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That's the problem. I have better odds of getting drafted than winning the lottery.
LOL....well, we can go on and on I guess, but you'll never know if you don't play....there are many rich folks that thought the same as you and now never have to work again....
I mean, unless $1 is going to break you, then maybe you don't need to play.
But boy, would that be a heck of an investment...$1 = $200,000,000+ after taxes....
Since the odds of winning is something like 1 in 212 million, if one had $212,000,000 and could afford to purchase every single possible combination, thereby guaranteeing them a win, and thus returning one would hope to be upwards of $350,000,000 (i.e., $586 million + your $212M in new ticket purchases, and assuming another individual shared the winnings),
this equates to one heck of a return and not at all a sucker gamble..
It's not that simple...
You'd be using post-tax dollars to buy the tickets, and your winnings would be pre-tax. Also, when the prize gets up this high, it's not uncommon for there to be more than one or even two winners.
It's a pretty bad gamble. I'd rather take the low risk (e.g. $5) for the high reward, knowing that there's very little chance of winning, than take the guaranteed "win" with a potential loss of tens of millions.
I have been reading about how happy the Mega Millions Lottery folks are about the jackpot getting so high...because it creates a whole lot more interest, and thus higher ticket sales, and more dollars flowing into their coffers "to fund education'. Whatever happened to that? Politicians got ahold of the bucks and they basically vaporized into the great hole known as government?
It would be nice to see a LOT of people win, say, $5 million instead of one person potentially wining $250 million. Five million would set most people up for life (you can easily generate $200,000 per year in interest alone) with few, if any, cares. I just don't think people have any idea of how much money $5 million is, let alone $250 million. I chuckle when people say 'I will be just like I was before'. That just wreaks of ignorance. Not because people won't try to continue their simple lives, but because they have no idea of the amount of baggage that comes with such a windfall--taxes, investment management, and leeches you never knew you were related to, just for starters. Truly, it is a life changer regardless of whether you wish for that to happen or not.
P.S. I wouldn't mind having my life change...a lot. I can deal with that.
I always think it's funny when people talk about taxes on the money they win.
I used to work at a casino in the bingo department and it wasn't uncommon for our jackpots to get up to 20-25,000. I'd mention it to the customers and most of them would get pretty excited (small town bingo hall) But every once in a while there would be that one person who'd say "Ugh, imagine the taxes on that"
"Well even at 50% (which is way off) you are still walking out of here with $10,000 off of a blackout card that you paid a buck for so ****" I'd say....okay, I never said that but I wanted to.
Am I going to play? Yep
Am I going to win? Nope
Am I going to daydream for a few days about all that I would do with the money? You damn betcha, that's why I spend the money in the first place.
If you spend, say, $30, and "cover" every megaball (or whatever it's called) combination but use the SAME other 5 numbers (the powerplay play), you COULD win as much as $70 million pre-tax (actually, there may be (and probably is) an upper limit in total payout for 2nd prizes so maybe somewhat less than that). The 2nd prize (with the multiplier) can be as much as $5 million pre-tax, covering all 15 numbers multiples that by 14 (since the 15th IS the jackpot).
Just think, you could add, pre-tax but the ACTUAL amount, up to $70 million to the jackpot if you won the jackpot, too!
In Virginia I use the multiplier 0.5425 to figure take-home cash amount from the cash prize.
====
Just looked up tax rates and see Virginia maxes out at 5.75% BUT the feds take 39.6% + possibly another 3.8% SURTAX so the total tax hit could be almost 50%.
Last edited by sullyguy; 12-17-2013 at 02:19 PM..
Reason: added tax rate junk
Conservative shouldn't play the lottery. Don't you take pride in being self-sufficient and not looking for massive un-earned cash awards?
That's a pretty stupid statement.
Using your own faulty logic, conservatives also shouldn't invest in the stock market. Or play the tables in Las Vegas. Or open an interest bearing bank account...
Seriously, that was really, really stupid. Did you actually consider what you wrote before posting it, or did you get all giddy when you thought you discovered a "dig" against conservatives you could make in this apolitical discussion, and just blurt it out without bothering to exercise two brain cells to determine its validity?
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