Good Waste Of $20

[PhillyB]

hmm i may give this a shot for the hell of it. i've never played the lottery before. what do you ask for? how do you know if you've won, does the ticket tell you or do you have to wait for numbers to be announced?

<----- lottery newb

[Proudiddy]

I'm with Philly, I've been against the lottery for awhile personally... I just don't like the idea of blowing money with very little return and seeing all those hobos spend their last buck on tickets hoping it will get them out of their current circumstances always bothered me...

But, half a bil? F it.

How does it work? What do I buy? How do I buy it? And then what do you do?

And can I buy it from the gas station or can I buy it from one of those kiosks at the front of grocery stores, like Harris Teeter?

[Inimicus]

I buy lottery tickets about 3 times a year on average. Between never carrying cash anymore and having almost zero reason to go into quik-e-marts anymore I just never think about it until it gets like this.

For half a Billion dollars, I think Ill be making a special effort to have some cash and find my way to a 7-11.

[Mrs Pantherfan]

the odds now are 760 million to 1...

the odds of getting hit by lightning ...1 in 500,000

I'm still gonna buy a few :)

[Jase]

the odds now are 760 million to 1...

the odds of getting hit by lightning ...1 in 500,000

I'm still gonna buy a few :)

1 in 176 million, slightly better odds than getting hit by lightning.

http://www.nc-educationlottery.org/megamillions_how-to-play.aspx

[Jase]

And yes, I let my wife play the lottery once per year, and we typically buy a group of 40-50 numbers.

We're ready.

[Jase]

looks like somebody else did the math besides me...

http://www.foxnews.c...record-jackpot/

The jackpot is so large, someone with enough money could theoretically buy up every single combination of winning numbers, thereby guaranteeing a winning ticket -- but only if you suspended the laws of physics.

A $540 million jackpot, if taken as a $390 million lump sum and after federal tax withholding, works out to about $293 million. With the jackpot odds at 1 in 176 million, it would cost $176 million to buy up every single combination. Under that scenario, the strategy would win $117 million -- less if your state also withholds taxes.

But there are too many limitations. First, if it takes five seconds to fill out each card, you'd need almost 28 years just to mark the bubbles on the game tickets. You'd also use up the national supply of special lottery paper and lottery-machine printing ink well before all your tickets could be printed out.

And with a jackpot this large, experts say, there is more of a chance of multiple winners. If you have to share the jackpot with even one fellow winner, you've lost $30 million.

and then there's this

http://www.foxnews.c...l-better-lives/

But winning the Big One isn't a guaranteed ticket to the good life, as these previous winners can attest:

-Jack Whittaker: This West Virginia businessman won $315 million in the Powerball lottery in 2002, the largest jackpot ever from a single ticket in American history at the time. After being robbed of $545,000 in cash while at a strip club, Whittaker's granddaughter and daughter were later found dead, and Whittaker was sued by Caesars Atlantic City casino for bouncing $1.5 million worth of checks to cover gambling losses.

-Juan Rodriguez: This New York City parking attendant was earning less than $30,000 in 2004 when he won $149 million in a Mega Millions drawing. But soon after taking the lump sum option of $88 million, his wife filed for divorce and was awarded half of his winnings.

-Fred Topous, Jr.: Topous won $57 million, the seventh-largest jackpot in Michigan state history in June 2008, but eventually took a $33 million lump sum. The convicted sex offender, who was released from prison in 2006, needs to register as a sex offender until 2024.

-Billy Bob Harrell, Jr.: This preacher working as a stockboy at Home Depot struck it rich in 1997, winning $31 million in Texas' lottery. Some 20 months later, after divorcing his wife and buying a half-dozen homes for relatives, he committed suicide using a shotgun.

-Jeffrey Dampier: In 1996, Dampier and his wife won $20 million in Illinois' lottery and used the money to buy relatives homes and to start a gourmet popcorn shop in Florida. Nine years later, Dampier was kidnapped and killed by his sister-in-law and her boyfriend who targeted him for money.

[Niner National]

the odds now are 760 million to 1...

the odds of getting hit by lightning ...1 in 500,000

I'm still gonna buy a few :)

Maybe of being the sole winner or something...

The odds of winning the jackpot don't change based on the pot value. It is based on the number of possible number combinations, which won't change unless they have added additional numbers.

[tarheelpride]

up to $640 mil....sign me up!

[Black]

I'm with Philly, I've been against the lottery for awhile personally... I just don't like the idea of blowing money with very little return and seeing all those hobos spend their last buck on tickets hoping it will get them out of their current circumstances always bothered me...

But, half a bil? F it.

How does it work? What do I buy? How do I buy it? And then what do you do?

And can I buy it from the gas station or can I buy it from one of those kiosks at the front of grocery stores, like Harris Teeter?

Go into a gas station, go to the register, say you want X amount of Mega Millions tickets. Most people just do quick picks where your numbers are randomly generated. You have the option to pay extra for prize multipliers, but that's up to you, I didn't do it. You pay one dollar per ticket, no tax, and they give you a piece of paper with your numbers. If you buy ten tickets, they might give you one piece of paper with all ten entries on it.

EDIT: If you want to pick your numbers instead of doing quick picks, you have to fill out the entry before you go up to the register. If you ask me, save your time and just get quick picks.

I'm not sure if you can buy them at Teeter.

Then just watch the drawing tonight at 11 pm est. It is broadcast in North Carolina on:

Draw Stations

WRAL - TV 5, Raleigh

WILM - TV 10, Wilmington

WCNC - TV 36, Charlotte

WITN - TV 7, Greenville, New Bern and Washington

WXLV - TV 45, Winston-Salem, Greensboro & High Point

[Proudiddy]

Thanks black, I think I'm gonna go with $20 myself today after I pick my daughter up from school...

Do you know of anyone that picks their own numbers? Just seems like you'd be better off letting the cpu do it (which I plan on doing for all of them).

[Black]

Thanks black, I think I'm gonna go with $20 myself today after I pick my daughter up from school...

Do you know of anyone that picks their own numbers? Just seems like you'd be better off letting the cpu do it (which I plan on doing for all of them).

Yesterday was the first time I've ever bought tickets. I read that 70% of winners used quick picks.

[Mrs Pantherfan]

I gots mine, bitches!!!

[Proudiddy]

Yesterday was the first time I've ever bought tickets. I read that 70% of winners used quick picks.

Thanks man, good enough for me. I'm just not creative enough with numbers to pick them myself. And I'm lazy.