Powerball jackpot: $1.5 billion

#1      

UIUC1867

UIUC1867
Christian County, IL
UIUC1867
The jackpot is now the largest in US history with the drawing on 1/9/16.

I usually never play Powerball, but I might get a single $2 ticket this time. Remember, you can't win if you don't play.

I wouldn't have the slightest clue on where to begin if I had all that money, but I guess you can afford a team to help you with that. :D

Any ideas on what you would do if you won?
 
#2      

BWBW

BWBW
BWBW
Die of a heart attack. I've already warned my spouse, if she finds me collapsed over my cell phone and lottery tickets, one of them is the grand prize winner. :)
 
#3      

Ransom Stoddard

Ransom Stoddard
Ordained Dudeist Priest
Bloomington, IL
Ransom Stoddard
UIUC1867 said:
The jackpot is now the largest in US history with the drawing on 1/9/16.

I usually never play Powerball, but I might get a single $2 ticket this time. Remember, you can't win if you don't play.

I wouldn't have the slightest clue on where to begin if I had all that money, but I guess you can afford a team to help you with that. :D

Any ideas on what you would do if you won?
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Buy the state of Illinois. It can't be worth much more than that. :D
 
#5      

Serious Late

Serious Late
Peoria via Denver via Ann Arbor via Albuquerque vi
Serious Late
I will buy a ticket when the jackpot is 100 mil per dollar spent (so 200 mil for a $2 powerball ticket). And I never say you can't win if you don't play. I prefer saying you can't DREAM if you don't play! It's worth $2 knowing full well I won't win, just for the fun of sitting around pondering the possibility.

I would totally buy a minor league sports franchise, for the record.
 
#7      

IlliniJim20

I
IlliniJim20
Bomb Squad 217 said:
If its 700m, you take home what 350m?
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I think it is closer to $262+

I believe if you take the lump sum, it gets cut in half. Then you pay taxes.

One station in Chicago said you'd get about $165m when it was $450m jackpot, and I seem to recall from previous (dreaming of winning) lotteries that take home is about 3/8 of total.

What to do? Travel while kids Are away at college :D

Buy a motor home to watch my son play in college. Although I could afford hotels, a huge RV would be fun to party in :thumb: also to party at Illini games.

Possibilities are endless.
 
#8      

riffraff

riffraff
Peoria
riffraff
I recall reading a recent article showing that statistically the best time to buy a ticket is at somewhere between $250k and $272k jackpot based on the correlation between jackpot, number of participants at any given level, and the individual payout received due to the likelihood of splitting the jackpot with multiple winners as the number of participants increases. In other words you are more likely to get the best result from buying a ticket on occasion if you happen to win by participating when the jackpot is big but not too big and then taking the lump sum and investing it wisely.
 
#9      

gibb52

G
gibb52
Bomb Squad 217 said:
If its 700m, you take home what 350m?
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The lump sum is calculated on Net Present Value. I think the NPV would be around $450mil on a $700mil winner, then of course you have to pay taxes on that. $250mil might be about right for what you'd end up with.

If I took the Visa card away from the Mrs I could live on that:thumb:
 
#10      

IlliniJim20

I
IlliniJim20
Bomb Squad 217 said:
If its 700m, you take home what 350m?
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gibb52 said:
The lump sum is calculated on Net Present Value. I think the NPV would be around $450mil on a $700mil winner, then of course you have to pay taxes on that. $250mil might be about right for what you'd end up with.

If I took the Visa card away from the Mrs I could live on that:thumb:
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Being a little ocd, I looked up one site that stated take home in Illinois of $305,325,000.

Lump sum equates to $428,400,000. 25% federal income tax brings it down to $321,300,000

Illinois state tax of 3.75%. Website actually calculated it at 5%, so I calculate take home of $309,251,250 at 3.75%

Either way, that wouldn't suck :D

If you win, send me a little something, you know, for the effort ;)
 
#11      

ChiefIlliniwek

ChiefIlliniwek
Omaha, Nebraska
ChiefIlliniwek
IlliniJim20 said:
Being a little ocd, I looked up one site that stated take home in Illinois of $305,325,000.

Lump sum equates to $428,400,000. 25% federal income tax brings it down to $321,300,000

Illinois state tax of 3.75%. Website actually calculated it at 5%, so I calculate take home of $309,251,250 at 3.75%

Either way, that wouldn't suck :D

If you win, send me a little something, you know, for the effort ;)
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If I actually win I can't promise you any money... but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness. So you'll have that going for you. Which is nice! :thumb:

:chief:
 
#13      

Ransom Stoddard

Ransom Stoddard
Ordained Dudeist Priest
Bloomington, IL
Ransom Stoddard
danielb927 said:
Just in case you do win, read this first.
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Good read.

David Baldacci wrote a novel called "The Winner" about a lottery winner and uses a lot of the demographics and scenarios brought up in that Reddit thread. Fun novel, like a lot of his earlier ones were.
 
#15      

riffraff

riffraff
Peoria
riffraff
riffraff said:
I recall reading a recent article showing that statistically the best time to buy a ticket is at somewhere between $250k and $272k jackpot based on the correlation between jackpot, number of participants at any given level, and the individual payout received due to the likelihood of splitting the jackpot with multiple winners as the number of participants increases. In other words you are more likely to get the best result from buying a ticket on occasion if you happen to win by participating when the jackpot is big but not too big and then taking the lump sum and investing it wisely.
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Sorry meant to say 250m-272m.
 
#18      

IlliniJim20

I
IlliniJim20
#19      

Serious Late

Serious Late
Peoria via Denver via Ann Arbor via Albuquerque vi
Serious Late
Has anyone heard about a different ticket for $2 or $3? I always thought the powerball jackpot was based off the $2 ticket, but my wife was telling me her company went in on a bunch of $3 Powerball tickets.

Did I miss something?
 
#20      

ILLINIFAN2

ILLINIFAN2
Des Moines, IA
ILLINIFAN2
I got asked to purchase a $3 ticket as well, she called it the "Power Play"... not sure what that means though as I was in a hurry.
 
#23      

Illwinsagain

Illwinsagain
Cary, IL
Illwinsagain
Serious Late said:
I will buy a ticket when the jackpot is 100 mil per dollar spent (so 200 mil for a $2 powerball ticket). And I never say you can't win if you don't play. I prefer saying you can't DREAM if you don't play! It's worth $2 knowing full well I won't win, just for the fun of sitting around pondering the possibility.

I would totally buy a minor league sports franchise, for the record.
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Back when my wife and I were young, broke and lived in the city; we would buy a $1 ticket and walk around the city talking about what we would do with the winnings. Good memories. :thumb: