h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I assume by "multipliers" you're referring to this sentence: " At face value, that would mean more than 146 million people have bought tickets. However, that doesn’t account for people paying extra money for multipliers should they win."

I'm not sure. "Should they win" confuses me about the context. Without that, I was guessing the writer meant the extra tickets each person buys rather than one player per ticket. With "should they win", I don't know what multipliers he's referring to.

Ah, I was thinking it might be a lottery thing you pay extra for.

About the quick picks being slightly more likely to win, I guess I could have explained better. Yes, any set of numbers you pick has exactly the same chance of being drawn as any set of numbers randomly chosen for you. But most people who pick their own numbers do so based on dates (birthdays, anniversaries, etc), and most months have, on average, 30 days. Lotto numbers go up to, what? 69 or 70? So they're potentially missing half the field by default.

That "Multiplier" could also be something they're calling "Power Play®". Pay $1 more "for a chance to increase your non-Grand Prize winnings!" $4 becomes $12, $7 becomes $21, $100 becomes $300, $50000 becomes $150000, $1000000 becomes $2000000.

I hear that there were some $1m and $2m winning tickets sold in Texas, one of which was in Houston. I see your eyes BG, but are you at work this morning?

Well, I left my tickets at work so I had to come in.


Since I didn't win the jackpot, I don't have to sweat whether I lost half a billion because of the Cash Value Option. But apparently, the choice to take a portion as a lump sum or as a 30 year annuity is rather complicated. I've been hearing repeatedly that teh cash option is the recommended choice. And it is usually, but it's complicated. Basically, if you can get a decent return on investment, and if tax rates remain about where they are (if the flat taxers get their way, then you would definitely want the annuity) then the lump sum is a better choice.

Here's a good article about that choice.

http://www.businessinsider.com/should-you-take-the-annuity-or-the-lump-sum-if-you-win-the-lottery-2013-9


But all in all, the wisest choice is to just keep your $2.

Without reading that piece (I'm getting ready for work and don't have time), you also have to factor in that, because of inflation (and I'm assuming you get the same amount in each of the 30 years), the money you get each year will decrease in value, whereas if you took the lot and invested it wisely - or got lucky and bought shares in the next Apple/Microsoft before it got big) - you might do just as well.

You actually don't get the same amount each year. (This was news to me as well.) It is paid out as an annuity and the amount you receive each year increases by 4%. It is really rather complicated and I am sure I don't really understand it as much as I think I do at this point.

Like I said; it's complicated. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/13/upshot/dear-powerball-winner-take-our-advice-and-take-the-annuity.html?_r=1

Interesting. Especially the bit about not having enough to pay death duties if you pop your clogs soon after the big win. Which would be a really, really cruel joke by the universe, I might add.

OK... Along with the knowledge that the annuity option does not end with my death, that it will transfer to my nearest relative or heir of my choice, this is the best rationale to defend my choice of going with the full payout annuity.

>>
But this leads us to the biggest advantage of the annuity: protecting you from yourself.

Again, I don’t know all about you, but I do know you buy lottery tickets, so let’s consider the possibility that you are not one of your generation’s great financial minds. We all know the stories of people who win huge fortunes in the lottery and then lose them. The great thing about the annuity is, no matter what stupid choices you make this year, you’ll have an enormous check waiting for you next year — all the way until 2045."
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