About $110,000,000 after Federal Redistribution!

I'll take it!

Good luck to all LP Members ..............

What is the Deal with These People Not Spending the extra ONE DOLLAR for MEGA PLAY???? Congrats to them but COME ON!!!!! Remember people, the jackpot odds are through the roof, so it makes sense to hedge for the maximum amount second/third/fourth place prize. Get it together people!!! hahahaha

The reason being that the majority of those people are simply playing for the jackpot and not the lowerprices. They want two chances at the jackpot insgead of one chance at it for the same price. For a second prize of 2 to 5 millions most people prefer to play the state lottery which has way better odds at winning those amounts. Hope that helped.

Hear Hear!!!!!

the annuity part sounds good to me

If it gets to $900 million plus, would you opt for annuity or cash payout????

Ya gotta be in it to win it!

Looks like now the jackpot would have to be near a billion for the cash option to have an attempt to take the top spot

This one is going to keep growing.

110 Mil +, After Feds cut".…....

Anyone got a ballpark idea of how much money you would make a month

on simple interest?? I've run out fingers and toes to count on.

YES SLICK!!!! The chances of winning are next to impossible, but someone has to win, mathematics and the law of Physics insists on this!!!! Gotta to be in it. Good luck to you for a second prize winner x 5 multiplier. Jackpot already assigned to me by the Universe:

Good luck everyone. .......I'm in it to win itl

Smart players always play MM with megaplier.

$344M after 19 draws?. Sorry guys, not growing fast enough. Maybe it's JP fatigue. I thought by now, it should be somewhere near $650M. Yaaaaaawn.

The first 5 drawings in the current jackpot run were under the old rules, using the old starting jackpot amount.  So the new rules show that the Mega Millions jackpot can once again grow hugely, but is not an accurate representation of how many rolls it should take to get there.

I think it's safe to say that there will always be larger jackpots in the very end, but it'll take longer to win. Picking numbers 1 to 75 is a bit of a chore!

The guy running our work pool usually asks for 2$. This time i gave him 10$ to cover the next 5 draws. He told me to think positive. 

Pools are a good thing. For years I have had a few guys I work with in a pool. I use to run big group lotterys at work, but I just have 1 or 2 now. Think positive are good words RedStang. 

No, it doesn't make sense at all to pay for Mega Play. The expected value is absolutely terrible. I realize this is the lottery after all and tickets basically never have a postive expected value, but spending that extra dollar on another ticket will give you a much better payout potential than spending it on a Mega Play. Most of the expected payout in big lottery games comes from the jackpot, not the lower prizes. Of course, the best expected outcome would be not spending that dollar or any dollars on lottery tickets and investing it instead. But I assume we're hear to have fun, so spend your $2 on two tickets, not one with a Mega Play.

No, the megaplier gives terrible expected payout (as though lottery odds were good to begin with). The idea of a "smart lottery player" is also a bit of an oxymoron.

$1+ billion January 7th.

Seasons Greetings Schmuckatelly,

     I'm gonna go with $1+ billion on Christmas Eve..........for a very Merry Christmas.

Dreamer,

If an annuity was going to pay out $30 million to $40 million a year, then I think I'd actually consider taking the annuity. I may not do it but I would definitely stop and think about it.

Because even though I expect taxes on that kind of income to increase and I usually hate the idea of payments spread out over so many years, with the cash value is so low and the annuity payments so large, you could end up equalling the cash value in less than 15 years. Plus 30 million a year is enough to live off of...very very well, and also b able to invest enough to make a good chunk from interest payments. Definitely an interesting thought.

So you consider yourself a losing winner, or a winning loser for playing the lottery or you just love to whine?. I forgot, you never spend money to play the lottery, you just play on paper for fun. I hope you are not one of those clerks, that show up here and tell us that they found winning tickets in the trash bin, because they are real morons. Consider this cruel kindness. Here's to oxymorons

Good Post Teddi...My line of thinking precisely. I find it quite hilarious when i hear people churp at the idea of walking away with an even $20mil a year basically for LIFE (29 years). With the same investment approach, one could easily recapture the initial cash amount in 10-15 years as you pointed out. Plus the added bonus of not becoming one of the statistics that end up broke in 3-5 years. At this level ($344 mil) it would be about 12 million a year which might not be enough to offset the difference, but even that's a GREAT deal. Longevity is the key and for some strange reason, so many people go broke so quickly after winning. And its not just poor spending...Look at Lehman, look at Madoff, look at Stanford. Well intentioned investors can easily be wiped out even if you're quite prudent. Something worth considering I propose.

lol 20 mill a year to start the ball rolling upto 100m a year at the end of 30 years

You also have to consider interest rates are near all time lows and nearly any economist or investor knows that low rates will not be here forever. The headline jackpot assumes investing risk-free at the current rate level. Rates are expected to rise over the next few years. Taking annuity right now is not prudent (including, as you said, current tax levels and seemingly the only way we will solve our deficits will include some raising of taxes)

I hear you Toronto but not so sure i'm with you 100% on this one. I understand that current low interest rates are responsible for a larger cash payout now. Which one would be inclined to capitalize one. But doesn't your argument goes both ways? That if interest rates WILL eventually go up and taxes fluctuate...Dems vs Reps in power, then one will have a fair opportunity to invest much of that $30 million each year and receive reasonable if not very attractive returns? And remember, we're not just talking about gaining a few percentage on investments here and there, i'm talking about GUARANTEED lucrative income for 29 years. Income that can and would serve to buffer market gyrations.

I agree, too many numbers to choose from.  Players may have become disinterested.

I've got odds that even if someone wins, the check wouldn't be cut til next year. 

Personally after seeing the odds and the amount of low end winners in my state (PA), I'll stick to the one dollar play . It only takes a dollar to win the jackpot and the lower prizes just don't have enough incentive.

I guestimate it to hit when its around the 600 million marker. (between two to three states will hit it)

Thats my story and I'm sticking to it.

 I am boycotting by spending $1 per draw. With these astronomical odds I rather spend my money on Florida Lottery Games such as Fantasy 5, Mega Money and Lotto which have better odds.

Like I said, I'm not a fan of annuities. I think that generally they are a rip off. Espcially since they are weighted for you to get more in the last few years than on the front end. But let's  just say the JP reaches a point where you can actually take home $30M per year, and the CV is somewhere around 50%, those 2 factors would give me pause.


Simply something to consider since my usual way of thinking is never to take the annuity.

and the fact that $20 mill a year would be like wining the lotto every year anyhow. if you managed to save say %10 l a year of that and invest it, after the 30 years, yu would prob still be taking in 20 mill for ever.

My point EXACTLY goose man. One would basically be winning the pot EVERY YEAR!!!! 

I see four cheats got 5+0 on this one.

Christmas jackpot

Well, I hope you notified the authorities.

They probably had cheat sheets.

I think the record cash value was fairly close to $475 million. Based on that, the current annuity value will need to reach about $888 million to tie the record.

656 = 888.  There's some lottery math for you. If this run gets within 25% of setting a new record lottery officials will be hoarse from screaming about the new record they set.

Wow, that's such a ridiculous amount of money. I think I'd opt for the annunity!! I think that would be around $30M per year for 30-yrs.

Not cheat sheets, cheat codes.

With a $900M annuity, you wouldn't see the first gross $30M+ payment until 2030 (technically, 2031). Of course the average payment over the course of the annuity would be $30M, but the first gross payment would be less than $14M.

The annuity would have to be nearly $2 billion to see a gross $30M payment upfront. 

Oh okay. Still lots of money eh, Metro? Would you take the cash or annuity?

If I get lucky on my ticket this tuesday night I am taking the cash because I will never spend that amount of money in my life time.-weshar75

I'm thinking sun and fun if I win.

I would probably consider annuity if it was $1 billion or more, just because I don't have one foot in the grave yet 

Otherwise cash for the following reasons:

1) Regarding taxation, lump sum penalizes about half a percent versus annuity but that is under current rates only. Taxes are more likely to go up than down in the future, so it would be better to pay up now and never have to pay again (other than on interest, investments etc) rather than risk a higher rate down the road.

2) Say you feel strongly that you could earn "at least" 5% (~3% annual yield is required to match annuity) on your money. With the cash up front you already have a headstart and can use the power of compounding. Earning 5% on the lump sum beats the annuity with 5% additional return. So if you got the annuity and earned 5% on top of the premium packed into your payment, it would be less than if you had taken the cash and invested it at 5% return.

Of course, the scaling effect can potentially diminish returns on the lump sum (hence why I would consider annuity over $1 billion), you can lose it faster, etc. while the annuity guarantees an inflation-padded, steady stream of income.

3) Obviously, nobody is guaranteed another day (government/creditors included!) so might as well enjoy life and your money while you can! 

Yeah, I was using code (cheat sheets) to describe cheat codes.

But now you've blown the whole operation.

I would take the cash option simply to make sure that if something happened to me the $$$$ would go to my children!!

Did the input Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A?

That's true, but at the same time, there aint a whole lot you can't buy with the 14m to 30m a year you'd be making with that annuity. Even if you encountered things you couldn't buy, no one in their right mind is going to sit there and deny you credit.

I think if it hit a mark of 900 million, I'd just take the annuity. That's an average of 18 million a year after taxes at the current rate, but then again, taxes are likely to increase. But will it increase to the point where losing 50% of your money by taking the lump sum is worth it?

Looks like it will jump to 4th largest jackpot ever if not hit Tuesday.......!!!! 

I am ready for a win!  Florida has not ever won a MM Jackpot, I will accept on their behalf!!

Great resort but the beach (if thats what you are looking for) in front is rocks for the most part......lots of activities, location off the busy streets but close to everything.

That <snip> Contra to nintendo!!!! LMFAO @ up,up, down, down, left-right left-right b, a, b, a, select, start, I'm the $344,000,000 Jackpot winner in Ohio 12/10/13!!!!

Florida won enough money this year they need a hiatus!!!!

Where is the, "I constantly come on a messgeboard to talk about it so I may buy one ticket this week but I'm kind of waiting for it to get bigger" crowd.

Just laughable.

around 60k a month at %1 interest and a %30 tax  rate.   maybe multiply that by what ever interest you think you could get like 5% would be 5x or 300k a month

Nice

Now is about the time the causal players are starting to buy into.  If I had the 2nd prize of 1 million, I would still be smiling all the way to the bank.