While the $1.4 billion Powerball grand prize is still up for grabs, there were nine $50,000 winners in Saturday’s drawing. It was already the largest in USA lottery history. “On behalf of the lottery, I want to thank all Arkansans who have taken part in this epic ten week Powerball run, the additional scholarship funding generated will certainly enhance the future of our students”, said Arkansas Scholarship Lottery Director Bishop Woosley in a news release. It’s not an accident.
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Disappointed you didn’t win the Powerball jackpot this weekend? Now, instead of choosing five numbers out of 59, players have to choose five out of 69.
No matter the potential winnings, the odds of getting all six numbers remains 1 in 292 million. When this happens, the prize pool rolls over creating giant jackpots. Coming into hundreds of millions of dollars all at once brings pitfalls and dangers.
That ridiculous number has millions of folks in dozens of Powerball states across the country dreaming of what they would do if they won. And while the victor, or winners, will get a big payout, the state of or does too.
This jackpot has been rolling since the November 4, 2015, drawing. Since then ticket sales have only taken off.
Well, this is it: the first North American lottery over $1 billion.
The “problem” is affecting billboards all over the United States.
“When you walk around the salon, you hear everyone talking about how big the jackpot is and what they’d do with the money”, Sims said. “Some people might have been sad that they came so close and didn’t get it, but he was very, very happy”.
The odds of winning any lotto jackpot are extremely low. Forever. You will sleep a lot better knowing you won’t lose money. He said he will buy another $20 worth of tickets even if thinking about winning more than a billion dollars scares him a bit.
Profit from those ticket sales go to government coffers.
Of that, hopeful players in the Tar Heel state spent $17.2 million on Powerball alone.
The purchase is easy for the millions of Canadians who live near the border with the US, and lottery rules do not prevent a person who is not a USA citizen from claiming the prize (though they may be subject to additional taxes), according to a CBS News report. And thus the lottery acts like an implicit 38 percent tax on mainly the poorest people. But even that promise is often hollow.
Other states seem less likely to adopt lotteries. States increase per capita spending on education right after they enact a lottery, but they end up decreasing overall spending later on.
Brownsville city administrator Scott McDowell enjoys playing a friendly game of poker, but doesn’t usually buy a Lottery ticket.
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Buying every lottery combination has actually been tried once.
