It now appears certain that Megamillions will go 6 months...

Reply #29

Prob988 — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 16:04:51 GMT

True enough.

If one plays by expectation value - and I very much doubt that many people do - Powerball can be a better bet. But, of course, the Powerball annuity jackpot needs to be more than twice as large (annuity) for that to happen.

(Recall that the expectation value is the likely prize - adjusted for the probability of there being more than one winner - divided by the odds times the cost of the ticket.)

What Powerball can almost never do - unless it goes to a billion dollars annuit... [ More ]

Reply #28

RJOh — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 23:33:56 GMT

If no one wins tonight, I expect a ticket buying frenzy to start for Saturday's drawing. I'm planning to buy 5-10 tickets.

Reply #27

Coin Toss — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 23:23:19 GMT

Prob988,

...Megamillion sales are down, probably mostly because people are foolishly forking over money for Powerball,Megamillion sales are down, probably mostly because people are foolishly forking over money for Powerball,...

And yet when Powerball announced it was going to $2 a whole lot of people swore they'd stick with Mega Millions only.

Reply #26

helpmewin — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 15:09:32 GMT

Reply #25

Prob988 — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 14:40:38 GMT

We're on a roll.

It's sort of unbelievable, especially when one looks at the sales statistics.

Reply #24

ryanm — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:48:23 GMT

For Mega Millions' jackpots to be comparable to Powerball's, and considering Mega's different annuity structure and ticket price, its jackpots should start at $16 million and increase by at least $4 million every draw there is no winner.

Reply #23

joshuacloak — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 09:12:27 GMT

i rather liked how powerball turned out

going by must recent draws

7th draw powerball was at 63,500,000 cash jan 19th

7th draw for MM = 41,000,000 cash jan 11th

cant compare the Annuity ,there so diff

but 2 buck price point has proven it self .............

and mega millions can quickly catch up and go beyond sometimes

if it ever gets higher, come 200/300m range

as it sure set record back in late 2011 /early 2012 run that set the world record has proven i... [ More ]

Reply #22

Romancandle — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 03:31:36 GMT

Agree... three draws just to break the 20 MM mark lately- too long...

Reply #21

dallascowboyfan — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 01:26:57 GMT

$15 million would be a nice star

Reply #20

ressuccess — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 19:18:45 GMT

I would suggest that Mega Millions should start with at $15 million dollars as their base because I want them to follow Powerball's footsteps in the cash option jackpot. For example, Powerball's cash option jackpot is currently about 63% of their starting jackpot. When Mega Millions starts with a $12 million dollars jackpot on February 22nd, 2013, their cash option at $8.8 million is currently about 73% of the announced jackpot.

Reply #19

dallascowboyfan — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 15:42:05 GMT

I don't want Mega to up the ticket prices just the starting jackpot amount since Florida is joining.

Reply #18

ryanm — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 03:12:58 GMT

I highly doubt Mega Millions will up its ticket prices or its minimum jackpot, because the point of the MUSL making changes to Powerball was to give players a new LEVEL to play, since almost all of the states have both jackpot games.

Reply #17

dallascowboyfan — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 14:42:58 GMT

I wonder since Florida is joining Mega will they increase the starting jackpot? Don't get me wrong I would take $12 million in a heartbeat lol.....but to make the game more competitive to Powerball $40 million starting jackpot.

Reply #16

dallascowboyfan — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 14:38:30 GMT

I hope you are the first from Tennessee ridge

Reply #15

rdgrnr — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 02:32:34 GMT

I hope you are, dallas.

Reply #14

Prob988 — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 00:38:01 GMT

Your first sentences in each of your first two paragraphs confirm the last sentence my my original post.

Thanks for that.

Your second sentence is pretty much nonsense. Expectation values are a truer measure of the relative value of bets, than absolute odds.

In fact, not only is the current MM a better buy, but the actual nearly astronomical odds for both games are relatively close.

Reply #13

msharkey2001 — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:32:16 GMT

I'd be willing to bet your typical big game jackpot player either doesn't know or care about expectation value. More people are forking over money for powerball because the prizes are bigger and the overall odds are better, simple as that.

I would personally spend $10 for 5 PB lines before I would spend $10 for 10 MM lines any day. I think MM is gonna have to consider some sort of matrix change and or megaplier revamp soon if it wants to remain competitive with PB, especially with player... [ More ]

Reply #12

RJOh — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:54:15 GMT

Now that PB is getting in that $100M territory, MM players who don't like paying $2 per line will give in and start playing PB until MM jackpot gets a little bigger.

Reply #11

Think — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:44:16 GMT

Well, look at how much money you are saving while not playing! Set it aside and play it when the jackpot gets up there.

Reply #10

dallascowboyfan — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 00:35:57 GMT

I will be the first Mega jackpot winner from Oklahoma no matter the size of the jackpot

Reply #9

JWBlue — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 02:09:52 GMT

Another winner last night @19 million.

Reply #8

Anfang71 — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 01:03:00 GMT

'cept in if it was you you'd be laughin to the bank there....

Either way it was strange seeing the Powerball break it's record an then have it won at the 50Million level for that long

Reply #7

mightwin — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 23:19:37 GMT

Look at all those powerball wins in december.........I was gettin pissed lol

Reply #6

jjtheprince — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 02:29:15 GMT

And the winners in Michigan are laughing all the way to the bank thinking That was just too darn easy

Reply #5

ryanm — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 12:55:08 GMT

Once again, Mega Millions was hit last night, and the jackpot was only $19 million.

Reply #4

Ronnie316 — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 14:09:09 GMT

I'm sure people who spend $10. and win think, What was so hard about that? lol.

Reply #3

dallascowboyfan — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 14:05:16 GMT

Reply #2

LottoBoner — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 01:21:29 GMT

Reply #1

jjtheprince — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 00:49:44 GMT

Mega millions is too easy to win, that's what it is.

It now appears certain that Megamillions will go 6 months...

Prob988 — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 23:27:19 GMT

...without producing a single jackpot over $100M annuity.

Megamillion sales are down, probably mostly because people are foolishly forking over money for Powerball, even though it's half the value of Megamillions when one accounts for the expectation value.

(The last giant Powerball jackpot showed pretty much that it is impossible for Powerball to produce a jackpot with an expectation value greater than one, something that Megamillions has done many times.)

It's predictable. The lottery... [ More ]