How To Improve Your Chances Of Winning The Powerball Jackpot

Thread Starter

Glenn Holland

Joined Dec 26, 2014
703
They say your chances of winning the Powerball jackpot are much less than being hit by lightning.

However, if you buy a Powerball ticket, take a trip to the Catatumbo region in Venezuela where there are lightning storms everyday, then take a boat out onto the lake.

Won't that greatly increase your chances of winning??? :p

 

tcmtech

Joined Nov 4, 2013
2,867
I'm a generic white guy in his early 40's who lives in the upper midwest plus has a fair degree of natural financial responsibility and the desire to do good with my resources what ever they may be which puts me solidly on the never going to win no matter how well the odds are list.:(

That's what I know about my odds.
 

GopherT

Joined Nov 23, 2012
8,009
On the average, the absolutely best outcome from a lottery can be obtained by not buying a ticket. Of course then you miss out on the anticipation of the drawing...
I had a pretty good outcome. Spent 10 + 6 + 2 on the last three drawings and had fun conversation with friends and family about who I would still consider a friend and who I would still consider family if I won. We all had a good laugh and cheaper than taking the family to the movies.
 

Thread Starter

Glenn Holland

Joined Dec 26, 2014
703
One of my in laws (not a biological relative) had a gambling problem and he eventually wound up living on the streets of Vegas.

He insisted there was a "secret book" on the black market in Vegas that showed how to win big time, but the gambling industry banned it.

So I told him to just go outside and look at all those glitzy hotels along the strip. They got all the $$$ to build them from poor suckers just like you. :(
 

Alec_t

Joined Sep 17, 2013
14,280
Of course, the only problem with subjecting yourself to lightning discharges in order to enhance your lottery winning chances is that you won't be around to enjoy your winnings.
 

Lestraveled

Joined May 19, 2014
1,946
I was having a shindig at my house and we all decided to put in $2 each for a group purchase of tickets. A lawyer was present so we got a napkin and wrote up an "equal share" contract which we all signed. We had a great time discussing what each of us would do with our millions. One gem of wisdom did emerge from the discussion; if your office forms lottery pool, definitely buy in. If the pool wins, you don't want to be the only one left at work that has to do all the work.
 

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,218
They say your chances of winning the Powerball jackpot are much less than being hit by lightning.

However, if you buy a Powerball ticket, take a trip to the Catatumbo region in Venezuela where there are lightning storms everyday, then take a boat out onto the lake.

Won't that greatly increase your chances of winning??? :p

Great video... but isn't the voice-over artificial, being done by some sort of a speech synth?
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,976
There actually IS a way you can increase your odds of winning at PowerBall. If you hit the PowerBall number, you are guaranteed to win at least $4. There are 26 possibilities for the PowerBall number. So just by 26 lines making sure to choose a different PowerBall number on each line. That will cost you $52 (assuming you don't pay the extra PowerPlay amount) and will guarantee you at least $4 back, or 7.7%. If you pick the PowerBall number randomly, then your expected payback is slightly under 5%. Note that this is just looking at the PowerBall payback, the actual paybacks for both cases a slightly higher.
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,976
My dad and stepmom used to buy a couple of Lotto (the Colorado Lottery) tickets a couple times a month. My dad would always point out that his odds of winning were exactly the same as whoever actually won. I would then always point out that my odds were only marginally less.

My wife really wanted to buy some tickets for this last drawing. I've always told her that if she wanted to throw away a little bit of money on PowerBall (or any of the others) that was up to her and that I would not get mad in any way. I knew that she would never spend very much and I don't know that she has spent any (until last week) since we've been married. At first I was going to stick to my guns and tell her to go ahead, but that I wanted no part of it. Instead I decided that I would participate in her madness solely so that she could feel like we were in it together. But I made no bones about my feelings. When we went up to the counter I told the clerk, "Yes, I want to participate in my wife's madness and waste $20 on PowerBall tickets. Of course, if we happen to win I will be the first to acknowledge what a wonderful waste of money it turned out to be."

As it turns out, we did hit a sole PowerBall (worth $4) but I didn't know that doing so constituted a winner until today and my wife burned the ticket this weekend. Oh well. I think that she has satiated her PowerBall fever so I doubt we will ever buy any more. If she should want to, that will be fine with me as long as it stays well within the entertainment budget.
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,976
I don't think so in this case. She's not a gambler and got so thoroughly trounced this time that I think it is over for her. Particularly when I pointed out that we would have to spend over $600,000 a month on PowerBall tickets over a 50 year span in order to have a 50-50 chance of winning the PowerBall at some point during our lives.
 
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