Powerball Fever
Matt Seinberg

By a show of hands, how many of you bought Powerball tickets for the $900 million dollar drawing, last night?

The next Powerball jackpot is $1.3 "B"illion.

There was no winner, so the jackpot is now $1.3 billion dollars. That’s the largest jackpot for any lottery, in history. Again, by a show of hands, how many of you are going to run out and buy tickets for this the Wednesday drawing?

I will certainly spend a few dollars buying tickets. I'm in a pool at work, as well. My friend, John, even posted on Facebook that if anyone wanted to join a pool with him, post the numbers in a private message. If any ticket in that group wins, they all share the prize. That’s an interesting idea.

My friend, Jay, posted this on his Facebook timeline and it sounds good, but improbable. Odds are that an already wealthy person could win the Powerball jackpot. Buying every possible combination (175,223,510 tickets) would cost $350,447,020. With the cash options, the after tax payout is $560 million. That's a good return on investment.

Is it possible? Not for one person. Let's say it takes about one second to print each number combination. With 86,400 seconds in each day, it would take you five and one half years to print all the required combinations. If I had that kind of money already, I wouldn't bother trying to win the Powerball. I'd wisely invest it and watch it grow.

The best comment though was my friend, Kristen. She said, "I didn't win, so I guess it is back to work on Monday!" Yup, that's how I felt.

What would we do with all that money?

Everyone always talks about what he or she would do with all that money. Let's face facts; $1.3 billion is life-changing money. The first thing you'd have to do is get a financial planner, accountant and a lawyer to handle everything for you.

Once Powerball announces your name, it's only a matter of time before old friends and family suddenly appear. They’re either asking for money outright or an investment as a business opportunity. I'm glad that we're good at saying. “No.”

We were talking about the jackpot at dinner late and Melissa comes up with, "I'd like to open an animal shelter and name it after myself." She also said she'd like a car, even though she's only fifteen and can't drive yet.

Marcy and I agreed that we would like a bigger house. The one we own is very nice and we would probably donate it to an organization, such as Habitat gor Humanity. The organization would see the house went to a deserving family.

Someone asked me what I would do with that kind of money. I'd like to buy a radio station and hire some of the talented people I know to be on the air. I would programme it and be on the air, as well. Who cares if it wouldn't make any money? If it broke even, I'd be happy, as would the true disc jockeys I would hire.

I'd also buy some new cars, find that perfect house and take care of some of the people I know that deserve my help. We'd all run out and buy some stuff that at normal times we'd never-ever think of buying. I wouldn't buy a sports car I couldn't get in and out of comfortably; I'd get a luxury car that could go fast. There's nothing wrong with comfort and speed.

My kids on the other hand would want Ferraris and Lamborghinis. Keep dreaming girlies.

You must be in to win.

With that wish list stated, there's only one thing to remember. You gotta be in it to win it! So go spend some cash on Powerball tickets and hope for the best!

Light some candles and say a prayer.