The Powerball is worth more than $1,000,000,000. The odds of winning are 1 out of 292 million. But this is such a huge number it’s hard to wrap our minds around it.
So let’s look at this a different way: If we put two football fields together and paint one blade of grass red and place it on the field, it will be one out of 292 million blades of grass.
But, it’s baseball season. Minute Maid Park seats more than 41,000 people. When you’re at the game, look around… this is what one in 41,000 odds looks like. For Powerball, you need 7,122 more Minute Maids to look like a in one in 292 million.
Researcher Burrell Montz of East Carolina University said, “If people understood probability, they wouldn’t buy lottery tickets.”
But somebody will win Powerball and Mega Millions and that’s why a lot of us play.
Are there worse odds? Yes. Over a three-year span, 20-year-old Dylan McMillan was bit by a shark, a bear and a snake. Those odds one in 893 quadrillion. This is the guy who should be playing the lottery.
The odds of winning both the Powerball and Mega Millions is one in 75.6 quadrillion.
You have a lot better chance getting struck by lightning twice -- one in 19 million.
Getting attacked by a shark -- one in five million
Or becoming President of the United States -- one in 32.6 million (Several people have checked the math on this, it’s accurate.)
