Powerball is heading toward a billion dollars

With so many streaming services, I've been loath to add another one. But if I won the big prize, I think I'd finally relent to adding Apple+.

I’d move to Western Europe.

That is a crazy amount of money... even if it's "only" $600M after all the taxes. I would probably need to go into hiding. I would much rather have 100x the chances to win $10M.

While it is at a billion, it is an annuity. If you take the cash option it is about 50% of the amount. Then you will get 380 million in CA as CA does not collect state tax on lottery winnings, 335 million in NY. So lets average it out in 350 million.

The current jackpot of 700 million offers a 318 million dollar payout lump sum. After taxes in NY 212 million. If you take it over 30 years you get about 23 million a year. Taxes will flucuate per year current rate at the federal level is 24%.

No matter how you receive it, it’s still an incomprehensible amount of money.

Quit my job as a governor contractor, which has been hellish in the last 6 months. Take my dog and partner off the grid for at least a month and just cook, read, and run. Then figure out how to spend my well-funded retirement delivering continual paper cuts to MAGA.

Buy a large Maison de maître with a great view of the lakes and mountains between Geneva and Montreux. Establish an artist in residence program for artists under 30. I don't know the good number to host? 5-10? They have their own kitchen and social areas but would have to socialise with me and my old artsy fatsy friends regularly. And they have to produce exhibits. I think insurance will be high. I would fund living expenses and supplies. They can be students from art schools earning credits at art school, too, but not all of them should be students.

Also I might take some engineers who want to do mechanical projects. That would be a good mix. Maybe a cute botanist or landscape architect or two. Accept proposals for 1 year garden design residency and they get it all funded, housing, stipend, paid manual workers to direct, and the grounds get a wild new garden every year or two.

Pay off every debt I have. Set up some trust funds for my family members. Help out any friend that needs help.Make some donations to my university and other charities. And then get the hell out of this shithole banana republic for good.

I'd buy a big house where we both could live.

I would give away a lot to organizations or institutions that have meant a lot to me—the public library in the city where I grew up, for example.

Hire competent assassins.

Live like the late, great Allan Carr.

Where does one find caftans?

I would start a large cat sanctuary similar to the Cat House on the Kings River.

I’d open it to the public so I’d have visitors to keep me entertained.

I might devote myself to helping families sue school districts that refuse to provide required services to disabled kids. There are a lot of these districts, and they usually get away with it.

I'll never understand the mentality - WTF is anyone going to do with a billion dollars? I think the prize should be split with 100 or 1000 people or more - think of how many lives would change, how the economy would be stimulated.....it's crazy to give it all to one person.

Get connected with the best gay pimps in Hollywood so that I could finally sink my cock into some celeb hole.

[quote] it's crazy to give it all to one person.

Even if there's just one winner, it doesn't necessarily mean one person.

Quit my job in TV, give a million to everyone I love and to some that I just like a lot (not celebrities), build a facility for gay and lesbian youths who are homeless, retire and rest.

[quote]No matter how you receive it, it’s still an incomprehensible amount of money.

Maybe to you.

I'd get the house painted and buy the cottage in Devon, UK that I've been admiring for months.

My relatives would be happy with their Christmas checks this year. So would the a certain small humane society in Vermont.

It is a frightening amount of money. A nobody catapulted into the economic stratosphere without the connections, staff or intelligence to understand and deal with it all. I don't want to win it. If I did, however, I'd lay low for a few months. I would imagine that there are firms whose job it is to manage all the legal and accounting needs of the super-wealthy. I would always take care of my inner circle, of course, but also create a philanthropic trust, giving money to causes I believe it. It actually could be a great deal of fun.

They do these obscenely big jackpots because the billboards and signs announcing it generate more sales. Sadly, this works a lot better for the lottery (assuming the sole goal is maximizing lottery revenue) than having 100x more winners but they win just $2M on average, which would be healthier for society.

I want to be in the IMDB, as a Producer or something (maybe as a Director or Writer later on). So I guess I'd just help finance some small movies.

And I want to die with an impressive address like Beverly Hills or Manhattan.

BBQ Lays chips and a Coke.

One of them changed things so that each ticket costs more but there are more winners of substantial prizes (several million and with a multiplier).

Gambling works because of the power of "maybe," something I learned from a professor of primates, the name I can't get at the moment...Robert Spol...

I'd spend it on male hookers and cocaine

I would move to either Mayfair in London or St. Jean Cap Ferrat in France and immediately denounce my US citizenship.

Italy here I come...

I would collect it via LLC so nobody knows I won. I will not tell anyone. Maybe just my partner.

20 million a year? its not an obscene amount for the first couple of years. You're not even .1%. I bet knowing you'll have 200 million in 10 years makes the first year seem frustrating a little bit if you have huge plans. Or perhaps the 2nd year. You'll be like, I'm going to have several hundred million, and I got used to having millions the first year, but now I want a super yacht and I can't afford it.

R32 If you're smart about it and collect the annuity for 30 years, there is no bank in the nation that would turn down advancing you the money.

Personally I would go to J P Morgan Private Banking, not just because they're the biggest bank in the world, but their Private Reserve card is the most prestigious in the world.

I already have a Charles Schwab account so I'll put it in there, help out my broke relatives, buy some gorgeous acreage somewhere and have a gothic Victorian mansion built, buy a bunch of muscle and classic cars, and give generous amounts to animal rescues, and take in foster pets.

I’d put it towards paying off my overdraft.

Get the fuck out of the united states

I’d stage an incredibly elaborate suicide with plenty of collateral damage.

I buy the occasional ticket on Jackpocket.

I'd pay off everything I have in layaway.

I’m old so can’t spend it all. I’d set up a charitable foundation that would fund causes I support long after I’m gone.

I would take the lump sum because I may not live another 30 years (I’m 52). Would love to say fuck you to my school district

The wrong people (which is to say, “anybody but me”) because either they’re poor and piss it away (no money skills) or rich and don’t need it. It wasn’t nearly as much as the jackpots are now, only a couple of million dollars, but still…

When I was in college, the family dentist won the state lottery. My mother asked him why he was still working and what he planned to do with his millions. He said he’d bought a new Imperial instead of a New Yorker that year but otherwise he just invested some of it and put the rest in the bank. Kept working for another 7 or 8 years.

I’d have put down the needle and the drill and closed the office but he said he’d rather keep going.

I would keep enough money to live in what I consider luxury (others would consider it modest comfort) for the rest of my life, and do a bit of traveling. Several people who have helped me get through hard times would get an equivalent amount. I'd set aside enough to put a first-class team of lawyers on retainer to protect me against lawsuits from my insane estranged family. The rest of the hundreds of millions would go to charity. As R17 said, who in their right mind needs to sit on a billion dollars?

Open an animal shelter

I was thinking about this thread today, and it occurred to me there’s no one in my life I’d trust to confide in if I won the lottery.

Imagine that— you win a billion dollars, but can’t tell anyone! That would be depressing. Luckily, I almost certainly don’t need to worry about it.

If you win and live in a state like New York, your name will become public, and every charity and freaksoid will be invade you looking for a hand out. After that, your best bet will be to move out of state or to a private island and leave no forwarding address. Better yet, move to a different planet. Your life on Earth will be over.

I would fake my own death.

R46 I think you can form an LLC and claim the winnings through that as a way to protect your identity.

You’d still need to talk to lawyers, bankers, and financial and tax advisors, R45 as well as living in a state where winners can collect anonymously. And trust in their discretion.

Only 16 states allow an individual to collect anonymously. Five or six, including CA and NY require the winners name to be posted. It’s public money, so ultimately if someone wanted to ask if it was you, I doubt the state could refuse to say who won and how much they got.

I have a semi- common name, so I’d have to tell people “sorry, wrong Bob Smith!” if I won.

I thought in California you could remain anonymous? That is bad news that you can’t. I would have to move to some steel gated fortress to keep scammers and criminals away (some of which are exes).

You purchase the ticket and collect in a state where you can keep your identity private, and you don’t tell anyone you won. Those stars are: Arizona Delaware Georgia Kansas Maryland New Jersey North Dakota Ohio South Carolina Texas Virginia

I would never purchase a ticket in a state with mandatory public reporting.

In NY, you can form an LLC to collect, nobody would know who you are.

Are there still some states that require you to do publicity if you win?

As in, you agree when you buy the ticket to participate in their publicity shots if you win?

Hopefully, that practice has ended.

Ownership of an LLC is a public record in most states. Only Delaware, New Mexico, Wyoming and Nevada have stricter privacy rules. If the article below is correct, you’ll need a lawyer in those states.

One fly in the ointment. An LLC formed and registered in one state can buy property in another, something that could make tracing ownership difficult.

Although an agnostic, I've offered God a pact of sorts. I'll be fine not experiencing the great luck of winning a fortune if I can be spared some great tragedy, e.g., 9/11, mass shootings. It's been some time since I bought a lottery ticket.

R51 if you collect the prize in California, your name is a public record.

Who would come to you with their hands out? I guess you never know. All my family seems to be comfortably middle class or rich. If a friend came to me I might give a little bit. Not huge sums.

I would do what Bezos' ex-wife is doing.

I’m going to space with Gayle! 🤡

I have never been tempted to buy one of these things, but I bought one today. If I hot the jackpot I will buy the DL

I'd rent Roman Todd for a week.

R56, the one you need to make a deal with is the DEVIL, not god.

Hookers (male) and Cocaine

It’s pronounced “hookers and blow,” r64.

Mansions and sports cars

Damn I forgot to buy a ticket for tonight's drawing

You gonna have scammers coming out of the wazoo, targeting you. They will pretend to bump into you, make up stories and sue you etc.

Your friends and family will get jealous and if you gift them too little $, they will be upset coz humans are never satisfied.

R65 I know. I was actually just repeating what some guy told a reporter on live TV when they were asking random people what they'd do with the money. It was hilarious because it was live and you could tell he meant it.

Winners who have no concept of large amounts of money actually end up broke. They will buy a mansion, not realizing adding 20000 feet to your living space ups the cost of heating and cooling, insurance, real estate taxes....They buy expensive cars for themselves and friends some of them get swndled into bad deals. The best advice is if you win a large sum (anything over 1 million) call a lawyer first and get some advice.

I won!

$8

nobody won the jackpot!

It is recommended that the first thing you do after getting a windfall of money is to get a money manager. Makes sense to me

This kind of money is family office territory. Take the cash option (current estimate $338.6M), and even in the state with the smallest payout (DC) it'll be over $175M. In CA, FL, NH, PR, SD, TN, TX, WA, and WY (states that don't tax lotto wins) it'll be almost $215M. I'll take 10% off the top, live on that, and let the rest grow into perpetuity, occasionally touching it for larger expenditures, gifts, donations, etc.

I’d be afraid of that kind of money at my age. I’m much more comfortable hand-to-mouth.

I’m not letting anything grow in perpetuity. Suffer you bitches.

[quote] I'd rent Roman Todd for a week.

What would you do with the remaining $699,999,995, R62?

Cocaine and hookers.

I would get copious amounts of plastic surgery like Joceylyn WIlderstein!

i would have a huge party and have my favourite rock band perform!

Slap my elderly mother in the best nursing home money can buy and set sail on a world cruise with 7 hot young men !

r81 it's not that much money Rose.

I’d buy me a goddamned Senate seat or two. Then I would set up a Project 2029 staff and start pushing my funded candidates forward at the state level to start eroding the thugs support at home.

That would Lee me busy for a bit.

Then I’d throw a fucking giant ass party and put rum in all of the fountains, have some stuff catered and generally make a lot of noise, have cake, rum, champagne and a few bands. Then invite all my friends.

Of course, there would be plenty of crash space. This may continue for a week or so.

Any money to my family would be a lump sum, with an understanding that’s what they get. I wonder if there’s a way to do that via a lawyer.

Then I’d really really crank up my balloon policy.

I’d take my friends on a really nice Hawaiian vacation and do nothing but sit on my ass for a month or so.

Then I’d buy a house in the country and keep a condo in the city. Take a part time radio job, since I miss it. Donate that salary to a local food bank.

To hell with principles. For this kind of money, I broke down & bought five tickets.

I’d set up a foundation dedicated to turning all animal shelters into no-kill shelters.

It wouldn’t be possible to just throw money at the problem— the programs (foster, TNR, sanctuaries) would have to be self-sustaining to some degree if they are to keep going.

Even hundreds of millions wouldn’t last forever.

The odds of winning are 1 in 292 million, so we needn’t trouble our beautiful minds speculating on how we’d spend the jackpot.

[quote] we needn’t trouble our beautiful minds speculating on how we’d spend the jackpot.

I remember reading years ago - when Publishers Clearing House would send out mass mailings asking recipients how they would want to collect any future winnings - about a couple who got into such a heated fight about whether or not to take a lump sum that the husband shot his wife. So innocent chatter here doesn't seem so bad.

It's sick that they keep whipping people into a frenzy over this every nine months or so. I bought a ticket on Monday. I keep losing. I get caught up in it too, but I keep losing. What is the fucking point? It's actually a waste of two dollars. I could put that money to a bottle of Cherry Coke.

Do they ever announce whether or not the winners of the super jackpots use machine pick or self pick for their numbers?

most of the winnings are from quick picks by computer.

Sometimes. R90. Usually not, though

[Quote] I bought a ticket on Monday. I keep losing. I get caught up in it too, but I keep losing. What is the fucking point? It's actually a waste of two dollars. I could put that money to a bottle of Cherry Coke.

Do you really think a lottery ticket is admission to the jackpot? The chance your combo will be the winning one is infinitesimal.

You don’t buy a lottery ticket as an annuity or something. You’re almost definitely not going to win. But there’s that microscopic chance you will. Until the drawing happens and you know you haven’t won, then there’s always that thrilling possibility that you’ll hit the jackpot. That’s why you buy a lottery ticket. It’s a momentary thrill.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but this anticipation is killing this newish Powerball player.

I would live in a $8,000 to $10,000 per night suite at the Ritz Hotel Paris,

Fly in the hottest, most gorgeous male whores (escorts) from all around the world and indulge in all sorts of sins.

Indulge in the best, purest, most potent party favors.

Become a customer of Chanel Couture, and have their best looks translated into men's clothes.

Either that or go to the Dark Web and cause all sorts of destruction, just for fun.

[quote]One of them changed things so that each ticket costs more but there are more winners of substantial prizes (sev

That's MegaMillions, it went up to $5 per ticket. Which seems so much harder to part with than $2. But if that prize approaches $1B, I'll be back.

I WON........21 dollars on a 20 dollar ticket.

Don't quit your day job, R97.

as little as 500K would change my upcoming retirement situation a bit.

Most wins are QP because most people play QP.

Nobody won last night....now at $950 million!

I really wanted someone to won so I won’t continue to be tempted to throw money away.

Why even bother to check your numbers?

They will announce where the winning ticket was sold, and if you bought yours there, THEN check your numbers.

Maybe you bought it in-app?

The last few close to a billion or even over 2 billion all went to California—population odds.

I would invest it all, and travel a bit.

First-off, lay low, be quiet about it. Make no changes. I have an old Escalade, buying a new one wouldn't seem out of character for me or arise suspicion. But oh boy, then .... I think Id like to go somewhere and sit. A month at the Greenbrier in West Virginia; come home a bit, then go to a month in Brown's in London; come home again, then get on the Queen Mary 2 wherever she is and ride around a few segments for a month. Then come home to check all is well with a pre-set-up foundation to continue giving money away. I've already given my school scholarship money, so will increase that. Two local libraries I would like to support. I've seen the good a properly-run senior center can do, and know the good extra dollars donated can do. And while I would not like a reputation from it, I'd love to keep numerous $50 and $100 bills in my pocket, for quick tips for those deserving one.

Hookers and Cocaine

BITCH I TOLD YOU IT’S “HOOKERS AND BLOW”!!!

I'd pretend I was Scrooge McDuck and just roll around in the cash.

Nobody won!

R1 😂 I love you.

I hope someone wins tomorrow so I can quit buying tickets.

The higher it gets the wetter my pussy gets.

I was wondering what that smell was, R114.

[quote] It is a frightening amount of money. A nobody catapulted into the economic stratosphere without the connections, staff or intelligence to understand and deal with it all.

Do you think all the people who inherit large fortunes have intelligence?

[quote] Why even bother to check your numbers? They will announce where the winning ticket was sold, and if you bought yours there, THEN check your numbers.

Because there are also smaller prizes up to one million even if you don't match all the numbers

[quote] Do you think all the people who inherit large fortunes have intelligence?

Good point. Look at the Menendez brothers. After the sudden death of their parents, the two went on a spending spree and did not wisely manage their inheritance.

I would hire someone (probably an attorney so legally they couldn't disclose it was from me) to hand out $50 and $100 dollar bills to random people while I watched nearby. I wouldn't want to do it myself because I wouldn't want anyone knowing it was from me.

R119, you’d do better to put all those fifties and hundreds in high yield savings account.

R120, I would with some of it, but since hookers and blow aren't really my thing, this would amuse me for a while, I would probably only do it with one million. I have causes I would support, but this is something that would amuse me more than a boat or a mansion or just buying stuff.

[quote]The last few close to a billion or even over 2 billion all went to California

FIX!

I would like to win $3M.

That is exactly the right amount to let me buy a slightly better house, solidify my retirement, pay for a family member’s education.

But not so much that I’d become untethered from reality.

Basically, I could have a wonderful life for what Johnny Depp spends each month on wine..

Tried to watch the drawing on Powerballs website and got this message

[quote] 429.608 TooManyRequests

I don't need a billion but wouldn't turn down one million.

No one “needs” a billion dollars, r125. Not fucking Muskrat, not Bezos, not Thiel, not ANYONE.

But you take that fucking money and you do GOOD with it.

Set up some sort of trust for an animal shelter, donate it to LGB youth, donate it to the DNC. Fucking open a library or a museum or buy an old theater and have your geeky friends put in shitty plays with all the trimmings for the hell of it.

Fund an endowment for music or art in your city. Buy a music class of underprivileged kids their own instruments. Do it for every fucking school in your area. Same with art supplies for art classes.

Or fund an animal shelter, send a Native American kid to college- there is so much good you could do with a fuck ton of cash, no matter your personal feelings about how obscene it is.

Even if you won and had the only winning ticket, you ain't getting a billion dollars, after taxes and the amount they take off if you take the lump sum you will get roughly 1/3 of the jackpot, if there is another winner with the same numbers the amount drops by half and if you still don't want that amount, give the rest away.

Can I buy a Powerball ticket in California?

Yes R128

Nobody won! It's 1.7 billion next drawing

At 1.7 billion, the amount you get after taxes if you choose the lump sum option is still an insane amount of money. Almost half a billion dollars.

You could fund so much good, bad, and silly with that kind of dough.

I drew the MEGA number only. A Google search tells the that it's worth some two to five dollars.

Any plans with your winnings, R132?

I don't want it. Too many complications.

I'd but a mansion, a few nice cars and a very large yacht. And I'd open animal sanctuaries all over the world, helping everything from giraffes and rhinos to cars and dogs and rabbits. I'd employ the best staff to ensure the animals are taken great care of.

Mother how can I possibly be expected to survive on a billion? This is humiliating!

My husband and I have been thinking this through.

We'd buy a two bedroom apartment in NYC on the West Side with a view of the Hudson. We'd buy a house in Anacortes, WA to live in most of the time and another on Guemes Island when we just want to get away. And we'd maybe get a small apartment in London when we want to see theater there. Maybe a small place in Malibu too. I'd buy a Land Rover. I used to hate big cars but I had to rent one once and I liked it. We'd pay off all our debt obviously. Maybe we'd adopt a teenage foster kid with nothing. We'd start some scholarship programs for young actors but otherwise, we wouldn't give to every charity. We wouldn't share much with the family either but there are some members of the family that deserve a leg up if they need it and we'd help them. I'd continue to direct musicals at the community theater in Anacortes. Maybe we'd adopt a second dog. We'd eat at nice restaurants and that's about it.

I'd start a few private schools in places in red states that need them after the recent anti-education shenanigans. Admissions would be merit-based rather than affirmative action or lottery, but tuition, fees, uniforms, meal, etc. costs would be entirely waived for the poor and middle class. Schools would provide top notch teaching in both STEM and the humanities because students need a well-rounded education to be prepared for university admissions and to decrease the number of them that become selfish assholes. Vaccinations required, of course.

I'd also create an environmental charity focused on climate change.

The rest I'd invest. Fun money would be spent on travel (using climate-friendly methods, of course) and ONE nice Wayne Manor kind of place. But all solar, of course.

I know I won't win and it will go to someone who will spend it on hookers and blow or to some asshole who wants to be the next Bezos and enslave the world with AI, but for five seconds it was fun to dream about having hundreds of millions to spend on whatever.

R132 The Mega Number is for Mega Millions, I am assuming you meant you got the PowerBall, the payout for only the PowerBall is $4

Here is a link to the payouts for different winning number combinations

I’d retire immediately, buy a nicer home where I now live and buy a home in some fabulous European capital, pay off a very close friend’s mortgage, pay my two nephews’ college tuition

[quote] Set up some sort of trust for an animal shelter, donate it to LGB youth, donate it to the DNC. Fucking open a library or a museum or buy an old theater and have your geeky friends put in shitty plays with all the trimmings for the hell of it.

I would donate my winnings to all the "T" youth r126 can't be bothered with.

My husband and I are old, so not many years left to 'play'. But will have a grand time spending it on these things : create financial trusts that independently fund US high school programs for theater, yearbook, newspaper, libraries to keep these fucking evangelicals from shutting down funding for these type programs anytime lgbt is mentioned. Hire a team of private investigators to follow the usual suspects 24/7 ,and publish every sordid photo and detail; looking at you Mizz Lindseybelle. Fund local/state political campaigns for Dem candidates in traditional 'red' states. Buy $ the politicians needed to finally pass real national animal cruelty laws. A big chunk goes to rainbow railroad (check them out), they assist our LGBT family in peril flee horrible places like Uganda and find resettlement. We would have loads of fun with this F U money that we can make the far right despise us.

Much like George Costanza, I would fund scholarships for kids who are smart and ambitious, but average students due to life factors (bad home life, have to work or raise siblings, etc.)

Of course R141 would donate it all to 'T' kids - fuck your own kind.

Make it all about T - and not about LGB. That's what all the LGB organizations have been doing.

Just so R141 can feel good about being the social warrior he likes to think he is.

[quote] Much like George Costanza, I would fund scholarships for kids who are smart and ambitious, but average students due to life factors (bad home life, have to work or raise siblings, etc.)

I would donate all my winnings to the Human Fund.

Money for People.

I will donate to animals groups. I prefer dogs coz they are better than humans

That amount of money might draw a lot of attention from other millionaires who want you to join their secret club and you will crumble like so many before you. Nothing I have read about the world as it is now pretends this is not really happening.

I'd like to manage your money..

If I had a billion dollars, I’d be very sad that I didn’t have ten billion dollars.

R149, the first billion is the hardest.

Hi, Heather!

I would buy the Gay and Lesbian Center in Los Angeles a very large building to house homeless youths with the provision that they must attend classes to educate themselves professionally to hopefully thrive in the outside world.

A billion dollars well-invested could return $100M+ on an annual basis. $50M could be done with yours eyes closed.