Buying every combination for Powerball...Is it legal?Previous TopicNext Topic

Now that we've seen Powerball and their new $2 wage get up to over 300 million faster than any other time in the history of American lotteries, its only a matter of time before we see a 400 million or dare I say 1/2 Billion jackpot?...With that said, wouldn't Jackpots that big just bring out groups of people with very large bank accounts who have the ability to buy every combination and win the Jackpot?  If its not illegal to buy every combo, couldn't someone from say Wall street already be putting things in place in every state that sells Powerball so when it gets to a certain amount, their runners get to work? 42 States sell Powerball.

I really don't know but no one has that huge amount of money and they could try to invest $1,000,000 the most and still lose. I also don't think the powerball will reach past $325 million because everytime it's at that price, someone wins. I guess history tends to repeat itself.

With over 175,223,510 possible combinations for Powerball @ $2/ticket you'd have to cough up $350,447,020. And whatever you win you'd likely be in the 35% tax bracket.

The logistics of accomplishing this feat would be staggering, I will not go into the tedious details; however even if you were the sole winner, after taxes you'd still be in the hole millions. Also if just one other person gets the same number that cuts jackpot in two.

Having said that, I do remember a story back in the 80's when a group of investment bankers pulled it off. Forget which lottery it was.

WELL TAXES ARE ONLY ON THE PROFIT,  the $350 mill you spent on tickets is a deduction.

so say it was  a $500 mill  cash payment, you would spend $350 on geting it,  tax on the $150M profit?

I remember a group of people doing this in fla in the 90s I believe on fla lotto they bought every combination and won and profited. But if someone else would of won they would of lost money.

You are correct, I wasn't factoring in the write off of the $350 Million.

I actually make it a point now to get a register receipt for all my ticket's, particularly for pick 4's which I spend a lot on, in the event of an IRS audit.

Just keeping the losing tickets alone is not enough proof to the IRS.           

wow a register receipt! id never think of asking,. here we pay the tax on buying, at the terminal.  all buyers pay tax, the winner walks off "tax free."

Wasn't it some Australians and the Virginia lottery?

After they did it didn't the Virginia lotery pass a law about not tying up lottery terminals, so as to safeguard against that type of play?

Yes it was Australians but I thought it was fla could be wrong though but I do recall hearing the group buy tons of tickets in fla

Well I hope ya hit a Pick4 Str8 today

Happy Birthday mcginnin!

No.   It makes no sense.   The odds are still 175 million to one.

You are correct Coin Toss. Just googled, and it was the Australians trying to play all the possible 7 Million+ combinations of the Virginia pick 6 lottery back in "92"

Apparently they only had enough time to play 5 Million comb's only, but from the article looks like the winning ticket was from this syndicate.

BTW, they did change the lottery rules to prevent bulk purchases at lotto terminals, similar to the Mass. Ca$h Winfall scam, that game has actually been discontinued as of 1/23.

There is a huge difference between 7 million and 175 million.  There's also no guarantee that, even if it were possible to buy 175 million different combinations, there wouldn't be multiple winners.

Well that was a SURPRISE!, honestly wasn't evening thinking about my birthday tomorrow!

Thanks very much for the well wishe's rdgrnr! Much appreciated!   

Yeah I'm hoping to trap a pick 4 str8 in the next couple of days, elusive little suckers!   

It hasn't been outright criminalized, but the number of combos has been upped and other rules added to make the logistics impractical.