<p>So if the chances with one ticket are 1 in 176 million, if I buy one million tickets will I improve my odds to 1 in 176? I like those odds!</p>
<p>If I won, I would give half to the federal government and 7 percent to the state of North Carolina and who knows who else will have their hand in my pocket.</p>
<p>Just saw on my news feed that is up to 640 million. Yikes. And Tuesday there was not winner…could that happen again?? I can’t even begin to wrap my head around that scenerio.</p>
<p>DH is in a pool with with IT staff…20 people at $5 each. I bought two $10 tickets at different places…and emailed daughters to purchase tickets in their states. We hardly ever go to Vegas, so this is my gambling money! 
Good luck to all!</p>
<p>I am not. I never win a lottery. I get a fair share of what I work for, so no complaints. Just never gotten a freebie.</p>
<p>I will buy some tickets today on my way to lunch. According to the SquawkBox(sp?) on TV, I only need $20 million to live well. The rest I will donate to charities.</p>
<p>Post 36 is correct. Charity cash raffles and pari-mutuel racing offer much, much better odds. </p>
<p>I bought two tickets today, just to share the experience.</p>
<p>Here’s to someone from CC winning, if not me, you!</p>
<p>
And people who buy $10 in tickets rather than just a single ticket increase their odds from .00000057% to .0000057%! </p>
<p>
Really? You think it’s worth $1M for a 0.57% odd of winning? Flip it around and it means that if you placed that bet 100 times you’d lose 99 out of the 100 times and there’s a good chance you’d lose the 100th out of 100 times as well.</p>
<p>If you have a ton of money you could buy $176M worth of tickets and increase your odds substantially but even then - you could still lose!</p>
<p>And actually the odds are changing every day since the more tickets they sell the greater the chance that multiple people will have the winning number and I believe they split the pot so while the odds of having the winning number might be the same the odds of winning the entire pot exclusively are going down.</p>
<p>I’m buying $20 to join in the fun. Considering I went an auction last night with drawings with considerably better odds and won a big fat zilch, I’m certainly not holding my breath. I thought I’d at least win a hair cut or a facial. Sigh.</p>
<p>We are just buying lottery tickets for fun…</p>
<p>I am sure all of us have wasted money at some point and time…</p>
<p>It is cheap entertainment…</p>
<p>Yep, bought some too. I hope one of you wins it so I know who is spending my money! LOL</p>
<p>GGD: I was trying to explain that to someone this morning, thanks.</p>
<p>You could have bought every ticket sold by yourself, since Jan 24, and you still would not have won.</p>
<p>Man…some of the posters are real kill joys…</p>
<p>When they draw my numbers tonight, I’m picking up everyone from my office and we’re chartering a flight down to NOLA for the Final Four. I don’t care if they go to the games with me or not – they can party on Bourbon Street – but they have to cheer for Kentucky to beat Louisville. My suitcase is already packed.</p>
<p>One of the local stores sold a $250,000 winning ticket on Tuesday (I think) - so I believe we have used up our luck in this city for awhile. (Still…I think hubby went in on the group buy at work.)</p>
<p>
Sorry about that but while I understand the realities of things like the lottery it wouldn’t prevent even me from buying a ticket. It’s just that I wouldn’t be willing to even cross the street out of my way to do so due to the poor odds of winning but if it was really convenient to buy one I’d probably buy one - just one. Just like if I’m in Vegas I’ll often put the dollar in the big bertha slot machine to see if I win the car or multi-million $$ jackpot just for the fun of it (but only one dollar).</p>
<p>To kill the joy even more - think about the place you likely bought your ticket and how many tickets they’ve sold over the years to every customer who bought one and have never sold a ticket that hit the mega-lotto jackpot. You can even expand this to entire towns and even cities where out of all the tickets sold at every outlet in town over the course of years, not a single winning mega-lotto jackpot ticket was sold yet people have the idea that if they buy $10 worth at their local 7/11 or $20 worth they’re really improving their odds tremendously.</p>
<p>But I agree - it can still be fun to have a chance of winning but that can be had by just playing $1.</p>
<p>Well, IF I don’t win tonight, on the bright side, officials are estimating that California schools will get at least $100 million from the lottery…</p>
<p>Gladgraddad…I know the odds are very low to win…</p>
<p>And I am sure what you wrote is true…</p>
<p>It’s just fun…</p>
<p>Go spend a buck…</p>
<p>I don’t go to the casinos…I dislike Vegas…etc…</p>
<p>When you take your next breath…realize that the odds that you are here…are lower than the lottery’s…</p>
<p>Your parents had to fool around at that Nanosecond or you would not be here. 
I can get more graphic if you want. :)</p>
<p>Bought $10 worth of tickets. I don’t usually buy them, but just wanted to be part of the fun and excitement. I never win anything, so I won’t be disappointed.</p>
<p>I just can’t decide if I should get my own airplane or if I should just fly first class so I can board first? No I think a private jet is the way to go. Otherwise I would have to insist upon being held in a private room and then board at the very last second so that the economy passengers don’t walk down the aisle and stare at me…such a bother!</p>
<p>More importantly, I hope they give me a few days warning before taking my pix taken with the oversized cardboard check…I shall have to have time to buy the perfect outfit and accompanying handbag!</p>
<p>The only thing guaranteed with the lottery is that you must buy a ticket to win. </p>
<p>If you don’t buy a ticket, you are out of the running to win. </p>
<p>Its worth dropping a few dollars every now and then. No regrets on my part. And in most states, like mine and gosmom, a good chunk of money goes to schools.</p>