Correction - there is no guarantee, due to multiple winners possibility.
Not really. If I won $50 million, less 33% in taxes and divided out over 20 years, that’s $1.7 million per year. Certainly a ton of money more than I have now but probably not more than I could spend if I wanted a gold plated yacht or whatever.
$500 million is $17 million per year. Not enough for a gold yacht if you’re hung up on hyperbole but you could certainly live out more fantasies with it.
Realistically, I’m not likely to win either but it’s more entertaining to imagine a ridiculously large pot of money over just a large pot 
I bought one ticket. If it loses, ehh. If it wins, I have a huge ROI on my investment. I hate people in general anyway, so if I win it won’t be a big loss writing of everyone I know. 
Yes, I acknowledged that later down the thread. Like I said, I was speaking theoretically.
The chances of a winning ticket are 1 in 173223510. With fifteen tickets I suppose it would be 1 in 11681567.333.
Hardly worth mortgaging your house, as I’ve heard of, but fifteen tickets isn’t more than they can afford.
If you had 24-hour/day access to 1000 lottery machines capable of processing one application a second, you could do it. And that’s if you’d written out all 175 million unique applications in advance.
Definitely money well spent then! 
Yeah, I know, it’s just a constant argument I have with my mother. She goes out and buys like 20 bucks worth of tickets, seemingly earnestly thinking she has just increased her chances of winning to any degree worth mentioning. And she’s not a stupid woman. She knows the score, but refuses to agree with me as everybody obviously should.
I keep telling her, “why don’t you go buy one ticket and then give me the other $18 - same-same, and I get a case of beer out of the deal.” So far, no luck.
Money doesn’t make you smart. A dumb guy who wins is going to do dumb things.
I saw no frenzy. I was at my local pharmacy on monday. Walked up to the counter and bought 5 tickets. Today someone went around the office and I put in 5 like everyone else. I am a bit of a gambler anyway so I don’t consider it wasted. Just a longshot. Hell I threw $20 on the Bucs to win the Superbowl pre-season because it was 100-1 odds. Now thats throwing money away.
Nope.
Bought a ticket. Don’t expect to win, but it’s fun to fantasize. The fantasy is no fun if it’s truely impossible, like by not buying a ticket.
It costs $12 for a movie here. I can have as much entertainment out of a $2 lottery ticket and still have $10 in my pocket.
The group I manage bought a bunch of tickets and then asked if I wanted to buy in. I certainly did…I just think of it as insurance.
When that $640m jackpot happened last time, I noodled around on Redfin and found a penthouse condo I would buy in a heartbeat. I noodled around yesterday and it’s still for sale. I took it as a sign and bought a ticket. What the heck.
And the numbers are:
5 16 22 23 29 and the red ball is 6.
Nothin’ here! Oh well.
Huh, interesting that all the numbers are below 31. That means that it’s more likely, IIRC, that there are multiple winners, since that includes the possibility of several someones playing birthdays.
And I win… Bupkis. Of course. 
I think I won four bucks!
I only buy lotto tickets if:
A. I get gasoline
and
B. I have to go into the store for something else (soda, beer, etc.) (pay at the pump)
and
C. And the “Pot odds” are high enough.
Option C is the only criteria that is met.
hey, me too!
Well crap, looks like I’ll have to finish that audit questionnaire tomorrow after all.