You are here

Before You Play the Lottery...

...consider what split jackpots do to the expected value. Writing for Business Insider, Walter Hickey does the math on playing Powerball.

Hickey plots lottery participation as a function of Jackpot value, runs linear and polynomial regressions on this data, throws in a chart showing how the probabilities of different numbers of winners change with number of tickets sold, compares the cash up-front and 30-payment annuity options for payout, and concludes...

Taxes will probably mean that it is never profitable or sensible to play the lottery.

Read the analysis.

 

Start Date: 
Friday, October 4, 2013