Mega Millions jackpot now $1.1 billion, nation's 3rd largest (are YOU buying tickets?)

[Omaha Steve]

Bruce Gideos, manager at Pierre's Place, in Chesterfield, N.H., prints out Mega Millions tickets on Wednesday, July 27, 2022. The Mega Millions jackpot has topped $1 billion before Friday's drawing. (Kristopher Radder/The Brattleboro Reformer via AP)

This is a current event. Marta and I bought extra tickets. We buy for every drawing. Lets have some fun with this.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — One of the nation’s biggest lottery prizes got a little bigger Thursday as the Mega Millions jackpot increased to an estimated $1.1 billion.

The increase ahead of Friday night’s drawing makes the jackpot the third largest, behind $1.5 billion prizes won in 2018 and 2016.

The Mega Millions prize has grown so large because it has been more than three months since anyone matched the game’s six numbers and snagged the jackpot. That amounts to 29 consecutive drawings without a winner.

Before rushing out to spend $2 on a ticket, keep in mind that the odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are a staggering 1 in 302.5 million.

FULL story: https://apnews.com/article/iowa-63aa062d2162e8eee54a4787a3331eff

43 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	I'm buying our usual amount of tickets
	8 (19%)
	I only buy tickets when the jackpot gets real big like now
	21 (49%)
	I'm buying extra tickets
	4 (9%)
	I haven't decided if I'm getting any tickets or not yet
	3 (7%)
	I'm not buying any tickets ever
	5 (12%)
	I bought into a group at work etc. that are going in together
	1 (2%)
	My state doesn't have lotto, so I crossed the state line to buy
	0 (0%)
	other please explain
	1 (2%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[gratuitous]

1. I paid the Stupid Tax of $2 to join our office's pool

When I asked the partner if the firm had a contingency plan for Monday morning if the impossible happened, she kind of laughed. And then she didn't laugh. If the impossible happens, the estimated payout would be $12 million, and I'm close enough to retirement age that that would spell the end of my working-for-a-living phase of my life.

[CurtEastPoint]

11. gosh, how many people are splitting it?

[gratuitous]

12. We have about 50 in the office

Ordinarily I wouldn't play, but if the impossible happens, I'd be awfully lonely if I was the only one who hadn't kicked in two bucks.

[jimfields33]

14. I bought 20 bucks worth

I figure I’ve done worse with a 20.

[Trueblue1968]

32. hubby and i never go out so he is gonna buy 20 worth of tickets also

[brooklynite]

29. Always a silly question to ask...

It will take awhile to organize the trust you’ll need for a multi-party award, so you wouldn’t Ben leaving work anytime soon.

[gratuitous]

31. AV rated law firm

Specialists in estate planning, transactions and contracts. Highly motivated and professional staff. The most time-consuming part would be entrusting the winning ticket to someone to take it to lottery headquarters.

[Bettie]

2. We buy tickets occasionally

when the mood strikes us, usually a couple of times a year.

We will probably buy a few, because a day or so of thinking "what if..." is kind of fun.

[Victor_c3]

25. I do the same

Every once in a while I’ll buy a ticket. Like you said, it’s worth $2 to have the daydream of fantasizing what I’d do with the money.

Of course I’d spoil myself a little bit, but I don’t see it really changing my life much. I’m a Porsche fanatic and I have owned a few used ones over the years. Instead of buying used, I’d splurge and get a brand new Porsche for a change. I have zero desire for a mansion and a staff of servants.

I’d love to be able to spend my time running a charitable foundation just doling out money seemingly randomly to help people with emergency home repairs, college scholarships for disadvantaged kids, helping poor communities, and anything that’d gets my attention. I’d be a real life Elliot Rosewater from Kurt Vonnegut’s book “God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater”.

[Elessar Zappa]

3. I bought a couple.

I only buy them when the jackpot gets big.

[Dysfunctional]

21. Why, 1 million isn't enough?

[Elessar Zappa]

26. Lol I get your point.

I just don’t feel compelled to throw away $2 unless the jackpot is big, once or twice a year.

[Dysfunctional]

37. I get yours also. I am having a tough time keeping from buying a ticket.

I wonder what would happen to the lottery if 10,000 people win? Would that hurt future sales of tickets?

[Haggard Celine]

4. Got my tickets yesterday.

I only bought two. I never buy more than a couple. I figure that if fortune is going to smile on me, it can do it with a couple of tickets as well as a hundred.

[Tetrachloride]

5. 300 million friends if you win

that includes Trump

[Farmer-Rick]

6. The odds are so astronomical of me winning that even a dollar

Seems like a waste. But I do buy now and again.

[FSogol]

7. Hardly worth it. After taxes, it is only $620 million. You can't even start your own space program

with that amount.

[Leith]

8. I'm not buying a ticket

because it is about a 2 hour drive one-way to get to the nearest lottery outlet in CA and more than that to get to AZ. Add to that would be an even longer wait in line in the heat to get in the place and buy them (in California or another hour or so to get to the next outlet which would also have a long line).

It's ridiculous that Nevada doesn't do the lottery.

I'll just have to hope that one of my siblings gets the winning ticket and is feeling generous.

[KS Toronado]

9. Think I'll pick my own #s tomorrow instead of letting the computer do it.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

10. Yeah I play

when the pots are big...not sure why I differentiate, since $120M would meet my needs just as well as $1.1B would.

But with the $1.1B (paid out over time, not upfront), I could make some really impactful donations after taking care of close family and friends...that's what I dream about.

[Gore1FL]

13. I win the lottery by not playing. nt

[dameatball]

15. I bought a ticket and on the way home I traded it for some magic beans.

[bahboo]

16. yup....and we've already spent the first couple hundred bucks or so....

[zappaman]

17. I wasn't going to but

the clerk assured me it was the winning ticket

[mvd]

19. Want to but can't

Need all the money I have for necessities.

[Emile]

20. For a lousy two bucks it's worth it for a dream.

[IcyPeas]

22. I don't have a big enough piggy bank for all that money

[48656c6c6f20]

23. My daughter guaranteed a win if I went in halfsies.

I like humor her

[Johnny2X2X]

24. I'm good at math

So normally I never play. Might drop $10 this time though.

[hunter]

27. The second place prize is a 23 ton Chinese rocket booster falling on your head.

Luck works both ways.

https://www.space.com/china-long-march-rocket-uncontrolled-reentry-wentian

[edbermac]

28. I'm buying one.

And if I win I’m going to find every cause that Republicans hate and donate to it just to piss them off.

[Xolodno]

30. Nah.

I just did my usual stupid tax of $1 in the California Super Lotto. Better odds and most people are probably playing the Mega Millions.

Besides, I'm not greedy, a few million is perfectly fine.

[brooklynite]

33. "most people are probably playing the Mega Millions"

The odds of winning are fixed and aren't affected by the number of players. The only impact is the potential payout if you end up sharing with other winners.

[alphafemale]

34. I intend to buy one ticket

Odds do not significantly increase even if you bought 10,000.

I hardly ever pay this voluntary tax.

[SYFROYH]

35. Just bought ten quickpix.

Yee haw.

Plus the lottery funds the HOPE scholarships in GA. Double good.

[DFW]

36. Nah, I'm not a gamblin' man, and I don't like the odds, anyway.

If someone wins it, I hope it's someone that didn't have a cent to their name, and then didn't blow it on ridiculous stuff or some mysterious guru who shows up the moment they get the money, gains their confidence as an "adviser," and who disappears when it's gone (mostly into the guru's pocket).

I actually know one person who won a big lottery. It was about $15 million, and it was in Spain. The guy had had some reversals in his business, made bad loans to friends who stiffed him, and was just about bankrupt. He then won the lottery. He paid off his debts, and then got sued for divorce by his wife. He threw a bunch of money at her, saying, "if that's all you care about, here's a couple million, happy now?" (She was). He got his life in order, went back to his former modest life, minus his previous mistakes and the worries they brought, and is now one of the most contented guys I know. He has a loyal girlfriend who is very smart, a modest lifestyle, lives way below his means, and is determined never to face ruin again. He could have bought himself a fancy car, fancier digs, and stretched himself thin. Instead, he said, OK, I got lucky, and I'm not gonna blow it this time." His friends are exactly the same ones he had before he fell on hard times, during the hard times, and after he overcame them. I think he was a BIG exception.

If someone wants to drop $350 million after taxes in my bank account, I won't stop them, but I won't go out of my way to make it happen, either. The likelihood seems a bit too remote to worry about it.

[Amishman]

38. Bought a few bucks worth

In my mind I'm paying $4 for a few days of fun daydreams.

[ARPad95]

39. I found a nickel in the park yesterday so it must be a sign I'm coming into $$$$ (Mega Millions)!

The year on the nickel is "coincidently" the year of a major life event in my family. Hmmm, I think it's telling me to use the birth month and day of the person most affected by said event. I now have 4 numbers for my lottery ticket. I'll reverse the birth day and have my 5th number. Of course, I have to use 5 in honor of the nickel. Now I have my six lucky numbers!

[ARPad95]

40. Spent $10 and won $2. That's it for playing the lottery for another several years.