MM/PB Jackpot Sizes

Just something I'm curious about, with both Mega Millions and Powerball paying out huge Jackpots, what does it take for you to get excited? Enough to really get thinking about it a lot, and give you that extra thrill of checking the numbers. Maybe enough to splurge a bit more on tickets.

The California Lottery has a system where you can sign up for email alerts when the Jackpots reach a certain level. They consider the Mega Millions Jackpot of $100 million to be big, and I think that's about in line with what I would consider big and that gets me really excited about it. I get a little more interested over $75 million, but getting into the triple digits is what really starts my excitement.

What amount gets you excited?

Well, the way I see it is that $7 million (the minimum cash value prize amount) is more than I currently have now, so I am eager for each and every draw.  Since I don't play in any lottery pools, I don't have to play the "wait until the jackpot is big enough for all of us" game.

$50 million (lump sum) for MM (higher for PB since I have to travel to RI to play it). 

Honestly, I don't care what the size the jackpot is. I just want to win one.

I don't usually start slurging on extra tkts until it gets over 200mill......but I always play no matter what size the jackpot may be. I have a set amount and don't go over than amount until 200mill

I would be quite content with the $12 million starting prize, that's enough to quit my job and maintain my current lifestyle.  But my excitement gets really high once it reaches $100 million.  Then I could quit my job and really live like a millionaire.

I go by cash value, not jackpot size.  Since I've gifted a percentage ownership in any MM tickets I buy to a large number of relatives, I used to not even play until the cash value was at least $50 million (jackpot size about 78 million).  It would take that much to be enough for all of us.  Recently, I've started buying a single ticket at some lower amounts but increase the number of tickets over that amount.

I would be excited to win a jackpot of any size, but to win a $100M+ jackpot would make me even more excited.

I dont see any problem with sharing tickets only from drawings where the jackpot is over a certain threshold. You definitely can't limit the sharing to jackpots of a certain size, because that would be a tacit acknowledgement that you are sharing the jackpot rather than the ticket. An agreement that says that you are buying and immediately gifting shares of a ticket for any drawing where the advertised jackpot (specifying either annuity or cash value) is at or beyond some threshold should be clear proof that the gift was a share of a ticket with a trivial value, and isn't subject to gift taxes. Should you win a modest jackpot you can obviously make gifts from the proceeds and keep them below the threshold for gift taxes.

I would gladly take any jackpot, but it's the 300 million babies that get my knees  a knockin' when I'm picking my numbers.