powerball v. megamillions

STPHNSN23 · Guest

today's reason why i haven't been getting enough work done is...

which is the better bet?

powerball: $2 per play, odds are 1:175,223,510 to hit jackpot, current jackpot $215M

megamillions: $1 per play, odds are 1:258,890,850 to hit jackpot, current jackpot $94M

say I have $2 to bet. given the odds and the current jackpot values, does it make more sense to buy a single $2 powerball ticket or two $1 megamillion tickets? at what point would the odds and jackpots favor one game over the other in terms of anticipated payout?

Nor*Cal · Ladies Man Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 9479 City: Sac

Odds stay the same, chances increase but so minutely it does not make much sense to buy more than one ticket if you are inclined to play nor does it make sense to join a pool.

jt09 · Ladies Man Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 22083 City: Austin

Wheeler · Criminal Joined: 04 Sep 2010 Posts: 74 City: Decatur, AL

215M/175,223,510 /$2 = .614 (61% payback)

94M/258,890,850 /$1 = .363 (36% payback) - about half the value

buying 2 tickets doesn't change "value" but it does change (double) the chances that you will win:

2 chances out of 258,890,850 is : 258,890,850 /2 = 1:129,445,425 odds

To take this to the extreme, if you bought one of every combination (258,890,850 tickets) the odds become 258,890,850 /258,890,850 = 1:1 (you are going to win)

STPHNSN23 · Guest

with current jackpot estimates, my math says buying one powerball ticket is the "smarter" bet as wheeler suggests. one powerball ticket would have an expected payback of $1.22, and two megamillion tickets would have an expected payback of $0.72.

jt, maybe my question wasn't clear. if you were going to spend $2 on tickets, the math says buy the two megamillions tickets unless the powerball jackpot is 1.35 times the megamillions.