How do we know that the Jackpot value actually reflects ticket sales here?

It's an estimate.  The actual amount will almost certainly be larger.

I can't believe no one won, I thought for sure after I saw those numbers someone would.

 Is the world ready for another Jack Whittaker?

Same here. I thought for sure it would be won tonight.

I will be making a trip to VA on friday since it is 45minutes away from my house.

its official heck has officially frozen over

It is staggering, however if there is a rollover what will the jackpot be???

The people will go crazy to buy MM Lotto tickets, please expand now!!!

what would it have to be to be a record breaking jackpot?

KidzMom: You might want to go earlier than Friday. I'm sure there will be a loooong line at Bracey, which is where I assume you'll be going. ;-) Speaking of that, where in Bracey do you get your tix? I go to the truck stop (Simmons) but I don't know if they've ever had any winners. Coincidently, I'll be in Bracey on Friday as I drive through to another destination, so if you still go then, maybe I'll see ya in line!

I know in the last story, people talked about spending $40 so they could at least make a few bucks back. Can someone post where that was last discussed in depth? The math and so on is what I mean. I'm a lousy searcher.

Good luck to all!

Im seeing muliple winners, and i being one of them!!!!!!!  now this is going to get interesting

SSSSSSSSSsssshhhhhhhh!   You just shut your dirty little mouth!

I am glad that I purchased a ticket good for 4 draws !

At least I have a chance !

This poor sick guy needs some good luck !

I am seeing one winner !

I would have fun helping some people that I choose to help and funding some instrumental music programs !

Looks like I'll be driving to Jersey again for tickets Good luck all.

Im going to put down $20-$25 for this Friday's drawing.  Hopefully luck will be on my side this Friday evening.

I think it is $410 million, so it would have to be just over that.

i think over 390 million that is the record it happend in 2007 and 2 people won it 1 in NJ and one in GA

i hope i can win... like everyone else of course. and at least i hit some money last night. so things are looking up!!!

Wow...I thought for sure someone would have won last night.  Well...I'll be getting my tickets tomorrow cos I don't want to be in a long line on Friday. I already belong to 3 lottery pools at work ($2 each week, so $6 for all 3 pools...not too bad), but I'll also pick up a few tickets myself.

Good luck guys and gals! I know I'l have fun daydreaming about winning....

It took 73million from Sat. to Tues to reach 325million............you think we can do 75million in three days?

The $400 million jackpot is finally here...............and Friday is going to be nuts!!!!!..........I truly hope that people play responsibly, and adamc224 you are right....the record is held by Mega Millions at $390 million back in 2007........its time to break it....and that'll be one heck of a stimulus check!

Yes, $390 million in March of 2007, won by two tickets from GA and NJ.  The drawing was in Times Square.

It can be fun to look back on the sequence of events that week.  It can be found in the USA Mega news archive for March 2007: http://www.usamega.com/archive-032007.htm

By the way, the estimate for that drawing calculated after the previous draw was $370 million, and the frantic rush for tickets pushed the jackpot up to the final $390 million by draw time.

That's very interesting Todd.  Have I said "Thank you" lately?

@perfecttiming2:

Sat to tues was just three days., so why not?

Hi Spy..........

That question in my post was more like a statement ......with an attitude (LOL...wink, wink)

oh, my bad.    Nice to meet btw.

i think it will be a record breaker also! i am going to buy 20-40 dollars. if only one person wins this money it will be unreal for them. i hope they take this advice and get a blind trust! everyone would be their new best friends... lol what would i do for this money or at least a chunk of about 50 million : ) way more exciting than powerball!! way more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

man i can't even begin to think what im going to do with all that money

Im going to be dropping 5 bucks in a few counties in NJ and in brooklyn and manhattan . I'll be happy with $150 !

Unless sales fall well short of their estimates, another roll will absolutely shatter the previous record. The cash value of the previous record was a bit over $233 million. Based on the cash to annuity ratio for this jackpot it would take an advertised annuity value of just under $371 million to have a bigger cash value. If sales aren't any better than their first estimate, another roll can't possibly miss the 400 mark, and would almost certainly be 425. That would be a hair over $267.5 million in pre-tax cash.

Of course for the previous record the initial estimate was for a jump from 275 to 340, and later announcements increased it to 355 and then 370, before the final accounting  pushed it to 390. Similar sales for this drawing would have it finishing at about 355 to 360. If that happens and it does roll it would have to go past 460. If that wasn't enough to push it past 500 I'd be very surprised. If this one does finish in the 350 range it will mean there were sales of almost 200 million tickets. In theory that would cover a bit more than 70% of possible combinations. In reality it would be a lot less, so there's roughly a 1 in 3 chance it will roll again.

Where can I go to play from Tennessee,,,I guess the closest route??????? Anyone know,I will play for sure ,,,,Good Luck to all!

I think Ga. would be the closest

  Let me know if you'r going.     

i went to dalton yesterday and i won 5.00, lol and my normal money pit i did not win anything and it is in ringgold. it seems that i have good luck in ringgold but everytime i go to dalton i always win..."something" lol

Now it is $325MM, we still have a chance the winner will be from CA!! GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE @ LP

Man, that type of money would be life changing. Even if I shared it with 5-10 people, I'd be set for life. I can move to the richest town in NJ and be Chris Rock's neighbor. And I wouldn't have to invent teeth. LOL.

From what I understand about Alpine, NJ, anybody driving there that don't belong will definitely get dealt with by the police. My parents would get a small house near my brother so that they don't have to fly up twice a year (he's mentally disabled and is in a group home), my sister's mortgage would be paid off and neice would go to college on a full ride (up until her doctorate, if she so wishes, and will figure out a way to take care of those who took care of me throughout my life. And I would still have enough to have me and generations be set for life.

Man, we need to get into a pool! If all of us pooled our money, and resources, we could get this jackpot!

You do know thatTennessee is almost 500 miles from end to end? It might help to know where in Tennessee you live. If it's Memphis it's goint to be a long drive. If it's Bristol the walk might not be enough to get some good exercise.

Sounds like you have enough folks in your family you want to help to start a pool among you all.  Good luck.

Alpine is ridiculous. Cheapest house they got is $6M and thats considered poor! I would buy a house in Upper Saddle River. Gotta win Fri nite!!!!!!!!!!!

You're right about Both parts,  In Bristol  you can walk across the street,  of Main St.

 and be in another State,   about 10 Feet.

Oh my GOD this is crazy.......Record winning jackpot......Good luck to all.

True, but I'm talking about a pool that will allow me to do full wheels...like spending $100 a drawing type stuff. LOL. Besides, my parents are no where near any MM or PB state. (Out of country). They retired to "Pega"-land. I don't even think they play that. LOL.

You know what, I do like Upper Saddle River. That's where Rev Run lives and that is a nice house. In truth I hate all of Bergen County, but if I don't want to leave Jersey for awhile, that's where I'd have to run to so that I'm not chased down by beggars. I am already planning an escape route in the oft-chance I DO win.

Have there been cases of kidnappings, or other form of harm that happened to lotto winners of that huge a pot? (Good) People get evil when they know they have a millionaire living by them. On my mother, that would never be me, but I can't say the same of other folks.

Have you ever tried spending a $100 on paper?  If you've convinced yourself it worth trying then you probably could afford to do it on your own at least once.  I played 46 lines last night and only got a 0+1 because I played all 46 bonus numbers.  I don't know if I will try that again this Friday but if I do I'll just have give up some other pleasures for a while.

Woot! Got my first set of tickets at lunch.  I'll probably do 5 more Thurs and Fri, different times of day.  I might even wait until last minute on Friday just for the fun of standing in line.

I think it rolls one more time.  We hit $400 million.

No, but I am learning about playing on a system. Playing $100 with QPing doesn't really appeal to me or even $500.

I can definitely afford to play $100 for Friday, but not without at least trying to work on getting at least a 3-4 hit on a couple of lines to have made it worth it. I do believe in my heart I can do it, but I need some consistent luck on my side. That's why I'm here, to learn how to do that.

Yes, lotto is fun, and I want to learn how to play with minimum risk and maximum return. What I did find in analyzing the bonus numbers, there were quite a bit of numbers that have never hit. But then again, each number has a 1:46 shot of being a bonus number. For a shot at $325 million, I think I can definitely want to try that. :)

I walked by one of the self serve terminals Tuesday night here in CA - about 15 minutes before draw break - no one in line!

I remember when a $60 million jackpot would trigger lines of people trying to get into any available lottery outlet...

As far as demand, with the distribution networks and modent systems in place today versus even 10 years ago, the member states could easily handle enough sales to surprise people. I wonder how big a jackpot would have to get to really set off "lotto fever" again.

Maybe I just live in a low-propensity area...but I will definitely have my ticket for Friday night.

Good luck to everyone and thanks to Todd for such a great Board!

You got a couple of days to come up with some type of system, if not you can always wait for the next big jackpot.  The only bad thing about buying $100 worth of tickets is some clerks think you are a big spender who should throw some money their way and will actually ask for a tip.

Before MegaMillions came to Ohio I would drive to Michigan to buy ticket for the BigGame(now MegaMillions) when the jackpot was $80M+ and would have to wait in a long line to buy tickets.  Now at $200M+ I seldom see a line of of more than 3 people, but it could be more places are selling tickets now.

I don't mean to be rude - but the absolute last place on earth that I would purchase a house would be NJ !

Alot nicer places to live on about $120,000,000 in the bank !

This poor guy needs a win and some good news !

if it rolls again, and sets new records, holy cow

now to make it funny

the Center for Disease Control

need to issue a alart of lotto fewer, it be Insane Epidemic

CDC- avoid all tv news related, radio and or paper/web stuff about news, as thats where the lotto fewer is likly to be spread

if you stop to get gas, try one without selling lotto tickets, if you must go a store with lotto tickets to get gas, pretend their no lotto!

we are working with mega millions to kill this epidemic, our plan is simple, by buying a large amount of tickets with tax payer  money, we will win the jackpot for our selfs the CDC and will stop the epidemic, so just wait it out folks we save you!

LOL

So again :take cash ot annuity?

no no stay home and save the gas.

no no stay home and save gas.

no no save your money. by the way i am a giants fan and i have tickets to the cowboys home opener. yeah baby.

can anyone translate? i would love to see it cross 400 million even if there are multiple winners.

IL. VA, GA are the closest to TN. still you don't want to waste the gas and you should save your money.

Has anyone here actually ever won the $250,000 second prize? Or, have you known anybody who has won the $250,000?

Easy...cash all the way. I mean...an investment of $174 million @ 3% interest = $5.2 million a year, or 433k a MONTH....yikes!!

It has been such a long time since someone in MA hit I hope it comes this way towards me this time.

I once thought i hit for $250k but you know how it all goes... you wake up and cry a little

I think you could manage at least 5% easily as long as you're not just putting in banks and earning interest that way. At 5% you could out do the annuity while not putting the entire thing in, I tested 5% over 25 years with 115M so there would be room left for the remaining taxes you'll still may have to pay, granted it wasn't all planned out and just a simple calculator with the interest/dividends compounding once a year. At 174 million though, yeah 3% would do it too but you certainly wouldn't want to go all in, liquid assets are nice. All in all though, with some very safe (potentially tax-free) investments you could absolutely destroy the annuity over the same number of years. You'd start out less earning less than the yearly annuity payment but as the years go on you could be earning more and more as long as you're on a budget that doesn't spend as much or more than what you're taking in.

Kash is King 

Think of all the things you could do with that cash. Family medical trust. Family education trust. Even a charity foundation. Still plenty left for that nice home sitting high on the hill overlooking the lake, some travel, and quite a bit of self indulgence at the spa. <sigh>

I find it doubtful they would do that to me. It's not unheard of that I could be part of a pool and I'm just playing that money from that.

If someone had the nerve to ask for a tip, I would probably say something extremely smart-alecky in response.... :)

Don't worry, you succeeded, but I won't hold that against you. :)

You have to take into account that I've lived in NJ my entire life (and I'm 32 in a few days).

I would only need to do it temporarily until all of my affairs are in order. I own investment property (if you want to call it that) and I would need to make sure that my tenants pay their rent to me before I ship out for good. I don't want them to think that they will live rent-free just because their home is free and clear paid off. The property taxes are practically nil, but you try being a day late on your property taxes here and watch your house be on a tax sale. My sister (the bank's mistake, not hers) had a $75 balance on her tax bill and the county was ready to evict her (that's seventy-five dollars....). Turns out it was a mistake between the bank and the town and it was taken cared of properly, but still....things get ridiculous. That's just one example. The other is a niece who's about to be a grown woman and I practically helped raise her. I'm not going to flat-out leave her because I'm rich. I want to be close by but yet far enough away.

In any event, I'm almost ready to play Friday's numbers. Hopefully some good luck comes my way and I and all who are dear to me can be blessed.

Not for nothing but won't the payout be like about $25 million a year (if not more)? Seriously, how the *bleep* can you spend $25 million a year and be broke if you never had it before? With the first annuity you can pay whatever debt you (the normal person) has and still have enough to live your wildest dreams and STILL have enough left until the subsequent year.....

That's just my devil's advocate position on choosing annuity, but I wouldn't know what I'd personally do.

Starchild you are one lucky person. I wish I was going to be at their home opener. My friend and I have plans to go see the new stadium in September of 2010. Sorry I can't wish you luck since you are a Giants fan. But hey if I win this jackpot I'll buy a suite to the game and invite you along.

It's my turn to win the Mega Millions !.

LOL, love Devils Advocate!

Choosing cash over annuity has NOTHING to do with spending but everything to do with taxes and and a little bit to do with investments. I know today what the tax rate is. I know nothing of the tax rate in the future. I do not wish my once in a lifetime, life changing experience to be spread the wealth fodder for every stinking person and their dog.  If that makes me selfish, so be it. I'm a selfish bitch. Did you ever notice how those millionaires in Congress never talk about taxing wealth, but always talk about taxing high income earners?  Jackpot annuities fall in that category and will always be in that category.  Jackpot cash falls once, and only once. Earnings off that cash jackpot is icing on the cake. 

Needless to say, I'll take care of my own immediate family first, then share with some who deserve it - based upon MY decision where to give the money, and finally I'll take care of me. The last because no one else will, you cannot rely on others to take care of you.

Not for nothing, but that made 100% perfect sense. I think I will definitely  choose cash and take the tax hit once. I can always talk to a financial planner and have some money make 3-5% like a previous poster said and live off of that. $400k a month is a lot better than the $3k (after taxes) I get now....I think i'll be ok. LOL.

A rolled over Jackpot

325/252=This jackpot was a 29% increase

so next Jackpot would be 419,000,000 or more

264,000,000 cash..... Or more

Or for me in Ill.... 190,000,000 cash after taxes......

How would I eat next year????

One of these places sounds about right for me...

Cheyenne Canyon Ranch – 7,100 acre southern Black Hills Ranch on the Cheyenne River. 3 residences including a custom log home, numerous outbuildings. Live water, views, and wildlife. Located about 30 minutes from Hot Springs, South Dakota. $7,900,000.

Beaver Creek Ranch – 3,420 acre ranch in the scenic country west of Sundance, Wyoming along Interstate-90. Incredible scenery and great access. $8,500,000

Wonder View Ranch  – 2,486 deeded acres between Sundance, Wyoming and Devils Tower. Incredible setting in the heart of Whitetail country. $5,750,000.

Dutch Gulch Ranch  -  1,190 acres between Sundance, Wyoming and Spearfish, South Dakota on the South Redwater Creek Drainage. Visibility from Interstate 90 and just four miles from Beulah, WY. $2,970.000

  Lytle Creek Springs - Spectacular property on the Wyoming side of the Black Hills. 319 acres in the Bear Lodge Mountains east of Devils Tower. Nearly new custom home with lots of extras. Creek, joins National Forest, wildlife, and privacy.  $1,756,000.

Gladson Creek Ranch - 864 acre ranch northwest of Hulett, Wyoming.  3 reservoirs, spring development and an intermittent creek.  Deer, turkeys and an occasional elk.  Scenic Black Hills setting.   $1,730,000.

  Beaver Creek Estate – Exceptional property with 163 acres along Beaver Creek with a fishing pond, pretty scenery, a custom log home and several outbuildings. A must see. $1,550,000.

Buck Creek Trail Ranch – Pretty setting in the Belle Fourche River Valley north of Alva, Wyoming.163 acres with irrigated hay fields, custom home and numerous outbuildings.$1,550,000. Price Reduced to  $1,300,000

River Bend Retreat  – 560 acres in a secluded northeastern Wyoming setting on the Belle Fourche River. $1,208,000.

Bear Lodge Retreat - 75 acres with direct access to National Forest and only minutes from downtown Sundance, Wyoming. $495,000.

Look! Not evrybody is the same. When I win the jackpot this friday, I'm gonna best winner of all times. Remember when you win the lottery, you just have a bigger account. Nothing change. The same person you were is the same person you gonna be. It's just that you have resources available to do the things you dream of doing. Like buying a fancy cars, buying a nice home and getting plenty of gals. I know that I will win the jackpot this friday because I had just find out a system of how the numbers is drawn, which I can't reveal here. I'm gonna change many lives and make a big difference.

Sorry bro, I think its mine. I had just develope a system and it has work for the last two draws. This time I'm gonna win.

Any amount is nice.  The current jackpot is very Very VERY Nice!

I hope the winner has been sold in Ohio - because I bought my ticket in Ohio as I was passing through !

That would be nice !

Instead of worrying about my biopsy - I could take a vacation !!!!!

Me on vacation !

Hmm? No it would be just over half that, 325/25 = 13M, then there's the taxes now and after the rates go back up and no telling where they'll go from there. Then there's the state income tax if your state has one which could always go up (and probably will over the next couple decades) as well. Never mind what your community might try to pull with raising taxes, though at least you can always move out. However with the annuity you're going to be paying those state taxes until the annuity runs out no matter where you live. At least with the cash option you have a lot more choices and greatly lower (and potentially eliminate) some of the taxes you'd pay compared with having to pay regular income tax.

No, I'd definitely take the cash and come up with my own plan with the assistance of my "financial team" whom I'd have advise me on a weekly or bi-weekly basis and offer suggestions so I can then do some research before going along with what they suggest. In the mean time I'd go back to school and take some financial/business/economics classes for something to do, perhaps get a degree or two so I'd be able to have a even stronger grasp to handle the situation and gain a firmer grasp on the situation and dealing with these people I'm be paying, I would not take a hands off, lazy approach to managing a monstrous windfall. Which all in the end would help me work toward my ultimate goals. Granted the school thing is probably something that I wouldn't jump into immediately, maybe after a year or so I can get the having fun thing out of my system a little. If I lose it all and become one of those "lotto losers" it will out not out of sheer ignorance, stupidity or going broke. It'll likely be from either my being robbed and murdered or someone I may care about.

MM jackpot of $325 million? Nice for the MM group. The Powerball group must be jealous. For all their tinkering with their matrix to raise the jackpot odds last January to an even more impossible 1 in 195 milion (?!!), PB, with now 30 states, hasn't reached the $300 milion jackpot mark in years. Not even five years ago PB had jackpot odds of 1 in 120 millon. Wasn't that impossible enough?? Not that I think that the MM jackpot odds of 1 in 176 million is a walk in the park. But I like to see that MM with fewer states does reach $300+ million jackpots much more often than PB, and yet MM hasn't touched their matrix in four years+ and has less impossible odds than the greedy PB group. Since January, PB doesn't get more than $2 from me once or twice a month. PB will only get the message that they need to lower their odds if enough players spend less and less on tickets. I would like to see MM to be the first, and not PB, to reach the $400 million jackpot mark. Watch out, players, PB will be thinking about another matrix expansion by the end of 2009 if they don't get a $400 million jackpot soon! PB beginning January 2010 to win jackpot: match 5/63 + 1/47 AND a letter of the alphabet (A through Z)!

It - is - a - no brainer !

Always take the cash !

I am quite sure that I can invest and get more than the annuity !

More fun with a boat load of cash - no lawyers or financial advisors - just my plan !

I need the good fortune -

Good luck to everyone, but I hope that it is ME !

My posse -  

Besides - I already have my Phantom Coupe picked out !

The folks at RR need to work too !

Kikie,

Nice to hear that you have a sure fire system developed.  I am curious tho...if this system worked the last 2 draws, why didn't you win the jackpot on the last 2 draws????

All I can think of is this - "the East Coast folks have been winning PB and MM WAY too often."  There have only been 2 recorded winners of MM in the state of Washington since 2002.

It is my opinion that it is time for Washington to have a winner. OK, I live in Washington so I admit I am somewhat bias in that regard.

I wish all well in this drawing, but am praying that I will be the sole winner of Fridays draw.

best reply ever.

 looks like someone has been doing some serious HOMEwork

Remember you basically don't change. But people around you will. Park  your car and get notes all over It. Get thousands of letters. People coming to your door. Calling your phone.

That is OK, I will help many of  these people. But I will need a staff to sort them out. Helping people would be my primary job. And earning enough to help them all.

No fancy clothes, maybe a nice Camry, nice house in the middle of nowhere with an internet connection.

No million $$$ paintings, or expensive doodads.

MarkP

With at least $120,000,000 in the bank - I would have some "fancy" stuff.

Money is to be used and enjoyed !

Besides - spending keeps people employed !!!!!

I'm kinda with MarkP.  I don't plan to go all out and be a conspicuous consumer. 

First off the family is a pool so the money is gonna be split off the top. 

I too would like a small ranch, about 100 acres.  I'd buy a couple of passenger vehicles, some london blue topaz jewelry, and a new home with a KILLER MASTER BATH and a KILLER KITCHEN along with many many many additions to my cookbook collection, and do some traveling.

After that I would mostly live off the interest.  The spreadsheet I use has me way beyond comfortable, including money for my charitable activities, for at least 50 years.

Yes friday is here.....a few hours to go then I get the good news......I really need a vacation...Hawaii here I come, I have been praying for some years now....I feel it is my turn for the mega jackpot please GOD answer my prayer and thank YOU for answering it....My father truly need to retire soon and get that house and car.  Thanks.  Good luck to all.

Multi-State Lottery Association, the group that runs PowerBall also offers another multi-state game "Hot Lotto" which is a 5/39 + 1/19 game with a multiplier option that's easier to win but not many states carry it because players are interested in a game with jackpots of $200M+.  What you want is a multi-state game with odds of winning like Hot Lotto and payouts like PowerBall, it's never going to happen.

RJOh, I am familiar with Hot Lotto.  I just think that the PB group should not have raised the jp. odds YET again this past January. 5/55 + 1/42 (1 in 146 million) was discouraging enough. 1 in 195 million is just plain greedy, hoping that even higher odds will lead to $300 million jackpots more often.  Players are NOT stupid; they know when they're being dealt an even worse deal. They didn't even alter the lower-tier prizes with the last matrix expansion. Matching 4/5 + the PB still pays out $10,000 with jackpot odds of 1/195 million as it did with odds of 1/146 million before January.  Whereas many players might have spent more than $1 prior to the latest matrix expansion, many will now only spend $1 or $2. Why bother with more than $1? The PB group's only concern is making more money and making the dream vastly more impossible to players, and worst yet, their strategy to get bigger sales has ALWAYS been to expand the matrix again and again... add two more white balls (from 53 to 55 in 2005)... add 4 (!) more white balls (from 55 to 59 in 2009).  And yet no $300+ million jackpot in quite a few years. They should have lowered the odds with a matrix like 5/52 + 1/35, which is quite high btw, raised the price of the ticket to $2, and pay out $1 million to tickets matching the 5 white balls (they do that now only if you get the powerplay option for a $2 ticket anyway). I bet the PB jackpot would have reached $300+ million by now if they had done that.

Uhhh, unless you live one day in the future (and if you do, please let me know the MM numbers tomorrow) it's just Thursday.

And for the other post about PB states, it doesn't matter how many states Powerball or Mega Millions has, it's all about the total population and even with all the states Powerball has, Mega Millions still beats them out which makes how much they raised their odds a bit more of a joke. But then again the average person doesn't know or really care about the odds.

wouldn't that be sweet... Robot Voice "i know the future numbers" and their they are... -,-,-,-,-,  MB -

Does anyone think their will be a jackpot increase tomorrow?

i got a good feeling that i will not win

To the luck Player (s) that do

Get a lawyer, make a trust or LLC

To keep you safe and worry free-The less people know the better you are off, and you can enjoy the money freely and more joyfully

Give 10% to a church org, or something that has to do with helping people find a way in life (Just an opinion Don't start a Debate with me on this please!!!)

And please buy American Cars, i know it is not a Merc or Jaguar or BMW but the few still makes some really nice cars...

And A small favor to ask

"do not gamble anymore, you beat the house... You have Won!!"

Their is a saying the house always Wins!

So be careful and God Bless

Good Luck to all

For some reason "Life Has Been Good (to Me So Far)" by Joe Walsh is stuck in my head!! LOL! :-D

Nah, I'm in agreement with you. Cash it is. Tax once and done. Just get taxed on whatever investments I have.

I definitely want to go back to school, and this time I will finish and not party or get laid or whatever I did that prevented me from getting a degree. But at least the degree would be for me and not to "get a job"...lmao. Of course, if I ever get a Ph.D and I go broke, I can always become a professor. LOL...

I would hope that if you won, you would remove yourself from the situation that would get you murdered or robbed. Think of all those hip-hop artists that rap about guns and selling drugs...you think any of them live in the projects they grew up in? No...they live in places like CT where mansions are plentiful. I will not be one of those jerks who wins and blows it all. I'll go back to church and become at peace with myself. The only vice I would have would be travelling to places I would have never gone to right away (Like Europe). I'm not interested in going to Asia....nothing there calls me like Europe does.

I wish you, everyone and most of all ME the best of luck tomorrow. We're all going to need it...especially when I drop dead from shock winning with the golden ticket. LOL.

Merc? Last time I heard, that was owned by Ford.....(Mercury)

I'm sure you meant the Benz though. :D

And (F)orget You... I will buy an American car just as my get around town car...I kinda like the Ford Edge fully loaded. My car that I use to get someplace will most certainly be a Mercedes S-Class fully loaded. I will probably get a BMW 7 series just to switch it up. I won't get a foreign car that I'd have to learn to drive manual or God-forbid "lame" tiptronic. A guy driving an automatic Porsche would get laughed at by the women he'd try to pick up, let alone his friends. (Not that that would be me...I am going to remain faithful to my woman, honest to God). Porcshes, Ferraris, Lamboes, etc....you'd have to get a manual. No question.

Everything else you said, I am completely in agreement. Good luck and God Bless. :)

Benz, yeah lol

i really like the cts-v, that is one heck of a "get around" car...

honestly i still will keep and drive my 1999 Malibu, 205,xxx miles as my "Town Car"

as for the "tiptronic junk"... you sound like Jeremy from Top Gear on BBC, he hates "those stupid flappy paddle gear boxes" all while driving a F-430 Spider... who could have a complaint about that car 

Porcshe nah Maybe "Audi" as a reasonably un-american car i might have...

Otherwise

Corvette ZR1 and Z06

Hummer H2

Silverado 2500HD With Duramax

CTS-V

2010 Camaro SS

and maybe a Audi R8 "affordable Lambo"

And of Course my Not so trusty Malibu lol

God Bless and Good Luck to you

This is probably one of the most kindest...."feel good" post on this site....I know its simple and to the point but it just struck me that way....

Thanks!

"They should have lowered the odds with a matrix like 5/52 + 1/35, which is quite high btw, raised the price of the ticket to $2"

What's the difference between that and odds of 1 in 181,927,200 at $1 per ticket? If players aren't stupid, they should know that doubling the price of a ticket is the same as doubling the odds,  except that it is no longer possible to only play $1 per game.

I can't tell you the winning numbers cos I got them already......This is my jackpot please GOD bless me and thanks again.   Good luck to all.....

  Itz already 333 millions, yohoho, we are doing a great job. 

I think it will hit $350,000,000 by the time the drawing hits.

"If players aren't stupid, they should know that doubling the price of a ticket is the same as doubling the odds"

I don't follow you here. What does the price of a ticket have to do with the odds?

Your odds are determined by how many tickets you have. How many tickets you have is determined by how much money you spend and the cost of the tickets. If a ticket costs $1 and the odds are 1 in 100, then spending $2 will get you two tickets and a 1 in 50 chance of winning. If the odds are 1 in 100 but the ticket price goes up to $2, then spending $2 gets you only 1 ticket, and a 1 in 100 chance of winning. For the same $2 you've only got half as much chance of winning.

  Yeah $340-350 mil would be a reasonable guess, what I really cannot guess is how much it would be if it rolls cause it never happened before at 350 level.  Beyond half a billion for sure.

Back in the days when many local lotteries sold two chances to win for a dollars, the odds of winning was based on the number of dollars you spent and was printed on the back of play slips that way.  As ticket prices went up to a dollar plus per chance(or board) that way of figuring odds stopped but it's still true if you're figuring your odds of winning by the amount you pay for a ticket.  Florida has a game where the price per board decides the size of the jackpot you're playing for.

I guess I'm stupid then. I thought the odds were based solely on the number of combinations in the matrix no matter how much a ticket cost. Granted, if you play a fixed dollar amount the change of price in tickets will change your overall odds of winning but still if you buy every single combination you will only have one chance of winning out of whatever the total combinations are.

The *game's* odds are based on the number of possible combinations, and the number of combinations on a single ticket. As RJ notes, some tickets give you two (or more) chances on a single ticket. The odds each player has are determined by the game odds and the number of tickets the player has for the drawing. If you have 1 ticket and I've got two, my odds are twice as good as yours (or yours are twice as bad as mine, depending on how you want to look at it), but it cost me twice as much to have those odds. If the ticket price is doubled, the same amount of money only gets me one ticket, thus doubling the odds I get for the same expenditure.