My bad joining two thoughts into one. The odds of jackpot on Powerball are 1:295m(up from 175m), or so freaking low that I’d be more likely to be bit by a shark, while being struck by lightning, on the CT river. Or maybe a better analogy is the blackjack card shoe is 9 instead of 5 decks?

That jackpot is only so large nowadays compared to earlier games is from the streak of dud tickets increasing, not because more tickets are selling overall. I believe they increased the # of balls by 10 to get that shift in odds. It’s not you vs your neighbor or the conglomerates that buy when the prize pools get high. It’s us vs spinning balls in a bin. I don’t think it matters weather their is 1 or 15 winning ticket holders, it’s the ones that came up that drawing.

Now you do have a 1:25 odds of getting a $4 winner though. $50 to guarantee $4? I’d rather buy a candy or glizzy from the gas station rollers for the guaranteed value of lunch.

Maybe it’s still a crummy explanation of why the lotto, and specifically pick-x games, are a poor tax.