Saturday night could bring a windfall for a lucky Powerball player, but ticket sales leading up to the historic $800 million jackpot have already provided a healthy payday for the Massachusetts Lottery. But as lottery officials often note, you have no chance of winning if you don’t buy a ticket. “You can throw out the statistics”, said Gary Grief, executive director of the Texas Lottery. Lottery retailers throughout the state are selling Powerball tickets for the drawing until 9:45 p.m. on Saturday.
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Could it hit $1 billion? That Mega Millions jackpot was won on March 30, 2012, and split between three winning tickets (Kansas, Illinois, and Maryland). With Powerball sales doubling previous records, the odds are growing that someone will win Saturday’s $800 million jackpot, but i…
The jackpot was estimated at $700 million on Thursday, and stood at $500 million on Wednesday, when no one won the previous drawing. But even lottery officials say they don’t know what to expect.
The bigger prizes draw more players, who in turn make the jackpots even bigger.
The odds are a matter of statistics and probability, but they’re facts that most players may not completely understand, said Ron Wasserstein, executive director of the Alexandria, Virginia-based American Statistical Association.
“If I won $800 first, I would probably faint, then I’d get an accountant, then a security guard, THEN I would give probably half of it to non-profit organizations”, said Mary Huber.
For every dollar of Powerball sales, 50 cents is put back into the prize pool, 42 cents is returned to the state, 6 cents is used to pay sales commissions and bonuses, and 2 cents covers administrative costs associated with the game, according to the Lottery.
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“You buy more than two, you’re just stupid”, he said. Compare that to the one in 14 million for the Lotto 6/49.
