by Joseph DeMaio, ©2025
(Mar. 26, 2025) — Every now and then, your humble servant takes a break from his pontifications on the “natural born Citizen” (“nbC”) presidential eligibility issue. One such diversion is now offered: addressing the issue of lottery gambling here in the nation.
Apart from the fact that the American Revolution was financed, in part, with revenues generated by colonial lotteries, the role of lotteries played in contemporary America has become a source of significant funds for the various states that have legalized them. Moreover, note that your servant is generally ambivalent and indifferent to gambling, as such: this is still, by and large, a Republic where free adults can make their own lawful choices, assuming they are prepared to live with the consequences of those decisions.
Indeed, in 2022, the most recent year for available statistics, Americans (and probably a lot of illegal aliens, too) spent nearly $100 billion on lottery tickets. Not exactly chump change. On the other hand, as is true with regard to all forms of government or licensed private gambling operations, their ultimate success and continued viability depends almost entirely on millions and millions of “losers.”
And by “losers” is meant those who place a bet or buy a lottery ticket and don’t win anything at all – other than the entertaining “thrill” of gambling – as opposed to losers like Kamala Harris and “Goofball Timmy” Walz. See what I did there? I snuck the “nbC”issue into the gambling discussion between the lines.
But I digress.
Back to text. Currently, two major multi-state lottery enterprises exist here: the “Powerball Lottery” (“Powerball”) and the “Mega Millions Lottery” (“Mega”). Both operate, in general, on the same principle: one group of many “ping pong ball” numbers exist from which a certain number (currently 5) are randomly selected and one smaller group of similar numbers from which a single number is also randomly selected.
The “odds” of winning the jackpot prize for either lottery is determined by how many “balls” are in the two matrices. The two lotteries have differing numbers of balls in each matrix, and thus, there are different “odds” applicable to each separate lottery.
When a purchased ticket matches all the randomly selected “large matrix” group of numbers as well as the single “small matrix” number, the “jackpot” is won. Unsurprisingly, especially when the “estimated projected jackpot” total is large, more people buy tickets. Human nature being what it is, virtually no one plays either lottery with the objective of “breaking even” or winning a minimal $2 payout. Additionally, however, virtually no one fully understands the mathematics of “permutations, combinations and probabilities.” As of today, the “odds” of winning the jackpot prize for the Powerball are one in 292,201,338. For the Mega, as of today, the “jackpot” odds are one in 302,575,350. As of April 5, 2025, however, the Mega jackpot odds will change to one in 290,472,336, “improving” the odds to individual Mega ticket purchasers and slightly better than for the Powerball. Still, all three “jackpot” odds are big numbers translating to: “not easy to hit the jackpot” for any of them.
However, in addition to “improving” players’ jackpot odds, Mega has announced that the price of a single ticket will increase from $2 to $5. Simple arithmetic, let alone higher math, shows that this is a 250% price increase for a single ticket. And although there are other “improvements” in the prizes being offered in addition to those relating to the Mega jackpot, the fact remains that a person interested in hitting that jackpot will have to pay 250% more than before April 5, while the “jackpot” odds will have improved by only: 4%. Just sayin’.
That math exercise aside, in order to get a clearer picture of just how hard it will remain to hit the “improved” Mega jackpot, try this: imagine a road that is 290,472,336 inches long, or, in miles, 4,584.5 miles. That would correspond to a point about 45 miles east of Tallahassee, Florida on a road starting in Anchorage, Alaska. To hit that new two-matrix numbers combination Mega jackpot, just pick the right inch mark on the road between those two cities. Your servant’s pick is in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee…, just because he likes to say “Chattanooga.”
As for the Powerball, with the jackpot odds and ticket price remaining unchanged (for the moment…), pick the right inch mark on that same road between Anchorage and a point about 30 miles west of Jacksonville. Your servant still favors Chattanooga.
Memo to faithful P&E readers: good luck!