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A Non-Political Appeal

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 7:46 am
by silverscreenselect
In these highly charged political days, there's one thing we can all agree on, and that's the idea that an extra $400 million would sure come in handy. So, every BB should do his or her patriotic and non-political duty, regardless of race, creed, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, favorite sports team, or political affiliation, and go out and buy some Mega Millions tickets.

You'll thank me when you win, and I'll thank you next year come bonus time.

Re: A Non-Political Appeal

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 8:39 am
by littlebeast13
Oops! Looks like our spammer got through the booby traps again....

lb13

Re: A Non-Political Appeal

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 9:30 am
by SportsFan68
Shoot! That means that the numbers I bought Sunday didn't win!
regardless of race, creed, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, favorite sports team,
I'll try again. I can use the money to travel to Rockies games.

GO ROCKIES!

Re: A Non-Political Appeal

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 9:34 am
by BackInTex
I was in and out of the SSA office this morning in 12 minutes! I'm buying one of those today!

Re: A Non-Political Appeal

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 11:53 am
by Pastor Fireball
I don't buy Mega Millions or Powerball tickets unless a jackpot exceeds $500 million. I'll stick to buying Cash Explosion scratchers.

Re: A Non-Political Appeal

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 5:58 pm
by mellytu74
Pastor Fireball wrote:I don't buy Mega Millions or Powerball tickets unless a jackpot exceeds $500 million. I'll stick to buying Cash Explosion scratchers.
killjoy

Re: A Non-Political Appeal

Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2018 7:30 am
by silverscreenselect
Just thought I would update this to note that nobody has won the Mega Millions, so the jackpot for Friday is currently $548 million (I expect that to go up by the time of the drawing). For those who aren't quite as adventurous, tonight's Powerball jackpot is $282 million.

Play early; play often. Help my retirement fund.

Re: A Non-Political Appeal

Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2018 7:11 am
by silverscreenselect
Nobody won either the Mega Millions or Powerball this weekend, so the Mega Millions for Tuesday stands now at $650 million with that total expected to go up before the drawing. And with Wednesday's Powerball at $350 million, there's over a billion dollars on the table this week.

So support your local programs, support my retirement fund, and win big.

Re: A Non-Political Appeal

Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 1:35 pm
by Ritterskoop
SSS, I don't understand the references to your retirement fund.

Re: A Non-Political Appeal

Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 2:18 pm
by silverscreenselect
Ritterskoop wrote:SSS, I don't understand the references to your retirement fund.
I now work for the Georgia Lottery. Every year my annual bonus is determined by how profitable we are.

Re: A Non-Political Appeal

Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 2:35 pm
by Ritterskoop
Would us buying tickets in other states do you any good?

Re: A Non-Political Appeal

Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 3:00 pm
by silverscreenselect
Ritterskoop wrote:Would us buying tickets in other states do you any good?
Not directly. Georgia only gets the revenue from Megamillions and Powerball tickets sold in Georgia. But big jackpots tend to induce infrequent players in all states to buy tickets. A rising tide lifts all boats.

Of course, if you'd like to come here to Georgia to play, I'd really appreciate that.

Re: A Non-Political Appeal

Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 3:32 pm
by tlynn78
sss:
A rising tide lifts all boats
Why, how very Republican of you.

Re: A Non-Political Appeal

Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2018 11:36 am
by silverscreenselect
Tonight's Mega Millions jackpot is now $667 million, the biggest in Mega Millions history.

There's still time to get in on the excitement. Plenty of good tickets available.

Re: A Non-Political Appeal

Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2018 8:35 pm
by SportsFan68
silverscreenselect wrote:Tonight's Mega Millions jackpot is now $667 million, the biggest in Mega Millions history.

There's still time to get in on the excitement. Plenty of good tickets available.
I'm all set.

Re: A Non-Political Appeal

Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2018 7:23 am
by silverscreenselect
$868 million for Friday and likely to rise.

This is the biggest Mega Millions jackpot ever and second biggest jackpot of any kind in the U.S.

Plenty of good tickets still available.

Re: A Non-Political Appeal

Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2018 11:36 am
by silverscreenselect
It didn't take long to raise the jackpot to $900 million.

Re: A Non-Political Appeal

Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2018 11:32 pm
by MarkBarrett
No winner for Powerball takes that up to a starting point of $430M for Saturday's draw.

Odds of hitting both the Friday Mega Millions ($900M and rising) & Saturday Powerball: 1 in 88,000,000,000,000,000

Separately it's only 1 in 302M+ & 1 in 292M+

Re: A Non-Political Appeal

Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2018 7:21 am
by silverscreenselect
MarkBarrett wrote:Odds of hitting both the Friday Mega Millions ($900M and rising) & Saturday Powerball: 1 in 88,000,000,000,000,000

Separately it's only 1 in 302M+ & 1 in 292M+
Party pooper.

You can't win if you don't play. Avoid the lines; play early; play often.

Especially you BBs here in Georgia.

Re: A Non-Political Appeal

Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2018 9:51 am
by silverscreenselect
And it's just been raised to $970 million (the advantages of having first hand information).

I expect it to hit a billion before all is said and done Friday night.

Re: A Non-Political Appeal

Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2018 2:31 pm
by silverscreenselect
Good Morning America will be at our offices tomorrow morning for some interviews with our CEO (the Mega Millions drawing is held here in Atlanta). I'm not sure who else they might talk to, but one person they won't be talking to is me, since I'll be at a seminar all day tomorrow.

Re: A Non-Political Appeal

Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2018 4:15 am
by silverscreenselect
Nobody won, so it's going to be $1.6 billion on Tuesday. When I saw the winning numbers come up, with three of the five numbers over 50, I told Mrs. SSS that there's a good chance no one hit. Many people who pick their numbers pick birthdays, so low numbers are more likely to match a winning ticket than high numbers.

It's going to be a fun couple of days in the office Monday and Tuesday.

Re: A Non-Political Appeal

Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2018 4:31 am
by Estonut
silverscreenselect wrote:Many people who pick their numbers pick birthdays, so low numbers are more likely to match a winning ticket than high numbers.
That doesn't sound right. If the winning numbers are random (as advertised), then any combination of numbers is just as likely as any other to match the selected winners. Since many people who pick their numbers pick birthdays, you might be more likely to have multiple winners with low numbers. I believe the vast majority of buyers use the quick pick option, though.

Re: A Non-Political Appeal

Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2018 6:58 am
by littlebeast13
Estonut wrote:
silverscreenselect wrote:Many people who pick their numbers pick birthdays, so low numbers are more likely to match a winning ticket than high numbers.
That doesn't sound right. If the winning numbers are random (as advertised), then any combination of numbers is just as likely as any other to match the selected winners. Since many people who pick their numbers pick birthdays, you might be more likely to have multiple winners with low numbers. I believe the vast majority of buyers use the quick pick option, though.
Any winning drawing that is ALL numbers 31 and below is significantly more likely to match a winning ticket due to this phenomenon. Maybe not as likely as in the prehistoric lottery days of most players filling out scan trons, but still, a combination like 4, 7, 9, 15, 21, 25 is much more likely to hit a winning ticket since those numbers are all picked by players more often than, say, 10, 23, 33, 42, 55, 58....

lb13

Re: A Non-Political Appeal

Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2018 7:13 am
by silverscreenselect
littlebeast13 wrote:
Estonut wrote:
silverscreenselect wrote:Many people who pick their numbers pick birthdays, so low numbers are more likely to match a winning ticket than high numbers.
That doesn't sound right. If the winning numbers are random (as advertised), then any combination of numbers is just as likely as any other to match the selected winners. Since many people who pick their numbers pick birthdays, you might be more likely to have multiple winners with low numbers. I believe the vast majority of buyers use the quick pick option, though.
Any winning drawing that is ALL numbers 31 and below is significantly more likely to match a winning ticket due to this phenomenon. Maybe not as likely as in the prehistoric lottery days of most players filling out scan trons, but still, a combination like 4, 7, 9, 15, 21, 25 is much more likely to hit a winning ticket since those numbers are all picked by players more often than, say, 10, 23, 33, 42, 55, 58....

lb13
Many casual players take quick picks and those numbers are randomly scattered. Keep in mind, though, that there are 302 million possible combinations, so even with quick picks, a lot of combinations will still be uncovered (although significantly fewer at the next drawing because of the considerably larger total number of tickets sold).

Any combination of numbers is as likely to hit as any other, but if you have two, three, or more times as many tickets sold with low numbers, even with overlaps, then more low number combinations will be covered than high number combinations, and the chances of a winner not being picked are much higher for high number combinations than for low ones.

Regular players often pick their "lucky" numbers, and they are often birthdays or other low numbers. Some of them are actually afraid of their quick pick for one drawing winning the next one and them not having those numbers, so they "protect" themselves by playing the same numbers all the time (in most states you can buy tickets for multiple drawings using the same numbers at one time). If we do get a bunch of low numbers in the next drawing, it's likely there will be more than one winner.

If the numbers 1-2-3-4-5 were ever to hit as the white ball numbers, you would have hundreds of winning tickets.