As I understand it in Calif. you don't get a lump sum either... you get payments over ten years or something like that.

So you get 10M... then the taxman takes his cut... then you get so much a month.

Kind of sucks if you are thinking even if they tax away half of your 10M you can live off the interest of the 5M you will have invested.

i play the lotto in a pool at work...it is a cheap way to build morale in the company. I get 10 worth if it is over 75 million...you guys who don't buy any, that is pretty funny. Will 1-5 or $10 make a difference in your life? not mine, but i don't EVER gamble otherwise. So i spend like $50 a year on the lotto...no big deal, it is a nice diversion from daily life

In light of the comment made here by Paul, I guess the truth is I ALREADY won the lottery! I don't pay ANY alimony nor child support. I paid her in a lump on my attorney's advice and it HURT. I paid the money AND took on financial responsibility for a bunch of debt she had incurred (and not serviced timely so it was at a HUGE interest rate by the time I got it). Nevertheless, I pay her NOTHING, and it is such a relief not to have the prospect of half my retirement checks going to her sometime in the future.

My kids are now 25 and 26 years old and both college graduates. By the time our divorce was final our kids were just reaching 18 and 19 years old so I dodged a bullet there.....but of course college 2x at a time ain't cheap. Neither was the divorce, which explains why I want to win the lottery so badly!:D

By the way, in California (other states?) you have your choice of 26 payments or a lump sum. If its a lump (you tell them IF you win) they take the first 50% right off the top. So $100M becomes $50M instantly, then they tax you and I think the final amount ends up being a little more than half again...so about $26 or $27M. Not bad and I would complain but not like $100M.

I think you mean the odds of winning, not losing :)

Thanks for the info Dan...yeah...now I'm really rooting for your numbers to come in...:D

I don't buy lottery tickets because I know that if any of you guys who do buy tickets wins big, you'd share it with your fellow Pelicans!

Cheap entertainment would be to just wright down your numbers and see if you win? That way you save a buck and still have fun..

If I win I can't do this but I'll tell you something I WILL do...

I'll throw a hell of a nice professionally planned party at a place where we could all "show park" our 911's out front. Someplace along the lines of the Playboy Mansion - though I know that is not available for rent. A good name band (of MY choosing and I'm older so you takes your chances), great variety of food and desserts, a nice bar, door prizes, plus a locked garage and drive-home service for anyone that over-enjoys. How's that sound? Any (fairly) long standing Pelican that can make it, will be invited in.

I refuse to buy a lottery ticket. The government already gets enough of my money:mad:.

This sounds great!

Dan, will you fly everyone in to this party with hotel accommodations? A great time will be had by all... even for us locals...

:D

Hadn't thought of that....but what the hell! If I had $320M why not?!

the jackpot is 10 million, you buy 1 ticket, your odds of winning are about 93 Million to 1.

The jackpot is 200 million, you buy 1 ticket, your odds of winning are still 93 million to 1

so your odds don't get better with a larger jackpot. even if you bought 100 for the 200 Million drawing than the 10 million drawing, your odds of winning are still about the same. .hell, even if you bought 1,000 tickets, your odds are still about the same.

What a true Pelicanite...

exactly right. btw, the lottery is "legalized" scamming...

isn't it amazing that even with such unbelievable odds... someone, somewhere actually wins that money now and then. I really, really believe you have a much greater chance of winning if you buy a ticket than if you don't. someone's going to get the right numbers sooner or later... maybe even me when I remember to spend that $1 bank note I've been saving for that rainy day I might need it.

John,

The odds you win the jackpot is 93 million to 1....or a probability of .000000011

93 million people need to buy 1 ticket, OR 93 million number combinations need to be bought, for there to be a probability of 1 that there will be a winner, statistically speaking.

I always say a silent prayer that I don't win.

If the odds were 100 million to one and they sell 200 million tickets it still doesn't guarantee a winner, if you buy one of every number combination ok, but you wouldn't make out and someone else, probably five of six that time, would get the correct combination.
The deal is I will never ever get that much money at work so I will still buy my ticket.

and what are my odds of winning if I don't spend that $1 nest egg I should invest instead. even if 9 other people win the same time I might win... so what? I'd rather have 10% of something than 100% of nothing. it's just $1. this is pretty much the only gambling I do. I can walk into the casino with $10,000 in my pocket, eat a nice meal for less than $20 and walk out without even spending a $1 gambling. some people spend a fortune fixing up a Porsche knowing they will never recoup any of their investment. I spend $1 and there's a chance... slim chance I admit, but still a chance I might come out on top. it's only $1. I probably lose more than that in loose change every day. I suppose it would be hard to convince the person that won a couple hundred million last week that his $1 was a bad investment.