Mega-Millions Jackpot Gettin' Up There !

The Mega-Millions Jackpot For Tuesday March 18th is estimated at $400,000,000 (annuity) 0R $224,000,000 (cash).

This is the third highest Mega-Millions jackpot ever.

Ref: megamillions.com

DonDiego will be playing. (If he were to win he will likely post a farewell message.)

Then, I'm certainly pulling for you to win!

I already have tickets. I figure you net around $133 mill after taxes and lump sum!

DonDiego thanks daviddechenne for his kind thought.

Hard one to win on..and shows you how hard it is to hit the big one... still buy a couple tickets but nothing like I do when PowerBall gets up there.

Pretty good presumption. I rely on www.usamega.com to help me with how much I am going to win. Depends on the state taxes, etc.

Some persepective...you greatly increase your chances by buying multiple tickets....math brought to you by pjstroh and wikipedia: State Populations

1 ticket = 1: 260 million chance Thats like being picked randomly out of the population of the US's 24 most populous states: CA, TX, NY, FL, IL,PA,OH, GA, MI, NC, NJ, VA, WA, MA, AZ, IN, TN, MO, MD, WI, MN, CO, AL, SC

2 tickets = 1: 130 million chance Just by spedning an extra dollar you cut that pool in half. Remove the top 6 most populous states from the pool: CA, TX, NY, FL, IL, PA.
You are left with: OH, GA, MI, NC, NJ, VA, WA, MA, AZ, IN, TN, MO, MD, WI, MN, CO, AL, SC


4 tickets = 1: 65 million chance Spend just two more dollars and squash the pool in half again. Remove the next 6 most populous states from the list: OH, GA, MI, NC, NJ, VA
You are left with: WA, MA, AZ, IN, TN, MO, MD, WI, MN, CO, AL, SC

8 tickets = 1: 32.5 million chance Still in the realm of sanity.. blowing 8 dollars on Megamillions tickets. That knocks another 5 states of the list (not all next in line by population). Remove: WA, MA, AZ, CO, SC
You are left with: IN, TN, MO, MD, WI, MN, AL

16 tickets = 1: 16.25 million chance Still under $20 in tickets here. Probably more than I would normally spend ...but when the jackpot is at $400 million? Maybe. Take out these states: MD, MN, AL
You are left with: IN, TN, MO, WI

You are likely playing the company pool beyond this point....buying more tickets equates to being picked randomly out of the population of these city populations:


32 tickets = 1: 8.125 million chance = New York City
64 tickets = 1: 4 million chance = Los Angeles
128 tickets = 1: 2 million chance = Houston
254 tickets = 1: 1 million chance = San Jose
508 tickets = 1: 500 K chance = Fresno
1016 tickets = 1: 250 K chance = St Pete, FL
2032 tickets = 1: 125 K chance = Charleston, SC

Now we're moving to being picked randomly out of a stadium:
4064 tickets = 1: 63 K chance = Lucas Oil Stadium (NFL Indianapolis Colts)
8128 tickets = 1: 31.5 K chance = Oakland Coliseum (MLB Oakland A's)
16256 tickets = 1: 15 K chance = Smith's Ballpark (Minor League Salt lake City Bee's)

If I couldn't live for the rest of my life comfortably on $1 million before taxes, I must be doing something wrong.

I do buy the Texas lottery and Mega millions on occasion.

I'm going to win it this week!

I'm with you, since they jacked the odds by an extra 100mil I don't play as much as I do powerball. I'm still scratching my head why they jacked 'em so much. My guess, they wanna be the first lottery to hit the billion mark maybe?