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!!!

I agree,

I would not play a global lottery.  I truely believe that $500 million is just too much for me.  I know it sounds silly,  but I think about the super wealthy in this country,  I mean they still push after be liquid at 2, 5 or 10 BILLION.  I mean how much is enough?  The way I live now,  If I were to win a minimum 10 million,  (final payout, taxes and fees)  I truly think I would be set for life.  My dream home would still only cost around $500k my dream car, around $35k.  Even helping my family wouldnt cost much.  I would still work (at a job I love) and live normally,  I think most people would too.  I think that in present  days,  many of us have learned to do without and I for one have reevaluated a dollar's worth and would not just go crazy after the big win.  I have learned that when you have it, you prepare for when you don't.  NO, I would not need $500 million or even $100 million.  Even If I were to win a tiny $100,00  scratcher right now,  It would help my current situation.

Yeah i agree too...With those 500 million i'll use on experiment on how to change the world, like how to better improve the flora situation in Africa, like how to grow plants in Africa and Haiti, and creating places that will teach kids math, how to create books that will explain math easier, how to place money in the bank and letting the interest pay people to plant treets, all over the world, etc a bunch of projects in mind, the money will solely be used for this project not for me...On All the projects and theories not counting the hundreds of websites i am going to open advocating my theories, plans, projects and other stuff, like lottery prediction website, etc...My dream car is a BMW and is not the newest edition but instead an old edition...90's to be specific, depite that i am going green after i hit that jackpot....

What i'll like is for my entire family to live in one neighboorhood or within 20 seconds from each other...Huge mansion i don't want...The most expensive thing i might buy for me, which would be for my hobby is a supercomputer and it will not even be a supercomputer but a semi supercomputer or mini supercomputer the size of a wardrobe....

And it doesn't sound silly to say that 500 million is TOO MUCH, because it is too much...Also for this Global Lottery, i'll surely play only quick picks...

i'll give the woman of my dream something who knows 8 million and 8 million respectively if i can't have them which are that girl in celeste shorts and the woman who work in the bank, as a gift...

By the way flora means all plant life occuring in an area.... 

i'll give 2 million to the beautiful girl from Santiago,Chile named "Paola Sobando"....And i'll take some money and beging a beauty paegant here in Panama but according to my standards based on certain qualifications hobbies, etc...I'll do it every Christmast or once a month....I might give 100,000 as a gift, all coming from money placed in the bank...

I'll also some of the money and beging bribing governments across the world into placing 2 lotteries in their countries and they are West Virginia Cash25, and Washington Match4...If Match4 can be in washington state, i am sure it can be in other countries....

   I agree, Coin Toss.

   Given the huge amounts of money at stake, corruption in such a lottery would be rampant and unavoidable. Those currently charged with running state lotteries in America are now beginning to whine that it's too hard to make a profit, and that it would be easier and more profitable to privatize this significant stream of state revenue.

   If the top prize is $500 million, they'd need to generate two or three times that amount in ticket sales and, from what I read in the article, there are just too many fingers in the pie. Our government probably doesn't realize this, but America has no authority over foreign nations. So what's to be done when greed rears its ugly head, and we discover that officials from two other countries have siphoned off a substantial amount of money from ticket receipts? Will America take them to World Court and charge them with Misappropriation of Public Funds?

   What if the United States is the culprit? A ridiculous notion, since we only elect the most honest people to serve us, but what if a crook penetrates our political armor and gets himself elected? What if this duly-elected crook decides that we don't pay him enough money, and he procures a seat for himself on the World Lottery Commission for the sole purpose of looting it? Of course, this could never happen; not here, not in America.

   Then there's the other side of the coin. Players are going to try to beat the game, and if they can't do it by winning, they'll do it by cheating. There will be tens of thousands of fraudulent tickets presented for payment, and tens of thousands of people will go to jail for varying terms of confinement. In addition, I can already see the myriad of lawsuits filed in this country and others, charging that the lottery refused to pay their legitimate winning tickets.

   I think a better model would be a lottery with lower jackpot prizes and lower odds. A multi-national lottery will result in more personal bankruptcies and more mortgage foreclosures in America because many novice players believe they'll have a lock on the jackpot if they buy enough tickets. Some members will recall that this actually happened the first time the PowerBall jackpot reached $100 million; people borrowed money against there homes to buy thousands of tickets (one guy spent $48,000 buying tickets for ONE drawing, and he didn't win anything significant). Many were forced to default on those loans once reality made itself apparent, and they found themselves homeless, but with their dreams of financial independence still intact and waiting to be fulfilled.

   For the record, I'm against it, and I won't play, so there's one less competitor in the player pool. Personally, I don't need $500 million; I would be just as happy with a measly $30 million after taxes. At 5%, the interest would be just over one million dollars a year, and I could live on that if I gave up drinking and smoking crack.

   This is a Bad Idea with capital letters, but when politicians begin throwing around figures like the ones outlined in the article, they get starry-eyed thinking about all that money and how they're going to spend every dime of it. I can't speak for other countries, but American politicians and officials are notoriously short-sighted, and they don't consider the long-term ramifications of their actions. This is due to the total and complete lack of government accountability in America; they don't have to think about those things because they won't be held responsible for it unless it succeeds, in which case they'll be only too happy to take the credit.

   I can see by the number of responses that this is a popular topic, and most of the posts I've read seem to support the idea (although I haven't read them all). I wish those members the very best of luck, and I truly hope that the first winner is an LP.com member. However, it's my opinion that the only winners from this lottery will be those who set it up and operate it. 

   It will be interesting to learn who gets the franchise once they decide it's too expensive to run and that it must be privatized. Maybe Mark Cuban will buy it, or Bill Gates. Actually, this would be a nice addition to Dubai International's portfolio, or for any other foreign corporation who has a substantial stake in American business. 34% of American companies are currently owned outright by foreign governments and corporations, and an alarming number of our public works are owned and operated by foreign nations.  

  Someday in the not-too-distant future, our currency could contain the words, "The United Arab States of America ..." It's a scary thought, but if we don't give our government's leash a good, hard jerk, it could easily become a reality in just a few short years.