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11-27-2012, 12:31 PM | |
In Search of a Life
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: San Antonio Tx.
Casino cash: $2524454
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Powerball jackpot.....500 million and growing!
Will you partake?
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/power...ry?id=17812739 The jackpot for Wednesday's Powerball drawing now stands at $500 million -- the richest Powerball pot ever -- and it's likely to get even sweeter. "Back in January, we moved Powerball from being a $1 game to $2," says Mary Neubauer, a spokeswoman for the Iowa lottery. "We thought at the time that this would mean bigger and faster-growing jackpots." It's proved true. The total, she says, "has been taking huge jumps -- another $100 million since Saturday." (The most recent drawing, on Saturday night, produced no winning numbers.) Until now, the biggest Powerball pot on record -- $365 million -- was won in 2006 by eight Lincoln, Neb., co-workers. In Photos: Biggest Lotto Jackpot Winners Lottery officials in Iowa, where Powerball is headquartered, have started getting phone calls from all around the world. "When it gets this big," says Neubauer, "we start getting inquiries from Canada and Europe from people wanting to know if they can buy a ticket. They ask if they can FedEx us the money." The answer she has to give them, she says, is: "Sorry, no. You have to buy a ticket in a member state from a licensed retail location." About 80 percent of players don't choose their own Powerball number, opting instead for a computer-generated one. Asked if there's anything players can do to improve their odds of winning, Neubauer says no -- apart from buying a ticket, of course. Lottery officials put the odds of winning Wednesday's Powerball pot at one in 175 million, meaning you are 25 times more likely to win an Academy Award. Skip Garibaldi, a professor of mathematics at Emory University in Atlanta, provides additional perspective: You are three times more likely to die from a falling coconut, he says; seven times more likely to die from fireworks, "and way more likely to die from flesh-eating bacteria" (115 fatalities a year) than you are to win the Powerball lottery. Segueing, then, from death to life, Garibaldi notes that even the best physicians, equipped with the most up-to-date equipment, can't predict the timing of a child's birth with much accuracy. "But let's suppose, however, that your doctor managed to predict the day, the hour, the minute and the second your baby would be born," Garibaldi says. The doctor's uncanny prediction would be "at least 100 times" more likely than your winning Wednesday. Even though he knows the odds all too well, Garibaldi says he'll usually play the lottery. "When it gets this big, I'll buy a couple of tickets. It's kind of exciting. You get this feeling of anticipation. You get to think about the fantasy." So will he be purchasing two tickets for Wednesday's Powerball? "I can't," he tells ABC News. "I'm in California" -- one of eight states that doesn't offer Powerball. |
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11-27-2012, 09:20 PM | #76 |
Banned
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Pond> Me <Barn
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Because the odds of winning when buying a ticket are infinitely greater than your chances when you don't.
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BrainCase |
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11-27-2012, 09:32 PM | #77 |
Veteran
Join Date: Apr 2011
Casino cash: $932400
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I have a stat phd friend who told me that your chances of winning are about the same whether you buy a ticket or not. I don't pretend to understand fancy numbers and probabilities and such, but somehow I think you're both probably right.
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Posts: 1,387
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11-27-2012, 09:33 PM | #78 |
"You like to drink?"
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: "I like to drink."
Casino cash: $1766869
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I can understand this reasoning from a money standpoint, but I still feel like .00001% is still much greater than .00%
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11-27-2012, 09:34 PM | #79 |
Veteran
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Casino cash: $932400
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11-27-2012, 09:35 PM | #80 | |
Shit
Join Date: Jun 2008
Casino cash: $10039067
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Quote:
Posted via Mobile Device |
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11-27-2012, 09:37 PM | #81 |
Shit
Join Date: Jun 2008
Casino cash: $10039067
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And ftr I have bought a ticket every time I've walked into a gas station for the last week or two
Posted via Mobile Device |
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11-27-2012, 09:42 PM | #82 |
Roy E.
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Olathe, KS
Casino cash: $10539646
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Bought my ticket. If I win, I'll fund CP for the rest of time.
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11-27-2012, 09:47 PM | #83 |
Court Jester
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Orlando
Casino cash: $1592400
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11-27-2012, 09:48 PM | #84 |
Roy E.
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Olathe, KS
Casino cash: $10539646
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11-27-2012, 09:49 PM | #85 |
Hello
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: South Dakota
Casino cash: $-337904
VARSITY
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If I win, I'm hiring Mr. Flopnuts to feed my goldfish.
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11-27-2012, 10:05 PM | #86 |
"You like to drink?"
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: "I like to drink."
Casino cash: $1766869
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FWIW my stats teacher in High School sort of gave tacit approval of buying at least one ticket once a jackpot got to such a large amount because it's almost foolish to at least not take a shot/
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11-27-2012, 10:09 PM | #87 |
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS
Join Date: Aug 2000
Casino cash: $1633385
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We matched three numbers. Is that worth anything?
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11-27-2012, 10:28 PM | #88 |
Resident Glue Sniffer
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I'd buy a big ass touring bus thingy and drive all over while my big ass cabin was built in Wyoming/Montana.
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Life is 99% inspiration, 1% Perspiration, and 1% Attention to Detial. RIP & Godspeed: Saccoppo Lonewolf Ed Fire Me Boy |
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11-27-2012, 10:43 PM | #89 |
I'm with the banned.
Join Date: Sep 2006
Casino cash: $5658955
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I need Austin to start thinking about a price for this muffhugger.
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"Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth ..." – Pope Saint John Paul II |
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11-27-2012, 10:44 PM | #90 |
Say hello to my little friend
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