Winning tickets bought in Arizona and Missouri matched numbers drawn for a record Powerball lottery jackpot of $588 million, the Multi-State Lottery Association said.
Holders of the two winning tickets in the Wednesday night draw will share an estimated $385 million after tax if they opt to take it as a lump sum. Alternatively, the $588 million can be paid out to them as annuities over three decades, the association said.
The drawing took place at 10:59 p.m. EST, with winning numbers 5 16 22 23 29, and a Powerball of 6. The Association did not say if the ticket holders had come forward yet to claim their vast cash prizes.
Powerball spokeswomen in Arizona and Missouri did not immediately respond to emails seeking further details on the winners.
The popular lottery — which is played in 42 states, Washington D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands — had not had a winner for two months. After no one won the top prize in Saturday’s drawing, the pot had grown by about $263 million to $578.5 million amid a rush to buy tickets.
The previous Powerball top prize of $365 million was won in 2006 by ConAgra slaughterhouse workers in Nebraska. The largest-ever U.S. lottery jackpot, the $656 million Mega Millions drawing, was shared by three winning tickets last March.
Mary Neubauer, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Lottery, where Powerball is based, said lottery officials had received calls and emails from people around the world asking if they can buy a ticket. They cannot.
There have been nearly 300 jackpot winners over the past 20 years, taking home payouts of over $11.6 billion.
I’m sure I picked the right numbers. I demand a do-over!
The lottery being taxation for people who flunked math, I am surprised the dim wits in Washington haven’t stumbled onto the solution to the impending “fiscal cliff”. More lotteries! lol. Between that and raising the tax on booze and cigarettes, they could be rolling in the dough in no time. Vice is the answer to all our problems:)
Technically, it was mathematically advantageous to play this week. Look into “expected value” in regards to mathematical probability. Those who didn’t play were theoretically at a loss.
Since when is 172,000,000 to 1 “mathematically advantageous”? Are you familiar with the term “Long Shot”?
It’s okay. You’re unfamiliar. I shall try to explain it to you.
In probability, the expected value is defined as the sum of the series of products between the probabilities and their outcomes.
When you roll a die, for example, the probabilites are as follows:
Rolling a 1 – 1/6
Rolling a 2 – 1/6
Rolling a 3 – 1/6
Rolling a 4 – 1/6
Rolling a 5 – 1/6
Rolling a 6 – 1/6
To find the expected value, just add up the pairs of probabilities times their values:
(1 x 1/6) + (2 x 1/6) + (3 x 1/6) + (4 x 1/6) + (5 x 1/6) + (6 x 1/6)
(1/6) + (2/6) + (3/6) + (4/6) + (5/6) + (6/6)
21/6
3.5
So the expected value when you roll a die is 3.5
Clearly, you can never roll a 3.5, but in the long run, you could say that on average, each roll is worth about 3.5 because it is overall average of the possible values.
Now, let’s take a look a the powerball and let’s even be generous and say that if you don’t get all the numbers drawn, you lose your 2 dollars:
So, the odds of winning 550+ million is 1/172,000,000
The odds of losing two dollars is 171,999,999/172,000,000
The expected value is therefore:
(550,000,000 x 1/172,000,000) + (-2 x 171,999,999/172,000,000)
(3.19) + (-1.99)
1.20
You can even take away the 50% tax you’d be subject for winning:
.60
The expected value is therefore 60 cents.
All this means is that if you play, you can expect to win 60 cents overall. Now, this won’t happen because you can’t just win 60 cents, but if you take all the winnings of everyone and divded it amongst the number of players, everyone would receive about 60 cents. In mathematics, we would say this makes it advantegous to play.
Physical reality is an entirely different scene, though, as you have clearly pointed out.
Very good explanation! Einstein always maintained that physics should be explained in a way that the average housewife can understand it. Mathematics should be explained the same way. I watched a very interesting show on PBS about why we still can’t accurately predict the weather with all the computer power we now possess. Chaos was the smoking gun. Your a numbers guy. Here is one for you. In 1985 our trade deficit with the People’s Republic of China was $6 million dollars. In 2011 our trade deficit with China was $350 billion. What is the percentage of increase? I tried to figure it out, but my abacus caught on fire from the friction.
Hahaha.
(350,000,000,000 – 6,000,000) / (6,000,000) x 100 = a 5,833,233% increase
Thank you very much!
Obviously another product of our broken public education system. You have an infinitely greater chance to win if you play than if you do not, but you have a nearly identical chance to lose whether you play or not. I’ll save the money and not play.
God forbid if the ticket in Arizona was held by an “illegal alien”. If so then that ticket should be voided and the money given to the ticket holder in Missouri.
Why shouldn’t they win just as well as a “legal” immigrant?
There are no illegal aliens in Missouri, nope not one. Boy this stereotyping thing is fun!
Washington D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands — had not had a winner for two months.
Maybe it is because that is where all the losers are.
GEEEZUS…..could you get anything uglier for a news item photo-op?
It’s for the international audience, to confirm their worst stereotypes of Americans. Fun again!
I hope that woman isn’t reading your post.
I hope she is! Maybe she would spend some money on the gym
instead of Pepsi & Ding Dongs……..but, somehow I doubt it.
I may be incorrect, but I believe the article places the lump sum amount as after tax when it actually is is before tax. The difference between the lump sum and the annuity is related to the time-value of money, not taxes.
Glad I only bought one ticket. It was enough to make me feel like I was participating without breaking the bank.
Just imagine, with a national lottery with 50% going to the winner and 50% going towards paying off the national debt, I wonder how long it would take to pay it off. I’m not surprised that the brains in Washington haven’t figured that one out yet.
Great plan! Each America’s share of the national debt is currently $44,900 and growing by the second. In order for your plan to work, each American would have to buy $89,800 worth of losing lottery tickets. Good luck with that.