For the 11th straight week, no one picked the right combination of numbers for the Powerball jackpot, which has driven the lottery to the ninth largest payout in its history.
The jackpot for the lottery is now estimated at $650 million, or (if you prefer) a cash payout of $328.3 million. The next drawing will occur on Monday night.
That’s not to say there weren’t any winners in the most recent drawing. Three players, in California, Colorado, and Illinois, won $1 million each, and 42 players won $50,000 prizes.
But Powerball is about the jackpot for most lottery dreamers (like last year’s $1.5 billion prize). And for the past 34 drawings, no one has hit it. That’s causing something of a growing frenzy among lottery players, as you might expect. And that’s raising the odds. Right now, the odds of winning Powerball’s grand prize stand at one in 292,201,338.
Never tell me the odds
To put that into context, consider this: The 1980 U.S. Men’s hockey team victory over the U.S.S.R.—the “Miracle on Ice”—only had odds of 1,000 to one.
It gets much worse from there.
For instance, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, your odds of being struck by lightning this year are one in 1.5 million. Speaking of things falling from the sky, you’ve got a one in 1.6 million chance of dying from a local meteorite, asteroid, or comet impact, according to a 2014 paper by Tulane University earth sciences professor Stephen A. Nelson.
The odds of being killed by a shark are one in 3,748,067. And that’s nothing compared with your odds of dying in a Grand Canyon flash flood, which stand at one in 14,270,000, according to The Book of Odds.
And even if you really show up the oddsmakers and score three consecutive holes in one the next time you hit the links, it still won’t put you close to your chances of winning Powerball. Your chances of a phenomenally successful day on the greens currently stand at “just” 156,250,000 to one.
But what if you win?
Ah, but odds are just numbers. If you’re going to focus on numbers, why not look at what you can buy if you win? Let’s assume you’re the sole winner and take the cash payout. After the federal government takes 25% of that in taxes, you’ll be left with about $246 million. (We’ll also presume you live in a state with no income tax.)
Let’s go shopping…With that sort of scratch, you’d be able to pick up all sorts of goodies. You could, for instance…
Get your own private island
Rangyai Island is a 110-acre slice of paradise off the coast of Thailand that’s up for sale for $160 million. Want somewhere closer to home? Long Coco Caye, covering 38 acres near Belize, is just $100 million.
Own a Picasso
Picasso’s Les femmes d’Alger (Version “O”) sold for $179.4 million in 2015, making it the most expensive piece of artwork to ever sell at auction. It’s a fine choice to replace the Dogs Playing Poker poster in your guest room.
Take your buddies to outer space
You just won the lottery! Road trip! Gather your friends and sign up for a flight on Virgin Galactic. Tickets run $450,000 each, so you can bring the whole gang.
Buy the Brady Bunch house
You’re now rich and eccentric. Sure, you could buy a mansion somewhere, but why not make a statement and buy Mike and Carol Brady’s old place. The five-bedroom, five-bath pop culture touchstone is on the market now, with an asking price of $5.5 million. You’ll have enough left over that you can hire your own Alice!
