Powerball $100m Next Week Are You Playing

Just a quick poll on the OZbargain communities willingness to dream/waste money like i do on these tickets - now i know playing powerball and lotto in general is an 'silly tax' but i think the 20-30bucks i spend a ticket gives me 1 week to dream of what life would be like if all my financial problems where gone [which is like 95 percent of my problems]

Anyway the poll is simply will you play Powerball next week to try and win a piece of the 100m dollar prize….. apprently the last 100m prize pool had 1 in 2 Australian Adults purchase a ticket

bonus question if you want to say what you plan to do if you win the entire jackpot [becuz i always find it fun hearing other peoples dreams]

fun story - had a patient tell me her brother in law spent 6k on tickets in the last 100m draw….he won 42 dollars back…[just a reminder gamble responsibly]

for those who are playing i wish you luck

for the record - if i won the entire jackpot i'm buying this joint https://www.realestate.com.au/property-apartment-qld-surfers… and you're all welcome to come party with me, beers on me

Poll Options

  • 346
    You bet im playing - got to be in it to win it
  • 261
    No im not buying a ticket - lotto's an idiot tax

Comments

    • This is conspiratorial. Of course most of the people who win are going to pay off their mortgage and take a holiday, that's pretty much the plan for every person that has a mortgage and can afford a holiday

      Many people who win the lottery say it's actually kind of crap and would prefer to be anonymous so that you don't get everyone coming out of the woodwork asking for money (or worse, targetted by criminals)

      Of course it's always a man or a woman, they're overwhelmingly the species that buy lottery tickets. They're also distributed semi-randomly so of course they'll be from a random place you're unlikely to have heard of (unless you've memorised every suburb in Australia, no small feat considering there are 15,353 of them)

      Can you sum up this Tattersall's heiress thing? It looked very boring to go through with Google

    • +1

      Yea about 60 years ago a man won the lottery and his name and photo were published, a few weeks later his son was kidnapped, held for ransom and murdered. So there might be a reason people don't want their name published.

      • Yea about 60 years ago a man won the lottery and his name and photo were published, a few weeks later his son was kidnapped, held for ransom and murdered. So there might be a reason people don't want their name published.

        ive read in some states in the US you have too have a photo of you in the paper and be identifiable - apparently one guy who one like close to a billion dollars had to go into some kind of witness protection to leave the country for a while lmao

    • Australian lotteries are run by Tabcorp, listed on the Australia Stock Exchange. I worked there 20 years ago and the payouts are real. At the time the scratch lottery tickets were printed in the US by Scientific Games.

    • Lottery’s are the biggest scam - you never actually hear who “won” the major prize pool.

      They used to publish the winner's names here, until someone's son was kidnapped…

  • +4

    My parents will no doubt buy a ticket so I'll ride their winnings when they finally reclaim the $20 a week they've spent on lotto for the last 50 years or so. Gotta be in it to win it yeah?

    • +2

      My parents will no doubt buy a ticket so I'll ride their winnings when they finally reclaim the $20 a week they've spent on lotto for the last 50 years or so. Gotta be in it to win it yeah?

      do your parents 'really' play ever week…if so i think that is insane

      i mean ill play when the jack pot is over 50m which is probably a 10 or so times year

      • Pretty sure it's every week, but not always Powerball, it's Gold Lotto (maybe, haven't lived there in a while) in Qld where they live.

      • +3

        How is playing every week "insane" but playing every 5 weeks is reasonable?

        • The less you play, the greater the odds of winning.

  • +2

    I find it interesting and sus that the powerball jackpot always goes off at like 80m+….. right?

    I rather see higher chances of winning but the winner gets 1m. I rather see 100 people winning 1m than 1 person winning 100m

    I had an idea of a raffle style lotto where there's ALWAYS a winner. When the raffle reaches 500k, the raffle will be drawn and there will be 1 winner each time. If a ticket is $5, there's 1 out of 100,000 to win. Of course more tickets need to be sold to cover marketing, overheads etc…. but i rather see these kinds of lotto rather than a chance to win by RNG.

    • +2

      The lottery could have a max payout of 15k and it would help more people

      But we are in a winner takes all society.

    • +5

      I find it interesting and sus that the powerball jackpot always goes off at like 80m+

      That's because more people play when there's a higher jackpot.

      • +1

        That's because more people play when there's a higher jackpot.

        exactly the odds of winning powerball are around 134m and the cost per game is around 2.20 this is the same regardless of the 'jackpot size' thus most people will play when it hits a jackpot size they think it 'worth the risk'

        it is simple supply demand econmics

        the higher the jackpot the more people willing to spend 25 bucks or so for the chance to win

    • There’s professional gambling syndicates that buy tickets at volume for discount prices.

      At a certain point the maths make sense if a jackpot goes over a certain amount.

      Also the higher the jackpot the more likely the average punter is to buy a ticket.

      • True but Powerball has never reached that level. It'd have to be well above $200m and that's just for the odds to break even.

        • +1

          Yeah I was confused. I remember reading this article. It was Keno not Powerball:

          https://www.smh.com.au/national/meet-the-joker-the-australia…

        • It would be interesting to have all the mathematics of this set out.

          There are just shy of 135 million possible combinations in Australian Powerball. At about $1.35 per game retail, it takes about $182m to buy every possible combination and guarantee winning Division 1.

          Of course, the challenge then becomes the extent to which Division 1 is split across multiple winners which would scupper the result.

          There would also be the fact that many minor prizes would be collected that would total several million dollars in their own right.

          • @Seraphin7: Don't think it matters if there are multiple winners as long as you own all the tickets. Buying them all (or a high enough percentage to almost guarantee the win) would be the hard part; I imagine they are well aware of this scenario and (should it ever go that high) would have measures in place to avoid a syndicate buying enough of them (not to mention I don't think there'd be anyone with the balls to try haha).

            • +1

              @nigel deborah:

              Don't think it matters if there are multiple winners as long as you own all the tickets.

              You can buy all the combinations, but not all the tickets … the number of tickets is unlimited, but the number of combinations is. Any number of people can select the same combination and to the extent they do, they split the pot.

              I think this would be the reason big betting syndicates wouldn't go down this road. If the jackpot is big enough, the numbers could work out, but the unknown is how many others the big prize would need to be split with. If a $200m jackpot gets split even two ways, then the outlay of ~$182m (even if you applied a 10% rebate) would likley be a losing bet.

              The people operating the lottery … at least on purely commercial grounds … shouldn't care if one person/group holds all the combinations, although I can understand why they may wish to discourage this from a reputational perspective.

              • +1

                @Seraphin7: Oh, I didn't know multiple people could pick the same numbers. Then you're right, makes it ever harder to ever be worthwhile.

                They might care on commercial grounds - it is in their interest for the jackpot not to be won as having the massive jackpot significantly increases their ticket sales each round. Stretched over a number of rounds that may be worth more to them than selling every ticket for a single one (not sure..). But yeah, also the 'fairness' perspective, wouldn't be a good look for a mega syndicate to take it like that.

    • Exactly… There should be a max cap of what single winner gets.

  • +3

    had a patient tell me her brother in law spent 6k on tickets in the last 100m draw

    There is a genius right there

    • a charitable one, too.

  • +3

    Anecdotal story from when I interviewed at a lotto company a while ago.

    They opened up operations in Australia and got something like 10m in revenue in the first two days.

    They had to pay out about $45k in winnings total

    The odds are hilariously low

    • +13

      So you're saying we should open up a lotto company. Maybe we can spin it off from the Ozbargain brand and instead do Ozlotto… Wait a minute…

    • Which company? Sounds like one of those that lets Aussies buy tickets for overseas lotteries.

  • +3

    The odds of winning Powerball's top prize are 1:134,320,568.

    • -1

      Any idea which lotto has the best odds of winning something over $100k?

      I don't need $10M+ but wouldn't mind trying for the smaller lottos if the odds are significantly better.

      I'm thinking like some lotto win between $40k to $250k.

      It's gotta be much more better odds right or is it pretty similar you reckon?

      • +1

        Google it mate

        • Cheers thanks I totally forgot I could do that

          Appreciate it. I owe ya one

  • We need a poll question on how many of the sagely lotto downvoters are using a gambling app. According to stats a fair whack of them.

    ergo, 'some gambling, = good gambling'.

    • Neither. Gambling is gambling, but I'd concede that it's more logical to bet on competition (especially if there's more than 'random chance' of predicting an outcome) vs throwing money into a literal RNG machine with next to zero odds.

      • A valid view.
        But my point was that hypocrisy doesn't cut through as much as walking the talk.

        On other formats>
        Horse & greyhound racing are 'competitions' (for example) and both have a complimentary flesh filled rubbish bin and animal suffering, to deliver a payout.
        Whereas> many lotteries have a community benefit dividend.

        • +2

          Horse & greyhound racing are 'competitions' (for example) and both have a complimentary flesh filled rubbish bin and animal suffering, to deliver a payout.
          Whereas> many lotteries have a community benefit dividend.

          i personally i do not understand pokies, horse racing and most other forms of gambling ….

          sure you turn 50 dollars to 150 that is great but it makes NO real difference to your life.

          If win the lotto even if it is just 1 million dollars for most people that 'changes' your life. In the case of the current jack 100m would change your life and the lives if your children and every generation for the foreseeable future

          • @Trying2SaveABuck: You're not thinking big enough. A true galaxy brain degenerate gambler would take the $100 winnings from Sportsbet and buy Powerball tickets.

            • @SydStrand: and then what?
              invest the winnings in air fryers and Eneloops?.

            • @SydStrand:

              You're not thinking big enough. A true galaxy brain degenerate gambler would take the $100 winnings from Sportsbet and buy Powerball tickets.

              it isnt that i hate sportsbetting i get it 'adds' a bit for excitement if you got 20 bucks on a team to win but i dont understand people do it to 'try get rich' esp pokies to me i think it is boring and pointless

              i know a lady who won 9k 'jackpot' at the pokies bar buying some cloths it made no difference to her life and id say she just threw most of it back in a few weeks later….

              i constantly here about how the odds are slim but the truth is if you win lotto chances are you're set for life or at very least way less financially stressed - it 'actually' makes a difference which despite knowing it is a bit of a scam it is 'worth' ago becuz if you do hit the jackpot esp on nights like the 100m well your life changes in almost every way for the better

              sure some ppl have bad luck with winning lotto of course - personally think it is a very small percentage that do as the majority you NEVER hear about again becuz they set themselves up for life

              personally the sheer enjoy i get from scrolling Real Estate .com, carsales.com etc for what i 'would buy' if i 'did' win is kind of worth it for me…

          • @Trying2SaveABuck: Mum's side of the family were both gamblers and SP bookies. My Uncle had a very lucrative SP business on the weekends.
            He was a sweet, good natured family man and I don't know how he lived with the pain and suffering he facilitated.

            When he died his estate included 9 houses in Sydney's inner ring that nobody knew about. All of them were part/full payment of gambling debts.

            When I was 15 we went fishing and I was asking about how the business worked. Part of the reply was "I really hate it when a punter ignores the warnings about paying their account and I have to have them hurt. I can't sleep for days afterwards."

            He also told me to only bet on a wet track. The implied reason was that most races the outcome is fairly well known.

            He had a few mates that made a living off gambling. No other job, just the punt.

            I don't gamble.

    • +1

      What stats? I would have bet most people that laugh at the lotto don't gamble. That's my experience, anyway.

      • Look at the dent mobile gambling apps have made in the last 5 years.Those stats. Do you never watch a screen?
        So big a problem even the LNP potato man is barking about new laws to stop the ads for a start

        • Is there some evidence that the people that fully moved away from lotto to mobile gaming is actually people that
          1) swear off lotto entirely, vs play less
          2) talk hypocritically about it?
          Never seen anything like that.

          • @ssfps: You are missing the point. I'll simplify.People who use gambling apps are hypocrites, if they are bagging playing lotto, if it's based on the 'gambling aspects' or the overall harm or costs to community . Given how popular gambling apps are ,chances are some of the critics here use a gambling app/apps.

            Caveat. Some individuals who play lotto DO have a gambling issue.A very,very small %
            AFAIK most state lotteries return community dividends??

            • @Protractor:

              You are missing the point

              I wasn't, i understood exactly the point you were making. My point is that we have no idea how small the overlap between groups is, and your mention of mobile gambling making a dent in lotto doesn't speak to the distribution of players, only individual plays. It's just as well possible that nobody has ever given up lotto for mobile gambling - but everybody that plays lotto only plays every second week now.

              And, my other point, is that your original point

              We need a poll question on how many of the sagely lotto down-voters are using a gambling app. According to stats a fair whack of them.

              is obviously defensive and implies there is some not-significant number of people that have "moved" entirely and now shit on lotto players, which I said I haven't found to be true. All the people I know that shit on lotto players (like myself) don't gamble.

              • @ssfps: I totally (obviously) disagree. But I'll leave it with your obvious need? to shit on lotto players, cos that's a whole other can of (your) worms.
                BTW, despite that^ I'm glad (for you) you are a gambling ,wagering ,betting virgin. A rare beast,indeed.
                Melbourne Cup fans and syndicates look away now.

                BTW 2, the point you make about ppl moving between lotto and gaming apps, and vice versa, escapes me I was never in that debate

                BTW 3 " According to stats a fair whack of them." was an observation that gambling apps are rife in Oz" ergo a slab of the lotto critics here are LIKELY to participate in it

                eg
                (some stats)
                https://www.savings.com.au/savings-accounts/gambling-statist…

                and
                https://aifs.gov.au/research/research-snapshots/sports-betti…

                • @Protractor: Those stats are pretty interesting, so thanks for sharing them.

                  gambling ,wagering ,betting virgin

                  Indeed, i had no idea gambling was so common. It's not common in the social circles i'm in - i'd say maybe half the people I know have mentioned putting $5 on the Melbourne cup at some point in the last 10 years, and I've only worked with 1 bloke that would discuss sportsbet semi regularly.
                  Seems pretty tragic really, as much as I shit on lotto, it's far more harmless than these TAB addicts, and so as not to be a hypocrite i definetly shit on TAB/sportsbet/etc more.

                  ergo a slab of the lotto critics here are LIKELY to participate in it

                  This still doesn't follow from the stats you shared, it's a pretty big extrapolation without more data.
                  But then again… you're a betting man ;)

                  • @ssfps: You bet!
                    I think it's not even a 'stretch' to consider that the very demograph using Ozbargain sits smack bang within the % of the same /gender/social group who use gambling apps. And I'm willing to bet (odds are) a % of them have 'shat' on the lotto player cohort during this thread.

                    I'll flick you a sheckle next time I drag in 1st division. ( From on high)

  • I wonder how much the strata is on that GC apartment

  • -3

    Do you pick your own numbers or do quickpick? I just bought a quickpick and the numbers chosen on one game were 7,8,9,10,15,16,17. Hardly random is it?

    • +12

      Hardly random is it

      How is it not random? Odds of those numbers are the same as getting 1,2,3,4,5,6,7

    • +5

      The last $100 million ticket numbers were 3, 4, 5, 6, 14, 22 and 23. The Powerball was 17

    • +3

      That is a perfect example of random numbers.

  • +3

    yes… I have an $8 win from my last $50 investment, which was first win in months

  • +4

    At work I told people if I won I wouldn't tell anyone. I'd still come to work driving my 20 year old car.

    • I'd still come to work driving my 20 year old car.

      To clean your desk and hand in your resignation letter, right?

      • +1

        The idea is they'd never know if you won. For all they know I might have already won it but kept it secret.

        • Yeah, my parents are definitely sick for a few weeks when I win and I definitely need time off work to see them. In fact, maybe my parents need full time care and I quit…

  • Yes. The cheapest possible ticket. In it to win it. But no regrettable loss.

  • +2

    Yeah I bought a System 18.

  • No im not buying a ticket - lotto's an idiot tax

    Sad, but, thank goodness they help with taxes because it's progressive and they probably don't pay much income/capital gains tax. Likewise cheap meals at clubs, but this is even sadder - happy to pay more if they banned pokies.

  • +4

    Used to work at a lotto kiosk, Powerball is the worst to play. I'll just buy the Sat, Mon and Wed ones when there's a big pot

    • What about picking a powerhit?

      • Yeah but that's only 1 line with a Powerball guarantee so your chance is that one line, and also costs like $30 for it IIRC

      • Powerhit is the same as picking 45 lines and alternating the powerball number
        i.e. it's a convenience tool for purchasing, it doesn't improve your odds over a normal ticket.

        • I don't understand how a non-powerhit ticket is the same odds as a normal ticket?

          Division 1 is 1 in 134,490,400 of winning while division 2 is 1 in 7,078,442. If I purchase a power hit ticket, wouldn't my chances of winning would be 1 in 7,078,442? As my powerhit ticket guarantees me the power ball number?

          • @hasher22: Playing 1 Powerhit game is the same as selecting the same 7 numbers and then changing the Powerball for every line (20 lines all up, not 45 like I said earlier)

            Can see it in the price - 1x Powerhit and 20x standard games are both $26.95

  • +1

    rather spend it on food.

  • +2

    Who's in for the OzBargain syndicate? Last time we won $60m.

  • +2

    Imagine winning $100M. What would you do with it, honestly? After your fifth Ferrari and second $5M home you might actually become bored with it.

    Give the money away? To whom? Family and friends? It's inevitable your identity will leak, and you'll be inundated with bleeding heart stories for money. As soon as you say no to someone you'll be branded the world's biggest ass and hated.

    Once people know who you are they'll know where you are, and that you have loads of money. You had better hire security, as you're now a target for kidnapping, extortion, and much worse. Seems far fetched? Its happened before:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Shakespeare

    • So that I'll be 1% closer to building the star ship enterprise….

    • I take it you watch a lot or Tarantino? LOL

      If 'I' won a $100M, by the time the circling vultures discovered my ID, it would all be doing it's thing,divvied up, or long gone.

    • Yep in a world where I win, I'd stay anonymous if possible

  • +3

    I’m playing. You’ve gotta be in it to lose it.

  • Nope.

  • Hey maths people, do you know if it scales? As in, the higher the prize, the more people are ‘investing’, but is it linear or is there some type of a sweet spot?

    • Odds don't scale. But if more people play there's bigger chances of more people winning, therefore the prizes would be split between all winners. #nomathperson

      • Thanks. I see now, because it’s the probability of hitting the specific combination and there are limited permutations. So more ticket sales do not matter as much because the odds are so small to start with.

  • +1

    Lose or lose my wife will still buy a ticket…..

  • Yeah I'll buy one and yeah I'll lose

  • Always loved the NSW Lotteries ad by the famous MOJO team:

    https://youtu.be/kMrxGT43JCI

    • These days the only people who walk into car dealerships with a suitcase full of money are drug dealers. Ah, how times have changed…

  • Some people waste money on fancy peanut butter, some people waste it on lotto tickets. NGL the peanut butter probably soothes the soul more, but its your money spend it how you want.

    • Some people waste money on fancy peanut butter, some people waste it on lotto tickets. NGL the peanut butter probably soothes the soul more, but its your money spend it how you want.

      i gotta ask what is considered 'fancy' when it comes to peanut butter

      • Pic’s when it’s not on sale

      • feel like if the label has pictures or fancy fonts it costs $5 or more. and you're only paying for the label at that point. The basic $2 coles/woolworths brand is just fine. I tend to use peanut butter the same way somebody uses garlic, its something you put in food to change the taste. The expensive one might be better for like toast?

    • I’d rather buy regular onions / free range eggs and a lotto ticket than spending all of that on organics 😂. ymmv ofcourse

  • +9

    Here's a simulator if anyone is interested: https://lottosimulation.com/au/powerball

    Played a PowerHit with $100K, won $30K.. sign me up!

    • +1

      Haha this is great. Just simulated a PowerHit System 15 - cost $156,151.70

      Winnings: $41.51

    • I played powerhit as well, got back 32k with 100k balance, I win!

      Got 5 numbers + powerball and got a measly $120

      • Save that bad luck for Thursday

  • +1

    Powerball = a tax on people that are bad at math.

  • +1

    Win the top prize? I can't even get 1 Powerball with 2 winning numbers……

  • -2

    You can't win if you don't enter. Even if the odds are basically 0 of winning, if you can afford a ticket then why not.

    • -1

      You're better off putting that money into an ETF, or even a savings account. Lotteries return about 30c per dollar spent.

      • +1

        No you're not. The risk/return is worth dropping a few bucks on. Putting that same amount into a savings account won't mean shit even in the long run.

        • +1

          Unless your name is Philip J. Fry.

        • The risk/return is worth dropping a few bucks on.

          Mathematically, it really isn't. You're only attempting to rationalise this by comparing the relatively trivial loss vs winnings. But the odds of the latter are so statistically improbable it's a moot point, so you're basically pissing away small amounts of money that you're comfortable losing.

          • @SydStrand: Almost like exactly what I said is if you can afford it then do it.

            IDK why some of you people comment tbh.

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