i am getting some tickets for tonight's drawing.

Record Mega Millions jackpot creates ticket-buying frenzy

A historic $640 million jackpot is up for grabs Friday as the Mega Millions lottery is living up to its name.

If there is no winner Friday, the jackpot would increase to an estimated $975 million, said Athena Hernandez of the D.C. lottery. That drawing would occur Tuesday.

"Friday night's Mega Millions drawing will truly be a spectacular event in lottery history and provides an unprecedented opportunity for players to take a chance on a half-billion dollar dream for just the $1 price of a ticket,"

The odds of winning the jackpot are about one in 176 million, which means a person would have a better chance of getting struck by lightning.

And while the urge to take a chance on such a big jackpot is alluring, Lustig said to guard against getting too enthusiastic.
"Don't go crazy with this," he said. "Don't get what's called lottery fever. Do not spend grocery money. Do not spend rent money."



http://www.cnn.com/...ions/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

I almost feel like driving down to Burlington to buy one..

hehe, i bought $20 worth on my way to the liquor store. was kinda surprised me that they gave me 20 tickets. it's pretty much the reason i skipped out of work. didn't want to waste their money while everyone there sat around dreaming of beings the millionaires.

oh, i'd keep 1m after all taxes are paid and give the rest away.

the pot odds are 3.6:1 right now. If you had 176M to spend you'd have a great chance to make a lot of money, even if you had to split the pot. If you live in NV, could write the 176M off as a business expense. Of course the logistics would be expensive - but I'd not be surprised to see some institutional investors jumping on this.

This sounds like a game theory question. If a few institutional investors do it then they will erode their collective profit margins pretty quick. That's quite a bit of risk to take on for a large, complex project!

As you noted the logistics kills you anyway because I don't think you could just go to 7-11 and say "give me every combination please. and a slim jim." :p

hmmm, can it even be paid by debit card? i never tried to use a debit card to buy lottery tickets.

nope, lottery tickets can't be purchased on credit cards/debit cards. cash money only.

also, you can't auto pick 176 million entries, so they'd have to be done by hand.

goodluck!

Credit/debit can be back charged. No lotto, and you can't release your impounded car either

yankeeland doesn't have chance to play lotto via interwebs?

In the great state of Massachusetts you can buy lottery with your plastic.

Except that there can be more than one winner (binominal theory). In fact, that's the likely outcome given most data indicate that more people play with higher pots. I read a good story explaining the ideal amount based on past data to play and still have a shot at highest jackpot as single winner was $420 million.

Needless to say, I would accept $640 million split 2 or 3 ways as well.

damned yankees...

in the great country of canada you can buy your lottery with plastic and your lottery winnings are 100% tax free although I'm not sure if that applies for a foreign government lottery or not...

SO fluff YOU!

Oh: I would accept 640 million split 50 ways that's still enough to retire on:P

Massachusetts is the best state for Canadians to play the lotto in. There is a 25-30% federal tax on foreign lottery winnings, but most other states have an extra 5-12% tax tacked on. In this case, you'd get $480m paid out over 26 years or $240m lump sum.

Sooooo, anyone here win? I know I didn't!

I'm not going to check my tickets until next week. That way I can pretend I still have a chance at winning for as long as possible.

The only way I would get in on buying lotto tickets for this is if I found some people to invest with. I'd pay for 5% of the tickets, in return for getting 5% of the winnings.

The value of the other 95% of the pot, if I already had 5% of it, is really quite low to me.

Not sure I would use the term 'invest' when referring to the lotto...

If it were a casino game, it would have the worst odds in the building.

Well, the only reason I would play is if I am getting good pot odds. In which case it would be an investment.

I'm not sure what the chances of a split pot are here, but there's a chance that the pot odds make it a worthy investment.

Lotto is poor man's retirement plan :p

Cue Bruce Almighty.

fluff! I LOST I WAS COUNTING ON WINNING!! :-(

http://www.cbsnews.com/...ega-millions-ticket-sold/

Maryland is where the winning ticket was sold it looks like

wow!!!!!

I hope one of the baltimore area earthers won!!! :)

If i win the lotto i would pay evo to disband

So far there have been winning tickets reported in Maryland, Kansas and Illinois. I did buy a ticket in Maryland, but not in Baltimore county =(

(also, my numbers didn't match)

Lol

http://www.circlemud.org/~jelson/megamillions/

GOOD Luck to those with tickets..when you gt the prize,at least donate and save millions or billions of lives..


:)

donate? pffft i would set up my own charity, using this to save lives, well also paying myself a massive salary like all charity companies do now.

2mill a year baby!!!

<3TNT<3

ok so i got 20 and didn't even get 1 dollar back. Haven't gotten a call from the pool at the wife's work either

my friend came within just a few numbers from winning. i play every week and still never even came that close :(

once my mother's numbers were announced on lottery but she hadn't played that week, not even close after that.

I agree. Gambling is not investing. And no (experienced) investor would ever take on an investment that had 1 in 176M chance of an ROI.

gambling is exactly the same as investing. unless of course you believe that investing actually requires you to only gain money.

out of $20 worth of tickets i got 4 hits off of 3 numbers. none of them on the same ticket.

Investing can only be considered to be gambling if the investor isn't doing the proper due diligence before making said investment, often referred to as "risk management."

With gambling there is little you can do to increase your odds. Just buy in and hope your number comes up.

However, I do acknowledge that no matter what, there is always an element of risk of loss with investing.