# Bought 14 Powerball Tickets **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 29, 2012, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-14-powerball-tickets/642434 "2012-11-29T02:51:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Modern\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@Modern\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Modern_Master)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-14-powerball-tickets/642434/1 "2012-11-29T02:51:16Z")
I just wanted to share. I’m excited. This is my first powerball. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-14-powerball-tickets/642434/2 "2012-11-29T02:57:12Z")
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!!! ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-14-powerball-tickets/642434/3 "2012-11-29T03:03:41Z")
I’m in for 20 numbers. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-14-powerball-tickets/642434/4 "2012-11-29T10:25:44Z")
Those odds are about right, **Hampshire**.The actual calculation is ((59!)/(5!)\*(54!))\*35, or 175223510. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-14-powerball-tickets/642434/5 "2012-11-29T17:17:39Z")
Shockingly, I didn’t win. Out of the six numbers selected, I got a grand total of zero numbers correct. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-14-powerball-tickets/642434/6 "2012-11-29T19:32:01Z")
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.😃 ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-14-powerball-tickets/642434/7 "2012-11-29T21:46:23Z")
I got the power ball, so a whopping $4 payout! oh well… ---
**Author:** ![Minnie\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Minnie\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minnie_Luna)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-14-powerball-tickets/642434/8 "2012-11-29T21:52:01Z")
I won $11, but I filled my car with $40 of gas right after I cashed out the tickets… ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-14-powerball-tickets/642434/9 "2012-11-30T02:59:03Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > 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. 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.