No one won Powerball. Next Wednesday's drawing... $1.3 BILLION

[NightWatcher]

Holy shit. There's going to be a riot to get tickets next week.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Awesome! That means I'll be REALLY rich by Thursday!

[RandySF]

2. They're waiting for US to win!!! :)

[Snobblevitch]

3. Do you have a link?

[Douglas Carpenter]

26. here is the link: No winner of record Powerball jackpot, next draw put at $1.3 billion

No one won Saturday's record jackpot of nearly $950 million in the multi-state Powerball lottery, officials said, driving the haul for a winning ticket in the next draw to $1.3 billion, lottery officials said.

Millions of Americans anxiously checked their tickets for the winning combination of six numbers - 32, 16, 19, 57, 34 with a Powerball number of 13.

"No Powerball jackpot winner," the Texas Lottery announced on Twitter hours after the numbers were drawn.

"Since nobody won tonight’s staggering $947.8 million jackpot, it has rolled to an estimated $1.3 billion for January 13," said a statement from officials in California, one of the 44 states, together with Washington D.C. and two U.S. territories, that participate in Powerball.

The grand prize for Powerball has climbed steadily for weeks after repeated drawings produced no big winners. This week ticket purchases surged along with the size of the pot, driving the prize beyond the $900 million reported earlier.

The grand prize in Saturday's drawing was worth $558 million for a winner choosing an immediate cash payout instead of annual payments over 29 years, according to lottery officials in California, one of the participating states.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-powerball-idUSKCN0UN0SF20160110

[DCBob]

4. Are you sure nobody won?

I just read it was too early to know yet.

[NightWatcher]

5. Various news Twitter feeds are reporting this

If true it will be all the news Monday- Wednesday night.

[Tennis Magnet]

6. I may get 10 picks Monday.

Wow.

[Yupster]

7. I got one number

That ought to be good for at least one million, don't you think?

[underpants]

9. LOL

I got one too. 5 tickets.

[Logical]

8. The powerball site says results pending. Link please! nt

[joshcryer]

10. Well, guess I should get a ticket.

[Logical]

11. LINKS! Or you just making up shit? nt

[rusty quoin]

12. Do you think I have a good chance?

[brooklynite]

13. Let's not get worked up...if you take the single payout and allow for taxes, it's only about $429 M

[VMA131Marine]

14. ONLY $429 M???????

I think I could survive on that much for a year or two

[Douglas Carpenter]

27. it's hard to believe it today, but, there was a time when $429million was a lot of money

[VMA131Marine]

58. To the 99.99% it's still a lot of money ...

If you work for 40 years and average $50k/yr, which is somewhere near the median household income, you'll only make $2 M over your lifetime. There is nothing worth buying that you can't have for $429 M ... well, except for a major sports franchise perhaps. Even $1 B won't get you one of those.

[KamaAina]

45. I take it NY State teaxes lottery winnings?

California does not.

[flamingdem]

15. Can someone tell me how to do this? I've never playing before

Do I just buy a ticket? Where is the best place to buy a ticket. Where do people go for results?

[Douglas Carpenter]

28. this easiest way is to just ask for a "quick pick" the machine selects your

numbers for you. Or if you want to select the numbers yourself:

Pick five lucky numbers from 1 to 69 and one POWERBALL number from 1 to 26 on a POWERBALL playslip.

Or, play randomly generated numbers with Quick Pick®.

You may select up to 5 additional Quick Pick plays on each playslip, and you may play as many playslips as you like.

To play the same numbers for consecutive draws, just mark Advance Play®.

http://www.calottery.com/play/draw-games/powerball/how-to-play ---

The easiest way to buy a ticket is just go to any convenience store that has a sign in the window saying that they sell lotto tickets there.

[SheilaT]

16. The truly sad thing in all of this

(aside from lotteries being a tax on the financially ignorant) is that the majority of winners haven't a clue how to deal with all that money. Some insane percentage of them are bankrupt inside of five years.

Advice to potential winners:
1. Take the twenty year payout. It's more money. You might learn something about money management before the twenty years are up.
2. If at all possible, take your winnings anonymously. If you live in a state that requires disclosure, set up an LLC or some such before collecting.
3. Get good financial advice before you even consider collecting. Find an accountant, an investment adviser, a tax person before you even consider collecting.
4. Do not quit your job immediately. Give it at least three months, preferably six before even considering quitting. Chances are you've been a working stiff for several decades, and you won't have a clue what to do if you don't have to go to work every day.
5. Understand that this vast sum of money will not make all your problems go away. If you've got a kid doing drugs, that won't end. If your mother-in-law is totally impossible, she's not going to change. If your marriage is already on the rocks, realize that divorce is in your future. You may have to give the soon-to-be ex a significant part of that money, but you're still going to be very rich.
6. Even though you are going to be very rich, this money is not unlimited. As strange as it seems right now, you can foolishly spend it all and wind up broke and worse off than ever a few years down the road.
7. Which is why you need to look at the #3 above, and take it quite seriously.
8. The odds are astronomically high that you won't win. Nothing will change. You'll still be going to that same miserable job every day, posting here on DU, and cleaning the cat's litter box every day. Sigh.

[XemaSab]

17. I find it fascinating that so many winners go broke

It must be like stapling your finger.

You think "You'd have to be a goddamn idiot to staple your finger" until one day....

[philosslayer]

18. If you win $1.3 Billion dollars...

You're going to have to work REALLY REALLY hard to go broke.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

34. I've known people who...

...said things like, 'I could never spend it all'. Trust me, if you can't spend it all you're shopping in the wrong places.

http://www.thewatchgallery.com/shop/roger-dubuis-pulsion-limited-edition-flying-tourbillon-rddbpu0001.html

[yellowcanine]

64. First of all, it is only $1.3 Billion if you take the 30 year annuity.

And generally, if someone is a poor money manager, more money does not make them less likely to lose it. They just lose it in a more spectacular way. Hire a lawyer, a financial adviser and an accountant (to do the taxes). Aside from financial scams, probably the easiest way to lose money is with bad tax advice.

[Snobblevitch]

20. I won't address all of your points,

but the cash option results in more money for the ticket holder.

[TransitJohn]

21. You're losing money if you take the 20 year annuity

You can make a lot more in simple mutual funds.

[SheilaT]

22. That's assuming the winner actual

puts the money in mutual funds. Most, maybe all, of them don't. They simply take the money and spend. And spend. And spend.

If you take the money over twenty years, and put most of it in mutual funds, you'd be vastly better off. Plus, you'd have a guaranteed income for twenty years, during which you might actually gain some knowledge as to how to handle large sums of money. Sadly, most lottery winners opt for the immediate payout, spend more than is coming in, wind up bankrupt (or in very sad cases dead) within about five years. If they'd taken the 20 year option, they'd still have money coming in after five years.

Most people haven't a clue how to handle large sums of money. Sadly.

[Snobblevitch]

38. Why do you keeping writing 20 years?

The annuity option is paid over 30 years.

[SheilaT]

40. Thank you. I had it fixed in my head that it was 20 years, because

originally that was the payout period. You can tell I don't pay a lot of attention to this since I was so blissfully unaware of the change of payout period. According to Wikipedia it went from 20 to 25 annual payments late in 1997, but doesn't tell me when it went to 30.

Which actually means taking the 30 year payout makes even more sense than the lump sum because the tax penalty is also spread out.

Again, thank you for setting me straight on this.

[meow2u3]

30. And make sure you make out a will

Will your remaining winnings to charity--or create a charitable foundation of your own--since 501(c)(3)'s don't have to pay taxes. If you kick the bucket without a will, your heirs have to pay estate and/or inheritance taxes on all the remaining winnings AFAIK.

[SheilaT]

35. It's never the heirs that pay estate taxes.

It's the estate with all the money. A fundamental fact that most people don't understand. When you inherit money, whatever you receive has already had the taxes paid.

But yes, make out a will. You should be the one deciding where your money goes to, not the state itself. Most people should have wills, and sadly, very few do, even those who, while they don't have enough to incur estate taxes, can leave behind a world of headaches for their survivors. I know of at least a half a dozen such situations right now. In one, a man wanted to disinherit one of his children. He made a video several days before he died, but the probate judge said it wasn't sufficient, and that child inherits equally with the two siblings. I know another where a woman is having to wait over a year and a half (apparently because of a filled court docket on the part of the probate court) to be able to sell the house that she and the man she'd lived with for many years but they never bothered to get married lived together in.

[yellowcanine]

61. Before cashing in, hire a lawyer, accountant, and financial advisor.

Let them advise you on what to do. But generally, the best strategy is to take the lump sum payment and put it in mutual funds and live off the interest. And try to remain anonymous - if you can, buy your ticket in Delaware, Kansas, Maryland, North Dakota, Ohio or South Carolina. If you can't remain anonymous, at least limit your exposure by keeping a low profile, having unlisted phone numbers, etc., maybe renting rather than owning property - or at least owning property in the name of an LLC rather than your own name. State Lottery Commissions offer advice, referrals, etc which can help you sort out the legitimate advisers from the scam artists. In other words, sign your ticket on the back and put it in a safe deposit box until you get things sorted out as to how you are going to manage the money. Then take some time to plan. Don't make flashy displays of wealth which will only make you feel good for a bit and alert the thieves and scammers.

[cwydro]

31. There's a woman here in NC who won a huge payout sometime over the last year or so.

She's continually bailing her boyfriend out of jail (million dollar bail amounts).

Can't remember her name. It's really pathetic, and no doubt she'll be broke in a couple years.

But hey, it's her money!

[yellowcanine]

62. But hey, it's her money! Until it isn't. See my advice above.

Having a lot of money doesn't mean you magically acquire the ability to manage it. Ironically it seems like some of the smaller winners (several million rather than multi millions) go the most hog wild. When you are living paycheck to paycheck a million dollars seems like a lot of money. It is, but only if you manage it well and don't get greedy trying to turn it into a lot more money.

[cwydro]

63. As the saying goes..."A fool and his money..."

We know the rest.

[davidn3600]

33. And some are dead

There was the big story a few years ago about the guy in Florida, Abraham Shakespeare, who won the state lotto, and he ended up dead. A tragic story because Shakespeare was not very educated. He went from rags to riches. He dropped out of high school and worked as a day laborer for various jobs and was poor. He was also barely literate. Because of that, he was easily taken advantage of by friends and family when he won. A person he went into business with stole his money and then killed him.

[questionseverything]

52. #3 is most important

no disrespect but screw # 4

lol

i be singing

take this job and shove it

then i would head to nh and make sure bernie gets elected so he can raise my taxes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[alarimer]

55. Your MIL might be impossible, but you can buy her a nice house far away.

Really far away. Nice enough that she won't want to visit you.

[lpbk2713]

19. If anyone is trying to get through to the Florida Lottery website ...

it has been down for more than three hours. Probably receiving more traffic than it can handle.

[laundry_queen]

23. I think all of us DUers should get together and buy a shit ton of tickets

and if we win we can totally control the entire election. And then we can tell all those people who said over the years, "no one cares what a bunch of people on DU say. They don't even know what DU is." "WE TOLD YOU SO"

See, that $2+ was already worth the entertainment value.

Oh, and we can feed a bunch of hungry homeless people too, and show the heartless republicans how it's done. C'mon, team DU!

Sorry, just getting caught up in it all. I'm in Canada so can't buy and even our lottery is socialist. When it hits 50 million we get a bunch of 1 million dollar prizes in addition to the large prize and it only goes up to 60 million, but we just keep getting additional $1 million prizes. They're called 'maxmillions'. So, for instance, a draw will have the 'big' prize of $60 million with, say, 52 extra draws for $1 million. Instead of 1 person winning $112 million, you get 53 (potentially, or more) people winning. See, a socialist lottery.

[SheilaT]

41. I like your ideas.

[madokie]

24. I think it sucks that they have the bar set so high that it can get to 1.3B

No one needs that kind of money thats for sure. The odds need to be where it barely makes it past a few million without a winner. I know I'd buy more tickets if I thought there was a better chance of winning but right now the chance of winning is the same as if you flipped a quarter and got heads 28 times in a row. Highly unlikely but can be done if you try enough long enough. Still lower the bar to where the power ball pays out more frequent is what I say.

w have the power ball but no numbers to go with it so we won 12 bucks cause we pay for the power play too.

[SheilaT]

42. From what I've read, this is exactly

what the people running the lottery want: Fewer but higher jackpots.

If it were instead intended as a redistribution of the money, there would be many, many payouts of, say $1,000. Someone who knows more about this kind of math could probably post how to make it work that way.

But it's a mechanism for appealing to people's greed and lack of math sense. You should hear math teachers rail against lotteries.

Some years ago, I noticed that my then math teacher had a Powerball ticket on his desk. When I asked him why, he said he'd bought it to demonstrate to his statistics class how unlikely it was to get even ONE of the numbers, and this was back when there were twenty fewer numbers used than today. To his disgust, his ticket actually had one of that week's numbers on it. Never did ask him if he bought another ticket the next week to prove his point. It would have been rather hilarious if he'd won something, which would also prove the point of the randomness involved.

[madokie]

46. We buy tickets each week

I've gotten 250.00 once, 300.00 once and a bunch of less than 50.00 but not any of the big ones. Oh well I'll keep trying as they keep telling me some of the money goes toward education and I'm for any money that might be education bound

Today I have the power ball with power pay so its good for 12 bucks, er 3 more tickets Sheila

Never know though my mom won through some contest years ago a new hi performance sewing machine long after she was sewing but she died knowing she had a high performance sewing machine. As a kid she sewed all us boys shirts and the girls dresses. As good as any you could buy. My younger sister has a doctor degree in Math and she still sews for a few women and has all her adult life. It was what paid for her original degree that got her into teaching. She's retired once but went back as assistant Superintendent at the high school all us kids graduated from back in the 50s and 60s. We're all old folks now.

I asked her once if she had any problems with discipline as she's a little woman and she said No because everyone in her classes want to be there as it wasn't a required course.

[Goblinmonger]

56. The odds are astronomical

but somebody is going to have that number and win over a billion dollars. Their odds of winning are no different from mine. Now, I'm not going to clear out the savings account and buy tickets, but $10 isn't going to kill me and you can't win it if you aren't in it.

[Douglas Carpenter]

25. here is the link: No winner of record Powerball jackpot, next draw put at $1.3 billion

No one won Saturday's record jackpot of nearly $950 million in the multi-state Powerball lottery, officials said, driving the haul for a winning ticket in the next draw to $1.3 billion, lottery officials said.

Millions of Americans anxiously checked their tickets for the winning combination of six numbers - 32, 16, 19, 57, 34 with a Powerball number of 13.

"No Powerball jackpot winner," the Texas Lottery announced on Twitter hours after the numbers were drawn.

"Since nobody won tonight’s staggering $947.8 million jackpot, it has rolled to an estimated $1.3 billion for January 13," said a statement from officials in California, one of the 44 states, together with Washington D.C. and two U.S. territories, that participate in Powerball.

The grand prize for Powerball has climbed steadily for weeks after repeated drawings produced no big winners. This week ticket purchases surged along with the size of the pot, driving the prize beyond the $900 million reported earlier.

The grand prize in Saturday's drawing was worth $558 million for a winner choosing an immediate cash payout instead of annual payments over 29 years, according to lottery officials in California, one of the participating states.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-powerball-idUSKCN0UN0SF20160110

[RandySF]

29. We're not even playing for the $1.3 billion

We'd be thrilled to hit $20k,

[joeybee12]

32. I got the power ball number

I think that's two dollars

[SheilaT]

44. Hey, that's a free ticket for the next drawing!

Not bad.

[joeybee12]

50. I bought an advance play ticket

I'm good through early February. ..so let it keep rolling over until then!

[KG]

36. ok, now that's to buy a football team

[treestar]

37. how can that work out that way?

The winning number was a ticket nobody bought?

[Humanist_Activist]

39. No, the winning draw was not picked from any ticket. n/t

[EL34x4]

47. I had read yesterday

That only about 75% of the possible number combinations had been sold.

[treestar]

54. Thanks, I get it now

Geez!

[KamaAina]

43. Me and my pal Nelson Muntz have advance-play tickets

[KentuckyWoman]

48. We should pool our money and buy 1 each of the 292 million possible combos

Guaranteed to win and if lucky enough to be the only winner we'd end up with 100% return on our money.

[NightWatcher]

49. Tickets are 2$ each and if other people pick a winner the jackpot splits

If two others got it too, our split would be 400 million and the cost to get every combo would be almost 600 million. We could lose in that scenario.

[KentuckyWoman]

51. Ahhh.... shows you what I know. I thought the lottery was $1

I don't play, not even at $Billions.

Thanks for the info.

[yellowcanine]

60. Many state lotteries are $1. PowerBall is a multistate lottery.

MegaMillions, another multistate lottery, is still $1, and it gets very large sometimes, though I think it starts lower than PowerBall.

[Egnever]

53. Not to mention the time it would take to fill out all those tickets

[MohRokTah]

57. You would need a staff of thousands in place ready to start buying with cooridnated blocks of #s

beginning on Wednesday night right after the determination that nobody won.

The Lotteries have figured out this potential scam and increased the number of possible combinations to insure it would never be financially viable to try to buy a lottery jackpot.

[Douglas Carpenter]

59. it is now up to $1.4 billion/$867,900,000. estimated cash value.

[haele]

65. My theory - an orgaization or government has hacked the drawing.

They're waiting for the pot to get up as high as they need it to be (after taxes...), and when it gets to that point, they'll hand their patsy the winning numbers and claim the pot.

Hey, a $750+ million shot in the arm could really stabilize a small economy. Just think what Spain, Greece, China, any number of Universities, or some business like HP (or the GOP) could do with that much "free" money.

Haele

[KamaAina]

67. I have a friend named Patsy.

[haele]

68. Oooh, if she gets the winning ticket, ask to meet with "her friends"...

You might be able to get a little bonus for keeping your mouth shut...

Haele

[Douglas Carpenter]

66. now up to roughly 1.5 billion or $930,000,000 before taxes if taken in one lump sum

after deducting 30% for taxes which would work if you intend to give 20%-30% to recognized 501c charities - you would receive a check for roughly $651,000,000


http://www.calottery.com/Play/Draw-Games/powerball

[mnhtnbb]

69. I haven't bought a lottery ticket in 20 years, so this am I plunked down $20 for 10 picks.

Not having bought a Powerball ticket since we have lived in NC--which didn't have Powerball when we moved here,
I wanted to know if you have to match the numbers in order--for the white balls--or if you have those numbers
in any order does it win? Turns out they can be in any order, but you have to match the Powerball at the end for
the big prize.

BUT! I also learned there are declining prizes for less than a full match. In fact, last July, there was story in
NC about a Powerball ticket worth a million that hadn't been claimed (match all 5 white balls, but not the Powerball)
AND match 4 numbers plus the Powerball and that ticket is worth $50,000. Then the prizes decline significantly
to $100., $7., and $4.

I suspect there may be a lot of people who throw away Powerball tickets that could be worth $100.

So, I will be checking all 10 of my tickets carefully!