Ok, so no one here on the forum won last night.

Go to the Mega lottery, then over on the right side, find Jackpot Analysis, and find your state...

Now those are some depressing numbers if you do win. Especially if you live in a state that taxes your win.

Nebraska (NE) Lottery Results | Lottery Post

So do your part, buy a ticket and pay those who hit it big, and didn't even buy a ticket.


WuzzFuzz

The lottery is just a tax on people who are bad at math . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

says I will only net $17,885,928 a year if I win

Better than a poke in the eye. Should buy you a few bricks of gun show SPP.

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213th FBINA

Well all that money goes to the kids / schools - you realize that don't you ?
Riiiiiigggggghhhhhhttttttt..............

On the bright side, it would be better than having a DNA testing done with Ancestry. A person would find all of those long lost relatives showing up on your door step.


WuzzFuzz

Of my 15 first and 72 second cousins, only 3 of the 1st and 2 of the 2nd, have spoken to my brother or I in the last 30 years. They are always welcome at my home! The rest can go for a long walk off a short pier!

Ivan

With an extra $17 Mil a year,
I can buy more Ammo!

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

I haven't bought a ticket in a long time, but when I do, I look at it as entertainment.

I once heard it said that
"Government ran out of other things to tax so they decided to tax the foolish."

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You're shy a few manners.

Yeah, that ought to buy a couple of thousand rounds at least.

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What, me worry?

Here's the part about the multi-state lotteries that I despise. Only seven states allow lottery winners to maintain their anonymity: Delaware, Kansas, Maryland, North Dakota, Texas, Ohio and South Carolina. Win in any other state, and you can claim the prize anonymously. I doubt I'll ever be faced with that dilemma, but I buy a few draw tickets, usually when I'm in really rural areas. First, the retailer gets a chunk of change from a winning ticket, and second, I want to see 25 satellite trucks knocking on every trailer and interviewing every resident in Cooter, Missouri (real town), when my ticket hits . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

...'The Education Lottery" in SC. Bull Hockey.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

Winning big on lotteries has ruined a lot of people's lives.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

"Benefits PA senior citizens." I'm waiting........

Somebody will win, why not me, I don’t see a problem.

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Sure you did

The number "6" depresses me. I always envision it as a "9" with a drinking problem.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

Picture a football field, covered by tiny squares about 3/16 of an inch on each side. To win you must pick the right square out of that entire field.

Does this have anything to do with the Hendrix song? I'll forego any further references...
Drinking problems are usually around 2:00 AM!

Ruin MY life! Please! As a man named George wrote for a guy named Richard, "Got to pay yer dues if you wanna play the blues, and you know it don't come easy!"
Gimme the Blues!

My odds of winning are infinitesimally small if I buy a ticket, but infinitely higher than if I don't

Nice to see some optimism.

........So you're saying there's a chance!

Besides sales tax the lottery is the only tax poor people pay. Joe

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Wisdom chases me; I'm faster

At the current rate of ammo, "Inflation", I guess that just depends on what you mean by, "..more"!

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"You're messin' up my Zen"

Statistically speaking, you have just as much chance of winning whether you buy a ticket or not.

A lady once told me if I won the lottery all I would just worry about the money all the time. I said why, worst that could happen is I would go broke and I already know how to be broke. I'll take my chances.

I don't play but my wife does. She also likes the scratch offs and they are real money wasters. She won 1k the other day on one but that will just make her spend more trying to win again. It is her spending money so I don 't care as I spend mine on stuff like guns and reloading and she does not say a word. Who knows maybe she will hit the big one some day. If not no big deal as that is what her entertainment money goes for.

Actually, your chances of winning are almost exactly the same whether you buy a ticket or not...

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

That much money won't buy you happiness.
But it will buy you the type of misery you like best!

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μολὼν λαβέ

Money can't buy happiness, but it's a lot more comfortable crying in a Mercedes than on a bus bench.

I buy a ticket or two every once in a while.

I'm still waiting too. Must have got lost in the mail.

Is that the square the chicken fertilizes?

Here's how that "All the lottery money goes to . . . " scam works. Missouri used the same scam when the Missouri Lottery was passed back in the 80's.

My Master's Degree is in Public Administration. My entire career, along with that of my parents and my brother in law, was spent working for government at various levels. I hit all four, local, county, state and federal at various times in my career. I learned the most I ever learned about government budgeting when I served a couple elected terms on my local board of education. At the time, we had a $32 million budget.

All of the money from Missouri's lottery does indeed go to education, as does I'm sure Pennsylvania's money goes to senior services. What makes people mad is that when legislatures get that check from the state lottery commission, they immediately move a like amount from education or senior services into general revenue and build a bridge or a highway.

In the town I grew up in, about 10-15 years ago, the local government put forth a public safety sales tax, to benefit fire and police operations. It passed overwhelmingly. The first purchase made was an abandoned tire warehouse and grounds to serve as a new public works complex. After that fiasco, the municipality was at least forced to put a little more truth in advertising, and recent stormwater/recreastion sales taxes have only barely passed, then only because a number of visible projects were completed in the correct areas . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

3 for 3.

I bet on the Ravens, I bet on the Rams, and I bought a lottery ticket..

WuzzFuzz

I don't buy a lottery ticket thinking I will win. I buy one and think of all the great stuff I would do with the money. A couple bucks for some great day dreams seems fair. Jim's S&W emporium would be on a nice boat. No not the diesel powered Jet boat at my ranch on the lower Yellowstone, the one that spends July and August in Southeast Alaska.

Absolutely, these two examples are the tiny tip of the iceberg in terms of government waste, misuse and abuse. And this is why I will never vote any new tax, or tax increase, no matter how they position the need/benefit. These governmental entities will always find a way to waste our money.

Heck, if passing a new tax, or tax increase solved budget problems, we’d never have new budget problems...

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NRA Life Member

For all the players, Powerball is $730,000,000 and MegaMillions is $850,000,000.

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Sure you did

Seeing as the odds are a little over 300 million to 1, what a bargain. Joe

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Wisdom chases me; I'm faster

And yet someone will win it. I guess the odds to him/her were pretty darn good.

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Sure you did

I've won the lottery and never bought a ticket. Those folks who choose to buy them are helping my kids through college.

For next drawing, both power and mega are nearing or over 3/4 billion.
I'm thinking what if I won both???
ETA:
Must think positive...

That’s an amusing and very accurate statement.
Never bought one yet in my almost 70 years. But I’m sure glad people buy them as I believe some of the profits from selling the tickets goes to places that “might” reduce our state taxes.

You believe that and you're too skeptical to buy a ticket? The fact that you give any .gov "system" a dollar proves to them that they need $2. Joe

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Wisdom chases me; I'm faster

Basically, playing the lottery provides people with the same sort of “thrill” as gambling at a casino, at a somewhat lower excitement level. People aren’t taxed, they pay for the pleasure of dreams.

And for guys, the chance that you’ll wake up in the morning in a hotel room with a horrible hangover, hazy memories of some woman, and your wallet missing, is much lower

My Wife plays now and then. She says if she ever did win big, a lot of the money would go to putting in water wells in impoverished countries, like Africa. I don't begrudge her her dream.

I don’t play it much, but to me, the best part of buying a lottery ticket is that from the time you purchase the ticket, until the time the number is drawn, you are as much of a winner as anybody else that bought a ticket.

So, in that time, you can go through all the mental machinations of winning and being a multi, multi millionaire. Where to buy your fabulous beach, mountain, and lake homes, how you can help your family, what kind of cool cars and boats you can buy, how you’ll help charities, how you can tell your boss you won’t be coming back to work, what wonderful places you’ll travel to, the awesome Smith and Wessons that you’ll buy, etc., etc., etc. How fun!

Great mental entertainment, and all for just $2...!!

Also, the odds of winning are ridiculously low, but the odds of not winning are 100% of you don’t not buy a ticket.

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NRA Life Member

Mother is the player in our family she won a lottery in '19 and I checked her odds on her scratch 750,000 to one, compared to the lotto which is 14 mil to one, we thought it was a walk in the park, haha.

There is an outstanding older movie, Waking Ned Devine, about winning the lottery that I bet everyone here would enjoy if they have not already seen it.

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Possum—The other white meat!

Great movie. Loved it. Very funny.

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What could possibly go wrong?