No worries. When they put together the global lottery, you can rest assured they will have a global currency and a global tax, too.

^{_{Modern "education" teaches a version of history so fictionalized, it should be followed by "TM"}
They're warning me about Osama or whatever. Picture me buying the scam; I say "never!".}

Lot of good comments. But, it ain't going to happen. At least, not in the US.

Do you really think the IRS is going to let that much money go out of the country?
IMHO, it was the IRS that pushed the anti-gambling bill to stop $$$ from leaving the country, and to
shut down offshore bank accounts set up with mostly lottery wins.

Besides, to generate a $500 million jackpot, the game matrix would probably have to be something like Pick 8 from 70, plus a bonus ball.

Or maybe Pick 7 of 60 but to win you would have to match in the winning numbers in order of occurrence!

I have heard of Gail Howard (I have two of her books) but "LP" eludes me as to it's meaning.

DUH! LP stands for Lottery Post wheels and picks. DUH!, again.

I would like to participate in an international lottery - they could call it GLOBALBALL. Will the winners be allowed to remain anonymous, as in the UK and Australia, or be required to go public as in many US lotteries? I do hope they will be given the choice.

One thing to remember in Europe when they say it is a $500 million jackpot it is a $500 million pay out

not like here in the States where $100 million is $50 million payout if your lucky.

Fiona$

Maybe you and I are smarter than the average player.  Sales of MM tickets in NY are never less than about 2.3 million for the $12 million starting jackpot. That's enough to cover about $1.2 million worth of annuity jackpot. When NY lotto rolls the increase is only $1 million until it gets to at least 35 or 40 million, when it increases by $2 million once before returning to a $1 million increase for at least a few weeks. That tells me that even at 25 to 30 million they're selling fewer lotto tickets than MM tickets for $12 million, despite lotto offering  about 7 times as much chance of winning. What I see in stores is the same. If lotto is at 25, 30 or even 35 million while MM is at 12 to 20, I see people buying MM tickets without buying lotto.

If you can get odds that are 5 to 10 times better for a bigger jackpot you'd think it would be a no brainer, but apparently that's not how a lot of players think. When the choice is to play for $10 or 20 million or have far less chance to win $50 million, there's no question that the majority go for the bigger payout. Of course, the odds in both games are so bad that it's not really smart to play either way.

the survery over on usamega had me thinking... about a 10c  a play game for the international lotto.

of course there would also need a really hard to win game to get it to jackpot so i thought a 7/99 game, i think i calcualted odds right at 1 in 1,120,529,256thats right 1 in 1 billion odds. but at 10c us a play even people in 3rd world countries would play.

you could have so many options for playing combinations and wheelsthere on the entry form.  you could play every number from 1- 99 for$1.50 bet.  there should be a box to QP a random mix of all numbers. every combo of 9numbers would only cost like $3.60 and 10 numbers only $12. pick 12numbers and terminal could calc that its a combo game and charge youfor 120 games, ie $12. or mark 8 numbers a game and be charged 80c a play for combo 8 plays.  playing ea combination of 7 numbers out of 8.

anyhow im getting excied about the posibilities with low price high odds games, I think it might be the only way to get poeple to pay to play such hard winning odds.

HEY SPARE CHANGE..I'm here in city island ,in the bronx,N.Y...I always take the twenty minute to exit 4 on i95 ,to play powerball.its funny thing but all the different lotto retailers say,,if it wasn't for the powerball in ct ,nobody would play any tickets ..CT lotto only adds 100,000 to the lotto after no jackpot wins.All the other state add at least  a 1,000,000 to the game after a non jackpot drawing

I can't believe what I'm reading. Did a few of you actually say you'd turn down $500M?

Well, I don't mean to suggest that I'd turn down $500 Mill. If someone offered it to me, I could always give some away and keep the amount I desired. However, I don't see anyone offering! I would not pursue it with the same zeal as I do  with  $ 60 and $ 80 million dollar jackpots! Not long ago there was a $ 276 Mill jackpot and a steelworker won with $2.00. I was sitting here at my computer at 6pm and could have walked 1 blk and took a pretty big swing at it. I didn't bother going,  cause I just couldn't get excited about it.

With $500 mill dollars comes a lot of responsibility I'd prefer not to have, not to mention the headaches and worries just watching the Brokers and Tax folks and planners in your employ! The time required to oversee that kind of money could be much better spent, learning the art of gourmet cooking. Fishing also would consume much of my time. For me it's this way, I just don't desire Empire! No phones ringing PLEEEZE!!!

$30 or $40 Million, I could make some dumb mistakes, and still have enough to live well. Even that amount is more than I actually need.  I just want to do whatever I want, whenever I want. How much, would I love to walk into an Auto Show, and see the car of my dreams, and right then and there, tell that salesperson, I want this car! How great is that?  So, no. If I walked over to customer service, and had a couple of extra bucks and threw it down, and won $500 Mill. I wouldn't refuse the prize, there are plenty enough people with their hands out. But, what are the odds that freak accident would ever occur? So, I really go at the small and medium jackpots, and I mean,  I go at em'!!!!

You may not want to turn down a $500 million jackpot, but if I'm reading you correctly you'd rather play for 60 to 80 million?

"what are the odds that freak accident would ever occur?"

It's less likely that the jackpot will get to $500 million than 60 or 80, but once it does you have exactly the same odds of winning as you do with 60 or 80, or for the starting jackpot of 12 million. It's winning that's a freak acident, not winning when the jackpot happens to be unusually big.

"$30 or $40 Million, I could make some dumb mistakes, and still have enough to live well."

With the $175 million I'd net from a $500 million jackpot I could make a bunch of big, dumb mistakes and still have enough to live extremely well. Sure, you could lose a lot more than if you had "only" $30 to 40 million, but what really matters is what you have left. If you lost $35 million your glass would be nearly empty, but if I lost $85 million my glass would still be half full. If you think the responsibility of investing and managing  $150 million is tough, what about the responsibility of dealing with 1/4 of that? The responsibility is really much higher, because you can't afford to lose as much.

Investing and managing the money doesn't have to be a huge project, because you don't need a huge return when you've got that much principal to work with. A measly 2.5% would give you a quarter million per year forever if you had $10 million. Earning $2.5 million a year by investing $100 million at 2.5% isn't any harder, though it would be worthwhile to diversify a bit more. The companies that are currently going belly up aren't doing it because they didn't make enough from safe, conservative investments. They're going belly up because they got greedy and gambled that they'd make big returns on risky investments, and lost enormous amounts of the principal. There's an awful lot to be said for kicking back and relaxing while a huge nest egg earns a modest return instead of trying to maximize the return from a smaller nest egg.

Yes i would turn down 500 million dollars....I would play it because you never know but once i win i'll take my part and the rest i will give it away...I really don't need that much money...or i will use it for good but don't even think for a second that i am going to use that money for me, i may use it in science experiments or on theories on how to change the world....

Also something many forget and i bet even the country lottery who is creating this huge Global lottery also forgets....You may not see it that way and you will disagree but i believe it is so...

If the odds of a game is 300 million to 1, it is actually 300 million to 1 BECAUSE IT COST 1 DOLLAR...but if each ticket was to cost 5 dollars, then the odds will be 5x 300 million....Why? because we assume that each combination is going to cost us 1 dollar...And i know the ticket of this Global lottery is not going to cost 1 dollars but like 50 dollars or something...What am i saying? That just by the price of each ticket you are jacking up the odds, you don't need to necesarily jackup the lotto configuration/matrix to really jackup the price.....

Another example...If Powerball a game that has 150 million combinations was to cost 30 dollars EACH TICKET, the it will take 30 times the amount of people that play Powerball to win as regular as it is now that each ticket cost 1 dollar...So the odds will not be the same...

Another example, if powerball game that has 150 million combination and the odds are 150 million to 1 was to cost 25 cents per ticket, then the odds will be 1/4th 150 million to 1, because with 1 dollar you can buy 4 tickets and no one is going to spend 25 cents, most people are going to spend 1 dollar because 1 dollar is the national sort of speak, currency, national standard unit of the game...So at 25 cents the odds will be 1 in 37 million and not 1 in 150 million....The same thing would happen if the game of each ticket cost 30, 40 or 50 dollars...I don't care who says what, this is what actually the odds are...

The odds do not change with the price of the ticket, that is a mathematical fact.  You either pay $1 for a 1:146,107,962 chance, or you pay $.10 for a 1:146,107,962 chance, or you pay $10 for a 1:146,107,962 chance, etc.  Simple math.

Well, the post states"International super lottery to create jackpots of $500 million or more"

If this game is to originate in Europe as does Euromillions and will be multi-national, then, what you see, is what you get. $500million. This provided you're the sole  winner!

As I live in California, my game here is mega millions. Which is the game I play with greatest fervor. So, when the jackpot reaches about $60 to $80 million, I'm seeing $30-40 million net. Thereabout anyway! A $500 million jackpot is very difficult for me to get my head around. It isn't so much that the odds are lesser or greater or the same, at least not for me. I said I might throw $2.00 at it. Normally with mega I play much more than $2.00 at my preferred level. It is also true that people win all the time with $2.00 and many do not. Sooo, it's not the odds that dampens my desire to play, but it is the excessive amount of the pot that I am uncomfortable with!!!

And again, as far as managing the money, I'd also feel more comfortable with a smaller amount, especially with what's happening with the money markets. I'd place a little in a lot of places, and pay cash for much else! I want as little debt as possible at this point. I do have ideas, but of course I'd seek guidance from professionals, but at the end of the day, the decisions would be mine!!!

So, Okay! the odds are exactly the same, that's good enough! But I'm still not wanting $500 million. Sorry Folks!!!