# Did you buy a Powerball ticket? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 6, 2016, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-buy-a-powerball-ticket/742364 "2016-01-06T22:01:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-buy-a-powerball-ticket/742364/81 "2016-01-08T20:23:38Z")
Island or mountain retreat,? ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-buy-a-powerball-ticket/742364/82 "2016-01-09T00:49:48Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > We have fourteen people kicking in $5 each in my pool… Same here but we only do $2 each. It’s a nice way to participate in a fun thing that I wouldn’t do by myself. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-buy-a-powerball-ticket/742364/83 "2016-01-09T02:36:04Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Island or mountain retreat,? What’s this “or” nonsense? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-buy-a-powerball-ticket/742364/84 "2016-01-09T04:07:19Z")
I’ve never bought a lottery ticket in my life. Honestly I had no idea they were so cheap! ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-buy-a-powerball-ticket/742364/85 "2016-01-09T04:29:54Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > I never buy lottery tickets for ordinary jackpots because I don’t even think about the lottery most of the time. That’s exactly it for me. Maybe (I’m not doing the math) it would be “better” for me to regularly buy $1 tickets for a $10mil pot than a $2 ticket for a $500mil pot twice a year. I’ve no idea. But I don’t think about the lottery until it’s so large that _everyone_ is thinking about the lottery and then I drop the $2 just for kicks. $4 worth of tickets per year is pretty insignificant to me. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-buy-a-powerball-ticket/742364/86 "2016-01-09T05:35:56Z")
I bought one today. As a help to others, avoid the numbers 12-22-25-51-68-14; those are my numbers and I’ve never gotten so much as ONE number right on a ticket. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-buy-a-powerball-ticket/742364/87 "2016-01-09T05:38:37Z")
No, I didn’t. I “play” the lottery once a year, and they’re scratch-off tickets that my parents put in our Christmas stockings. I rarely even win anything on those. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-buy-a-powerball-ticket/742364/88 "2016-01-09T10:44:21Z")
No, I didn’t buy one. I don’t play when the jackpot’s huge. A million or two (properly invested) could improve my life. Hundreds of millions would ruin my life. I’m certain of it. That much money makes you a target, both figuratively and literally. It would mean spending the majority of my time trying to protect myself against every thief and huckster on the planet. And it would \*literally \*make it dangerous for my family to be out and about for fear of kidnapping. I prefer to live without needing a security force around us. If I found the winning ticket I would quietly burn it and go on with my life. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-buy-a-powerball-ticket/742364/89 "2016-01-09T10:48:50Z")
Do the US lotteries not have an anonymity option like the UK ones? ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-buy-a-powerball-ticket/742364/90 "2016-01-09T10:56:26Z")
Based on the recent hacks of personal information in both corporate and government databases, I don’t believe any government bureaucracy is competent to keep such information secret. The feds aren’t even competent enough to keep their database of [security clearance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Personnel_Management_data_breach) information from hackers. I doubt a state lottery office would be capable of keeping such information private. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-buy-a-powerball-ticket/742364/91 "2016-01-09T11:02:52Z")
> [@RobDog](#): > > Do the US lotteries not have an anonymity option like the UK ones? A few do, but most make it a matter of public record. In some states you have to _appear_ publicly so the media can photograph you and give the lottery agency free publicity. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-buy-a-powerball-ticket/742364/92 "2016-01-09T12:30:22Z")
Did you buy a Powerball ticket? I did. I walked in to the store and said: “Can I have a five dollar quick-pick on the Powerball?” I was told that the tickets were 2 dollars each, so I asked for 4 dollars worth. If I lose, I’ll have to regret that 4 dollar waste for the rest of my life. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-buy-a-powerball-ticket/742364/93 "2016-01-09T13:20:17Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > A few do, but most make it a matter of public record. In some states you have to _appear_ publicly so the media can photograph you and give the lottery agency free publicity. It’s also ostensibly to to prevent fraud on lotteries in general. Since there theoretically could be a conspiracy of the people in charge to pocket the money and just say they gave it to someone, but they can’t tell you who. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-buy-a-powerball-ticket/742364/94 "2016-01-09T13:33:34Z")
Speaking of the UK lottery, the UK lottery jackpot tonight is a ‘mere’ £50M (~US$75M). But we pay tax on the ticket, not the win, so we get it all. And there’s none of this annuity vs cash value malarkey. It’s £50M cold, hard, cash. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-buy-a-powerball-ticket/742364/95 "2016-01-09T13:44:21Z")
Four of us from work, and my mom, are playing this time and last. That’s a total of seven tickets, because the last tickets we had won us, gasp, $4 for two extras. I know all the stuff about the lottery being a tax on people who can’t do math. I had a probability and statistics class in college and know the formulas for calculating odds. That’s why we buy just one ticket each, as entertainment. As our professor once said “Improbable is not quite the same thing as impossible.” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-buy-a-powerball-ticket/742364/96 "2016-01-09T14:49:46Z")
Well Fuck Yeah! Of Course I bought a Powerball ticket. And if I win, all of you Turds get a years supply of suppositories. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-buy-a-powerball-ticket/742364/97 "2016-01-10T12:59:35Z")
Great googly moogly. Nobody won, and it’s going to be $1.3 billion at the next drawing. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-buy-a-powerball-ticket/742364/98 "2016-01-10T13:05:59Z")
I’m wondering what the taxes are on the winnings. When the jackpot was 900 million the estimated payoff was 558 million if taken in a lump sum payment. So then taxes would come out of that number. What would the rate be? I figure at least 40%, if not more. That still would leave someone with more money than they ever needed. Even if split five ways, like the players where I work. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-buy-a-powerball-ticket/742364/99 "2016-01-10T13:07:42Z")
Wow. A billion dollar baby jackpot. That’s crazy. Next drawing I’m upping my $4 investment to like, $6 or something. That’s gotta help me odds-wise. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-buy-a-powerball-ticket/742364/100 "2016-01-10T13:54:33Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > So then taxes would come out of that number. What would the rate be? I figure at least 40%, if not more. Almost all of it would be taxed at the federal top rate of 39.6%. Plus whatever state and local income tax you’d owe. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-buy-a-powerball-ticket/742364.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-buy-a-powerball-ticket/742364.md?page=6)