I just wanted to share. I’m excited. This is my first powerball. 
I read that the odds of winning were 175,000,000 to 1. If each possible combination was written on a penny and those pennies were laid end to end they’d stretch from L.A. to Chicago. To buy all the pennies in a one mile stretch it would cost about $160,000.
Did I still buy $20 worth of tickets? HELL YES!!!
I’m in for 20 numbers.
Those odds are about right, Hampshire.The actual calculation is ((59!)/(5!)*(54!))*35, or 175223510.
Shockingly, I didn’t win.
Out of the six numbers selected, I got a grand total of zero numbers correct.
My strategy is to check the digits of pi (the number I would play) against the winning numbers and award myself $2 each time they don’t come up. So far I am several hundred dollars in the black.
I got the power ball, so a whopping $4 payout! oh well…
I won $11, but I filled my car with $40 of gas right after I cashed out the tickets…
My strategy is to decrease my cost by not buying any tickets. I plan on finding a winning ticket lying in the street and claiming the big prize with it.
Interestingly, the odds with this strategy isn’t that much worse than the conventional “buy a ticket” strategy.