Powerball vs Mega Millions.

Reply #8

ryanm — Sun, 09 Apr 2006 05:29:59 GMT

Well the fact remains that Mega Millions sells a lot more tickets per drawing than Powerball at any given jackpot level, even in terms of cash jackpot levels. That is the real reason Powerball takes longer for its cash jackpot to break $100 million than it does for Mega.

Reply #7

RJOh — Sun, 09 Apr 2006 03:57:45 GMT

I know mathematician will say it doesn't make sense, but 10 years ago lotteries had better odds with large jackpots. I can remember when Ohio SuperLotto a 649 games had jackpots of $50M+ and when it ended it was lucky to get to $6M+. Could it be that some lottery players got smarter and it's actually harder for jackpots to keep rolling today? Or maybe annuities paid better rates

Reply #6

dvdiva — Sun, 09 Apr 2006 03:04:36 GMT

It's not a state issue. The largest prize ever given out is Euromillions with odds 100 million less than Megamillions but no annuity. The Big Game got really big with a much lower population. Powerball's big killer has been the cap. It most likely would have broken 400 already. It would also be interesting if a large scale game in the US would offer just cash prizes but annuity and bond lawfirms have far more clout in the US than in Europe.

Reply #5

ryanm — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 22:11:33 GMT

Mega Millions simply has all the states that are so big, even Powerball's 30 jurisdictions can't compete with Mega's 12. It's Mega Millions' combined population of 156 million against Powerball's 96 million. The cash values are what they are, and Powerball's is lower simply because they don't have as big a player base to sell nearly as many tickets per drawing as Mega Millions can; the only effect Powerball's back loading of the annuity has is on the annuity itself; it does not "rob" the winner... [ More ]

Reply #4

LOTTOMIKE — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 21:57:50 GMT

thanks pigs n trees.....

Reply #3

pigsNtrees — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 19:41:21 GMT

Let me say how I'm impressed I am, at all the very smart members of this board. Not only that but most times, the answers are written in such a way as to explain something that is complicated simply.

Thanks y'all.

Reply #2

CASH Only — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 19:34:05 GMT

Also, the PB annuity is graduated -the payments increase by 4% yearly.

Reply #1

nightowl7243 — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 19:32:28 GMT

Powerball pays out over 29 years, MegaMillions pays out over 26. The cash value is less for PB because they can buy a smaller bond to finance the longer payout period. If both continue to rollover, the MM jackpot will eventually overtake PB, possibly even next week.

Powerball vs Mega Millions.

pigsNtrees — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 18:58:11 GMT

The last time there was a Powerball winner was.

Sat, February 18, 2006

The last time there was a Mega Millions winner was.

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

A ten day difference, no wait make that seven days given the difference in the drawing dates(Sat vs Tue). Yet Mega Millions is now only six million dollars behind. Not only that check out the differences in payout.

Powerball Jackpot

$195,000,000

Cash

$91,000,000

Payout on cash Federal taxes withheld.

$68,250,000