"They should raise the price to $5.00 so people would realize they are throwing good money away.Spending any money on a lottery is just like setting it on fire, it will disappear before your eyes."

The reason scratch tickets cost more is because players do not have to wait for a drawing.By the way I have never played scratch tickets.

i wish they made a lottery game with the same odds as a casino game... i dont know why the lottery has to have such garbage odds when casinos make tons of money an have drastically better odds

First of all l was the first guy here to write about $500,000,000 jackpot and now everyone is copying me and for the lottery being like a casino well don't worry very soon a new casino will pop up in your back yard and then you be the first to start whinning about it too the lottery will never be like the casinos .They won't serve you alcohol and they won't let you see cute women in skimpy outfit so stop dreaming.

Remember not that far back when Powerball jacked up their odds to 1 in nearly 200M and how that was supposed to bring those record jackpots, those 500M jackpots... What happened to that? Oh right.

so with bigger jack pots(supposedly) will any pay for the power play option?

This is the first run that is going to be all $2 tickets so we will reach $300 million faster than this last run of $336 million.  I say 40,60,80,100,125,150,175,200,250,325 so 10 rollovers and that will be a record.  We might see a new record on the 11th drawing.  just my two cents. Good luck!-weshar75

SORRY WESHAR75,,,,, I HAVE PLANS TO WIN SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 50 AND 200 MILLION  ....PERHAPS AFTER , YOUR PREDICTION WILL COME TO THE SURFACE

hopefully we can get a winner out of mm Tuesday.me.                                       

Kyokushin karate a.k.a.

"the strongest karate"    OSU!

Well JoeBigLotto, a search for "$500,000,000 jackpot" produces 8 pages of previous discussions so you're hardly 'the first guy here to write about $500,000,000 jackpot, nor is everybody 'copying you'.

Like weshar said. If the PB jackpot snowballed that quickly starting with 1$ bets, i can't imagine whats gonna happen with 2$. I can see an easy 500 mill++ coming soon.

I say.. 40..65.. 95.. 130.. .175.. 230.. 300.. 380.. 465.. 550
(if it were to go that high obviously)

im going to play mm more then pb only when pb is below $100 mil. $2 seems to much for anything less then $100mil(im greedy so what). any ways pb this roll wont get over $400mil cause im going to snatch it before it reaches $200mil, well thats the plan.

seems like lately only people on the coasts win. sucks to be in the middle.

Completely agree.. but that's y I'm gonna win.. lol.. time for somebody from the Midwest to win!!!!

Um, no.  Your home state of Ohio has a disproportionate number of Mega Millions and Powerball winners.  For a while there, people were making accusations about the lottery being fixed because so many winners came from Ohio.

Look here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here — just to name a few.

People have been complaining about "other people" winning the lottery since the lottery began.  I think no amount of brilliant logic and reasoning will ever see the end of it.

I agree. Also take into account the population of each state. If there are more people in a particular state there might be more winners in that state because more people play.

There will always be a sector of the lotto playing public that cannot grasp fundamental "reasoning", or "logic".

Sadly for these disgruntled players, common sense and intelligence will always elude them.

Better to just pity them........... maybe say a prayer or two............. in hopes that one day they will awaken from their skewed delusions.

Most, if not all, casino games have less than 50% payout.  Most online lottery games pay out in the same range, while scratchers pay out between approximately 60-75%.

Less people in the middle.

The following is just "coastal counties" and does not include counties that are close to, but not bordering, the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans:

"In the United States, coastal counties constitute only 17 percent of the total land area (not including Alaska), but account for 53 percent of the total population."

Source: NOAA National Ocean Service

Hang in there Todd Vader .......... I waited patiently for the Pennsylvania "jackpot drought" to end ........... there are other adults on Lottery Post that do the same!

Keep up the great work Fearless Lottery Leader!

and just to keep up my incentive to play (responsibly in my budget), I visited Bentley Pittsburgh yesterday after my Dr. appointment. Anyone that thinks that Bentley's are just overpriced cars ..... as soon as I opened the door to walk in, the aroma of the finest leather that I have ever enjoyed welcomed me inside. It was amazing! Pictures do not do these works of art justice. The craftsmanship is just awesome! Hand crafted with obvious pride! I do not consider it the least bit ostentatious to keep old world craftsmanship alive!!!!!!!

That's what makes it so imporbable that the big jackpot winner for Powerball was from Rhode Island considering Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York and Florida make up about 50% of the Powerball sales in a given week.

This just proves the randomness of these drawings.

Pennsylvania had a very long "jackpot drought" until recently.

The LOTTERY BALLS could really care less what you or I think or speculate, about a states population density, coastal areas, volume of sales........ blah, blah, blah, blah.   

If your not happy with the results, simply vote your opinion by not playing in the first place. End of story. 

WWWBUKTN was only refering to the laws of probability! Winners from "small" States simply beat the odds. That is all 3W's was telling us ...............

Not sure why this is a problem ..................

I wonder how many 2 million pb winners we will see tomorrow? I doubt if we will see a jp winner for pb tomorrow.

Kyokushin Karate a.k.a.

The strongest karate!  OSU!

IL, PA, NY and FL made up 35% of the last draw's sales, while RI accounted for only 0.7%.

When California joined Mega Millions the MUSL fed the same "Potential $500,000,000 Jackpots" hype to the media.

Hasn't even come close.

I think I understand where your going with this. Because of a higher volume of sales in these states, the leaping lotto balls were supposed to do an abrupt turnaround to produce a win in one of these states.

Apparently we need to do a better job at TRAINING THESE BALLS, to go where their supposed to, based upon the demographics and sales volume.

Shame on these disobedient lotto balls....what nerve they have!!!   

"Conspiracy Theory" #287

It is always interesting to see what happens with Powerball & Mega Millions ...........

Conventional statistical wisdom would say that Pennsylvania players would have an advantage, but until November 19, 2011, the last Powerball Jackpot sold in Pennsylvania was February 28, 2009 & Pennsylvania has yet to sell a Mega Millions Jackpot winner .............

Just when you think that Powerball should grow to very large jackpots, we will probably see some "lower" jackpots won!

That is what keeps it interesting for me ................ anything can and will happen ........... and just when you think that you have seen everything ........... something unexpected happens ............. I think that we have Counties in Pennsylvania that are bigger in size and population than Rhode Island!

I play for fun & joined Lottery Post for the same reason ..............

You hit the nail on the head dpoly, play for FUN!  After that if lady luck is on your side, that's an extra perk.

I totally agree, jeffrey.  No one on my dead end street has won a jackpot.  But on all the other streets, from New York to Los Angeles, there have been winners.  Must be some kind of conspiracy.  Sucks to live on my dead end street.

I doubt we'll see very many, if any, billion dollar jackpots.     The odds of a rollover in the last jackpot were about 66% (Poisson distribution randomized calculation).    The odds of it getting to $336 million were lower than this.   The odds of rollovers decrease as sales increase, but even if three more drawings had the same level as the last, we would have had barely a 25% chance of reaching one billion beginning with a $325 million jackpot.

By the way the expectation value on this last jackpot was only 0.7.   Usually at this level, under the old conditions, the expectation value was closer to 1.0, almost making the huge lotteries, "good bets."

I would think we'd need to be well over half a billion to see similar expectation values.

No problem at all....... just do not want the thousands of others LP members to get the impression that the the lottery is "rigged" because of these outcome scenarios.

Seems like no one is truly happy with the results unless they were the winner.   

Thank you my friend ........... this is so much more pleasant than yesterday's threads ......... your post reminds me of my Irish friends that I used to work with ........ they would actually let me have some of their "Irish Luck" once in a while .............. and we would all have a laugh

I predict that it will get interestinger and interestinger ............

and that we might even experience dejá vu all over again .............

Hey, what are you trying to do ............. get us to think ................. now stop that

Just kidding

You can never laugh to much dpoly........always remember this! Also great for your heart and health.        

Not quite.

If you reached into a bag of 100 balls, 99 of which were colored red and one of which was colored black, you'd expect to pick out a red ball 99% of the time.  The winner in RI, based on volume of tickets sold alone, was the black ball in this case.  I don't think that it's a conspiracy at all, merely statistically unlikely.

If a third of the tickets are sold in NY, FL, PA and IL, I'd guess that a winner should come from those states a third of the time.

Those ding dong dandy statistical anomalies !!!!!!!!

  the heck with "normal", I'll take Grey Violet

That was exactly my point though.   By no means do I think it's rigged and by one of the smallest contributing states having won one of the biggest jackpots is only further proof.   Not sure why people took exception to what I said when I was just trying to point out that it's as random as it gets.   If people are unhappy with the results unless they win then their goign to live a life of being unhappy as they could live a hundred lifetimes and never sniff a prize above a free ticket for hitting the Powerball.

I came close ONCE and it wasn't based on my numbers as I didn't hit a single number.   I lived in Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin for two years and bought my ten tickets on the same day one hour after the 100 Miracles group bought their tickets from the exact same store called Ma & Pa's in Fond Du Lac.   When I went in for a pack of smokes in the morning and saw all the news trucks outside the building I couldn't have driven home any faster but it just wasn't meant to be.   It's funny how you feel when your odds go from 1 in 175,000,000 to 1 in 100,000 or so as they sell a ton of tickets at this place since it's on the "Miracle Mile" where they have had a ton of lotto wins.   I was bummed at what could have been.

The Powerball and all the other "true" lotteries are random.   No way they would cheat when they are making money hand over foot for drawing some balls.

SANITY is back on LP.

I can't believe we think machines meticulously designed to give random numbers have the ability to factor in demographics and population density?

Wanna win? Pick the winning numbers and I promise you no matter what your race, color, creed or economic circumstance you will be the winner.

precisely accurate. if you pick your own numbers, which you should do, quick pics are for the weak minded, it cannot possibly matter what state or where or when you buy the ticket. if you ask for a quick pic then all that matters is the speed of the clerks hand to determine what numbers you get stuck with. which would you rather have. being at the mercy of a patel with slow or quick fingers, or your own ingenuity at picking a combination. this rigged nonsense or lucky state theory is bogus.

Not so my friend.......you could reach into that bag 1000 times, and pull out 999 black balls. Statistically unlikely ........but still probable. 

And those little lotto balls...... don't keep track of where the majority of tickets are sold. If a third of tickets are sold in NY, FL, PA, AND IL they may never win for 5 years....or win every week for 5 years. Thats the beauty and allure of this concept we call the "LOTTERY".

I it would nice to see that happen. I guess the tickets start at $5 and the starting jackpot would be 80 to 100 million to start with. I would try it. But lets be honest here , just say if that ever does happen and somewhere from the north once again hits.  There would be chaos beyond compare. Sometimes i think there is paraody in this lotto fever. I am just speaking for me , it seems to be the lottery officals to me already know which state is goona hit. . I am not hating on the people from RI , i am not , i am truly happy for then.  Lets be real about the last 3 big jackpots have came from the north , i find that fishy to me. Conspiacy theories maybe maybe not.  But you have to wonder , is the current system fair? To me there is completive unbalance.  When you look at it from a far ,  their is paraody.  Ask yourself why does one region of the country gets the breaks and the other regions don't. To me the system needs to be changed if not the same area of the country wil keep hitting the big jackpots. If another northern regional state hit again , the lottery officals for the MM and PB should be fired! There is no equal playing for people who play. Tell me when was the last time recently NC , VA , for example has it a jackpot. And don't tell me 250,000 or 500,000 there doesn't count in my book. All i am saying the system need to be changed and changed quickly ,because if not we are going to have the same results everytime a big jackpot is won.  They come up with a system that all 50 states have the same chance to win. Bigger states will always have the advantage over the smaller states keep that mind

i think people are focusing to much on which states won the jack pot and not enough on the second, third and fourth place prizes and where they were won.

Ummmmm, the present system does allow for every state to have the same chance to win.   LOL @ anybody even suggesting that the Powerball is somehow rigged.   It's just luck, nothing more, nothing less.

            ran·dom

adj.

1. Having no specific pattern, purpose, or objective: random movements. See Synonyms at chance.

2. Mathematics & Statistics Of or relating to a type of circumstance or event that is described by a probability distribution.

3. Of or relating to an event in which all outcomes are equally likely, as in the testing of a blood sample for the presence of a substance.

If your "TRULY HAPPY" that someone from RI won this lottery, leave it at that. The rest is all 

With powerball raising ticket prices I believe its jackpot could easily beat mm to 500mil.. Jackpots start at 40 instead of 12 so its definately a better possibility

Car is gorgeous!!!!!

... the PB and MB system is made to produce random numbers.. it is in every definition a game of chance to win. 

True, there is what many called "a Formula"  being use in these lottery systems, however it isn't a visible one and it is mainly to ensure that it'll continue to produce 'NEW' random numbers and not drawings already drawn before. In addition, technically, if the machines breaks that is what is basically use as a foundation to fix it.

So, yeah, the lottery is not rigged; it is basically a game of chance.

Not if you have the same region winning constanly , then it must be paraody

I disagree.. I live,in indiana and its rare for jackpots here.. But I pick my own numbers.. And I could b wrong but,dont only 42 states sell lotto tix?

The only parody, is the conclusion you just made. 

i beleive in luck , let just say the next 5 jackpots MM and PB and if NY and NJ hit then back to back to back to back.  Then would call that a luck or something else , even if that did happen?

The "Luck of the Draw", it's all random, despite all the "Conspiracy Theories". No need to over analyze , it's that simple!

In the words of a famous scholar "KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID".   

you really have no clue. you have no idea how a nationwide lottery is run. it absolutely makes no difference where you live. if you pick your own numbers you could be in bangladesh and win if they had a powerball machine there. which they don't of course. if you take the quick pic route all that matters is that you have decided to put your faith in a store clerk timing his punch to give you the winning combination. more tickets are sold in heavily populated areas than yours probably thus the preponderence of more frequent winners is bound to happen. you obviously are a quick pic player and you have to be in the right store at the right time when your clerk (probably a patel) selects it for you since you are too lazy to fill out a card. quick pics win and the clerk should receive all the credit for it if it does. if you fill out a card like you should the clerk has no bearing on the outcome nor does the state or store or time you play it.

ashabug725,

Oh I agree that PB is more likely to get there first, if either one does, but, the increase in tickets prices has decreased the number of players, thus with less people playing even though they've doubled (or tripled, with Powerplay) the amount individualy played, that leaves for a lot less of the 175 M + combinations being covered.

Those who run the lotteries are always a few steps, no make that miles) ahead of the players.

In a world of hoping for a jackpot of 1/2 of a billion dollars, I don't think a variance of $28M in a start point is exactly earth shattering.

Just my $.02

Well, its not just the fact that PB starts at a higher amount ($40m versus $12m) but it flips by a minimum of $10m. That should build the momentum among players more rapidly resulting in larger jackpots. I think we will have to see how it pans out over the next few jackpots as our specuculation to date is all anecdotal!

Wow, this has become a heated debate.

I think what has been said about the odds has been said. Yes, because the east has a higher population density than the rest of the USA means that a possible winner could be chosen from there because of the higher ticket sales as a result of, however, it doesn't guarantee that a winner will come from there. Since RI makes up a measly 0.7% percent of PB sales, it just goes to show that the lottery systems are completely random, since there hasn't been a consistent tug on areas that have higher buy out of tickets. While stats can give you probabilities of what may happen or how over time trends occur, it's not going to give you a definite answer, especially with how astronomical the odds are to begin with. As someone said, you have a slim possibility of picking that black ball out of 99 red balls, but that doesn't mean you can't pull it out five times in a row, even if the odds are against you. 

That's why I don't think people should be dwelling on these lottery conspiracy theories. So what if the huge jackpots have been won the past few times on the northern east coast? Good for them, but that isn't enough to pull out the conspiracy card, me thinks. I think what may raise eyebrows more if the past twenty huge jackpots were all won by one state consecutively, in one city, in one neighborhood, etc.,  But since that has never been even close to happening, I don't see why we need to worry and promote conspiracies. As someone said, just look at the recent million wins from this jackpot alone and how states all across the nation in numerous regions won, all probably very different individuals from each other. 

That being said, faber98, not sure how much of a difference in chance there is by you picking the numbers versus the clerk handing it to you. After all, the machine spits the numbers, not the clerk, so, what we should be giving all the credit to the machine? I'm sure it could use the money for a nice tune up.  Besides, you may have sentimental value in picking your numbers, or perhaps a logical backing behind yours based on statistical trends, but it all boils down on how the balls roll, and they do so, randomly, without feeling, and without logic. One could argue that a quick pick may be the better option, because they are purely randomized. It's all up to you, though. 

I wish everybody good luck!

i pick my numbers , and i totally disagree with that. well a friend of mine used to work in the lottery , he would never tell me the numbers , because he wouldn't know himself, but he would tell me which state or states would hit 2 to 3 hrs before they would announce it on tv.  it does vary in what state you live. he quit because in his words , too much shady things going on in the lottery office.

Yes, I did that the other week when I spent $50 on 25 powerball tickets.
I would have been better off flushing it down the toilet.
Would have saved myself the time and gas money driving to get the darn
tickets from the idiots behind the counter, who usually give you a dirty look to boot.

They could raise the price of powerball to $10 a ticket and people would still
play and fantasize about winning. Reality is, you will NEVER win anything more than
a few bucks or your money back...unless you're WHITE and already rich..
like the latest powerball winner from Newport RI and the Putnam ave winner
from CT. Just sayin'.

The only reason someone ever wins something like the powerbal anyway with
1 in 175million odds is because enought tickets are bought by suckers that it eventually
overwhelms the odds and some white person wins.

I have even wondered if it's a way to take money out of certain communities and
certain demographics and transfer it to others. All under the guise of being a fair,
legal, unpredictable lottery, of course.

I'm wondering about these bigger jackpots that may go up to 500+ million or to even a billion. 

People have said multiple times that this may not happen, but I'm wondering if the boost from a 20 million to a 40 million starting number will promote larger jackpots by lessening the amount of draws it takes to get to those higher jackpots. As someone said, someone giving the lottery a chance may be more attracted to the 40 million prize versus the starting prize of 12 million in MM, despite the similar odds of winning either, so avid lottery players will be raising the jackpot on lower number jackpots, but probably at a much slower pace than numerous others who start chiming in once the jackpot starts reaching higher amounts with sales start going wild and increasing the jackpot on each draw at higher increments than the last. So, I don't believe PB will be backing up its possible claim of higher jackpots based on adjusted odds, but perhaps that increase in starting jackpot will be more attractive to lottery players, both avid and opportunist. 

You guys have to remember that the recent jackpot was the FIRST this year that implemented Powerball's new change, while it was still in the middle of process, the jackpot was at a fair size once it started to cost 2 dollars each (the original jackpot started at 20 mil, before the change), so, the fact that it had gone as far as it did and almost broke the record on the FIRST jackpot of the year promoting the change goes to show just how much influence this may have on subsequent jackpots, and this time around, starting at a fresh 40 mil, rather than 20. These jackpots could very well go into the 500+ million mark very quickly! But, hey, we all don't really know, this is all just speculation, but it will be fun to watch and see how the numbers crunch.  Let's give this new PB a chance.

I think, honestly, it would be incredibly amusing if we had lotteries that were based around the concept of scratchcard odds. Say that 1 dollar ticket will give you a 1 in 175 million chance of winning 230 million jackpot, but see here this 2 dollar ticket will give you a 1 in 100 million chance of winning the 230 mil, and this 3 dollar ticket could give you 1 in 55 mil chance of winning, etc up to about 10-15 dollars (not saying 30 since those higher costs are also because scratchcards are instant). I'm pulling numbers out of my butt on this one, but I think you get the general idea of what I mean. Oh, so this 5 dollar ticket gives me 1 in 175 million chances to win 1 billion dollars, but gives me 1 in 50 million to win 400 million? Why not! Of course, this system would probably open its own entire can of worms. 

Well, whether you agree with me or not, doesn't this indicate that if there WAS shady business in the lottery office it would not have to do with the numbers, regardless if they were quick picked or picked on your own? Afterall, this alibi of yours didn't know the numbers, right? Just the state or states. How do you know if this shady business isn't actually based around the lottery's own statistical derivatives of what they think the numbers may end up being based on their own system, and knowing that a certain state may have a person or persons that could be holding the very possible numbers that they think are "ripe", or "due", or based on frequent drawings before the jackpot? 

Honestly, bro, I just don't know.  But without more information, it's hard to tell if this is really shady business or just the lottery doing their own educated guesses at what the lottery numbers could be, just like how there are avid lottery players who speculate on which numbers would come through. If there is actual shady business going on, you probably should talk to this friend and see what the deal is and maybe report it. Could very well be a case for fraud. I am not you, your friend, or the lottery officials, so, I don't really know where to stand on this matter, or if you are making this up entirely, or what have you. If you think something is wrong, more power to you if you report it and tell us about it. 

It would've been great if Powerball set a new United States Jackpot Record.

just because a lotttery worker knew what state had won before it was announced to the public means nothing. i'm sure he didn't "quit" because of shady things going on. still don't understand why people want to win 500 million. isn't 5 million enough for anyone. stick to state lotteries when they are around that level and you might have a microscopic chance of winning. powerbore and mega millions too difficult. and when the clerk puts his finger on the button does matter. glad you pick your own so it doesn't matter in your case when or where you play them. i would feel obligated to tip a clerk if he won it for me, so i fill out the card and would stiff the clerk if i won (which isn't remotely likely).

The jackpots will reach $200 quicker, more players will jump in, and the roll-overs will be much bigger. Less than 11,000 players won anything substantial (if $100 is considered substantial) and only 140 won $10,000 or more. The 2,766,599 winning tickets worth $14 or less will probably be spent buying tickets for future drawings.

It will be interesting to see if when a jackpot reaches $1/2 billion or even higher and then we can look forward to more "how will you spend the money?" topics and the endless advice of how to remain anonymous, finding tax loop holes, seeking financial planners, and maybe even maps to the Lottery headquarters for validating the tickets.

I can't wait!

I find that very interesting about your friend working for the lottery office.

"well a friend of mine used to work in the lottery , he would never tell me the numbers , because he wouldn't know himself, but he would tell me which state or states would hit 2 to 3 hrs before they would announce it on tv."

If your friend knew in which state the jackpot would be won "2 to 3 hrs." before the live drawing, then somebody knew the numbers. And that somebody had plenty of time to have someone place bets for them. Do you have any of evidence of multiple winners that defies probability?

"he quit because in his words , too much shady things going on in the lottery office."

But he decided not to go public with his proof that the machine was rigged so that only preselected numbers could be drawn guaranteeing a winner in a certain state?

Okkkkkkkk.

I'm sorry for your loss, Hawkeye90.  Perhaps for your case, it would be better to set aside, maybe, a dollar a day/week and create a lottery fund of sorts that you can play with safely. If playing 50 dollars on 25 Powerball tickets is enough money to be considered a wasteful dent in yor life, then you really should limit the amount of times you play. Look at this recent winner, from the looks of it, they probably played, roughly, 3 Powerball tickets with Powerplay. It was only 9 dollars and they won the jackpot! Sure, maybe buying more tickets gives you an edge to get that winning ticket, but it's not guaranteed that you will actually get the winning ticket. 

The "idiots" behind the counter give you dirty looks because when rushes and long lines happen at stores, it becomes more stressful to handle them. It also doesn't help that, while you may have not been disrespectful, someone in the lotto line was giving trouble to them earlier. They are only human, man, give them a break. Those same "idiots" probably play the lottery and also get in long lines once in awhile, too. 

Also, I've read your numerous posts on here before, and I don't take lightly to the stereotyping you do on this board. Yes, there have been rich people to win the lottery, they play occasionally to see if they can get a profit, but many of those people were also poor and struggling or perhaps, just middle class and making out all right. One of the recent coastal winners, no less, was just a modest middle class man who was visiting family in the north before going back home to California. Not already rich at all, especially in terms of California income. Also, just sayin'. We don't know this person's story, and it's wise not to make prejudice remarks about the person without even knowing who they are.

The fact of the matter is, more white people win the lottery in the US because about 70 percent of our current population is "white", or an ecclectic mix of mostly Germans and the Irish hailing from the 1830-40s, sprinkled in with Italian, Dutch, English, French, etc. They were the recent huge flood of immigrants that came here and were treated pretty much like the Hispanics of today (along with the smaller groups of Asians). Come 2050-2100 eras, I'm sure you'll see much more Hispanic people (judging by the increase of Hispanic population growth projection), for instance, winning, and other "minority" groups winning because they have more population in this country than they do now. Notice how it hasn't been a rich Hispanic, or a rich black person who has won (at least, publicly stated), but come time in those eras, people will be complaining how rich anybody wins the lottery when they have as much right to play as we do. Sorry. And even with that demographic amount, there have been many others who have won a kind of lottery, white or not, so, it's not all just "rich, white people". 

I'm a mix of a kind of Asian and white, and not many of my "kind" win the lottery. Does that mean it will never happen? No, but it doesn't mean it won't happen either. Just need to have hope, luck, and sense. Don't let the lottery actually cost you a signficant payment or a healthy amount of money you need and play within your budget. If you don't win, so what, there is always another chance, but that doesn't mean you need to have sour grapes. Just be more careful next time, bro, that's all I'm saying! Your real life is more important than chasing a dream that should be treated more for entertainment. 

But then again ,I can find out winning states here fast then most offical state lottery websigts ..so is TODD  in on the scam .......Just kidding TODD....TO ME ITS ALL JUST LUCK AND THATS IT.

Yeah, it would be nice to have more information on this, kind of iffy that the guy never went public about it. Hmm. Not very helpful to make that claim then. 

Then we agree to disagree, faber98. I, personally, don't see a huge difference in chance. As for the numbers, the person clicking the button did not choose those numbers mentally. He clicked a button on a computer that spat numbers out to him. The credit would go to the computer if you had to give something money. If the machine itself could automatically click itself, it would be no different if a person did. Regardless if you choose the numbers or the machine did, it will be up to the balls if you win or not. I could be wrong, but hasn't it been mentioned that quick picks often win more often than hand picking? 

We'll see this year if the increase in jackpot starting size will lessen the amount of draws it takes to get to the record jackpots and if they actually exceed them, only time will tell! It's still startling that the first time Powerball implemented this change, when it was still going through a run as it was, starting at 20 million, already got one draw away from breaking the record! That has to say something about the future, at the very least. Not people are taking into account that this new change has only started since the middle of January, afterall. 

Also, lol, gocart1. What have you been hiding from us, Todd? I kid, I kid. 

The thing I like most about the new Powerball is that you could easily retire and live at quite a high level no matter what the powerball is at. Not to say 20 million wasn't a lot.. But by the time you take lump sum and taxes you really couldn't fulfill a truley insane lifestyle. Jets, yachts, etc. That's why I play. I don't play to win a few million and retire happily. I play to win a fortune and live unlike most. Don't we all?

"...you will NEVER win anything more than a few bucks or your money back...unless you're WHITE and already rich..."

LOL!  Did you ever consider the prospect that it may be a conspiracy against incredibly stupid people?   

Bahahaha... well said!!!!!!

hawk,

Me-thinks you are an idiot. I remember a fellow that worked at a convenience store making minimum wage who won the Powerball. It so happened the news media and a rep from the lottery was there when the winner showed up and told his boss he thought he won. I assure you, that dude was white, but definitely not rich. Then there was a guy I believe in South Dakota, or maybe North Dakota who won, with playing his last few bucks. Don't think he was rich either. There have been many winners that were in serious need of a win, but you spout off about race because of where the last couple jackpots have been won. All you have managed to do is show your lack if intelligence.

WOW!!!!!!!...... not again.........

LOL..... I can't stop laughing..... be careful though we don't want you to be accused of being a racist AGAIN!!!!! because we all know the R in your name stands for racist...

 I almost sympathized with your first two paragraphs, the latter two just made me go .

  Do yourself a favor please, for the sake of your intelligence or not.

   "Best to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove ALL doubt"

 Comprendre mi amigo?

 He is a victim of the lottery system, don't ya know?

  How dare does the lottery go by a simple basics of C-H-A-N-C-E.

  Travesty I tell ya, travesty!

 Ridge, it hasn't sunk in yet for the poor fellow. Do take him under your whip and explain to him the basics of the world we live in. He is still wet behind the ears, I tell ya....

   ........

Yep, I'm usually the whippin' boy, dallas, LOL.

Some of these guys though, whoa, I just gotta scratch my head and wonder if they're really serious about what they're saying or joking.

And the best part?

Even though he "knows" it's "rigged", he'll go play it again.

And then come back here again and complain about it.

LOL....

I think that one's too far gone, sandia.

Like the Warden said in Cool Hand Luke - "Some men you just can't reach."

And I can't remember who said this one but it fits - "You can't fix stupid."

ron white, stand up comic,also could'nt recall

on another thread some one else had to tell me.

i remember cuz i use the ladder sayin on a daily basis at the hotel,

come to think of it, the former works at the hotel also.

I really thought he went away.... so much for wishful thinking...LOL...

lotta talk about riggin,in another thread i asked someone to explain the mechanics of the riggin,

no replies,from poster that says its "rigged"

Isn't that Mel Gibsons character name in Lethal Weapon (scratching head) ??? 

The new minimum jackpot  makes only a small difference because almost all jackpots rolled past $40 million with the old minimums.

What does make a huge difference is that the jackpot gets twice as much money from each ticket sold, while the odds were only improved by a modest amount. Selling fewer tickets means the jackpot won't grow twice as fast, but since the odds are only slightly better it also means there's almost twice as much chance of a rollover for each drawing.

On average they have to sell about 175 million tickets to have 1 winning ticket. That would put $112 million in the jackpot prize pool, which would (currently) result in an advertised jackpot of about  $180 million. On average, the previous matrix would sell 195 million tickets to produce one winning ticket for a cash value of about $63 million, advertised at (again, based on current rates) $100 million. The new formula should result in average jackpots that are 80% higher than they used to be.

If the previous PB record of $177 million cash, advertised at $365 ,happened today it would be $318.6 million in cash, and would be advertised as $510 million. That same amount of cash at the interest rates of 2006 would result in an advertised jackpot of $650 million. Of course that's before accounting for the utter insanity that's likely to result from advertising a jackpot of more than $500 million.

We may not see $500 million this year, but it's very likely within the next few years.

Interesting points.

The odds of getting 5 of 5 are still the same. The only improved odds are on the powerball, down to 35 from 39. Paying $2 - $3 is not a smart play when you can play a state game and get two to three times as many chances at a pot larger than $1 mill to $2 mill.

The REAL CONSPIRACY is he's being paid by the MUSL to entertain and engage us until the next large jackpot - lol!

Like a freshly planted garden...Let the growth begin and the rewards be bountiful to all of those that contribute.
 oh ta heck with it.....give up the goodies tonight !!!

the real conspiracy is... " they " keep track of my numbers, and even when i get someone Else to play them they know its mine and make sure they lose.

They are waiting until i forget to play my regs and WHAM they will make my numbers come up,.

They know everyone's regs, and  have software checking to see what set of number  where forgotten ea week, thus distressing the max amount of people, and they make them come up.

why you ask? because, they are pure EVIL!!!

C'mon Savage(mother)goose......it can't be that bad ???? besides, they only just single you out  cause they know whatta bad kid you were and how much grief you caused !! 

I think the MUSL needs to launch a nationwide competition to see who can come up with the best most plausible conspiracy theories and have players vote for a winner but then the losers would say its a CONSPIRACY explaing why they didn't win - lol. SCRATCH THAT

It is the sole mission of these devious, deceitful numbers savagegoose. Morning, noon and night. While you work, eat, play and sleep these crafty numbers are taunting, mocking us every step of the way.   

They can never truly be satisfied, until you are ready to jump off a high rise building. As you descend quickly, screaming with frustration on your journey towards that concrete sidewalk, you briefly look up at your tickets clutched tightly in your fist, and realize your numbers from last night's drawing CAME UP!!    

TO LATE. SPLAT.   

ill gladly take one billion

An old man turned ninety-eight
He won the lottery and died the next day
It's a black fly in your Chardonnay
It's a death row pardon two minutes too late
And isn't it ironic... don't you think

Whoa Nellie !!!!! ya startin' to sound like Congress & that White House dude !!!!   won't just 40 million do ??   

Alanis Morissette sung my feelings exactly. 

I'd settle for $500, I'm not greedy.   

How about we get a bunch of lottery clubs and a number of people that can afford to throw $100 at a big jackpot, say $200 million, and assign them specific combinations so the all the combinations are covered.

1.    The jackpot would get a $175 million kick in the pants

2.    There would be 34 millionaires and one jackpot winner

I just can’t believe with the number of tickets sold there was only one winner, it’s almost like they control the combinations that are played by auto picks. And if it was public information, or at least information released after drawings, we would be surprised how low the coverage numbers are.

You may be on to something Mike.....of course the devil is in the details. Work up a proposal. If there can be a nationwide commitment to this bold concept, I'd be willing to participate for one.

And if this scheme should work, knowing the slick lawyers the lotteries have up their sleeve......they most likely would re-write the rules, making it illegal for such "clubs" to participate!

Admire the plan however. And I like your "handle" Mike,..... as it is my name as well!     

I've often wondered if there is a giant computer where all the combinations are stored and that each possibility is given out until they are all gone, but then that would take away the randomness of the quick pick.  My ipod will not play all the songs before it repeats when its on shuffle, so it make sense that the lottery machine would do the same thing.

It's still a game of chance and no matter who won, that person(s) beat the odds.  Yes the most tickets are sold in other states, but everyone playing still has the same chance to win.

I'm done debating if the lottery is fixed or not. if it is the lottery commission wouldn't do anything about it. they're like we now its fixed but hey what can u do about it. you'll keep playing. so all we can do as players is hope that in the1 in how many million odds that I'll win one day.

Areas are given an allocated set of (random???) numbers. That is why sometimes on (Daily)regular games (Pick3/4-) a number can be sold out in one county yet you can go over to the next and play that number.

Same goes with "batches" of numbers for MUSL styles (QP PLays only).  Lets say NY is given  Batch "B" and in that is over 1 million sets that do not repeat. Then the following week that Batch B is sent over to Californina. Its not as "random" as we think when we realize the series are pre-distributed thru machine batching. The part that makes it gaming is the air ball draws. Without this particular way of play it could very well be manipulated...Thankfully the lottery for MUSL hasnt moved in the computer generated for final picks.

Somewhere back in the news archives, there is a story similar to those first two lines.

Were so happy to hear that your "DONE" debating about the "fixed" lottery schemes kyok. 

Their is a God after all!   

In my opinion, I only see the Powerball reaching $400 million the least. I don't know why I think this. Maybe because everytime the Jackpot is in $300 million + territory, the machine kicks out a winning ticket. However, if we do pass $300 million, expect to see the jackpot at a staggering $500 million around April. Maybe, just maybe... only if we stop producing winners at $300 million LOL.

how long do u think it will be before the winner steps forward?cant wait to see the media circus that follows it. if it were me I would wait at least two to three months when all the hoopla had died down and let my Atty(trust) cash the ticket.

I can't say but I assume the winner is an old man waiting a month to step forward. He will in fact try to remain anonymous. 

I can be wrong though. lol.

Probably by the end of next week would be my humble guess.

"There will be growth in the Spring."    ~ Chance the Gardener ~

If the hoopla dies down,it will be temporary.As soon as someone claims the jackpot the media will be all over it like white on rice.That is if the world doesn't end or some other major event doesn't happen to send the reporters in another direction.

Agreed.

I think its best to get it over with one time. I am too paranoid that I might lose the ticket or someone steals it or piss on it and destroy it inadvertently. We've all been trying to win this thing long enough. Are you trying to tell me you have no idea what you would do with millions of dollars in a windfall?

I personally don't think its hard to determine what to do what large amounts of cash. It's rather more challenging to decide whether you'll buy the medication or eat this evening or fill your car up with gas for those living from pay check to pay check and find themselves from time to time as it were "PICKING PEAS OUT OF S..H..I..T.

Simple formula

HUGE WIN = Save some + Invest Some + Donate Some + Spend Some

It's not brain science.

The iPod reference is exactly why I don't buy quick picks. I listen to my iPod on shuffle every morning while getting ready for work. I can't tell you how many times I hear the same song every morning even though it's on "shuffle" and I have over 3 thousand songs. I can't help but relate that to any "random selection".

 Computers can't be fully random. They don't like random number generations and they can't.

The Mega Millions Cash Option is currently $44,800,000 ..........

Fun for all that play for FUN .........

Sweet! Looks like a Mercedes S550 or S400 Hybrid in Iridium Silver or White with twin 5 spoke wheels?   

 My cousin's husband makes millions of dollars every year by investing in promising new companies. I guess I know where to put some part of my winning. :)

That is why there's what many called "a formula" being used to ensure 'NEW' random numbers will keep on continuing to be produced and that no repeats from past drawings will ever be re-drawn again. If all combination has been drawn, the lottery can easily remove one number from an option, just like they done with the PB recently, to ensure 'NEW' random numbers will keep on being produced.

Anyway, definitely, good luck to all playing MB and PB this week!... I'll wait till either one reaching at least $250 mil to play, but, definitely best of luck to all who is playing it this week! Have fun! 

2012 Bentley Mulsanne! $330,000 @ Bentley Pittsburgh. I dropped by there on Monday. If you think that the picture is nice, you should see the real thing! It is optioned very nicely! The white 4 door in my previous post.

lotta talk bout positive thinking and that stuff,all good.

but it can't top going to the place where you would,

for real, drop $330g for ride.

We only live once, (not counting reincarnations ) might as well stimulate the economy while were occupying space.   

I was beyond wrong on this.. Didn't think about a lot of people only playing when the jackpot gets very large..  2 numbers that I always play tho have been drawn the past two times... now a little concerned about this :-/

Agreed :-)

It was on my way home from a Doctor appointment ............... and I have wanted to own a Bentley/Rolls since about 1963. It is a pleasant diversion from the drugery of everyday life. If you haven't seen a newer model Bentley "in person", you cannot understand the difference between Bentleys & a "regular" automobile. When I opened the door to go into the showroom, I was met with the aroma of an old world leather shop. These automobiles are works of art!

Nice car. When I was in England back in 98, I saw a couple. One of them had a chauffeur waiting right beside the car.

The state lotteries predictably increase the odds against lottery players in order to raise massive jackpots whichwas capped at around £180+ million

The euromillions odd in Europe have gone up from 1/80m to 113m.Additionally, they raised the prize of tickets prior to that.

I stopped playing it and just settled for the main lotto. I will be more than happy with £1 million jackpot and £185 million will just make crazy.

but... his and hers matching Mulsanne's. its easy to get carried away when talking vast amounts of money., my prob is id need a warehouse if i  got all the cars i dream about.  My current car fetish is a 1981 porsche 928 going for $10k out here. i could prob affords to buy it if i sold my current car, but dang i really couldnt afford the service's or insurance. not exactly in the $100k+ range but still a super car

can't argue w/ that when i was a kid, mid 60s and james bond 007 movies were the newest thing.

there was a multi-line dealer 2 blocks from school,oppisite direction from my way home,

we went there to see the "james bond car " little dissapointed though it did'nt have the

 machine guns & other equipt.

So much for these huge jumps in the amount when the Powerball rolls over.   Ten million last drawing, ten million this drawing.   I think the hangover of a huge pot and tons of people playing will take it's toll.   I wish they would just go back to making it one dollar to play or if you really wanted to make a difference then they should have made it five bucks per ticket to ensure it grew twenty million for each non jackpot winning drawing.

They sold 84 mill tickets (169mill in sales + another 10mill from powerplay) from just the last big draw. One more draw probably would of been 100mill tickets and more after. I think were gonna see some sick jackpots.

At least the MM rolled again... 83 million/60.4 cash..... here I come !!!!

I hope this is not the new trend for powerball, minimum jackpot increases until a certain point when people feel its worth the 2 dollars. If the jackpot ever gets hit before 100 million ouch! gonna be another slow go again. If the minimum increases keep happening after a jackpot win I could see people getting bored/frusterated with the game really fast.

over in another thread, people said they wont start playing till $250M,. at $20M a week, thats a long slow march to $250M, and as you say even slower if it  gets won  early.

I play always even small jackpots, because if there are more players like in really big ones, so there might be multiple winners too, reducing your share of money.

I do prefer tax free european games. 90 million EUR won here is 116 million USD after taxes. Sounds little but is more than Jack Whittaker got in USA,

until those 500-700 million Powerball jackpots are won by one people in reality too.

There is winner anonomity too in Europe.

From what the Europeans and Australians here on LP have posted about taxes and anonymity I wish our US laws and lotteries would take a hint.