Re:Mega Millions ticket wins $1.34B lottery jackpot
by listenallyall on Saturday July 30, 2022 @09:01PM
(#32292042)
> The odds on this draw were much better
The odds were the same, but the EV was certainly higher than most draws. Still, the EV was likely negative. $2 ticket x 303 million-to-1 odds would require a post-tax cash-in-hand value exceeding $600 million, which the winner is unlikely to see after tax, despite avoiding a split with a second winner.
Re:Mega Millions ticket wins $1.34B lottery jackpot
by bryanlarsen on Saturday July 30, 2022 @09:17PM
(#32292167)
35 cents goes to minor prizes, so that's $1.65 x 303 million, which is borderline achievable.
If you bought tickets to every draw the expected value of a ticket is $1.10/$2, but if you only bought for this draw the expected value was much better. The expected value before the draw was not 3:1, only slightly above unity because the biggest likelihood was no winner, and a significant likelihood of a shared jackpot.