning zilch is last, which is actually worthless.

Quote: BleedingChipsSlowly

It's not a bad bet. That combination is as likely to win as any other. But yes, I believe you would be sharing the win with a great many people.

That combination is as likely to win as any other, but it's much more likely to tie than others. Doesn't that make it a bad bet? Wouldn't just about any other combination result in a higher expected value?

In the rare events I play, I prefer to receive numbers greater than 31. I figure many who select their own numbers often times use calendar dates. To that point, it would probably be better than random EV to exclusively select number that are greater than 31 but I'm too lazy to do this (I use the computer selected numbers).

The bet has has an equal probability of winning compared to any other combination. But you are correct! Given that the pot will be split many ways for that combination it does have an lower EV, and that does make it a worse bet. I stand corrected, thank you!

Play prime numbers, they're lucky (LOL) cuz no one usually plays all six drawn numbers as primes. FWIW my QP ticket has four primes + non-prime as 5th ba;; and PB.