aja8888
Moderator Emeritus
My ROMEO group (12 guys) bought 240 tickets. We will split the prize equally. 
$1.6 Billion Lottery .. this supersedes the $1 Billion Lottery :)
- Thread starter cyber888
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The odds of getting killed by a shark before winning the lottery is higher
The odds of winning the Powerball play is one in 292,201,338.
The odds of winning the Megamillion play is one is 302,575,350.
The odds of getting attacked and killed by a shark is 1 in 3,748,067
Well, nuts! I should have taken out a temporary loan and bought all 302M tickets. That way I *would* win, and then pay back the loan immediately. I still would have walked away with about $300M.
Maybe next time.
No, what you want to do is put it on your credit card so you can rack up some serious airline miles.
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I once saw a show about a syndicate that did just that. The problem was that the logistics of actually purchasing all the numbers is immense. Remember, to get all the numbers, you have to fill out those wager slips and run them through a machine. Yes, that can all be automated but you still only have a few days between drawings to get it done. Basically, you have to fine multiple sellers that will essentially give you their machine. It will need to run 24 hours a day. Then, after you risk the money, you have the risk of having to share it. It was an interesting show to watch. Not so much fun to actually pull off.
Might be the same folks in the article linked in my March post here: http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/gaming-the-lottery-as-a-post-retirement-plan-91056.html
omni
At $600M after tax, it's mind-boggling to see that this unprecedented lottery prize is still not enough for you to buy this yacht. Actually, you can, but that leaves you with no money to hire a crew to operate it, maintain it, put fuel in it.
I saw a TV show about 10 years ago, I think it was called "Sports Money", and the episode was about yachts, and yacht building, and who buys them etc. At some point the yacht builder said that whatever a boat sells for, new, you should figure about 10% of that amount, per year, to operate and maintain it. So when you hear that Tiger Woods' yacht cost 80 million ( I just made that number up), you should figure it will cost about 8 million/ year to own it.
I did the math on my boats, ( a 30 year old 19' fishing boat, and a 13 year old 18' runabout) and by gosh, his calculation of 10 % was just about spot on.
Just keep that in mind after you win the 1.6B...
GravitySucks
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I wouldn't want to spend that much time cleaning bathrooms
scrabbler1
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They did this in Virginia back in 1992. They nearly blew it, running out of time to buy all the possible combinations.
https://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/25/us/group-invests-5-million-to-hedge-bets-in-lottery.html
They still won.
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Yes, I think that’s the one they had a documentary show about that I watched. An that was only 5 million tickets (out of 7 million). Imagine buying 2 to 3 hundred million tickets.
scrabbler1
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Someone here a few years ago posted a link to a story about some people doing this in some other state lotteries after some jackpot multiplier made it worthwhile. There were apparently a few people or groups, one from a college, who stumbled onto it (and perhaps each other) in a low-tech operation to consistently win jackpots.
CoolRich59
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Yep. It was many years ago, but I recall driving home when WGN radio got one of the first “big” IL Lottery winners on the line. He’d won appx $40M.
It was about a year after he’d won and they asked him how he was enjoying life. The fellow said it’d made his life miserable. He got calls night and day from family, friends and strangers begging for loans and handouts. Plus, dozens of callers with investment “opportunities”, get-rich-quick schemes, etc.
He said he’d changed his number several times, but it didn’t matter; within daysthe phone was ringing non-stop again. He finished by saying he often wished he’d never won.
NW-Bound
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The article says that only 10 of the 24 bathrooms have a bath. This means 14 are just restrooms.
It makes a lot of sense. You don't want your guests to feel an urge then get lost in that big home while looking for a toilet. Would you want them to accidentally wet your marble floor, or rare hardwood floor, or wool carpet or who knows what other exotic floor materials in that home?
Better to be safe. I would do the same. Having restrooms sprinkled throughout the home is the way to go.
PS. $65M is such a minuscule portion of his net worth. That would be like me living in a discarded refrigerator carton.
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NW-Bound
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You just gave me the idea of checking the cost of my humble class-C motorhome. It's easy with Quicken to add up the fuel and maintenance cost, and operating cost such as RV campground fees, etc... I have had the motorhome for 8 years, and the above costs add up to way more than what I paid for the motorhhome. In fact, it's 1.6 times, or 20%/year.
The ratio is high because I bought the motorhome used. And then, I took really long cross-country trips of as much as 10,000 miles, and the fuel cost is high with an 8-mpg gas guzzler, and in Canada where gasoline is expensive on top of that (gas in the Yukon is as high as US$5/gal). And I have replaced the tires a couple of times.
I will need to spend money for repair before I take it out for another spin, as the Alaska trek on bad roads did a number on its suspension.
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Sunset
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Yep. It was many years ago, but I recall driving home when WGN radio got one of the first “big” IL Lottery winners on the line. He’d won appx $40M.
It was about a year after he’d won and they asked him how he was enjoying life. The fellow said it’d made his life miserable. He got calls night and day from family, friends and strangers begging for loans and handouts. Plus, dozens of callers with investment “opportunities”, get-rich-quick schemes, etc.
He said he’d changed his number several times, but it didn’t matter; within daysthe phone was ringing non-stop again. He finished by saying he often wished he’d never won.
He sounds pretty un-imaginative, I can immediately see the answer is, cancel your phone and hire an answering service to take your calls and then page you with a code if a real phone call comes through.
I bought one Easy Pick ticket for both of the big lottery prizes. The joy of dreaming is worth the $4 cost of the tickets. IF we win anything substantial almost all of the money will be given away to charities and/or used to establish a perpetually sustaining charitable Trust similar to the Hillman Family Foundation.
https://hillmanfamilyfoundations.org/foundations/hillman-foundation/
https://hillmanfamilyfoundations.org/foundations/hillman-foundation/
target2019
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Some are old school, and feel they must pick up the phone. Answering service would be near top of list of things to do.
Chuckanut
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State Lottery definition: A tax on people who slept through math class.
CoolRich59
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Yep. One of the first things I'd do would be to get rid of my phone.
In fact, I'm often tempted to do so even without having won the lottery.
HFWR
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Waxing philanthropic...
My hometown is like many small towns, in that the housing stock is small, and mostly dilapidated. The downtown is mostly abandoned. Most streets are narrow, with no sidewalks, and inadequate storm drainage. There is no grocery store. Etc...
In fact, the most efficient and effective remedy would be to bulldoze the whole place into a big hole.
Still, with a few tens of millions of dollars, perhaps it could be “turned around”...
My hometown is like many small towns, in that the housing stock is small, and mostly dilapidated. The downtown is mostly abandoned. Most streets are narrow, with no sidewalks, and inadequate storm drainage. There is no grocery store. Etc...
In fact, the most efficient and effective remedy would be to bulldoze the whole place into a big hole.
Still, with a few tens of millions of dollars, perhaps it could be “turned around”...
I have advice for the wanna be winner....reread Steinbecks novel The Pearl. As soon as you are in possession of the money you are a target of envy and scorn. All that you have accomplished financially in your life is immediately null and void. Your children and your wife are now targets of kidnapping. No thanks. Rather spend the money on a good cup of coffee.
But with 1.6 billion couldn't you pay some other author to write a happier lottery outcome story?
Ronstar
Moderator Emeritus
DW won $4 in last week's billion dollar lottery. So I'm sure that she'll hit the big one this week.
aja8888
Moderator Emeritus
Our ROMEO group just purchased 130 tickets. 13 splits if we win.
NW-Bound
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Lemme look up the Woodlands on the map to see its location.
I think I can find the posted photo of the class C you helped your friend fix up.
I think I can find the posted photo of the class C you helped your friend fix up.
