comment: >
  
  Friend tried to buy a ticket at the bar we were at and the machine didn't work. The first three numbers that came up were his. We almost died 🤣
context: So I have not bought a ticket this time around, but every time I do buy a ticket those large prize pots are won by someone else finally. >
  
  Buy a ticket tonight and I'll give you a million dollars when I win. >
  
  Screw that! I’ll give them two million if I win! >
  
  And you'll give him three million if I win!! >
  
  You will get nothing and like it! >
  
  I had 3 plays for last night.  I hit the powerball in 2 of them.  1 play also matched another number.  I won $6, so I broke even.  So I got that going for me, at least. >
  
  Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise… you are a winner. >
  
  “I’d like one football team please” >
  
  That would be more like a quarter of a football team >
  
  Pretty much.  Denver Broncos were sold for 4.65 billion. >
  
  Say I win a $5B lottery (pretend all of the money goes to me). I buy the Broncos for that much money. How quickly and at what rate do I start making money off them? >
  
  So it's tough telling how much the NFL team's profit. We do know their revenue because we can backwards calculate that from the salary cap which is 45% of their revenue.
  The Green Bay Packers are the only NFL team that is public and reports their finances.
  In 2021 the Packers set their record for a revenue of $579M and their record profit was $77.7M.
  It's tough saying how this extrapolates to others because while the Packers are a very successful team, they are also one of the two smallest markets. >
  
  OP can just buy shares of the Packers with all of their winnings! >
  
  I know the odds are against me, but I waste money on dumber stuff all the time. Might as well try to win this once in a while. >
  
  It’s going to keep making history for a while, due to the odds being reduced recently.
  I’d probably start caring once it breaks $2 billion. >
  
  Because $1.3B wouldn't change anything? >
  
  It’s not noteworthy despite being equally as life changing as $100 million, but are you going to buy every lottery over $100 million every drawing (2-3x a week)? >
  
  $100M would be life changing for most, sure, but equally as life changing as $1B? Not even close. Not the same ballpark, country, or planet. Especially if you’re already at least upper-middle class, by which I mean you have a house, a car, a couple weeks vacation, and can still put away some savings. 
  With a $100M jackpot you’re looking at maybe $35M after taxes and lump sum, so about $1M/yr. You’ll be able to retire and have a comfortable life, certainly, but you’ll still need to budget and you’re not going to experience most of the real luxuries that really rich people do. You’ll have to consider what “rich people” experiences are most important to you and budget a couple in, if you can afford them at all. Winning a $100M jackpot doesn’t get you to the other side of “if you have to ask, it’s too expensive” for a lot of things.  
  You can get a good size house in a good area, but not a big house in an expensive area. And even what you can afford, you’ll want to think through how much the capital is going to reduce your $1M/yr. 
  You can take 2–3 nice vacations a year, but they won’t be on your private yacht. And you’ll need to see if the penthouse suite really fits into your budget. 
  Getting to those vacations, you’re not going to fly to them in your private jet, and you’re going to have to watch costs and consider whether it’s really worth that upgrade to first class. 
  You can get a nice sports or luxury car, but you’re going to want to price it out and see how much you really want that Rolls Royce.
  You’re not going to have a full-time personal assistant, chef, butler, maid, and chauffeur. You can probably work out daytime coverage for most of those if it’s important to you, but you’re probably getting your own midnight snacks. 
  Now, you can maybe squeeze in one or two of those “nots” if you really want but you’ll have to be real careful about costs and budget for them. 
  If you win this ($1.35B) jackpot, you’ve now got over $1M a month, and suddenly you can fit in a lot more of the super luxuries. Still don’t want to go overboard, especially on the real big ticket items (house, plane, yacht) but now you can get all the budget options even of those. Not to mention the rest. Want a Rolls? Spend conservatively and save up for a month or two, no problem. First class tickets to Europe to stay in an expensive penthouse suite? Better stay for two weeks to spread the ticket cost out. Want a household staff? Again don’t want to go overboard but I’m sure you could arrange some overnight coverage in case you get hungry. $20k bottle of whiskey? Sure, I haven’t bought a car today.
  So yeah. Winning a $100M jackpot is enough for a high-end upgrade to a middle-class lifestyle, with maybe a carefully selected extra here and there. A billion is a completely different lifestyle altogether. >
  
  I'm honestly surprised no one won that.  Every number was 18 or below.  I would have thought that there would have been at least one superstitious person out there where those numbers matched a birthday, or other significant date, or series of numbers, or something. >
  
  Three of the numbers were even consecutive, 13 14 15 >
  
  I'm one of those people who enjoys buying a ticket when the pot is huge. 
  I know people all talk about lottery as a tax on the poor, and it largely is, but 2$ for the dream is absolutely worth it even when you know you won't win. >
  
  I was out of it after the last 2 jackpots reached a billion...I purchased about 10 tickets over 6 different drawings and didn't win a dime.
  The odds of winning are 1 in 302 million. @_@ >
  
  If you buy 300 tickets, your odds are increased to be roughly the same as being struck by lightning. >
  
  At some point, wouldn't the jackpot be so large that it'd be economically feasible to buy a ticket for every possible number combination, win and come out ahead? Can someone /r/theydidthemath that? >
  
  If odds are 1:302M then buy 302M tickets covering every possible combination & you'd be guranteed to win with one of them.  Problem is that is $604M worth of tickets, and there's a chance you'll have multiple winners having to split that jackpot,  plus taxes take a good bit of that away as well.  Assuming you're the only winner of the jackpot and take the lump sum, what do you end up with after taxes?  Plus most people with $600M are not buying lottery tickets. >
  
  This problem is more complex than that since there are a lot of other factors that influence how much you end up with if you purchase every ticket combo. First to consider are all the non jackpot prizes. Getting 5 white balls right but not the mega ball wins $1 million. With 25 mega balls that means you will have 24 tickets with 5 correct 5 balls and the wrong mega ball so you win an extra 24 million. That’s just one prize tier down so there are a lot more winnings mixed in. 
  Then when it comes to taxes I’m pretty sure gambling losses can be written off, reducing your taxable income, but only up to the amount of winnings you had that year. So if you won $5K gambling but lost $10K that same year gambling you can only write off $5K of the 10. If that is the case then your taxable income will be reduced by over $600 million from your losing tickets since you won more than that.
  Finally, and this is the biggest piece, at this level the jackpot increases between drawing is based on yr amount from ticket sales. The prize we’re seeing now is an estimated based on what Mega Millions thinks ticket sells will be before the next drawing. I’ve read that 50% of a Mega Millions ticket sale goes into prize pool while the other 50% goes to the state, paying lotto employee salaries, marketing, etc. I don’t know how much of that 50% goes to the grand prize and how much goes to fund the lower tier prizes, but let’s pretend all 50% goes to the grand prize. That means the grad prize isn’t $1,350,000,000 like they are predicting, it would actually be $1,950,000,000 with a lump sum value around $975,000,000. You would be winning back 50% of what you paid in. >
  
  I think the main issue would be actually obtaining the tickets. You only have 3 or 4 days between drawing.
  At a minimum you need what, maybe 15 seconds to select the right numbers and print the ticket. So 4 tickets a minute over 72 hours (4320 minutes) is about 17000 tickets.
  For 302 million tickets, you would need an army 17-18000 people working non stop. Considering some machines will have down time and people will definitely need down time, you are probably talking doubling that number - so close to 40,000 people buying tickets for you. >
  
  How do I buy tickets for this? >
  
  Unless you live in Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah then you can buy a ticket at almost any gas station. You can also sometimes find tickets for sale at grocery stores, liquor stores, malls, and more.
  If you live in Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah then you are out of luck because they dont have mega millions in those states. >
  
  To add to that, I believe you can even buy a ticket online at lotto.com. It’s state dependent (I know for sure Texas allows it) >
  
  Not many states have that. >
  
  Just when I thought I was out of lottery ticket buying...they pull me BACK IN. 
  Might try for this one but I don't overdo it. I see some these people buy like 20 or 30 tickets. I buy one. Of course at that level the odds don't actually rise that much... >
  
  This was the whole point of altering payouts and brackets years ago.
  Higher pots, more bait, more addiction. >
  
  1 in 302,575,350 odds.... so you're saying there's a chance! >
  
  Well someone eventually does win..... >
  
  Just not us. >
  
  I bought 5 tickets and already emailed my boss to go fuck herself cuz this is an easy win >
  
  Marty: You don't know when to quit, do ya Griswold? Here's an idea: Why don't you give me half the money you were gonna bet? Then, we'll go out back, I'll kick you in the nuts, and we'll call it a day! >
  
  Griswold should have known the only way you can beat that guy is with iocane powder. >
  
  Good luck to everyone! >
  
  Well if no one else wants it, I'll take it.  Just let me know where I can go to pick up the money. >
  
  I really wish we'd stop treating advertising for the lottery as news. >
  
  I’ll buy one of these super duper ones when they happen, but if you’re playing the odds, you’d win a smaller state lottery 50 times before you win Power/Mega once.
  And after tax and all that, $400,000 really would solve all of my problems, so I could work where I want, retire early, and not have to pinch pennies. May not give generational wealth or let me buy a helicopter, but those odds are way more reasonable (something like 1:2500 if I play twice a week for 30 years). >
  
  IRS super excited to ultimately win this jackpot. >
  
  The only billionaire taxed appropriately is the one that wins it instantly 😆 >
  
  Sorry fam I forgot to buy a ticket so they were waiting for me this next drawing. >
  
  As a clerk, fuck y'all. >
  
  I try to go to vending machines whenever possible. >
  
  The clerks don't even sell tickets here. The machine does it. Everyone just stands by the machine and lets them do it. The problem is the machine isn't intuitive. I've often passed up the option to pick my own numbers and then had to buy another ticket. >
  
  I’ll be pissed if some methhead from Missouri wins this >
  
  I'll be pissed if someone from California wins it again. 
  Yes, I understand that California has the highest population so that would translate to people from there winning more often than others, but I read an analysis of lottery winnings some time ago and California somehow still gets winners at a higher clip relative to its population.  
  Also, it's either some methhead like you said who is going to blow it all within three years because they have absolutely no idea how to handle it, or it will be an 89-year-old retiree who will pass away within a year and his lawyers will end up with most of the money after all the litigation. Like clockwork. >
  
  California also gets everyone from Nevada since there is no Mega Millions/Powerball in that state. >
  
  Friday the 13th is the next drawing lmao >
  
  This isn't news it's just as an ad for the lottery. >
  
  Co worker in ticket sales line:  "You can't win unless you play!"
  Me not wanting to part with lunch money: "You can't win IF you play." >
  
  I spent $1 million in a lotto simulation. Still didn't win. Lol. Tell them good luck. >
  
  yea, that would give you what, 1 in 600 chance to win the big one? >
  
  If that ware the chance then it would be an good investment to buy all the numbers. Pay 600 mil for the ticket pot gets up to 1.8 bil 300 % return.
  That is if no one else picks the winning numbers, if that happens you are utterly fucked. >
  
  Don't forget taxes and lump sum payout losses. You need a 1.32 billion jackpot to break even on 600 million, and that is without splitting the pot. >
  
  I wounder if you can have 600 mil as an expense write-off in this case ... >
  
  Time to rejoin the madness with the same empty hopes and dreams and expectations to win. >
  
  We should create a pot and share with everyone in this post >
  
  Who’s got 3.02e8 dollars I can borrow? I will return it with 10% interest as soon as I get paid out. >
  
  So far the company pool at work has around 50-60 people which is still a boat load of cash for everyone involved. I'm sure management would shit a brick if we won. Most of the people in the pot are the experienced employees most with a decade or more of time. >
  
  I never buy tickets, but somehow Im always pissed I dont win. 
  Maybe Ill go pick one up lmao >
  
  I considered it an extra tax on the stupid for the longest time, but as I got older I figured I’m not all that smart anyways and buy a couple now and then if it lets me dream a little. >
  
  I’ve seen movies for $12 that gave me less fun than a $2 lotto ticket. As an entertainment expense it’s not too bad. >
  
  Just FYI: in most other countries it isn't taxed. >
  
  When do we need to buy tickets by?  And also can I go to a site to see what the numbers were ? >
  
  Before Friday,  and your yes just good the mega millions >
  
  I can't believe no one hit with those numbers. 31C6* is about 750,000 tickets out of about 300 million possible. With all the people buying tickets who don't usually and people buying more tickets than usual I am very surprised no one put down birthdays with these 6.
  *Technically its 31C5 * 31 since the last ball is a separate bucket, but a human selecting numbers for a lottery ticket is choosing non-randomly and is much less likely to repeat a number. >
  
  I’ve read that winning brings you nothing but unhappiness. Your family, people you thought were your friends treat you differently.
  Is it worth it to see the dark side of people? >
  
  This is horseshit. Living in poverty brings you nothing but unhappiness. >
  
  Both can be true. If I won, I'd stay anonymous, keep enough to be set for life, and give the rest to charity. Then when people ask how I was able to retire early, I'd say I won a much smaller amount. >
  
  I looked into it the last go around and discovered my state does not permit you to claim with anonymity. It's insane, because my state is pretty reasonable and progressive on most other issues. But I'm a lawyer in a large firm and thus could easily find someone to help me through the process, as I think there are some work arounds to maintain SOME level of anonymity. It really doesn't matter though. If I won this much money, I would be giving at least some large sum of money ($50-100K+ depending- my parents, siblings, and two bffs are getting $1 million each) to every single one of my close friends, because I want to share in my windfalls with my loved ones (I'm someone who sees friendship as a hobby, so I look to be close friends with everyone I meet. For that reason, I have dozens of close friends, and then i have acquaintances who are the people that chose not to reciprocate my pursuit of friendship). If the ones that chose not to reciprocate came out of the woodwork and were mad they got nothing, I'd just laugh at their audacity to think they deserved anything given the fact THEY made the choice not to reciprocate my friendship efforts. The others wouldn't even have to ask, because I would give to them freely. If they asked for more, I'd just have to explain to them the math of how many close friends I have, how much I'm giving away, how much I'm giving to charity, and tell them if they can't be happy and grateful for the infusion they got, they can just fuck off and get nothing. Like I said, I have dozens of close friends, so it would be nothing to lose a few. And I'm fairly certain I could predict the reactions of most of my friends. The vast majority would be immensely grateful for $50k and wouldn't dare to ask for more. I can think of a few that would be the greedy and ungrateful type, and that would be disappointing to me, but I'm already aware of those traits in their nature by virtue of our other interactions. I keep them around for their other traits. If you've made it to adulthood and aren't aware of the darkness that exists in all of us and the balancing act most people do to not let it win out and the balancing act you have to do to decide if their light shines brighter than the shadows of their darkness in the ways that matter to you, you were already doomed to fail. Some of us are living with our eyes open and know not to take the inherent darkness of man personally.
  Eta: I'm also very aware of the violence this is likely to stir in some, so of course step one would be hiring a personal security team. >
  
  Quickly move to a state that allows it? You’re likely going to move anyways. >
  
  I've noticed a pattern that anytime the pot gets huge (whether powerball or mega millions), the winner is almost always from either California, New York, New Jersey, Texas, or Florida. >
  
  Population density. >
  
  Yeah, it's just demographics. The places with literally 8 figures of people in them are far more likely to have a winner in them in this drawing than a state with six figures. >
  
  Nevadans also go to California for lottery tickets since lottery isn't allowed there, so California could be almost considered two states. >
  
  We'll see more record jackpots as long as interest rates remain elevated. That pushes the jackpot up very quickly as that number is based on an annuity calculation of the actual jackpot, the lump sum. >
  
  I didn't play last night because I was too lazy to go buy a ticket. This surely must be a sign! >
  
  Wish I could buy a ticket >
  
  Its once again that time where I pack my amazon wish list knowing full well I'm not going to win. >
  
  Friend tried to buy a ticket at the bar we were at and the machine didn't work. The first three numbers that came up were his. We almost died 🤣 >
  
  So I have not bought a ticket this time around, but every time I do buy a ticket those large prize pots are won by someone else finally. >
  
  Buy a ticket tonight and I'll give you a million dollars when I win. >
  
  Screw that! I’ll give them two million if I win! >
  
  And you'll give him three million if I win!! >
  
  Can I get it on this action?  Just $100k will do... >
  
  Sure what do I care, Legeto gotta give you money too! >
  
  I'll be happy if you just order me a pizza. >
  
  “I’d like one football team please” >
  
  That would be more like a quarter of a football team >
  
  Pretty much.  Denver Broncos were sold for 4.65 billion. >
  
  Say I win a $5B lottery (pretend all of the money goes to me). I buy the Broncos for that much money. How quickly and at what rate do I start making money off them? >
  
  So it's tough telling how much the NFL team's profit. We do know their revenue because we can backwards calculate that from the salary cap which is 45% of their revenue.
  The Green Bay Packers are the only NFL team that is public and reports their finances.
  In 2021 the Packers set their record for a revenue of $579M and their record profit was $77.7M.
  It's tough saying how this extrapolates to others because while the Packers are a very successful team, they are also one of the two smallest markets. >
  
  OP can just buy shares of the Packers with all of their winnings! >
  
  I had 3 plays for last night.  I hit the powerball in 2 of them.  1 play also matched another number.  I won $6, so I broke even.  So I got that going for me, at least. >
  
  Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise… you are a winner. >
  
  I'm honestly surprised no one won that.  Every number was 18 or below.  I would have thought that there would have been at least one superstitious person out there where those numbers matched a birthday, or other significant date, or series of numbers, or something. >
  
  Three of the numbers were even consecutive, 13 14 15 >
  
  I know the odds are against me, but I waste money on dumber stuff all the time. Might as well try to win this once in a while. >
  
  It’s going to keep making history for a while, due to the odds being reduced recently.
  I’d probably start caring once it breaks $2 billion. >
  
  Because $1.3B wouldn't change anything? >
  
  It’s not noteworthy despite being equally as life changing as $100 million, but are you going to buy every lottery over $100 million every drawing (2-3x a week)? >
  
  $100M would be life changing for most, sure, but equally as life changing as $1B? Not even close. Not the same ballpark, country, or planet. Especially if you’re already at least upper-middle class, by which I mean you have a house, a car, a couple weeks vacation, and can still put away some savings. 
  With a $100M jackpot you’re looking at maybe $35M after taxes and lump sum, so about $1M/yr. You’ll be able to retire and have a comfortable life, certainly, but you’ll still need to budget and you’re not going to experience most of the real luxuries that really rich people do. You’ll have to consider what “rich people” experiences are most important to you and budget a couple in, if you can afford them at all. Winning a $100M jackpot doesn’t get you to the other side of “if you have to ask, it’s too expensive” for a lot of things.  
  You can get a good size house in a good area, but not a big house in an expensive area. And even what you can afford, you’ll want to think through how much the capital is going to reduce your $1M/yr. 
  You can take 2–3 nice vacations a year, but they won’t be on your private yacht. And you’ll need to see if the penthouse suite really fits into your budget. 
  Getting to those vacations, you’re not going to fly to them in your private jet, and you’re going to have to watch costs and consider whether it’s really worth that upgrade to first class. 
  You can get a nice sports or luxury car, but you’re going to want to price it out and see how much you really want that Rolls Royce.
  You’re not going to have a full-time personal assistant, chef, butler, maid, and chauffeur. You can probably work out daytime coverage for most of those if it’s important to you, but you’re probably getting your own midnight snacks. 
  Now, you can maybe squeeze in one or two of those “nots” if you really want but you’ll have to be real careful about costs and budget for them. 
  If you win this ($1.35B) jackpot, you’ve now got over $1M a month, and suddenly you can fit in a lot more of the super luxuries. Still don’t want to go overboard, especially on the real big ticket items (house, plane, yacht) but now you can get all the budget options even of those. Not to mention the rest. Want a Rolls? Spend conservatively and save up for a month or two, no problem. First class tickets to Europe to stay in an expensive penthouse suite? Better stay for two weeks to spread the ticket cost out. Want a household staff? Again don’t want to go overboard but I’m sure you could arrange some overnight coverage in case you get hungry. $20k bottle of whiskey? Sure, I haven’t bought a car today.
  So yeah. Winning a $100M jackpot is enough for a high-end upgrade to a middle-class lifestyle, with maybe a carefully selected extra here and there. A billion is a completely different lifestyle altogether. >
  
  How do I buy tickets for this? >
  
  Unless you live in Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah then you can buy a ticket at almost any gas station. You can also sometimes find tickets for sale at grocery stores, liquor stores, malls, and more.
  If you live in Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah then you are out of luck because they dont have mega millions in those states. >
  
  To add to that, I believe you can even buy a ticket online at lotto.com. It’s state dependent (I know for sure Texas allows it) >
  
  Not many states have that. >
  
  I'm one of those people who enjoys buying a ticket when the pot is huge. 
  I know people all talk about lottery as a tax on the poor, and it largely is, but 2$ for the dream is absolutely worth it even when you know you won't win. >
  
  I was out of it after the last 2 jackpots reached a billion...I purchased about 10 tickets over 6 different drawings and didn't win a dime.
  The odds of winning are 1 in 302 million. @_@ >
  
  If you buy 300 tickets, your odds are increased to be roughly the same as being struck by lightning. >
  
  At some point, wouldn't the jackpot be so large that it'd be economically feasible to buy a ticket for every possible number combination, win and come out ahead? Can someone /r/theydidthemath that? >
  
  If odds are 1:302M then buy 302M tickets covering every possible combination & you'd be guranteed to win with one of them.  Problem is that is $604M worth of tickets, and there's a chance you'll have multiple winners having to split that jackpot,  plus taxes take a good bit of that away as well.  Assuming you're the only winner of the jackpot and take the lump sum, what do you end up with after taxes?  Plus most people with $600M are not buying lottery tickets. >
  
  This problem is more complex than that since there are a lot of other factors that influence how much you end up with if you purchase every ticket combo. First to consider are all the non jackpot prizes. Getting 5 white balls right but not the mega ball wins $1 million. With 25 mega balls that means you will have 24 tickets with 5 correct 5 balls and the wrong mega ball so you win an extra 24 million. That’s just one prize tier down so there are a lot more winnings mixed in. 
  Then when it comes to taxes I’m pretty sure gambling losses can be written off, reducing your taxable income, but only up to the amount of winnings you had that year. So if you won $5K gambling but lost $10K that same year gambling you can only write off $5K of the 10. If that is the case then your taxable income will be reduced by over $600 million from your losing tickets since you won more than that.
  Finally, and this is the biggest piece, at this level the jackpot increases between drawing is based on yr amount from ticket sales. The prize we’re seeing now is an estimated based on what Mega Millions thinks ticket sells will be before the next drawing. I’ve read that 50% of a Mega Millions ticket sale goes into prize pool while the other 50% goes to the state, paying lotto employee salaries, marketing, etc. I don’t know how much of that 50% goes to the grand prize and how much goes to fund the lower tier prizes, but let’s pretend all 50% goes to the grand prize. That means the grad prize isn’t $1,350,000,000 like they are predicting, it would actually be $1,950,000,000 with a lump sum value around $975,000,000. You would be winning back 50% of what you paid in. >
  
  I think the main issue would be actually obtaining the tickets. You only have 3 or 4 days between drawing.
  At a minimum you need what, maybe 15 seconds to select the right numbers and print the ticket. So 4 tickets a minute over 72 hours (4320 minutes) is about 17000 tickets.
  For 302 million tickets, you would need an army 17-18000 people working non stop. Considering some machines will have down time and people will definitely need down time, you are probably talking doubling that number - so close to 40,000 people buying tickets for you. >
  
  I bought 5 tickets and already emailed my boss to go fuck herself cuz this is an easy win >
  
  May you win this Friday >
  
  Just when I thought I was out of lottery ticket buying...they pull me BACK IN. 
  Might try for this one but I don't overdo it. I see some these people buy like 20 or 30 tickets. I buy one. Of course at that level the odds don't actually rise that much... >
  
  This was the whole point of altering payouts and brackets years ago.
  Higher pots, more bait, more addiction. >
  
  1 in 302,575,350 odds.... so you're saying there's a chance! >
  
  Well someone eventually does win..... >
  
  Just not us. >
  
  Marty: You don't know when to quit, do ya Griswold? Here's an idea: Why don't you give me half the money you were gonna bet? Then, we'll go out back, I'll kick you in the nuts, and we'll call it a day! >
  
  Griswold should have known the only way you can beat that guy is with iocane powder. >
  
  Good luck to everyone! >
  
  Well if no one else wants it, I'll take it.  Just let me know where I can go to pick up the money. >
  
  I’ll buy one of these super duper ones when they happen, but if you’re playing the odds, you’d win a smaller state lottery 50 times before you win Power/Mega once.
  And after tax and all that, $400,000 really would solve all of my problems, so I could work where I want, retire early, and not have to pinch pennies. May not give generational wealth or let me buy a helicopter, but those odds are way more reasonable (something like 1:2500 if I play twice a week for 30 years). >
  
  I really wish we'd stop treating advertising for the lottery as news. >
  
  Sorry fam I forgot to buy a ticket so they were waiting for me this next drawing. >
  
  IRS super excited to ultimately win this jackpot. >
  
  The only billionaire taxed appropriately is the one that wins it instantly 😆 >
  
  I’ll be pissed if some methhead from Missouri wins this >
  
  I'll be pissed if someone from California wins it again. 
  Yes, I understand that California has the highest population so that would translate to people from there winning more often than others, but I read an analysis of lottery winnings some time ago and California somehow still gets winners at a higher clip relative to its population.  
  Also, it's either some methhead like you said who is going to blow it all within three years because they have absolutely no idea how to handle it, or it will be an 89-year-old retiree who will pass away within a year and his lawyers will end up with most of the money after all the litigation. Like clockwork. >
  
  California also gets everyone from Nevada since there is no Mega Millions/Powerball in that state. >
  
  Time to rejoin the madness with the same empty hopes and dreams and expectations to win. >
  
  So far the company pool at work has around 50-60 people which is still a boat load of cash for everyone involved. I'm sure management would shit a brick if we won. Most of the people in the pot are the experienced employees most with a decade or more of time. >
  
  Friday the 13th is the next drawing lmao >
  
  This isn't news it's just as an ad for the lottery. >
  
  Co worker in ticket sales line:  "You can't win unless you play!"
  Me not wanting to part with lunch money: "You can't win IF you play." >
  
  I spent $1 million in a lotto simulation. Still didn't win. Lol. Tell them good luck. >
  
  yea, that would give you what, 1 in 600 chance to win the big one? >
  
  If that ware the chance then it would be an good investment to buy all the numbers. Pay 600 mil for the ticket pot gets up to 1.8 bil 300 % return.
  That is if no one else picks the winning numbers, if that happens you are utterly fucked. >
  
  Don't forget taxes and lump sum payout losses. You need a 1.32 billion jackpot to break even on 600 million, and that is without splitting the pot. >
  
  I wounder if you can have 600 mil as an expense write-off in this case ... >
  
  As a clerk, fuck y'all. >
  
  I try to go to vending machines whenever possible. >
  
  The clerks don't even sell tickets here. The machine does it. Everyone just stands by the machine and lets them do it. The problem is the machine isn't intuitive. I've often passed up the option to pick my own numbers and then had to buy another ticket. >
  
  We should create a pot and share with everyone in this post >
  
  Who’s got 3.02e8 dollars I can borrow? I will return it with 10% interest as soon as I get paid out. >
  
  People playing thinking "I know Im not going to win this but at least Im playing!" Might as well not play at all. Most lottery Jackpot winners win because they deeply believe they are going to win every single time until they do. With the say whenerver I win this or the powerball I will let you guys know 😎💯🙏🏻💰 >
  
  I never buy tickets, but somehow Im always pissed I dont win. 
  Maybe Ill go pick one up lmao >
  
  I considered it an extra tax on the stupid for the longest time, but as I got older I figured I’m not all that smart anyways and buy a couple now and then if it lets me dream a little. >
  
  I’ve seen movies for $12 that gave me less fun than a $2 lotto ticket. As an entertainment expense it’s not too bad. >
  
  I can't believe no one hit with those numbers. 31C6* is about 750,000 tickets out of about 300 million possible. With all the people buying tickets who don't usually and people buying more tickets than usual I am very surprised no one put down birthdays with these 6.
  *Technically its 31C5 * 31 since the last ball is a separate bucket, but a human selecting numbers for a lottery ticket is choosing non-randomly and is much less likely to repeat a number. >
  
  Just FYI: in most other countries it isn't taxed. >
  
  When do we need to buy tickets by?  And also can I go to a site to see what the numbers were ? >
  
  Before Friday,  and your yes just good the mega millions >
  
  I’ve read that winning brings you nothing but unhappiness. Your family, people you thought were your friends treat you differently.
  Is it worth it to see the dark side of people? >
  
  This is horseshit. Living in poverty brings you nothing but unhappiness. >
  
  Both can be true. If I won, I'd stay anonymous, keep enough to be set for life, and give the rest to charity. Then when people ask how I was able to retire early, I'd say I won a much smaller amount. >
  
  I looked into it the last go around and discovered my state does not permit you to claim with anonymity. It's insane, because my state is pretty reasonable and progressive on most other issues. But I'm a lawyer in a large firm and thus could easily find someone to help me through the process, as I think there are some work arounds to maintain SOME level of anonymity. It really doesn't matter though. If I won this much money, I would be giving at least some large sum of money ($50-100K+ depending- my parents, siblings, and two bffs are getting $1 million each) to every single one of my close friends, because I want to share in my windfalls with my loved ones (I'm someone who sees friendship as a hobby, so I look to be close friends with everyone I meet. For that reason, I have dozens of close friends, and then i have acquaintances who are the people that chose not to reciprocate my pursuit of friendship). If the ones that chose not to reciprocate came out of the woodwork and were mad they got nothing, I'd just laugh at their audacity to think they deserved anything given the fact THEY made the choice not to reciprocate my friendship efforts. The others wouldn't even have to ask, because I would give to them freely. If they asked for more, I'd just have to explain to them the math of how many close friends I have, how much I'm giving away, how much I'm giving to charity, and tell them if they can't be happy and grateful for the infusion they got, they can just fuck off and get nothing. Like I said, I have dozens of close friends, so it would be nothing to lose a few. And I'm fairly certain I could predict the reactions of most of my friends. The vast majority would be immensely grateful for $50k and wouldn't dare to ask for more. I can think of a few that would be the greedy and ungrateful type, and that would be disappointing to me, but I'm already aware of those traits in their nature by virtue of our other interactions. I keep them around for their other traits. If you've made it to adulthood and aren't aware of the darkness that exists in all of us and the balancing act most people do to not let it win out and the balancing act you have to do to decide if their light shines brighter than the shadows of their darkness in the ways that matter to you, you were already doomed to fail. Some of us are living with our eyes open and know not to take the inherent darkness of man personally.
  Eta: I'm also very aware of the violence this is likely to stir in some, so of course step one would be hiring a personal security team. >
  
  Quickly move to a state that allows it? You’re likely going to move anyways. >
  
  Population density. >
  
  Yeah, it's just demographics. The places with literally 8 figures of people in them are far more likely to have a winner in them in this drawing than a state with six figures. >
  
  Nevadans also go to California for lottery tickets since lottery isn't allowed there, so California could be almost considered two states. >
  
  We'll see more record jackpots as long as interest rates remain elevated. That pushes the jackpot up very quickly as that number is based on an annuity calculation of the actual jackpot, the lump sum. >
  
  I didn't play last night because I was too lazy to go buy a ticket. This surely must be a sign! >
  
  Wish I could buy a ticket >
  
  Its once again that time where I pack my amazon wish list knowing full well I'm not going to win.