The OFFICIAL Powerball and Megamillions thread:

[jaysrcrak]

who said a trust? I said a company. Create an LLC, let that claim it, the rep that speaks at the press conference doesn't control the money or investments. Peace of cake. You can do that in a half hour on legalzoom. Pass on the annuity as well. Lump sum over all. Pay the taxes and then invest the rest right then. Anything can happen in the future.

If its just a company that you own, then your name will be public record. It defeats tthe whole purpose of trying to stay anonymous when someone can easily find out your name. It would have to be a blind trust to keep yourself anonymous.

 

[flyny]

What's stopping son from walking into the press conference wearing a mask though?

 

[Nawzlew]

dunno if posted but.

Numbers are for winning ~$650 mil.



So, what the hell DO you do if you are unlucky enough to win the lottery?

This is the absolutely most important thing you can do right away: NOTHING.

Yes. Nothing.

DO NOT DECLARE YOURSELF THE WINNER yet.

Do NOT tell anyone. The urge is going to be nearly irresistible. Resist it. Trust me.

1. IMMEDIATELY retain an attorney.
Get a partner from a larger, NATIONAL firm. Don't let them pawn off junior partners or associates on you. They might try, all law firms might, but insist instead that your lead be a partner who has been with the firm for awhile. Do NOT use your local attorney. Yes, I mean your long-standing family attorney who did your mother's will. Do not use the guy who fought your dry-cleaner bill. Do not use the guy you have trusted your entire life because of his long and faithful service to your family. In fact, do not use any firm that has any connection to family or friends or community. TRUST me. This is bad. You want someone who has never heard of you, any of your friends, or any member of your family. Go the closest big city and walk into one of the national firms asking for one of the "Trust and Estates" partners you have previously looked up on http://www.martindale.com[1] from one of the largest 50 firms in the United States which has an office near you. You can look up attorneys by practice area and firm on Martindale.

2. Decide to take the lump sum.
Most lotteries pay a really pathetic rate for the annuity. It usually hovers around 4.5% annual return or less, depending. It doesn't take much to do better than this, and if you have the money already in cash, rather than leaving it in the hands of the state, you can pull from the capital whenever you like. If you take the annuity you won't have access to that cash. That could be good. It could be bad. It's probably bad unless you have a very addictive personality. If you need an allowance managed by the state, it is because you didn't listen to point #1 above.
Why not let the state just handle it for you and give you your allowance?

Many state lotteries pay you your "allowance" (the annuity option) by buying U.S. treasury instruments and running the interest payments through their bureaucracy before sending it to you along with a hunk of the principal every month. You will not be beating inflation by much, if at all. There is no reason you couldn't do this yourself, if a low single-digit return is acceptable to you.

You aren't going to get even remotely the amount of the actual jackpot. Take our old friend Mr. Whittaker. Using Whittaker is a good model both because of the reminder of his ignominious decline, and the fact that his winning ticket was one of the larger ones on record. If his situation looks less than stellar to you, you might have a better perspective on how "large" your winnings aren't. Whittaker's "jackpot" was $315 million. He selected the lump-sum cash up-front option, which knocked off $145 million (or 46% of the total) leaving him with $170 million. That was then subject to withholding for taxes of $56 million (33%) leaving him with $114 million.

In general, you should expect to get about half of the original jackpot if you elect a lump sum (maybe better, it depends). After that, you should expect to lose around 33% of your already pruned figure to state and federal taxes. (Your mileage may vary, particularly if you live in a state with aggressive taxation schemes).

3. Decide right now, how much you plan to give to family and friends.

This really shouldn't be more than 20% or so. Figure it out right now. Pick your number. Tell your lawyer. That's it. Don't change it. 20% of $114 million is $22.8 million. That leaves you with $91.2 million. DO NOT CONSULT WITH FAMILY when deciding how much to give to family. You are going to get advice that is badly tainted by conflict of interest, and if other family members find out that Aunt Flo was consulted and they weren't you will never hear the end of it. Neither will Aunt Flo. This might later form the basis for an allegation that Aunt Flo unduly influenced you and a lawsuit might magically appear on this basis. No, I'm not kidding. I know of one circumstance (related to a business windfall, not a lottery) where the plaintiffs WON this case.

Do NOT give anyone cash. Ever. Period. Just don't. Do not buy them houses. Do not buy them cars. Tell your attorney that you want to provide for your family, and that you want to set up a series of trusts for them that will total 20% of your after tax winnings. Tell him you want the trust empowered to fund higher education, some help (not a total) purchase of their first home, some provision for weddings and the like, whatever. Do NOT put yourself in the position of handing out cash. Once you do, if you stop, you will be accused of being a heartless bastard (or *****). Trust me. It won't go well.

It will be easy to lose perspective. It is now the duty of your friends, family, relatives, hangers-on and their inner circle to skew your perspective, and they take this job quite seriously. Setting up a trust, a managed fund for your family that is in the double digit millions is AMAZINGLY generous. You need never have trouble sleeping because you didn't lend Uncle Jerry $20,000 in small denomination unmarked bills to start his chain of deep-fried peanut butter pancake restaurants. ("Deep'n 'nutter Restaurants") Your attorney will have a number of good ideas how to parse this wealth out without turning your siblings/spouse/children/grandchildren/cousins/waitresses into the latest Paris Hilton.

4. You will be encouraged to hire an investment manager. Considerable pressure will be applied. Don't.

Investment managers charge fees, usually a percentage of assets. Consider this: If they charge 1% (which is low, I doubt you could find this deal, actually) they have to beat the market by 1% every year just to break even with a general market index fund. It is not worth it, and you don't need the extra return or the extra risk. Go for the index fund instead if you must invest in stocks. This is a hard rule to follow. They will come recommended by friends. They will come recommended by family. They will be your second cousin on your mother's side. Investment managers will sound smart. They will have lots of cool acronyms. They will have nice PowerPoint presentations. They might (MIGHT) pay for your shrimp cocktail lunch at TGI Friday's while reminding you how poor their side of the family is. They live for this stuff.

You should smile, thank them for their time, and then tell them you will get back to them next week. Don't sign ANYTHING. Don't write it on a cocktail napkin (lottery lawsuit cases have been won and lost over drunkenly scrawled cocktail napkin addition and subtraction figures with lots of zeros on them). Never call them back. Trust me. You will thank me later. This tactic, smiling, thanking people for their time, and promising to get back to people, is going to have to become familiar. You will have to learn to say no gently, without saying the word "no." It sounds underhanded. Sneaky. It is. And its part of your new survival strategy. I mean the word "survival" quite literally.
Get all this figured out BEFORE you claim your winnings. They aren't going anywhere. Just relax.

5. If you elect to be more global about your paranoia, use between 20.00% and 33.00% of what you have not decided to commit to a family fund IMMEDIATELY to purchase a combination of longer term U.S. treasuries (5 or 10 year are a good idea) and perhaps even another G7 treasury instrument. This is your safety net. You will be protected... from yourself.

You are going to be really tempted to starting being a big investor. You are going to be convinced that you can double your money in Vegas with your awesome Roulette system/by funding your friend's amazing idea to sell Lemming dung/buying land for oil drilling/by shorting the North Pole Ice market (global warming, you know). This all sounds tempting because "Even if I lose it all I still have $XX million left! Anyone could live on that comfortably for the rest of their life." Yeah, except for 33% of everyone who won the lottery.

You're not going to double your money, so cool it. Let me say that again. You're not going to double your money, so cool it. Right now, you'll get around 3.5% on the 10 year U.S. treasury. With $18.2 million (20% of $91.2 mil after your absurdly generous family gift) invested in those you will pull down $638,400 per year. If everything else blows up, you still have that, and you will be in the top 1% of income in the United States. So how about you not **** with it. Eh? And that's income that is damn safe. If we get to the point where the United States defaults on those instruments, we are in far worse shape than worrying about money.

If you are really paranoid, you might consider picking another G7 or otherwise mainstream country other than the U.S. according to where you want to live if the United States dissolves into anarchy or Britney Spears is elected to the United States Senate. Put some fraction in something like Swiss Government Bonds at 3%. If the Swiss stop paying on their government debt, well, then you know money really means nothing anywhere on the globe anymore. I'd study small field sustainable agriculture if you think this is a possibility. You might have to start feeding yourself.

6. That leaves, say, 80% of $91.2 million or $72.9 million.
Here is where things start to get less clear. Personally, I think you should dump half of this, or $36.4 million, into a boring S&P 500 index fund. Find something with low fees. You are going to be constantly tempted to retain "sophisticated" advisers who charge "nominal fees." Don't. Period. Even if you lose every other dime, you have $638,400 per year you didn't have before that will keep coming in until the United States falls into chaos. **** advisers and their fees. Instead, drop your $36.4 million in the market in a low fee vehicle. Unless we have an unprecedented downturn the likes of which the United States has never seen, should return around 7.00% or so over the next 10 years. You should expect to touch not even a dime of this money for 10 or 15 or even 20 years. In 20 years $36.4 million could easily become $115 million.

7. So you have put a safety net in place.
You have provided for your family beyond your wildest dreams. And you still have $36.4 million in "cash." You know you will be getting $638,400 per year unless the capital building is burning, you don't ever need to give anyone you care about cash, since they are provided for generously and responsibly (and can't blow it in Vegas) and you have a HUGE nest egg that is growing at market rates. (Given the recent dip, you'll be buying in at great prices for the market). What now? Whatever you want. Go ahead and burn through $36.4 million in hookers and blow if you want. You've got more security than 99% of the country. A lot of it is in trusts so even if you are sued your family will live well, and progress across generations. If your lawyer is worth his salt (I bet he is) then you will be insulated from most lawsuits anyhow. Buy a nice house or two, make sure they aren't stupid investments though. Go ahead and be an angel investor and fund some startups, but REFUSE to do it for anyone you know. (Friends and money, oil and water - Michael Corleone) Play. Have fun. You earned it by putting together the shoe sizes of your whole family on one ticket and winning the jackpot.

 

[...So]

.

 

[nikeskywalker]

whoever wins this is going to be on the cover of Forbes real quick

 

[jaysrcrak]

You could also look at it this way.

Let's say the lump sum is 100 million after taxes. You can put that all in the bank and assume you only have 1% interest. You would make $1 million after a year.

Now if you took the annuity and lets say you only receive 10 million a year for 30 years. You put that 10 million in the bank at the same interest rate you would only make $100k.

And that is how the rich get richer. Plus you have more investment options if you take the lump sum.

This is definitely NOT the way to go.
People like you say take the lump sum because they dont understand how the annuity works.

When someone wins a powerball jackpot like the 1.3B as it stands right now they either get to choose the lump sum or the annuity.
When the annuity is chosen they take ALL the money collected for the jackpot and it is invested in U.S Treasury security bonds.

This means that your payments are GUARANTEED. There is no way that you wont get your money UNLESS the United States is taken over by another country and the U.S dollar is devalued out if existence. Which is HIGHLY unlikely. So that is out of the way. No reason to worry about that part of it.


So lets look at lump sum vs annuity. Lets use Texas as an example since it has no state tax.
The jackpot is 1.3B as it stands now for the advertised total. They have about 803M in cash from all of the tickets sold in all the Powerball states put together.

WHETHER YOU CHOOSE THE LUMP SUM OR THE ANNUITY YOU GET THE ENTIRE 803M RIGHT THEN.
the lottery does NOT hold the money for you. Let me repeat this for you. You get the ENTIRE 803M invested right then into the U.S security bonds.

So instead of getting 803M and then getting taxed, leaving you with $604,500,000 to invest with, you get THE ENTIRE 803M invested.

Using your example of a 1% gain every year 604,500,000 would earn you a little over $6M each year.
But if you took the annuity(which graduates by 5% every year) your first payment would be $19M. After taxes you would get 14,675,149.

The second year (assuming they spent nothing) the lump sum person would have $610M. Earning that same interest he would earn $6.1M that year.
The 2nd annuity payment is $20,545,209. After taxes you would have $15,408,907 And so on...

The whole inflation thing does not matter because whether you take the lump or annuity the interest rate and inflation is THE EXACT SAME.
The money is invested at the exact same time. The ONLY difference is the lump sum person gets taxed right off. the annuity person get ALL the money but only has access to the money as it is paid out from the interest earned from the treasury security bonds each year.

I dont know what kind of math you guys are doing but the annuity is the FAR superior option because you get an extra 200M to invest and
it is a FAR safer virtually guaranteed investment.




Cliff notes:
-Annuity payments are guaranteed backed by credit of the United States
-Whether you choose the annuity or lump sum you get ALL the money RIGHT THEN. It is NOT held by the lottery
-Lump sum pays taxes right away, annuity pays taxes from interest paid from investing
-Annuity gets you more money because more money is invested from the start. $803M vs $604M

 

[jaysrcrak]

There's no guarantee that they wont become insolvent in the future.The economy could collapse tomorrow. Better to take the lump sum

The United Staes would have to cease to exist for you to not get your money. The jackpot annuity is guaranteed.

 

[jaysrcrak]

What's stopping son from walking into the press conference wearing a mask though?

Nothing but whats the point when people can still discover his identity through public records.
All it takes is one smart person and the media will take it from there. Everyone will know who you are.

 

[moonman818]

There's no guarantee that they wont become insolvent in the future.The economy could collapse tomorrow. Better to take the lump sum

The United Staes would have to cease to exist for you to not get your money. The jackpot annuity is guaranteed.

If I'm not mistaken Illinois was having trouble paying their lottery winners because of financial problems.

I rather take a check for $604 million today than 800 over 30 years

 

[nawghtyhare]

It's crazy how this powerball jackpot

Making EVERYONE forget about the scandal with the powerball

And the powerball exec resigning a few weeks ago

Damn...forgot about that story...

 

[jaysrcrak]

If I'm not mistaken Illinois was having trouble paying their lottery winners because of financial problems.

I rather take a check for $604 million today than 800 over 30 years

It was because they didnt have the legal authority to disburse the checks having not passed a budget.
Those winners got paid. I believe with interest. But do you.
I would rather get million dollar checks like I play professional sports for the next 30 years. No chance of falling off.
One bad investment, or huge dip in the market you're broke.

 

[marcielago]

dunno if posted but.

Numbers are for winning ~$650 mil.



So, what the hell DO you do if you are unlucky enough to win the lottery?

This is the absolutely most important thing you can do right away: NOTHING.

Yes. Nothing.

DO NOT DECLARE YOURSELF THE WINNER yet.

Do NOT tell anyone. The urge is going to be nearly irresistible. Resist it. Trust me.

1. IMMEDIATELY retain an attorney.
Get a partner from a larger, NATIONAL firm. Don't let them pawn off junior partners or associates on you. They might try, all law firms might, but insist instead that your lead be a partner who has been with the firm for awhile. Do NOT use your local attorney. Yes, I mean your long-standing family attorney who did your mother's will. Do not use the guy who fought your dry-cleaner bill. Do not use the guy you have trusted your entire life because of his long and faithful service to your family. In fact, do not use any firm that has any connection to family or friends or community. TRUST me. This is bad. You want someone who has never heard of you, any of your friends, or any member of your family. Go the closest big city and walk into one of the national firms asking for one of the "Trust and Estates" partners you have previously looked up on http://www.martindale.com[1] from one of the largest 50 firms in the United States which has an office near you. You can look up attorneys by practice area and firm on Martindale.

2. Decide to take the lump sum.
Most lotteries pay a really pathetic rate for the annuity. It usually hovers around 4.5% annual return or less, depending. It doesn't take much to do better than this, and if you have the money already in cash, rather than leaving it in the hands of the state, you can pull from the capital whenever you like. If you take the annuity you won't have access to that cash. That could be good. It could be bad. It's probably bad unless you have a very addictive personality. If you need an allowance managed by the state, it is because you didn't listen to point #1 above.
Why not let the state just handle it for you and give you your allowance?

Many state lotteries pay you your "allowance" (the annuity option) by buying U.S. treasury instruments and running the interest payments through their bureaucracy before sending it to you along with a hunk of the principal every month. You will not be beating inflation by much, if at all. There is no reason you couldn't do this yourself, if a low single-digit return is acceptable to you.

You aren't going to get even remotely the amount of the actual jackpot. Take our old friend Mr. Whittaker. Using Whittaker is a good model both because of the reminder of his ignominious decline, and the fact that his winning ticket was one of the larger ones on record. If his situation looks less than stellar to you, you might have a better perspective on how "large" your winnings aren't. Whittaker's "jackpot" was $315 million. He selected the lump-sum cash up-front option, which knocked off $145 million (or 46% of the total) leaving him with $170 million. That was then subject to withholding for taxes of $56 million (33%) leaving him with $114 million.

In general, you should expect to get about half of the original jackpot if you elect a lump sum (maybe better, it depends). After that, you should expect to lose around 33% of your already pruned figure to state and federal taxes. (Your mileage may vary, particularly if you live in a state with aggressive taxation schemes).

3. Decide right now, how much you plan to give to family and friends.

This really shouldn't be more than 20% or so. Figure it out right now. Pick your number. Tell your lawyer. That's it. Don't change it. 20% of $114 million is $22.8 million. That leaves you with $91.2 million. DO NOT CONSULT WITH FAMILY when deciding how much to give to family. You are going to get advice that is badly tainted by conflict of interest, and if other family members find out that Aunt Flo was consulted and they weren't you will never hear the end of it. Neither will Aunt Flo. This might later form the basis for an allegation that Aunt Flo unduly influenced you and a lawsuit might magically appear on this basis. No, I'm not kidding. I know of one circumstance (related to a business windfall, not a lottery) where the plaintiffs WON this case.

Do NOT give anyone cash. Ever. Period. Just don't. Do not buy them houses. Do not buy them cars. Tell your attorney that you want to provide for your family, and that you want to set up a series of trusts for them that will total 20% of your after tax winnings. Tell him you want the trust empowered to fund higher education, some help (not a total) purchase of their first home, some provision for weddings and the like, whatever. Do NOT put yourself in the position of handing out cash. Once you do, if you stop, you will be accused of being a heartless bastard (or *****). Trust me. It won't go well.

It will be easy to lose perspective. It is now the duty of your friends, family, relatives, hangers-on and their inner circle to skew your perspective, and they take this job quite seriously. Setting up a trust, a managed fund for your family that is in the double digit millions is AMAZINGLY generous. You need never have trouble sleeping because you didn't lend Uncle Jerry $20,000 in small denomination unmarked bills to start his chain of deep-fried peanut butter pancake restaurants. ("Deep'n 'nutter Restaurants") Your attorney will have a number of good ideas how to parse this wealth out without turning your siblings/spouse/children/grandchildren/cousins/waitresses into the latest Paris Hilton.

4. You will be encouraged to hire an investment manager. Considerable pressure will be applied. Don't.

Investment managers charge fees, usually a percentage of assets. Consider this: If they charge 1% (which is low, I doubt you could find this deal, actually) they have to beat the market by 1% every year just to break even with a general market index fund. It is not worth it, and you don't need the extra return or the extra risk. Go for the index fund instead if you must invest in stocks. This is a hard rule to follow. They will come recommended by friends. They will come recommended by family. They will be your second cousin on your mother's side. Investment managers will sound smart. They will have lots of cool acronyms. They will have nice PowerPoint presentations. They might (MIGHT) pay for your shrimp cocktail lunch at TGI Friday's while reminding you how poor their side of the family is. They live for this stuff.

You should smile, thank them for their time, and then tell them you will get back to them next week. Don't sign ANYTHING. Don't write it on a cocktail napkin (lottery lawsuit cases have been won and lost over drunkenly scrawled cocktail napkin addition and subtraction figures with lots of zeros on them). Never call them back. Trust me. You will thank me later. This tactic, smiling, thanking people for their time, and promising to get back to people, is going to have to become familiar. You will have to learn to say no gently, without saying the word "no." It sounds underhanded. Sneaky. It is. And its part of your new survival strategy. I mean the word "survival" quite literally.
Get all this figured out BEFORE you claim your winnings. They aren't going anywhere. Just relax.

5. If you elect to be more global about your paranoia, use between 20.00% and 33.00% of what you have not decided to commit to a family fund IMMEDIATELY to purchase a combination of longer term U.S. treasuries (5 or 10 year are a good idea) and perhaps even another G7 treasury instrument. This is your safety net. You will be protected... from yourself.

You are going to be really tempted to starting being a big investor. You are going to be convinced that you can double your money in Vegas with your awesome Roulette system/by funding your friend's amazing idea to sell Lemming dung/buying land for oil drilling/by shorting the North Pole Ice market (global warming, you know). This all sounds tempting because "Even if I lose it all I still have $XX million left! Anyone could live on that comfortably for the rest of their life." Yeah, except for 33% of everyone who won the lottery.

You're not going to double your money, so cool it. Let me say that again. You're not going to double your money, so cool it. Right now, you'll get around 3.5% on the 10 year U.S. treasury. With $18.2 million (20% of $91.2 mil after your absurdly generous family gift) invested in those you will pull down $638,400 per year. If everything else blows up, you still have that, and you will be in the top 1% of income in the United States. So how about you not **** with it. Eh? And that's income that is damn safe. If we get to the point where the United States defaults on those instruments, we are in far worse shape than worrying about money.

If you are really paranoid, you might consider picking another G7 or otherwise mainstream country other than the U.S. according to where you want to live if the United States dissolves into anarchy or Britney Spears is elected to the United States Senate. Put some fraction in something like Swiss Government Bonds at 3%. If the Swiss stop paying on their government debt, well, then you know money really means nothing anywhere on the globe anymore. I'd study small field sustainable agriculture if you think this is a possibility. You might have to start feeding yourself.

6. That leaves, say, 80% of $91.2 million or $72.9 million.
Here is where things start to get less clear. Personally, I think you should dump half of this, or $36.4 million, into a boring S&P 500 index fund. Find something with low fees. You are going to be constantly tempted to retain "sophisticated" advisers who charge "nominal fees." Don't. Period. Even if you lose every other dime, you have $638,400 per year you didn't have before that will keep coming in until the United States falls into chaos. **** advisers and their fees. Instead, drop your $36.4 million in the market in a low fee vehicle. Unless we have an unprecedented downturn the likes of which the United States has never seen, should return around 7.00% or so over the next 10 years. You should expect to touch not even a dime of this money for 10 or 15 or even 20 years. In 20 years $36.4 million could easily become $115 million.

7. So you have put a safety net in place.
You have provided for your family beyond your wildest dreams. And you still have $36.4 million in "cash." You know you will be getting $638,400 per year unless the capital building is burning, you don't ever need to give anyone you care about cash, since they are provided for generously and responsibly (and can't blow it in Vegas) and you have a HUGE nest egg that is growing at market rates. (Given the recent dip, you'll be buying in at great prices for the market). What now? Whatever you want. Go ahead and burn through $36.4 million in hookers and blow if you want. You've got more security than 99% of the country. A lot of it is in trusts so even if you are sued your family will live well, and progress across generations. If your lawyer is worth his salt (I bet he is) then you will be insulated from most lawsuits anyhow. Buy a nice house or two, make sure they aren't stupid investments though. Go ahead and be an angel investor and fund some startups, but REFUSE to do it for anyone you know. (Friends and money, oil and water - Michael Corleone) Play. Have fun. You earned it by putting together the shoe sizes of your whole family on one ticket and winning the jackpot.

Wish I could rep this more

 

[Extrait de Minimalisme]

Definitely repped @nawzlew

Set up the Trust for the immediate fam, then disappear. No cash exchanges or paying off mortgages. With the 1.3b short of the US going belly up, you'd still have a $10million if not more safety net. On top of a cpuple hundred million in cash and some growing on the S&P.

 

[Fozz]

I'll admit, if I did win, I'd be pretty stressed out lol.

 

[thenewjs23]

Would any of you guys leave your girl if you hit. I dont think i would. If i dropped her, id be scared karma would get me with a golddigger.

 

[al audi]

View media item 1864623

 

[capital sb]

LOL wait, people are suggesting that 803MM invested in US bonds is better than 600MM paid out in cash. Do you know how bad us bonds are doing?

Terrible idea.

Just throw 100MM-200MM into a mutual fund that tracks the S&P and forget about it, guaranteed 8% average return.

Would net between 8MM-16MM/yr on average plus dividends.

 

[filthyjiujitsu]

View media item 1864670
sadly people are doing exactly this

 

[keko jones]

LOL wait, people are suggesting that 803MM invested in US bonds is better than 600MM paid out in cash. Do you know how bad us bonds are doing?
Terrible idea.

Just throw 100MM-200MM into a mutual fund that tracks the S&P and forget about it, guaranteed 8% average return.
Would net between 8MM-16MM/yr on average plus dividends.

crunch the numbers and get back with how much you have after 30years.

 

[nawghtyhare]

A jackpot-rigging scandal is forgotten as Powerball fever sweeps the United States
By Niraj Chokshi January 10
Powerball jackpot reaches record $1.3 billion


Saturday night's record $950 million Powerball numbers went un-picked, which means the next jackpot will reach a far more staggering record. Lottery officials say it could grow to a whopping $1.3 billion. (Reuters)
The jackpot-fixing scandal that rocked the lottery organization behind Powerball has done little to hold back interest in the game.
In fact, with the jackpot soaring to world record-breaking levels — standing at an estimated $1.3 billion as of Sunday night— Powerball hysteria is sweeping the United States.

Stores across the country sold more tickets and saw much longer lines than usual before Saturday’s drawing, which did not produce a single ticket matching all six Powerball numbers. The jackpot rises after each drawing that fails to produce a winner.
The U.S. saw Powerball sales of $277 million on Friday and more than $400 million were expected Saturday, the Texas Lottery’s executive director said.
In California, where total Powerball ticket sales usually average $1 million a day, they were selling at a rate of $2.8 million per hour.
“Sales,” a California State Lottery spokesman said, “are going crazy right now.”

Powerball fever spreads as jackpot grows to record amount
View Photos With no winner in the Jan. 6 drawing, the jackpot has grown to $900 million for Saturday’s drawing, the biggest in the game-playing history.
Those sales have soared despite a scandal that rocked the organization that runs the game — a five-year-old investigation into jackpot fixing in one state that grew to include at least four others.

In the end, a Multi-State Lottery Association security expert was convicted of fraud and sentenced to a decade in prison and the man who ran Powerball since it began was quietly put on leave.
Here’s a rundown of the scandal that has been all but forgotten in the wake of Powerball fever.

What caused suspicion

In December 2010, a man walked into a Quik Trip convenience store on Des Moines’ north side and bought what would become the winning ticket in a Hot Lotto draw with a $16.5 million jackpot, according to court documents.

The prize was unclaimed for nearly a year. In November 2011, a Canadian man contacted the Iowa Lottery claiming to be the winner. A month later, he said he was not the winner himself, but represented the anonymous winner. Later that month, a New York lawyer came forward to claim the prize for a Belize-based trust. No one involved could provide the basic details of the winner, information required by Iowa law. Eventually, the attorney withdrew the claim to the jackpot and the money went back to the states where the tickets were sold.

So what happened?

Investigators never gave up on the curious case and, three years later, released surveillance footage of a hooded man buying the winning ticket in the hopes that someone would recognize him. Several people identified him as Edward Tipton, Multi-State Lottery Association’s former security director.
Tipton was charged with fraud almost exactly one year ago, on Jan. 15, 2015. Investigators argued that Tipton was able to secure the winning ticket for himself through self-destructing software he installed on lottery computers, according to the Des Moines Register. Tipton then allegedly filtered the ticket through a friend in Texas. Ultimately, he was found guilty of two counts of fraud last July and sentenced to 10 years in prison last September.

The investigation expands

In October, investigators alleged that Tipton also rigged a $4.8 million jackpot in Colorado in 2005 and a $2 million jackpot in Wisconsin in 2007. They have also investigated alleged rigging in Kansas and Oklahoma.
After the investigation was expanded nationwide in early October, Multi-State’s executive director Charles Strutt — who had run Powerball since it was created — was quietly placed on indefinite administrative leave, according to the Associated Press. Strutt hopes to return to the job when the Tipton case ends.Tipton denies the allegations that he abused his position and is facing a second trial this month.

Fair play?

Despite the fixing scandal, the highly regulated games are on the level, lottery officials insist.
A Pennsylvania Lottery spokesman said his state’s lottery “has developed high-standard protocols, which are modeled by lotteries across the United States and around the globe. By aggressively protecting the integrity of drawings, players are assured the fair outcome they expect and deserve.”


The winning Powerball number is shown after being drawn at the Florida Lottery studio in Tallahassee on Saturday. (Philip Sears/Reuters)
“I think everyone would agree that the processes and procedures that are used to conduct these games, wherever they are, have been examined and the games are safe and secure everywhere,” Jeff Anderson, president of the Multi-State Lottery board of directors, said recently.

The next Powerball drawing will be held at 10:59 p.m. EST on Wednesday.

 

[capital sb]

crunch the numbers and get back with how much you have after 30years.

800MM at 1.5% over 30 years = 1,250,464,176.39

200MM at 8% over 30 years = 2,012,531,377.81 , lol and thats with only 200MM

lets say it was 400MM invested at 8% over 30 years = 4,025,062,755.63, still 200MM left

What about being a math major

, guess my minor in math did me well.

I didn't even take inflation into account, bonds barely beat out inflation. Annual payout is for suckers.

 

[dathbgboy]

I'm buying Puerto Rico if I was to hit that jackpot Imagine if somebody hit the jackpot solo and the mulitiplier

Just let me hit for a mill and I'm straight though.

 

[itshlittt]

Only a complete imbecile would think they could retire off a milli

This ain't the 1800's.

View media item 1864063


Bruh.... ill buy me a decent condo in Punta Cana D.R. for like $150,000 (and believe me this will get you a dream condo in D.R.) buy a couple of whips , put some money away for my daughters future...and live off of the intrest with the other half ....no businesses...no working...Nada....just wake up to read the newspaper and walk the dog.

That would get old to you really quick. I bet that's how previous winners squander their winnings. One needs to keep busy with something, or that temptation of having $$ will just lead to frivolous spending.

word to gta online

 

[sneakerclinic]

Would any of you guys leave your girl if you hit. I dont think i would. If i dropped her, id be scared karma would get me with a golddigger.

You'd be able to "afford" the golddigger and not even feel it

 

[keko jones]

=

800MM at 1.5% over 30 years = 1,250,464,176.39

200MM at 8% over 30 years = 2,012,531,377.81 , lol and thats with only 200MM
lets say it was 400MM invested at 8% over 30 years = 4,025,062,755.63, still 200MM left

What about being a math major , guess my minor in math did me well.

I didn't even take inflation into account, bonds barely beat out inflation. Annual payout is for suckers.

what should you do when interest rates rises ? What about when they fall?