{"id":6231,"date":"2016-01-09T12:40:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-09T20:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/900-million-prize-1-in-292-million-odds-and-a-few-more-lottery-numbers\/"},"modified":"2016-01-09T12:40:00","modified_gmt":"2016-01-09T20:40:00","slug":"900-million-prize-1-in-292-million-odds-and-a-few-more-lottery-numbers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/900-million-prize-1-in-292-million-odds-and-a-few-more-lottery-numbers\/","title":{"rendered":"$900 Million Prize, 1 In 292 Million Odds \u2014 And A Few More Lottery Numbers"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Camila Domonoske<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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A machine prints Powerball lottery tickets at a convenience store in Washington, D.C. on Thursday. Saturday’s jackpot has risen to $900 million. Saul Loeb.\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/strong> hide caption<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

toggle caption<\/strong> Saul Loeb.\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

One number has everybody’s attention this afternoon. But why stop at one?<\/p>\n

Here’s the prize jackpot, plus a few other lottery stats worth knowing:<\/p>\n

$900,000,000<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The eye-popping, record-breaking Powerball jackpot value, as of Saturday afternoon. If no one wins tonight, the jackpot could crack a billion.<\/p>\n

That’s based on a single winner selecting the annuity option, which pays out over three decades. Alternately …<\/p>\n

$558,000,000<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The cash payout that rarely gets the boldfaced headline treatment, but it’s the more likely winning amount. The vast majority of jackpot winners<\/a> choose the cash payout, even though it’s always significantly smaller than the jackpot.<\/p>\n

You could hypothetically<\/a> benefit from choosing the upfront payout \u2014 provided you invest the money instead of spending it. Which of course is exactly what you’d do, right?<\/p>\n

$220,968,000<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The tax man cometh. If you win and choose the lump-sum payment, expect to pay north of $200 million in federal taxes, at the 39.6 percent top income bracket \u2014 not counting state income tax<\/a>.<\/p>\n

1 in 292,201,338<\/strong><\/h5>\n

One in 292 million. Those are your odds of winning the jackpot.<\/p>\n

Not one in a million, not one in 10 million … one in 292 million.<\/em><\/p>\n

Are you channeling your inner Lloyd Christmas right now … “So you’re telling me there’s a chance?”<\/a><\/p>\n

Here’s a way to more viscerally experience the long odds. The Los Angeles Times<\/em> put together a demonstration of playing the Powerball odds<\/a>, in chunks of $100 or $1,000 or more \u2014 tallying up your total losses over time.<\/p>\n

You can plug in truly enormous amounts of money and watch probability at work all afternoon, if that sounds like fun. So far, this reporter is down 104 grand.<\/p>\n

15 percent to 73 percent<\/strong><\/h5>\n
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Listen to the story<\/a><\/h3>\n

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5:37 <\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n