I did not win the $1 billion Powerball jackpot on Saturday, but neither did anyone else, so the jackpot goes to $1.1 billion for tonight’s drawing.
Actually, if I took the cash I would win a mere $498.4 million — the $1.1 billion is based on an annuity paid over 20 years. I think the average human could survive on the cash value, even after taxes and other syphons.
What would my local church do with my $49,000,000 tithe? That would make a lovely endowment for mission fields and helping hands.
I would pay off my debts and still have around $450,000,000 in the bank before taxes. It’s a lifestyle changing amount.
It’s fun to dream about, but I’m still expecting to have bills to pay Tuesday morning. That’s why, if I buy another ticket, I will be buying only one, and I suggest you do the same. The guy ahead of me at the store bought 20 bucks worth of tickets; giving him 10 times as many chances as I had, which works out to one chance in 29,220,134 for him.
Even my $2 investment is pretty darn silly. They say lotteries amount to a tax on the mathematically challenged, and they’re absolutely correct. I’m good enough at math to know that for 2 bucks I improve my odds from absolutely zero to next to nothing, and as the gentleman in Dumb and Dumber says, so you’re telling me there’s a chance.
Like I said, it’s fun at 2 bucks a dream.
