BREAKING: Lottery officials say there was NO winner in tonight's Powerball

[tomm2thumbs]

Last edited Sun Jan 10, 2016, 06:02 AM - Edit history (2)

Source: CNBC

BREAKING: Lottery officials say there was NO winner in tonight's Powerball, jackpot now at record $1,300,000,000




Read more: http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/10/no-winner-for-the-900m-powerball-jackpot-wednesdays-draw-worth-13b.html

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Here we go again.... (and no, I didn't buy a ticket... was waiting for it to go over a billion)

[yeoman6987]

1. Unbelievable. I didn't even check my tickets yet.

I never do until the next day. Guess I'll spend another 20 for Wednesday. That is crazy though 1.3 billion.

[840high]

12. I bought 1 - won $4.00

[Dr. Xavier]

2. baby needs a new pair of shoes.... n/t

[Sam_Fields]

3. I smell a rat.

[tomm2thumbs]

4. with connections

via

[Freelancer]

5. Why not make 1,300 millionaires instead? I don't get it.

Picture the ad -- the camera backs out of an image of a single $1,000,000 winner to gradually show an aerial shot of 1,300 people holding up their tickets -- all millionaires (before taxes). If people saw that, even more would think they had a chance, IMO.

[padfun]

6. That's not the American way..

We need a million slaves for each rich person. /snark

[rpannier]

7. I was hoping there'd have been 1000 winning tickets

That'd have been a lot of new people with about 450k

[philosslayer]

8. The odds of winning...

Are somewhat astromical; something like 282 million to one. Why would I risk money against those odds to win a lousy million dollars?

[Freelancer]

14. LOL. Very true. But...

If you look at your life, things do happen that have astronomical odds.

I once saw a garage sale sign pointing down a cul-de-sac when I was in a town 20 miles from home on business. I decided to drive down and check it out. I got out of the car, and practically bumped the door into my aunt and great aunt that I hadn't seen in 10 yrs. They both live in North Carolina, and were passing through my state on the way to Nebraska. They'd pulled off the interstate there to get gas and eat lunch at a McDonalds. My aunt saw a garage sale sign when they left McD's and they decided to go to it.

The odds of us crossing paths were very high -- probably in the hundreds of thousands to one -- of going to the same sale even higher. That we'd time out exactly multiplies that by some factor as well. The odds may not be 282 million to one, but the number must be up there somewhere in the neighborhood.

I'm not saying that buying a power ball ticket makes mathematical sense -- it doesn't -- just that we all have things happen that the odds are highly against. Yet, they happen.

[onecent]

27. Very COOL story!!!! It sort of gives one hope......

and I do believe "good" things DO happen.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

29. Or I could put the money in a church collection plate

The odds of getting a benefit are about the same.

[KingCharlemagne]

31. AKA: "Serendipity". AKA: "There are more thngs in heaven and hell than

are dreamt of in thy philosophy, Horatio." ~Hamlet

[William Seger]

13. Because every record-breaking jackpot means record-breaking profits

That's precisely why they made the game tougher in October.

[gvstn]

23. The odds used to be better.

But people stopped buying tickets unless the jackpot was $100 million. So they changed the odds to get to $100 million more often.

It may have been ridiculous then but now the odds are incredible.

But I still plunk down my $2 twice a week. Part of paying the poor tax.

[brooklynite]

42. Explain how that would work...

This is a simple game...pick a random sequence of numbers and see if one or more people match. If you 1,300 $1 M prizes, you'd need to keep picking new number sets endlessly.

[smirkymonkey]

48. That's a great idea!

I really wish at this point they would do something like that. Nobody needs to be that rich.

[Reter]

55. Wow, not only do you want to only give them one million, you want it BEFORE taxes

[TexasBushwhacker]

72. There are other drawings with better odds

and lower payouts. People play them too, they just don't get as much press. Statistically, the more people buy tickets, the more likely it is that there will be multiple winners, thus splitting the pot.

[Feeling the Bern]

9. odds of winning: 1/292,000,000. Come one Americans bad at math. . .the lottery needs your

underpaid salaries!

[jberryhill]

51. Okay, so explain the math, smart guy

If the odds are 1 in 282 million, and the prize is 1 billion, then what is the expectation value?

[kelly1mm]

59. if only one ticket could have the correct numbers is would be about $4 EV for every $1, but

since MORE than one ticket can have the winning numbers and the total jackpot is split between the winning tickets it is not as high, probably still positive EV but certainly not 4:1.

[jberryhill]

60. Good answer

The usual answer is about the variance being high, but that's really a much better answer.

[William Seger]

64. Realistically, it never gets positive

Assuming you take the cash instead of the annuity (i.e. the "real" jackpot value), and factoring in the probability of splitting with other winners, and after paying taxes on what's left, here's one example: If the jackpot gets to $2 billion and there are 600 million tickets sold, the expected value or "return on investment" of your $2 bet is only about $1.43.

The chart on that page shows that when the number of tickets sold is greater than about 200 million, the odds are that there will be one or more winners. There were over 440 million tickets sold in this Saturday draw, so there was about a 78% chance someone would win. The possibility of multiple winners hurts the EV more than I would have thought. Oddly enough, when the number of tickets is over about 370 million, it becomes more likely that there will be multiple winners than a single winner.

[William Seger]

62. It's $2 per ticket now, so half that (n/t)

[kelly1mm]

63. Correct! Thanks! nt!

[kentauros]

69. People who play the lottery aren't bad at math.

People who don't play the lottery are

[edbermac]

10. Zero said it best.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

11. ...Sorry Folks!

Now please stayed tuned to the next big distraction...

[DJ13]

16. Theres still a chance!

Between the Powerball and PCH sweepstakes I'm gonna be rich!

[LiberalElite]

30. Yeah PCH they really got me going -

every time I got a mailing from them, as a Genuine Possible Winner, I would spend time sticking the stickers in the little boxes and putting serious thought into what color I wanted my Jaguar car prize to be.

Then one day I got another sweepstakes notification in the mail - and also one for the guy in the apartment below. We were both Genuine Possible Winners! I thought, hmmmm what are the odds? That was the beginning of the end.

Of course all the stories about how it's a scam also helped wake me up.

[KingCharlemagne]

32. LOL - There really should be a rule denying you internet access during morning coffee hour! - nt

[LiberalElite]

34. ?? why ?? nt

(I haven't had coffee yet.)

[KingCharlemagne]

37. I had a mouthful of coffee when reading your initial post. Very painful ejection

through nostrils and now I need a whole new monitor!

[LiberalElite]

39. Oh. Yeah.

That happens sometimes. People think I'm funny. I don't even mean to do it on purpose.

[KingCharlemagne]

40. Your emoticons add a certain je ne sais quoi to the humor. Bravo! - nt

[LiberalElite]

41. THAT part

was intentional. I LOOOOOOVE emoticons. Thanks!

[brush]

15. A billion three? Guess it's time to drive to Cali from Vegas.

[Duckfan]

17. Thats a gross amount of money for one person to win.

Oh wait. I'm sorry. We have Bill Gates.

[Little Tich]

18. Wow, that's more money than most people need... n/t

[merrily]

19. Holy crap, on the one hand. On the other hand, this is starting to smell.

Was powerball perhaps needing a publicity boost?

[William Seger]

22. It was done quite openly to increase profits

The changes in October made the odds go from 1 in 175 million to 1 in 292 million, and it was specifically intended to make bigger jackpots, because big jackpots send sales through the roof. The change meant that the jackpot was 10 times more likely to get to a billion than with the old odds, so mission accomplished

[merrily]

24. Thank you. I guessed correctly about the intentional nature, wrong about the smell.

That's either a score of 50% or a wash, depending on how hard I want to be on myself this morning.

[KingCharlemagne]

33. Since it's gambling, I'd go with 'wash' and let yourself off the hook! :) - nt

[merrily]

36. Thanks. I'm in such a great mood this morning, I am going to agree with you.

Seems somehow wrong to be the first person to give myself a failing grade.

[joshcryer]

20. It'll hit $1.5 billion before it's all said and done.

And it'll split like three ways.

[jtuck004]

21. Not true. Look at how many people just got a little education in statistics. n/t

[KingCharlemagne]

35. A little learning is a dangerous thing ~Alexander Pope - nt

[jtuck004]

53. That was from his book about how inadequate his critic's education was to the task of

evaluating _his_ work. And just btw, his idea of an improved education that would give them the tools they lacked relied heavily on the ideas of old dead white europeans, a philosophy of traditionalists and conservatives.

And here it is.

Another of his quotes I remember more often...


"True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,
As those move easiest who have learned to dance"


That applies to many other things, as well as writing. Talent is good, but you gotta have skills.

[KingCharlemagne]

54. Tecnically, it was from his long poem "An Essay on Criticism." Back then, the

word "essay" was closer in meaning to the French verb "essayer" than to its modern prose manifestation.

Not just old while Europeans, but also the Greek and Latin classics (although those also are European

[jtuck004]

70. It has always reminded me of the viewpoint of the privileged, industrialists or plantation owners

perhaps, others now, who find themselves challenged. First thing they tell you is that you don't know enough to critique them, to suggest they may be stealing from your labor.

Yes we do. Nothing wrong with a little learning at all. Sometimes it gets you killed, but so does slavery and servitude.

I think challenging authority is always worthwhile. Keeps them on their toes. And it's fun.

[joshdawg]

25. I can only say this about that:

If I did win the lottery, the only thing I could do would be to put it toward my bills as far as it would go.
/s

[beyondbeyond]

26. "Get your tickets here...

for YOUR chance to buy an election!"

[Uben]

28. I've already beat 290,000,000 to One odds

Won a $1000 at Long John Silvers back in the eighties. They had a scratch-off ticket promotion with six items you could scratch, but you could only scratch one. There were three tickets nationally with the chance for $1000 and if you got one of those tickets, you had to scratch the correct line...and I did! So, I guess my winning days are done

[KingCharlemagne]

38. Real gamblers would say that was the beginning of a 'hot streak' and you should

have ridden that baby for all she was worth!

[rjsquirrel]

43. Another round

of suckers paying their poverty tax.

If only we taught math in this country.

[Marrah_G]

45. 2 bucks to dream for a couple days

[Igel]

49. And that's what it is.

People will pay $5 for a drink and feel slightly better for an hour or two or $2 to fantasize and de-stress slightly about the future for a few days.

One's okay and normal and the other is gambling and throwing away your money.

Most people don't play the lottery to gamble, but to fantasize. Best to put it in the right category.

(There's also the potential return on investment. At this point, it's positive because the potential pay-off is to high.)

[Marrah_G]

44. wooo 4 bucks! lol

[Marthe48]

46. Good comparison to corporate welfare?

Many people who can least afford it donate to a faceless entity that will ultimately benefit only a handful of people.

I played $10, did not get a single number

[Tom_Foolery]

47. I read that 25 tickets matched five numbers for a $1 million...

and three won $2 million with the Powerplay option. That makes 28 tickets that matched five numbers, missing the jackpot by one number. I can't even imagine listening to the drawing live and have those five numbers come up, then miss out by one.

Two times in November, I matched two numbers and the Powerball; but I was off by one on the other three numbers. I told my sister that the lottery gods were screwing with me.

I remember back in the '80s when a $40 million jackpot would create lines around the corner. Now it's nothing.

[TexasBushwhacker]

67. We had a $2M winner in a small town near Houston

Cove, TX - population 510.

[Tom_Foolery]

68. Who needs to win the big one? That's a nice hunk of change.

[NastyRiffraff]

50. Slow news day?

Reporting something that DIDN'T happen is just weird.

[handmade34]

52. just think...

if we weren't all brainwashed and we would quit bitching about paying a few extra dollars in taxes (which we spend on useless lottery tickets anyways) we could afford to provide housing to every homeless person, or food to every hungry child, or a livable wage to millions, or..........

...the real winner of the lottery system is not the person who buys the winning ticket. The real winner is the government, which taxes the winner. The government automatically withholds 25%, but the winner will be bumped into the highest marginal tax bracket in the case of the lump sum. In addition, the player will very likely pay a state tax (usually 4% to 9%) and perhaps even local taxes.

we are all fools...

the lottery is Robin Hood in reverse and we are too disconnected and ignorant to work together to really make a difference in the world...

one study found individuals making $13,000 or less spend a shocking 9 percent of their incomes on lotteries.

Lotteries prey on the gullible, desperate, and poor, amounting in essence to a highly regressive tax... For all intents and purposes, lotteries are used for the same purposes as taxes... by picking the pockets of the neediest. Rather, we should either increase conventional taxes...But politicians lose their jobs when they raise taxes or cut programs...

[YOHABLO]

57. Well considering I have more chance of getting struck by lightening .. I still bought a ticket.

I'm one of those desperate individuals, like so many Americans today, who could use a few bucks to help out. No big house with a yacht in the back yard. Just bills, mostly debt and medical expenses. We're all in the same boat. I really would like to know where all those 'taxes' go. I know some $$ here in GA goes towards the HOPE scholarship .. and the fat cats that run the program's salary.

[handmade34]

58. understood

my household still buys a ticket each week... just for fun- in lieu of a coffee or other treat and then we can play 'what if' and have reason to bitch about the unfairness of it all... we are pretty much all in the same boat and unfortunately not able at this time to work on an alternative

[csziggy]

56. Let's see - they arrested the guy who was getting the winning numbers

Maybe he left it rigged so if he couldn't scam the system no one won? I've always been sure that government run lotteries are just another way to put more money into the pockets of the 1%.

A jackpot-rigging scandal is forgotten as Powerball fever sweeps the United States

<SNIP>
Investigators never gave up on the curious case and, three years later, released surveillance footage of a hooded man buying the winning ticket in the hopes that someone would recognize him. Several people identified him as Edward Tipton, Multi-State Lottery Association’s former security director.

Tipton was charged with fraud almost exactly one year ago, on Jan. 15, 2015. Investigators argued that Tipton was able to secure the winning ticket for himself through self-destructing software he installed on lottery computers, according to the Des Moines Register. Tipton then allegedly filtered the ticket through a friend in Texas. Ultimately, he was found guilty of two counts of fraud last July and sentenced to 10 years in prison last September.

The investigation expands

In October, investigators alleged that Tipton also rigged a $4.8 million jackpot in Colorado in 2005 and a $2 million jackpot in Wisconsin in 2007. They have also investigated alleged rigging in Kansas and Oklahoma.

After the investigation was expanded nationwide in early October, Multi-State’s executive director Charles Strutt — who had run Powerball since it was created — was quietly placed on indefinite administrative leave, according to the Associated Press. Strutt hopes to return to the job when the Tipton case ends.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/01/09/the-company-that-runs-powerball-had-a-16-5-million-jackpot-rigged-by-a-former-employee/

[brooklynite]

61. UNREC

Lottery winnings go into State Government funds, frequently into educational programs. What evidence do you have that it goes "into the pockets of the the 1%" besides "we all know"?

[Marthe48]

65. be nice if investigators would check

electronic voting machines with a little of the same enthusiasm.

[brooklynite]

71. I'll say it again...

...I've talked to candidate who've lost elections; I've talked to Party leaders; I've talked to campaign managers. NONE of them believe their losses were due to rigging voting machines.

Republicans steal elections the old-fashioned way.

[Gawdless Pinko Lib]

66. Meh

I never buy lottery tickets.