[Lottery Larry]

[ QUOTE ]
like right now it's $90,000,000. how high does the jackpot need to be before it becomes +ev.

[/ QUOTE ]

There was a calculation made , 6 months ago or so (I replied in the thread, so maybe search on my name- it might have been the Other Gambling forum, or elsewhere) that the jackpot for the Powerball would have to be in the half-billion range. That would almost guarantee that the cash value prize, minus the chances of splitting and the taxes involved, would end up as a +EV result.

If you want to wait until the lottery pools hit $500M for the first time EVER, feel free.

one could argue that waiting for the cash value to pass the 148M:1 or worse odds could be considered +EV... but you'd rarely get to play then either.

I say, when the annuity passes the odds of winning, it's HUGELY +EV for me to win the jackpot... regardless of what amount I eventually end up with as spendable cash.

Make your own call... but for a few dollars, you can't go wrong IMO unless you're going broke.

[ QUOTE ]
also does the powerplay increase your ev or decrease it?

[/ QUOTE ]

Take a guess- do lotteries and bonus features get added because they'll cost the organization MORE than it had been costing them, before the new feature was added?

(answer: only if someone screwed up)

I'd rather spend $2 on two chances at 90M than adding a dollar to give me ~15M:1 chance to win a million dollars... or less, depending on which powerplay factor came up.